Owner vows to save historic buildings
It may be weeks before a decision is made on the fate of two historic buildings, in the heart of Butler's business district, that were damaged in a fire Saturday, one of the owners said.
But James Taylor, principal owner of the property management company that owns both of the more than century-old buildings on the 200 block of South Main Street, vowed to do what he could to save them.
“I'm a big preservationist,” Taylor said from Florida in a phone interview Monday. “I'm a big fan of Butler City. I know that that's an attractive part of Main Street, and it's going to be my goal to keep it that way.”
Taylor's Country Court Properties LLC of West Sunbury owns the building that houses the Sir Speedy printing shop at 229 S. Main St. and the neighboring building that houses Edward Jones Investments at 231 S. Main St.
Fire investigators said the blaze broke out shortly after 8 a.m. in the first floor of the Sir Speedy building. City fire crews and firefighters from a dozen volunteer departments were able to contain the fire damage to the three-story building.
But Chris Switala, Butler Fire Department chief, said the building sustained “significant” structural damage, and he considered it “a total loss.”
The Edward Jones building, which stands to the right of the Sir Speedy building, and another building, to the left, that houses Reclamation Brewing at 221 S. Main St., had severe water and/or smoke damage.
Trooper DuWayne Baird, a state police deputy fire marshal investigating the blaze, estimated the total damage at $750,000. A cause has not been determined.All the building and business owners had insurance, authorities said,Taylor said that he has been in Florida since the fire and has not seen the damage firsthand, but he has spoken to Switala and Baird.While the damage evaluation of the Sir Speedy building is dire, the two-story Edward Jones building is not as bad.But fire officials noted that the two buildings share a common hallway and stairwell on the second floor.“Because of that tie-in, there's a possibility that if one (of the buildings) comes down, both of them will have to come down,” Switala said.There is no such tie-in between the Sir Speedy building and the three-story Reclamation Brewing building, which is owned by Reed Enterprise of Butler Township. The Eagle could not reach a representative of the company Monday.Taylor said no decision has been made about what will happen to the buildings he owns. Country Court Properties purchased the two buildings for $135,000 in 2013, according to the Butler County Assessment Office.He said the insurance company will have to send adjusters and a structural engineer to inspect and assess the damage. Afterward, a decision will be made if the buildings can be salvaged or if they will be demolished.“I've been told by everybody that this is a month or two project, just to get the evaluation and estimates and what have you,” Taylor said.Country Court Properties also owns another commercial building at 209 S. Main St. in downtown Butler. That building, Taylor said, is vacant. It was not affected by the fire.Taylor said he has contacted the owners or associates of Sir Speedy and Edward Jones since the fire, but he did not immediately know if they are looking for temporary accommodations for the other businesses.“They're still wrestling with where they are,” he said.William Longstreth said he has owned his Sir Speedy franchise for 28 years. He has three employes who have been laid off since March because of COVID-19. He had continued to operate his printing shop in the building's ground floor from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every weekday.Longstreth told the Eagle that he learned of the blaze after getting a call from the fire company around 8:30 a.m. Saturday.“There was really nothing I could do,” he said. “But you come down and you watch and you cry.”He declined to answer any further questions.Jeff Geibel, a financial adviser for Edward Jones, had been working in a first-floor suite in the building rented by the investment firm since August 2019.He called the Sir Speedy building a “burned-out mess.” The other buildings on either side, he said, sustained “some pretty heavy- duty damage from water and smoke.”Geibel, who also is president of Butler Downtown, was in the Edward Jones building Monday to retrieve any miscellaneous items he could salvage. He and two other employees — another financial adviser and a branch office administrator — worked there.“Our suite is trashed,” he said. “The drop ceilings have caved in all over the floor. The walls are full of water. The floors have one to two inches of water in places.”He said he hoped to have new work quarters soon.“The community has been so good,” Geibel said. “I had offers from four different people for office space within a block (of the damaged suite).“We're going to set up a temporary work space somewhere within a one-block radius of where we were operating, so there should be very little interruption for our clients and our business.”
