I just spoke with council member Angela Hunt about the four-alarm fire in her district this morning. She spent the last hour where Terilli's, Greenville Bar & Grill, Mick's and Hurricane Grill stood till 5:30 a.m., and visited with Dallas Fire-Rescue officials and the restaurants' owners, and she reports back that Battalion 3 Chief Stuart Grant and his men are indeed attempting to "save the corner facades of the building -- Hurricane Bar and Terilli's." The back of the building, however, is lost.
"It's a horrible loss for
Greenville and our neighborhoods, and my heart goes out to the business
owners and employees who've lost their livelihood as a result of the
fire," Hunt tells Unfair Park. "That property is such a part of Lower Greenville history. The can't save the backs of the building -- they're gone -- but they'll be doing
demolition starting as soon as they're sure they've got everything. Of
course, they have to make sure it's structurally sensible to save the
facades, but that's what the chief indicated he wanted to do."
That said, since that building is not considered by the city to be a historic property -- it has no formal designation -- should the owner decide to raze the facade, that would be permitted. Hunt, though, says she's heard "eighth-hand" that the owner, a limited liability corporation, intended to rebuild as soon as possible. "I hope that's the case," says Hunt, who adds that she will update as soon as she knows more.
And, as I mentioned earlier, a Facebook page has been set up to help those employees who lost their jobs in the fire this morning.
Update: After the jump, the Associated Press's video from this morning.