COLORADO SPRINGS — Co-owner of Yobel Emily Ross says December 4 was just like any other day when she was getting ready to open the shop. That's when she started to get texts from friends Yobel, a boutique in downtown Colorado Springs specializing in ethical fashion, might be on fire.
"You know, it was kind of surreal because everything looked fine from across the street," she said.
Once she and her husband were able to get inside the store, she said they were numb at what they saw: the store they had loved was covered in soot.
"The minute you got in there and could see everything had a layer of soot, and ash and smoke...and the smell, you couldn't be in here longer than 5 minutes before getting a headache and starting to cough," she said to me in front of the closed storefront.
Yobel is one of several businesses affected by a fire in the Majestic Building off Bijou Street. Investigators say it started because of an electrical problem in Taste of Jerusalem Cafe and left smoke damage throughout the building.
Since early December, Yobel has been closed. Thankfully, Ross told me, they had insurance to cover the contents inside and business interruptions. Yet with 12 months of help, she says she feels like she's in limbo.
"We've been told from our property manager and the property owner that the restoration and renovation process of the building would be a minimum of 12 months," said Ross.
Slawek Pietraszek owns the Majestic Building, while the Olive Real Estate Group manages the property. On a phone call with me today, Pietraszek confirmed he believes the remodeling process could take longer than a year. He cites the need for an architect to redraw plans for the building due to its old age, insurance appraisals, and preliminary conversations with some local contractors.
The landlord says tenants have two options: they can terminate their lease without penalty and walk away with their security deposits, or keep their leases and wait the process out. He said while he would love to keep all of his current tenants, they need to make a decision that's best for their business.
"To cancel a lease or terminate a lease to move somewhere else, it's not as easily said as done. To build out a space, to find something, rent would almost surely increase, that has only gone up and up," said Ross.
Ross says she and many other business owners would like to stay in the Majestic Building if they could, but feels ill-equipped to make a decision without information.
"It has been challenging to get information from our property owner and property manager. Some of the limbo and stress we are feeling right now is due to not as much information being sent to us as we'd hoped," she said.
Pietraszek says he and the property manager plan to update businesses within the next two weeks with more information. He also said that businesses are under no deadline to make the decision on whether or not they stay. Pietraszek also informed me that once remodeling is complete, all former tenants are welcome to renegotiate their lease if they wish to return.
Ross says through the tragedy, she's become closer with her nearby business owners. She says it's given her faith in this city, and re-affirmed her commitment to staying downtown.
"We've all become really good friends, we stand shoulder to shoulder in these hard times, and we've become a really good community".
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