The Dollarama store in Waterloo’s north end could see demolition work begin Thursday – and for the other businesses in Parkdale Plaza, it will be a lot longer before things return to normal.
Owners of the various businesses in the plaza met with their property manager Wednesday to get an updates on where things stand in the investigation and cleanup of the plaza, which caught fire last Friday.
They were told that it would take up to two weeks for insurance adjustors to examine all the units.
After that, it could be a matter of weeks or a matter of months before businesses are able to reopen.
“We have limited information, but whatever information we get we want to pass on to the tenants so they know what is going on,” said property manager Harjit Jaswal.
Greg Watson opened his Water Depot store only a few weeks before the fire, two units down from Dollarama.
He was able to get inside Wednesday to assess the damage with his own eyes – including the layer of soot that covered virtually everything in the unit.
“It’s pretty awful. This is a little worse than I was hoping for,” he said.
“All the inventory’s a write-off for sure.”
One unit further down at Pro Martial Arts, owner Nicole Dore said she was also affected by smoke damage, and estimated that it would take about a month before she could reopen.
“Our unit, so far, looks OK,” she said.
Dollarama and the units immediately on either side of it still cannot be entered without an engineer present.
“Structurally, all the other units are safe – but there might be contaminants,” Jaswal said.
“We don’t know how much smoke contamination is in there.”
A 14-year-old boy accused of deliberately setting the fire remains in custody, with his next court appearance scheduled for next Monday.
