by Bea Peterson
“It’s been almost three years!” said Andra Erickson. “I’d like to have done it sooner!” Erickson’s building suffered smoke and water damage in the fire that destroyed Dougherty’s Restaurant
on the corner of Main and John Streets in March 2006. Upsy Daisy and the adjoining cafe were repaired, but the corner lot remains a pile of rubble and the Main St. building has been vacant all this time.
“I didn’t expect repairs to the wall to take nine months,” said Erickson. Once that was finished, work began on the building. She is pleased with the work so far. “I’m so happy with how beautifully they brought the bay window back,” she said. She believes they have a couple more months of work to do. “They are doing a good job,” she added. When the building is finished it will have furnished apartments for rent on the second and third floors and “downstairs will be open to whatever it will be.”
Through it all, she said, the Village has been very cooperative. “We have applied for grants, but it takes time,” she added.
Erickson said she has no idea what is happening with the corner lot. “I am only interested in my property.”