The Dixon Block fire: one year later

His original intentions were to rebuild following last summers devastating late-night fire that saw a downtown historic block in ruins. But Sam Kadray says his plans have changed.

Kadray, who owns the property at the corner of York and Main Streets on which the Dixon Block was housed before being destroyed by a fire last Aug. 11, says the downtown site is for sale.

Our plans have changed and were actually selling both our properties in Sackville, says Kadray of the now-vacant downtown corner lot as well as the neighbouring Ford Block. Its just that weve made a business decision to sell rather than build.

Kadray, who lives in Nova Scotia, says its simply become too difficult trying to manage two downtown commercial properties from Halifax, much less the work involved in building a new structure.

Wed like to build but its just that, being in Halifax, it makes it difficult, he says. Managing a property is one thing but building a new property and leasing it out would just become more difficult for us.

Last year at this time, Kadray was optimistic he would be rebuilding on the downtown property as long as it could be managed financially. He noted the building, which contained half a dozen businesses and 13 apartments, was insured but didnt put a dollar figure on the loss.

Its a loss for us but its also a loss for the town. Its a historic building and its a very prominent area and its certainly in our interest to get it rebuilt, he said last year.

For now, the large corner lot in the centre of the downtown core has been temporarily converted into a town square, a green space with picnic tables, benches and flowers which has helped fill up the gaping hole that remained after the historic Dixon Block building was torn down following the blaze.

But Mayor Jamie Smith says the town has a greater vision for the prime downtown location.

Weve temporarily put the flower boxes and seats there this year just so that it would look nice instead of having a bare corner. But our long-term goal is we hope someone will buy that property and re-invest in our downtown and put a new building up, says Smith.

The mayor said council and staff learned earlier this spring that Kadray had plans to sell the property and is hopeful that it wont take long for a buyer to come along.

As nice as it looks now, prettied up for the summertime, that is not our long-term goal to have a green space right there. At this time, we would just like to see somebody buy that property and put a new building up because it is a bare spot in the centre of our downtown.

He says there is a lot of potential for a small merchandise retailer, for example, to set up shop in Sackville.

It would be nice if we could do something because it is a very important piece of our downtown, adds Smith.



Downtown Fire Has Left Its Mark On Sackvilles Business Community

The smoke took only hours to clear and the ashes and rubble were cleaned up within days. But the effects from the devastating fire that destroyed the historic Dixon Block in downtown Sackville last summer still linger for local retailers.

Ellen Pickle, owner of Tidewater Books on Bridge Street and a member of the downtown revitalization committee, said the loss of the Dixon Block building - which housed five businesses as well as empty commercial space - has had an adverse effect on the retail sector.

Because were such a small town, every business counts, she said. And those of us who attract people to the community rely on having sort of a mass of businessespeople who come specifically for my store also want to see other things. And when we continue to lose, at some point its not going to be as viable for people to come into the community.

Lisa Smith, another downtown business owner and president of the Greater Sackville Chamber of Commerce, said she agrees with Pickle and would like to see that downtown corner come back to life again with a new building that could attract other businesses to town.

I was away that weekend when the Dixon Block fire happenedbut I still feel the same today as I did when I came back into town and saw what had happened. The town has done a great job taking that property and making it into a nice temporary green space but, from a business perspective, I still see just a big empty space.

Smith, who chairs the downtown revitalization committee formed last fall, said although the current property owner has announced his plans are not to rebuild but will instead try to sell the property, she is hopeful a potential buyer will consider a similar structure to what was there a multi-storey building with commercial space for rent and apartments in the upper level.

What we need now is something that will help drive the sales of everyone that is already here so no one else will have to close their doors.

She knows, however, it will be a tough sell and the town may have a long wait before that site is filled with more than just flowers and benches.

It is going to be costly to put something thereand you want to make sure youre going to get a good return on your investment.

Pickle said there is no doubt the future survival of downtown businesses is reliant on the former Dixon Block property being rebuilt.

I think the only solution is to rebuild and to make more prime retail space in the downtown, she said. Right now, we cant attract new businesses if we dont have the space. And thats one of my biggest fears is that if we have too few businesses the rest of us tend to start suffering because of that.