Demolition begins at Dunrobin Plaza, but future still unclear

The demolition of the tornado-struckDunrobinPlaza began on Wednesday, but there is still a big question mark surrounding when it willreopen.

Michael Fines, a co-owner of the well-known DunrobinMeatand Grocery, said he was hoping for the demolition to be completed by Friday.

"It's taken this long for themjust to start tearing this building down," he said.

Fines said they hope to reopen within the next year, but when exactly is still unknown.

The plaza was struck by the tornadothat touched down in the rural Ottawa community in September.

Blueprint Properties Inc. the company responsible for the demolition said they hadto wait to get permits from the city in order to begin the work.

The city was initially unable to locate hydro meters on the property, according to the company's CEOWinston Ang.

Ang said his crews weren't allowed to begin the demolition until the meters were found,and then they had to wait for the city to remove them. Now that the meters have been taken out, Ang said the demolition will continue on Monday.

"Everything is good to go, so by end of Monday, I think this building will be completely down."

Closed for the holidays

The plaza and the grocery store form acentral hub in the community, particularly for local hunters likeLeslie Szaraz.

"They cut all the deer up here for the hunters, and it's pretty hard to find people to cut our harvest,"Szarazsaid.

"It's sad to see it go down."

Fines said the holiday season has always beenone of the store'sbusiest times, so this year, he and his community will have to adapt.

"People called a week after [the tornado] wondering what they're going to do for Thanksgiving turkey," he said.

"People had to go and adjust, and I'm sure they will for Christmas, too."

Fines said they hope the new plaza will be as similar to the old one aspossible, and that it would ideally be ready to open before the 2019holiday season.

Ang said his company is currently working on getting the necessary permits to reconstruct the plaza building but could not say when that work wouldbegin.

"We're doing the drawings at the moment, and as soon aswe get the permits, we'll be over there to get this thing back up again," Ang said.