Colton Rasanen photo
Boo Radley's has reopened after a Wednesday night apartment fire caused flooding.
On Wednesday night an apartment fire at the Coeur d' Alene Plaza Apartments (228 N. Howard St.) in downtown Spokane displaced about 60 of the building's residents. A broken water pipe along with Spokane Fire Department's firefighting work then caused the building's first-floor tenants — O'Doherty's Irish Grille, Boo Radley's and Petunia & Loomis — to close as water began pouring from the ceiling.
Boo Radley's owner Jen Menzer says this isn't the first time that water from the upstairs apartments have flooded the shop, but she believes this is the worst it's ever been.
"We were in the building when firetrucks started to show up that day and we almost didn't believe it because we're used to seeing them around here," she explains. "But we soon realized that it was more serious than we thought so we threw plastic over everything we could and just did what we could to prevent anymore damage."
Now less than two days after that initial flooding, Boo Radley's and Petunia & Loomis have reopened to customers and returned to normal business hours. Due to the flooding, Menzer says she likely lost thousands in merchandise, but she hasn't yet taken the time to calculate the total loss.
"We're just looking at this as one bump in the road for us," Menzer says. "Everything is back to normal now."
As of Friday afternoon Menzer says the building's water hadn't been turned on, which means O'Doherty's Irish Grille hasn't yet reopened. The restaurant says it'll update its Instagram (@odohertysirishgrille) as soon as it can resume business.
Residents of the upper floor apartments are still unable to re-enter their homes and a timeline has not been released. Those interested in supporting the displaced individuals can give monetary donations to the Red Cross online or over the phone, the Spokesman-Review reports. ♦
