Paul Bass Photo
Two months after a fire destroyed one multi-family home on Sheffield Avenue and ravaged another, rebuilding plans are underway.
The 3:41 a.m. two-alarm fire on March 6 left 20 tenants in two buildings without a home. It destroyed the three-family home at 31 – 33 Sheffield Ave. (pictured Sunday, above) and badly damaged the one next to it.
The city Building Department immediately put a demolition order on 31 – 33 Sheffield.
Last week the building’s owners, 1605 Chapel Street LLC of Stamford, submitted an application for building permit to do at least $300,000 of work rebuilding the house. Building Official Jim Turcio said the application is still under review.
Deirdre Virvo, one of the two main partners in the LLC, said the plan is to basically demolish the property and rebuild a three-family from scratch,. Since a wall or two may be left standing, the application was for a buildling permit, not for demolition.
“We’re tearing it down and rebuilding,” she said Sunday. The plan is to build another three-story multi-family. “We’re going to make it real nice,” she said, expanding to one and a half to two baths per unit. Before each unit had one.
Virvo, whose company owns properties in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford in addition to New Haven, said it was the first fire she had experienced in more than 30 years as a landlord. She knew insurance would cover the losses, she said. But she worried about the tenants; it turned out some hadn’t purchased tenant insurance, so they lost their belongings. She has since added information in her leases leading renters to inexpensive insurance policies.
The tenants initially got help from the Red Cross, and were immediately given their security deposits, she said. They all had family or friends to move in with at first, she said. (Neighbor Reed Miller set up this Go Fund Me account for the families. It could use some help, if you’re looking for places to donate money.)
Virvo’s insurance company investigated the fire and concluded that it stemmed from a power surge from UI, she said.
She hopes to get started on the demolition as soon as possible. The insurance company covered six months of lost income on the house. “We have four months before we have no income coming in on that property and still have a big mortgage open”
Meanwhile, Fred Browning was up on a ladder next door Sunday preparing to begin repairs there. Browning, a retired carpenter, said he was helping out his nephew Marvin, who owns the contracting firm working on the house.
Marvin (pictured) said he plans to fix the roof and replace the siding. The building is otherwise in good shape, he reported. The house’s listed owner is a relative.