Six months after a fire at the Missouri Theater complex, two businesses remain closed and a rehearsal/storage area for a third remains unusable.

A to Z Fresh Aire Fare, a health food store, and Pony Espresso, a coffee shop, are situated directly beneath a trench cut by firefighters putting out the fire upstairs, in a storage and rehearsal area used by the Robidoux Resident Theater company.

Water poured through the trench and tainted thousands of dollars worth of supplements and other health products.

The city engineer has been conferring with the architectural engineering firm Creal, Clark & Seifert to design the renovations, which include removing and replacing walls, floors and ceilings and replacing them.

The building is owned by the City of St Joseph, and is administered by Bill France, the Assistant Director of the Parks, Recreation and Civic Facilities.

Fire of undetermined origin swept through the annex during the early morning hours of Saturday, February 19th.  Smoke from the fire filled the historic theater, which did not sustain any fire damage.

A half dozen affiliated arts organizations were able to reopen their offices within just a few weeks, but cleanup in the theater was not completed until May.

The coffee shop, health food store, and rehearsal space may remain closed until next spring.

France says the design plans are complete, and the project will be put out for competitive bids  as early as Sunday. 

The winning bid would have to be approved by the City Council.  After that, France says it should take about 90 to 120 days to complete.

The owner of the two businesses plans to reopen, but admits it could be as late as February before that happens.

The city has already paid a $100,000 deductible required by its insurance policy.  The current phase of repairs is expected to cost the insurance carrier between $200,000 and $300,000.   That could push the damage toll from the fire over $900,000.