Ypsilanti's Thompson Block: No fire cause yet; owner plans to save facade

The soil and floor samples were sent for analysis after an accelerant-detection dog alerted investigators to some areas of soil at the site on Friday, Roe said. The samples will be tested for traces of flammable liquids.

Meanwhile, owner Stewart Beal said 30 boxes of scaffolding - representing about $15,000 in lumber - were erected over the past three weeks to preserve the building’s historic exterior.

“They’re actually bolted into the street,” Beal said of the work completed Monday. “… That was just to make sure we had to the choice to save the façade.”

The fast-moving blaze broke out about 1:40 a.m. Sept. 23 at the building at the northwest corner of Cross and River streets, across from the Sidetrack Bar and Grill.

The blaze gutted the southern two-thirds of the building. Fire officials estimate damage at $113,400 to the 30,000-square-foot building and $40,000 to its contents.

Beal said that estimate doesn’t count the costs associated with his years-long renovation of the property, which fell into disrepair over decades before he acquired the property in a tax sale for $346,186.

Beal said he’s still forming plans for the structure’s future. The fire halted long-awaited renovations in the structure that anchors the eastern gateway to Ypsilanti’s Depot Town.

Beal - who noted it’s still too early to set a timeline for the next steps - said he’s been consumed with shoring up the façade over the past weeks.

“That’s been the urgent issue,” Beal said. “We’ve spent the last 25 days there, working every single day.”

Engineers have determined the building’s exterior can be salvaged, Beal said. He’s now expecting to resume renovations on the portion of the building that wasn’t damaged before eventually building new construction behind the façade on the building’s original footprint.

“Our very tentative plan is to save the existing façade as it is, and then renovate the two buildings that were undamaged in the fire,” Beal said.

Before the fire, Beal had resumed work on the property, after his plans to convert the building into retail space and condos - at a cost of about $1.6 million - were stalled during the financial crisis.

Over the coming months, Beal expects to firm up his plans for the property, now that he’s determined that the shell of the 1860s-era property can be saved. Beal said he’s committed to keeping the landmark aspects of the building, even with the fire destruction.

“In a different building in a different location, that’s what we would have done,” he said of comments that it would be easier to tear it down. “With that building, that’s not what we’re going to do.”

AnnArbor.com reporter Lee Higgins also contributed to this report.