New building being constructed after fire destroys Waterville eatery

Nov. 14—WATERVILLE — Earth work started this week on Silver Street downtown to prepare for construction of a new building to replace one destroyed by fire last year.

The Last Unicorn restaurant was leasing the building at 6 and 8 Silver St. when it caught fire April 23, 2023, and was destroyed.

The building, which originally was two buildings that became connected, was owned by Sidney Geller. Geller, vowing to rebuild, hired architect Justin Morgan of Maine Home Design + Build of Augusta, to design and construct a new building, starting immediately. The goal is to have it framed up and under cover by the first of the year.

Geller and his property manager Bruce Fowler said it was designed as a restaurant building but has potential for four tenants — two on the level facing Spring Street and two on the Silver Street side. The building could be used for retail businesses, light commercial or industrial work such as framemaking, a clothing store or convenience store, they said.

"It should be ready in spring or early summer of 2025," Fowler said.

Geller, whose law offices are nearby on Silver Street, added that finishing work inside, including electricity, plumbing and sprinkling, will not be done right away, as it will be contingent on tenants' needs. It will be two stories high from the Spring Street side and one-story from the Silver Street side.

"The building is designed to carry additional stories in the future," Fowler said. "It's a blank pallet. Whoever leases the space can do a building-out exactly as they wish."

The building, he said, will be energy efficient.

"We're using all of the current energy guidelines, including all of the mechanical services," he said. "It's going to be a clean energy efficient building as far as air exchanges and so forth."

Geller, who owns many properties both downtown and elsewhere, all managed by Fowler, said he takes pride in maintaining those buildings.

"If there's anything that's defective, it gets remedied immediately," he said.

Planning Board review is not required for the Silver Street project because it will replace an existing building on an existing lot.

Casella started excavating at the site Monday to prepare for foundation work, and excavation work continued into Tuesday.

Morgan, the architect and contractor, said Monday that he and and his firm are excited to work on a project with such a rich history in the community.

"The new building presents itself to the streetscape with cementitious siding panels and stained wood that contrast the bronzed aluminum storefronts," Morgan said in an email. "The front canopy announces the entrance space to pedestrians while creating a sense of human scale that is lost in many downtowns."

The Spring Street side of the building will be clad with corrugated metal and large glazed openings that allows natural light to brighten the interior space, according to Morgan.

"The interior has been designed to be open for tenant flexibility with long axial views through the space to create connections to the surrounding environment," he said.

The fire that destroyed the building in April 2023 was reported around 4 a.m. and originated in a basket of greasy kitchen towels, located in a hallway between the restaurant's kitchen and its bar, a state fire investigator said at the time. The cause was spontaneous combustion, according to Fowler, who said the cotton material with oil in it was in a basket in a confined area and when exposed to oxygen, generated heat.

At the time, Fowler said the building may have appeared to be only one building, but it was actually two. Honor Stanley and Rick Gallup opened the restaurant in 1978 at 8 Silver St., a wooden building, and then later expanded into 6 Silver St., a brick building, by turning the alley between the two buildings into a hallway. There was an alley about a foot wide between 8 Silver St. and Cancun Mexican Bar and Grill next door, where a concrete wall reveals soot from the fire. The east wall of The Last Unicorn did not touch Silver Street Tavern and in some places was about 3 feet away from it.

The tavern remains open and busy but Cancun closed in 2021 because of numerous health and other violations.

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