At 230 Ellicott Street, there is a vacant lot, but it's more than just an unsightly gap between two commercial buildings. It also represents unfinished business.
Richard Borrell, owner of Borrell Fitness, right next door, figures the fire that destroyed Cristina's Restaurant on July 12, 2008, has cost or will cost him from $340,000 to $375,000.
So far, neither Charles Brumsted Jr., Cristina's owner, nor Brumsted's insurance company, Mid-State Mutual Insurance, have reimbursed Borrell for his losses.
Borrell said he's retained a lawyer out of Buffalo and said a lawsuit was filed last week on his behalf, but the suit is not on file with the Genesee County Clerk. The Batavian has called the law office of Eugene C. Tenney seven or eight times since last Thursday, where receptionists say Edward J. Schwendler, III, is handling the case, but Schwendler has returned none of the calls.
It's unclear if Brumsted -- we couldn't find contact information for him -- settled his claim against Mid-State.
An attorney for Brumsted, Charles Ritter, of Buffalo, filed a lawsuit May 18, 2009, against Mid-State, alleging that Mid-State had failed to honor the contractual terms of its insurance policy. Brumsted sought at least $1.5 million in damages, which included a $375,000 claim by Borrell.
In the filing, Brumsted claims that Mid-State representatives indicated he would have no trouble collecting on his insurance claim and that he would be able to reopen for business by Spring of 2008.
On Dec 3, 2009, Ritter and Mid-State's attorney, Joseph Rizzo, of Rochester, signed a "stipulation of discontinuance." The short document is ambiguous on whether this constituted a settlement of Brumsted's claims and contains no details on whether Brumsted received any payment from Mid-State.
Neither Ritter nor Rizzo returned calls placed today.
Mid-State has also not returned a phone call seeking more information about Cristina's.
Borrell is unsure why Mid-State has not settled with him and preferred not to comment in detail about his legal situation. He said his building suffered extensive fire and water damage. The floors on the second floor are warped, the bricks and mortar on the outside of the building were heavily damaged, he suffered water damage to equipment and his HVAC system.
The cause of the fire has never been determined. Captain Michael B. Drew of the City of Batavia Fire Department issued a report following a thorough investigation July 12, 2008.
While the investigation team was able to eliminate many accidental hazards, it was not able to eliminate all hazards, namely electrical wiring or equipment malfunction.
In addition, the investigation team was unable to eliminate the possibility that the fire cause may have been other than accidental and is therefore undetermined at this time.
Drew's report says the fire started in the area of the central stairway.
A possible accidental cause that was not ruled out was a malfunction in a electrical junction box on the east wall of the basement. Damage to the box, which included a hole burnt through the cover, could not have been done by an external fire source, Drew wrote.
At the same time, given the location of the box and the location of the fire origin, that junction box could not conclusively be ruled as causing the fire.
In interviews with investigators, Brumsted said he had electrical problems with a fan and was bringing an electrician to fix it. "Fire damage to this unit was noted to be inconclusive with its direct involvement in the fire's ignition," Drew wrote.
Brumsted said the building had been up for sale since 2001. He also said he was seeking a demolition permit for the restaurant portion of the building.
In 2000, news reports said Brumsted was planning to convert the building into office space.
Cristina's was named after Brumsted's aunt, Cristina Meleca, who crafted some Italian recipes for the restaurant. Cristina Meleca died in 1995 at age 95. Brumsted purchased the restaurant from his uncle, Frank Meleca, in 1985.
