Burned Apartments Being Rebuilt

The four apartments in the former Gelhausen complex in Lamar, damaged by fire and smoke this past June, are being rebuilt.

Apartment complex manager, Anthony LaTour, said the owners, Michael and Stacy Ashley out of Denver, decided to rebuild the units, damaged by fire on June 6 of this year. No one was injured in the fire, and according to LaTour, the former tenants have found different residences, and probably won’t return to the complex on South 13th Street and West Chestnut.

The alarm was called in on the afternoon of June 6, and firefighters responded, eventually needing to saw a hole in the roof to allow smoke to clear from the complex. It’s believed some form of construction work on the east side of the building, near a storage garage on the east end, caught fire. As all of the four apartments shared a common attic, the ones on the west end suffered smoke damage, while the east end ones were damaged by fire and water. The two end units were the only ones occupied at the time of the fire. LaTour said most of the work and building materials will come from local businesses.

By Russ Baldwin