City cites two West Philly businesses destroyed by city-contracted demolition crew
People throughout West Philadelphia were devastated to watch Elena’s Soul Lounge, a reputedly century-old meeting place for drinks, music and food drawing people from both east and west of Cedar Park, burn to the ground on Christmas Eve. What happened later that week, however, is confounding: The demolition crew taking apart Elena’s severely damaged the two neighboring businesses, Gary’s Nails and the new-but-beloved Cedar Park Cafe, affectionately known to some as “breakfast-lunch.”
The fire that destroyed Elena’s had left both businesses largely intact; the cafe even opened the next day. Today, Gary’s and Cedar Park Cafe’s roofs are caved in, and orange violation notices from the Department of Licenses and Inspections are pasted to their facades: they have 30 days, as of Dec. 28, to repair or demolish their buildings.
The irony is that L&I hired the company that demolished Elena’s — the same company that ultimately sent Elena’s walls crashing through the two adjacent roofs. L&I spokesperson Maura Kennedy contends the city was forced to act when the building owner did not take the legally required action on their own, but she refused to say whether the demolition company might have acted recklessly —though she implied that they did not.
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