NORTHAMPTON — One of the owners of the Round Hill Road building destroyed by fire Friday says his company plans to repair the historic property so that displaced tenants can return to their homes.
The fire, which raged into early Saturday morning at 49 Round Hill Road, forced eight adults, one baby and a dog, from their homes, at the adjacent 47 Round Hill Road, said Michael Siddall, one of the owners of Historic Round Hill Summit LLC.
The tenants were displaced primarily from water damage as firefighters from several area departments worked to extinguish the blaze. The tenants have been put up temporarily in furnished apartments in Westfield, according to Siddall.
“The whole building doesn’t have to be finished in order for people to move back in,” he said, noting that a lot of people are involved in coordinating getting the building fixed.
The goal, he said, is to rebuild the parts of the building that were destroyed.
Northampton Building Commissioner Louis Hasbrouck said Monday that the building had been stabilized over the past 24 hours and that a cleanup is expected to commence soon.
“They need to take out almost all of the framing, wiring and pipes they have put in, repair the shell, replace the roof and start over again,” he said of 49 Round Hill Road.
Historic Round Hill Summit LLC was in the process of renovating the historic building, which was formerly the Clarke School for the Deaf, into luxury housing when the flames carved away their progress.
He said the fire caused an estimated $5 million in damages.
“It seems like a realistic number,” Hasbrouck said. “It could be a little less.”
Northampton Assistant Fire Chief Jon Davine said Northampton Fire Rescue, Northampton Police and state troopers from the state fire marshal’s office are still investigating the cause of the fire, which broke out late Friday night and raged until about 4 a.m.
Siddall said consultants are collaborating to return the displaced tenants to their homes, but he is currently unsure how long that will take.