Building Explodes in Eastown

[michaelskis]

I volunteer to eat at Wolfgang's!

I am happy that everyone made it out and will be ok. I too will encourage my neighbors to head down to east town.

[suydam]

I volunteer to eat Wolfgang's , Yesterdog and Sami's.

I will also try my hardest to buy some Bell's beer from Smitty's...just in case that helps. :-)

[vandertown]

Does anyone know if the Eastown Deli behind this building survived?

[GRDadof3]

I'm glad to hear everyone who was injured is OK. Gas leaks are nothing to mess around with.

[Rhino6885]

I'll be headed to Wolfgangs first thing in the morning (I hope it's open). To anybody saying it will be bad for awhile, I disagree. I'm sure somebody in this community is already sketching up the replacement.

[GRGridGirl]

Keep up the Rally Around Eastown!

Another photo from my brother on the scene yesterday:

[twoshort]

Does anyone know if the Eastown Deli behind this building survived?

[GRDadof3]

The Press has a good piece today, including video:

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/02/expl...apids_east.html

Some harrowing close calls.

[Veloise]

"With power out, debris everywhere and windows shattered by Tuesday's blast concussion, some business owners expected to remain closed today."

Perhaps someone can provide an updated list of businesses not open. Would hate to see more posts complaining, "I tried to come buy something from you but you were closed."

[on a biz trip, watching from afar]

[Avocado]

It looked like everything from Sami's to Wolfgang's was closed this morning.

[mpchicago]

Absolutely awful news, but glad everyone made it out ok. I hope that everyone had insurance, and that the building owner can rebuild! I would hate to see an empty corner there.

[d8alterego]

I just realized that one of my old professors from school lives a few hundred feet from Wealthy down Ethel. He must have seen a lot of crazy stuff yesterday.

[keeselbmag]

Does anyone know how old that building was? It sucks to lose a piece of Eastown like this, but it gives an opportunity for something else to come in. Any suggestions as to what we might see there?

[jbr12]

The building BLEW UP yesterday and people are already contemplating its potential replacement? The owner of the building probably hasn't even had their insurance person on site yet to even find out the situation... Give it some time folks!

[Veloise]

Does anyone know how old that building was? It sucks to lose a piece of Eastown like this, but it gives an opportunity for something else to come in. Any suggestions as to what we might see there?

[grbrit]

It looked like everything from Sami's to Wolfgang's was closed this morning.

[GRCityPlanner]

Favorite City is silent on the Year Built.

[twoshort]

The records I could find have the building constructed in 1920 with an addition constructed in 1935.

[Rizzo]

The records I could find have the building constructed in 1920 with an addition constructed in 1935.

[Allison Slater]

A room-mate of mine was in the neighbourhood when it blew. He was leaving from across the street at the party store heading towards his car when he heard the explosion and felt the ground shake. A short time before it blew, I was out biking around GR.. was in East Hills @ Lake Drive headed towards East Grand Rapids, but suddenly decided not to go and turned back towards downtown. Rather scary to think that if I had continued on, I probably would've stopped in Eastown and could've been injured. I'm amazed nobody was killed.

[pr sc]

Interesting story on foxnews.com about a similar situation in Waukegan, IL

[partyoffour]

Speaking of news websites, channels, etc...after watching channel 8 report about this one, one would almost think they were the ignition source! Thankfully they were the FIRST ones on the scene seeing as how far their studios are from Eastown.

[twoshort]

No plans to rebuild: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7...24&nav=0Rce

[fotoman311]

No plans to rebuild: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7...24&nav=0Rce

[Veloise]

This morning.