Mike Koutsantonis marked what could have been a grim anniversary this week with some good news.
One year ago this week, fire swept through Olympia Taverna, his family restaurant of nearly 50 years.
Flames could be seen for blocks as the 70-year-old building burned to the ground. Little was left to salvage from the restaurant, which had been a hub of Greek food and family life in Kelowna.
“We managed to save some pictures and a few knickknacks and some of the chairs I’ll be refinishing,” Koutsantonis said.
“A lot of the stuff was in areas of the restaurant we couldn’t access.”
Now, the space has been cleared of most of the debris, and on the one-year anniversary of that fire, city council gave Koutsantonis the go-ahead to embark on the family’s next chapter by approving a building permit and parking variance.
Koutsantonis talked about the family’s sense of loss at the beginning, and how they eventually came to accept that there was not too much they could do about it.
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“It happened,” he said.
“Now we are just looking forward to putting up a new building. The building was 70 years old and part of it was built in 1948.”
The family added onto it over the years, but Koutsantonis pointed out there are always issues when you have an older building.
In the next couple of weeks, construction will start on a new space that is “more efficient and a lot nicer,” he said.
In addition to the restaurant, the building will have three upstairs condos that will be used for rentals.
There’s a lot of work ahead and it was a rough year to have closed, but Koutsantonis has had a lot of support.
“It’s been non-stop,” he said. “Every day you hear somebody say, ‘When will you be open?’ Out on the street, I’ve been running into people, and it’s on Facebook and there have been many phone calls … It’s been quite the outpouring.”
For those who are anxiously awaiting some Greek fare from one of this city’s oldest restaurants, don’t expect it right away.
“We will be open sometime in June,” he said.
In the meantime, Koutsantonis is looking forward to making everything just right.
“It’s a good excuse to go to Greece,” he said.
The fire was deemed non-suspicious with the cause likely electrical in nature or some kind of a mechanical failure, according to the Kelowna Fire Department.
Twenty-five firefighters responded to the aggressive blaze, along with four engines, a command unit, a rescue truck and two ladder trucks.
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