The Pine Tree Plaza: Eyesore or an old man's dream?

By ELKA WOOD

The Western News

“I lost the world in here”, Charles ‘Chuck’ Curtis, current owner of the burned out remains of Pine Tree Plaza in Troy, said as he gestures at the blackened, slumping roofline and steps carefully over broken glass.

His property has a storied past, both to Curtis personally and to the Troy community.

Built in 1977 by local Tony Brown as a Forest Service office, the building morphed into stores under owner Gary Thom, before being turned into apartments. In 2013, a fire destroyed the building, displacing six families and causing tragic injuries.

Curtis was living in a large one bedroom apartment within Pine Tree Plaza at the time of the fire with his partner of 13 years, Reagan, whose father, Gary, owned the building.

The bones of the apartment are still visible, the kitchen tile blacked and icicles hanging like light fixtures out of the many holes in the ceiling.

“That’s why I took it back — I couldn’t stand seeing it like this,” Curtis said. This was our home. I built the apartments back there and split the bathrooms the Forest Service had in here. I knew I couldn’t afford it, but I did it anyway.”

Curtis’ plans include making his old apartment livable again, taking out much of the rubble and burnt building materials, and in the long term, building another three to four bedroom apartment on the other end of the building.

Neighboring restaurant The Silver Spur had hoped to purchase the property as it was transferred to Thom’s remaining daughter, Tara, after Reagan’s death in 2014.

However, Curtis bought the property from Tara in Sept, 2016.

Owner Shelly Warrick and husband Bill said they would have bought the property for the right price and turned it into extra parking space for their establishment, and perhaps built little cabins or RV sites for tourists.

“To us, it was being sold and to others it was ‘you can have it for the price of clean up,’” Warrick said, sipping coffee at the counter of the Spur. “It’s an eyesore and it takes away from business when that’s the first thing people see when they come into town.”

Troy local Shera Winebark, like many in Troy, isn’t happy the building is still standing.

“I’m tired of looking at it, and I’m surprised no one has been hurt in there,” Winebark said.

Curtis’ son, Shane, from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, plans to help his dad restore and rebuild parts of the burnt building this summer.

Shane said plenty of looters came right after the fire who took ‘guns, knives, anything of value” but that there’s been no problems with people entering the building since.

Their first hurdle will be an EPA inspection.

City records indicate that asbestos was not used in the building, but an inspection is still necessary due to the era it was built. Inspections to ascertain the chemical levels in burnt carpet, lead paint and the glue that holds down linoleum will follow.

Ron Higgins, the county building inspector, gave Curtis permission to clear out the wreckage this winter. “I’d work week after week, and I’d see some progress but I’d think ‘when will it end’.”

While the Troy City Council allowed Curtis to stay in a camper last year, it’s clear they want Curtis to move along on the project, asking for a time frame.

“I wish we could do something. It’s been years,” Troy Mayor Darren Coldwell said.

As snow load and thawing bring down the last of the burnt support beams at the rear of Pine Tree Plaza, Curtis is gearing up for a busy Spring. As he closes the door behind him he jokes “I don’t want it to get drafty.”