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What's the plan for property at 27th & Atlantic Ave. after major fire?

75+ firefighters put out 3-alarm fire along Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach
75+ firefighters put out 3-alarm fire along Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach
Smoke and flames can be seen from our Virginia Beach oceanfront tower cam.
Posted at 3:31 PM, Jul 18, 2023
and last updated 2023-07-18 15:31:36-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The aftermath of a terrible fire last week has become a tourist attraction down at the oceanfront.

Many of the citizens are left wondering what the plan is for the property at 27th and Atlantic Ave.

The sight smell and sounds of last week's fire are hard to ignore and so are some questions citizens like Carrie Hull have.

"We (residents) were wondering when they were going to clean it up. I'm not sure how the process works but I hope it's soon. It's sad to see that this happened," says Hull.

Owners react to businesses being completely ravaged by fire at Virginia Beach Oceanfront

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Owners react to businesses being ravaged by fire at Virginia Beach Oceanfront

Angela Bohon
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According to Matthew Vakos, one of the property owners of the damaged building, the investigation of the cause continues. On top of that, four different insurance companies are involved that work for the property owners and the tenants. Each one of them still needs to bring in their own individual private investigators.

"We are only permitted to do certain things at this time due to the investigation with insurance and the fire department," explains Vakos.

Vakos is estimating that the damages will amount to close to $2,000,000, which poses another question from the public, what will happen to those whose whole lives are now reduced to rubble?

"The breakfast place, it's been there a long-time and run by an older couple. I spoke with one of them recently and I was told that everything was in there, their life was in there," says Hull.

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Angela Bohon
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According to Vakos, the plan is to hopefully get the former tenant back in business as soon as they can.

"If it can be done, we will try to get something going and maybe have a structure record for them to be back in business next year," explains Vakos.

Unfortunately, you can't put a closed sign on life, which is why some people in the Resort City are resorting to kindness.

"We've had a tremendous outreach of people in the community offering jobs and things for the employees to help them. We've had numerous calls about that," says Vakos.

Vakos expects the insurance investigations to be cleared by the end of the week.