Fire-damaged Flavour Cafe slated to reopen by the end of August

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TROY — Anyone driving through the Little Italy section of the city might have noticed an interesting sight: the entire façade of the Flavour Café building on Fourth Street has been ripped off as part of the ongoing renovations to reopen the business by the end of the summer.

Owner Charlie Staats has high hopes that the café, closed since Jan. 13, will open towards the end of August when students are coming back to college and residents are back from summer vacations.

After dealing with the Friday the 13th fire, two burglaries in the building after the blaze and insurance issues with the police investigation of the oncebelieved suspicious fire which now does not appear to be suspicious, he’s trying to look at the bright side of the situation and plans to make some nice changes to the establishment that would have celebrated seven years at the end of January.

“We’re revamping and looking at expanding our menu,” he said on Monday, a few days after the front of the 100-yearold edifice was taken down. He explained that the new Flavour would have a bigger bar area and kitchen. “It should look very nice once it’s done.”

At this point, the front of the building is marked with large, flat panels of wood over the areas that once had large glass windows for displays.

“Waiting has been the hardest part,” said Staats who is doing some of his own demolition to save money for other items for the building.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. The 1 a.m. blaze on Jan. 13 spread mainly to the woodenframed second floor since the first floor was mostly protected by a brick exterior wall. Staats estimated in February that repairs would cost about $350,000.

With the changes, he also plans to increase the number of employees to about nine or ten people, from about six.

“I want to thank everyone for their continued support,” he noted.