ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- "It has been a very interesting month to say the least," Georgia Nick said. She owns the Georgia Nick Gallery on Aviles Street in St. Augustine.
She's our storyteller for this past month's adventure on Aviles.
"On July 4th, a national holiday [and St. Augustine's busiest day of the year]," she started, "the city comes in the morning and closes the street."
That was because of safety concerns about the crumbling building at 9 Aviles.
"It was a shock," Nick recalled. "The street was reopened a few hours later, but there was a fence."
Only a small passage way remained open to pedestrians for weeks. No cars or trolleys could go down the street.
"It was a little hard, especially on this end of the street, to get business," Nick noted. Merchants on the street lost tens of thousands of dollars during the months because many tourists and shoppers saw the fence and thought the street was closed.
"We had to find a way to make lemonade out of lemons," Nick said. "So we decided to have a street party. It was a blast. We had artists in streets." That was July 13.
Meanwhile, plans to demolish the building fluctuated.
Nick remembered, "It was amazing. Everybody had an opinion."
Eventually, demolition started July 23.
"When the demolition crew came in," Nick smiled, "they were wonderful!"
Nick could watch the demolition from her side window. She said the crew was so careful, and one crewman even saved a historic stone arch next to the building being demolished.
"Look what he did. He kept the whole arch," she pointed out the window.
Many of the merchants have said really good things about the demolition process. In fact it was finished one day earlier than scheduled. This week, it was reopened to vehicular traffic.
Manny Herrero owns La Herencia Cafe on Aviles. He said Friday, "The trains and horse carriages are back, which always brings people on the street, so I'm very happy they opened it up again."
Friday, August 3 is First Friday Art Walk. It's a big deal for this street that is usually bustling with people during Art Walk. It seems especially important in the aftermath of the street closure.
"Just to get everybody back," Nick nodded.
Our storyteller wrapped up this chapter of the street saga with this: "People worked together, and we got through it. Everybody's still standing, and the building's not."
What will happen now with the empty lot on Aviles.has not yet been written.