Future of uninsured Dick Bruhn building in limbo.

As investigators search for the seed of a Feb. 13 fire that gutted the Dick Bruhn building at the heart of Oldtown Salinas, city officials are left wondering about the future of the landmark structure.

Will it be demolished, or will it be salvaged?

Salinas Fire Deputy Chief Brett Loomis says the future of the historic building hinges on whether its remains are found to be sturdy enough to keep. So far, they appear to be, according to a preliminary investigation conducted on Feb. 16 by a couple of structural engineers hired by the city and the building’s owner, Gerry Kehoe.

“It may not come down on its own right now, but if there’s seismic activity in the future, will it come down then?” Loomis adds.

The iconic, circa-1907 structure sits on a prominent corner at Main and West Alisal streets, but it has been empty since 2007. For more than 50 years, it housed the Dick Bruhn clothing store, where generations of residents bought dress clothes and letterman jackets, and scores of law enforcement officers bought their uniforms.

Just last year, the city red-tagged the building because the owner was doing construction work without a permit, including a full demolition and removing asbestos.

Future plans for the building involved transforming it into a boutique hotel, but after a four-day fire, those plans remain dicey considering all that is left of the building is a brick shell with a crumbled roof and pulverized floors and walls.

Another reason why future development is uncertain rests on the fact that the building is uninsured, according to City Attorney Chris Callihan. The city continues to scramble to determine who will foot the bill for the cleanup. The estimated cost of the massive fire has yet to be determined, says Salinas Fire Chief Ed Rodriguez.

City officials say Kehoe has been cooperative in the investigation and will front the cost to put up a fence to divide the burned building from the busy intersection.

City Manager Ray Corpuz says city officials plan to meet with Kehoe at the end of the month to discuss the fate of the building. The assessment by the two structural engineers will aid in that determination.

On Feb. 16, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms began their investigation into the cause of the fire, which is believed to have started toward the rear of the building. Salinas doesn’t have its own arson investigator, and asked ATF to step in and assist.

Numerous people have reported seeing a man inside the building before smoke began to vent out of the windows, Salinas Fire Chief Ed Rodriguez confirmed. He says it remains unclear what that person was doing there and that the doors to the building were presumed locked.

At the moment, fire officials do not suspect the blaze to be deliberate arson, but say it does appear to have started in a suspicious manner.

“There is suspicion because of how fast it started and because of the time of day,” Loomis says. The fire began just before 3pm on Feb. 13, and scorched the entirety of the building’s inside. For a couple of days, firefighters feared the entire block would go up in flames, as burning embers shot onto roofs across the street.

Despite reports of people being inside the building at the time the fire started, there have been no injuries or fatalities reported. “But we are not 100-percent sure until we can go into the building and remove grubble,” Rodriguez adds.

On the night of Feb. 16, three days after the fire began, Loomis said the building had been deemed stable enough for investigators to enter and begin their work.