PORT ORANGE — Chuck E. Cheese fans in Volusia County will have to drive to the Orlando area to "have a Chuck E. Day" at least for now.

The chain's restaurant/arcade at The Pavilion at Port Orange shopping center was badly damaged when the roof collapsed during Tropical Storm Ian. A demolition crew could be seen on Monday tearing down what remained of the standalone building at 5539 S. Williamson Blvd.

It remains to be seen whether CEC Entertainment, the Irving, Texas-based owner of the Chuck E. Cheese chain, will rebuild its Port Orange location.

"Chuck E. Cheese corporate began tearing down the destroyed building last week," said Kristina Circelli, a spokeswoman for CBL Properties, owner of The Pavilion at Port Orange, on Monday. "Right now they are still evaluating the situation. Any specific questions regarding the rebuild will need to be addressed with their corporate office at this point."

CEC Entertainment did not respond to inquiries sent both by email as well as left on the voicemail at the company's headquarters.

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Rumors circulate on social media

Hopes were raised on social media when the Facebook page for The Port Orange Farmers Market at The Pavilion on Oct. 22 posted photos of the demolition crew beginning to tear down the remains of the restaurant/arcade. "As Chuck E. Cheese is demolished and then rebuilt there might be an inconvenience for parking," the Facebook post stated, adding that the farmers market would continue to be open on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. That post was reshared on social media by separately run Fun 4 Daytona Kids Facebook page.

The weekly farmers market is held in the open-air plaza next to the now-fenced off Chuck E. Cheese property.

Robert Rinaldo, coordinator of The Port Orange Farmers Market at The Pavilion, acknowledged in a phone interview on Monday that he wrote his Facebook post about Chuck E. Cheese based on a second-hand report from one of his on-site staffers who spoke to a groundskeeper with CBL.

"We're extremely hopeful," he said, while acknowledging that he did not know for certain that Chuck E. Cheese would be rebuilding its Port Orange location. "It has been a popular destination for families, especially on Saturdays."

Dan Sikora, general manager of the Malibu Beach Grill restaurant on the other side of the plaza from Chuck E. Cheese, said he has no knowledge of what will become of the site, but said, "there has been a lot of conversation about it" from customers.

"I hope they rebuild or at least put something else there," he said. "The more business here the better it is for all of us."

Sikora said Chuck E. Cheese was the only business at The Pavilion at Port Orange that he knows of that suffered significant damage during Tropical Storm Ian.

No building permit applied for yet, city confirms

Lorie Harris, executive assistant to the City Manager for the City of Port Orange, confirmed on Monday that a demolition permit was issued for the Chuck E. Cheese site, but said so far, "No one has submitted a permit to rebuild the restaurant or put in something new."

According to Volusia County property records, the 12,676-square-foot Chuck E. Cheese restaurant/arcade at The Pavilion at Port Orange was built in 2013 at a cost of $1.6 million. The land remains owned by Chattanooga, Tennessee-based CBL Properties.

Circelli said she was not allowed to disclose how many years CEC Entertainment has on its lease of the Chuck E. Cheese site at The Pavilion at Port Orange. "We cannot discuss specifics of the lease with anyone other than the leaseholder, including term length, but they did own their own building so they would be responsible for rebuilding," she wrote in an email.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: After Ian: Owner tearing down damaged Port Orange Chuck E. Cheese eatery