Vacant Belleville restaurant damaged by fire as potential new tenant considered moving in
The owner of the former Nonna’s restaurant building extensively damaged by a fire was expecting to get a new tenant in the West Main Street building that had been vacant for years.
Jeff Eisenberg, the St. Louis real estate broker for building owner Dax Gitcho, said a meeting had been scheduled for Monday afternoon with someone who intended to lease the site and that he expected to get the agreement finalized soon.
Gitcho said on Saturday that he was impressed with the idea the prospective tenant had for the building and is saddened that the plans have been dashed by the fire on Friday night.
Eisenberg declined to disclose the person who was interested in leasing the building, which now appears to be a total loss.
Belleville firefighters are trying to determine the cause of a fire that extensively damaged the building that once was the home to several restaurants, including Nonna’s and Ponderosa.
No injuries were reported in the fire at 4508 W. Main St., according to Assistant Belleville Fire Chief Rick Wangelin.
There was heavy smoke coming from the eaves all around the building and flames were showing by the rear door when firefighters arrived about 8 p.m. Friday, Wangelin said.
Firefighters initially entered the rear of the building where they knocked down the flames, but there was heavy fire in the attic above them and they had to leave for their safety, Wangelin said.
Firefighters cleared the scene early Saturday morning.
A second alarm was called for the fire, meaning all on-duty firefighters were called to the scene and off-duty firefighters were called to fire stations. Also, four other area fire departments were on standby. They were East Side, Northwest, Signal Hill and Swansea.
The building has been vacant since 2015.
Roger Schlueter, who previously wrote the Answer Man column for the Belleville News-Democrat, said a Ponderosa Steak House opened in the building in the early 1970s and lasted until the early 1990s. D.S. Vespers, a sports pub, was in the building from 1997 to 2002; Nonna’s held the space from 2002 to 2013; and then the Olympic restaurant operated there from 2013 to 2015.
