Fourteen months after Summer Street blaze, $1.7 million in repairs are good to go

June 25, 2022

The former Cafe Latte site this week, more than a year after the fire. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

By Peter Holmes

More than a year after the blaze that ripped through an apartment above Cafe Latte on Summer Street - forcing multiple shop owners to evacuate and then relocate - there is movement on the rebuild.

Orange City Council has approved a development application for more than $1.7 million worth of “alterations and additions to repair fire damage” at three of the affected properties - 167, 169 and 171 Summer Street.

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The approval - on April 22 - was noted in recent council committee minutes.

The properties are owned by different individuals and couples, however the applicant to council for the building works is the same for all three - Sedgwick Building Consultancy Division.

The value of each development application across the three properties, $580,063, was exactly the same. The total value of the DAs is $1,740,189.

Unsightly scaffolding outside the affected shops. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

In the aftermath of the fire, affected businesses reopened elsewhere.

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Games n More (formerly at 171 Summer Street) headed down to Lords Place between the courthouse and the Overlander Indian Restaurant, while Cafe Latte (173 Summer Street) accepted an offer to set up in the nearby Uniting Church on Anson Street.

The visual appeal of the area has been scarred by scaffolding that was necessary to keep pedestrians safe, and shop owners on Summer Street will be glad to see it gone.

Meanwhile, neighbouring property 161-165 Summer Street is going to auction on July 8.

The 478-square-metre property has two ground floor tenancies and two first-floor residential tenancies.

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