Community Corner

Owners Will Rebuild Gateway Building

Jayne Orloff Carey and her family have decided to rebuild their Humphrey Street property, destroyed by fire earlier this week.

The owner of the property that burned this week plans to rebuild and would like to restore the building to its original look of more than 100 years ago.

Jayne Orloff Carey of Marblehead said her family has owned the building for 40 years, and it was an ideal property with many longtime tenants, one of them a man who had lived there for 30 years.

Carey said all her tenants are welcome to return when the new building is built.

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“I’ve already told them they have first refusal,” she said.

She and other family members decided unanimously to rebuild. The new building would have the same uses as the old building, housing businesses and residences.

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The owners will meet with designers, financiers, town officials and others to work out the rebuilding details, Carey said.

She expects the debris leftover from the three-story building will be cleared away within a week.

It’s unlikely she will find out what caused the fire, which fire officials believe started in a business, .

“I wish we could find out,” she said.

The most important thing is everyone got out safely, she said. The tenants’ pets got out safely, as well, the landlord said.

There were six occupied businesses and six apartments in the building, she said.

Many of the tenants had been there a long time.

One man had lived in the building for 30 years, she said.

A couple in Swampscott have offered to rent him a two-bedroom apartment for $550 a month, Carey said.

Another man had been living in an apartment for 10 years. A friend of his has paid for him to stay at for a month while he searches for a new place to live, she said.

Another tenant was a grandmother, her grandson and a nephew. They have found another apartment on Humphrey Street, Carey said.

A mother and father and their pre-teen son are still looking for a place to live.

Jessica Xiong lost both her business, , and her upstairs apartment in the blaze.

She too is looking for a new place to live while she stays at Cap'n Jack’s.

As the landlord finds out about available apartments, she is passing on this information to her former tenants.


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