A well-known diner in the Orleans County Village of Holley is closed for now, after a back wall on their historic building came down Friday morning.
It happened at about 9:30 a.m. at Sam’s Diner, a place that Tom Rivers, editor of our news partner, the Orleans Hub , said is a very popular spot for people in that community.
He said that luckily, it happened during a time when the diner is not normally open, and there were no injuries.
But the future of that building, which dates back more than a century, is in question right now.
Rivers said a specialized team from Monroe County is checking out the structure.
“A building stability team (is) looking at it. I think they’re going to have a construction company come out as well,” said Rivers, “and we’ll see what happens at this point. You can’t even drive on the Public Square. They’re concerned (about) the vibrations from big vehicles, in case this creates a chain reaction of more trouble for other buildings.”
Rivers said many of the buildings in that area of Holley known as the Public Square, date back to the 1800s.
He said the Gitsis family has owned the diner for about 50 years, and that brick and stone back wall had shown some cracks, but the owner was not able to get someone to commit to doing work on the building in recent months.
The mayor in Holley, Mark Bower, talked to the Orleans Hub about the Gitsis family, which owns the diner.
“From day one, George and his father, mother and sister have done wonderful work in Holley,” Bower told the Orleans Hub. “I’m just wanting this business to survive. It’s such an asset to Holley.”
This story includes reporting from WXXI's news partner, Orleans Hub.
