Charlestown Street Cafe owners Larry Mellum and Ron Hanlon are anxious to reopen since the popular spot's February 4 kitchen fire, now that Petco has failed to follow through on locating there.

Mellum said his landlord, Tom Strickland, who co-owns the property with Frontier Bank, wants to get the cafe up and running, and but he has been awaiting word from his insurance's assessment of the damage.

Mellum said his insurance covers the building's content affected by the fire, and the landlord's insurance covers the structural damage.

"It's all been held up by our landlord, but he just told me 'I am waiting like you are' for word from his insurance, and that he wants to reopen too'" said Mellum. Part of the problem is that the city sees it as an older building that needs to be brought up to code, which falls to the landlord.

Once reopened, he said the cafe would still be on a month-to-month lease.

"The owners want to continue to redevelop," he said. "We are hoping that the restaurant will be part of their bigger retail plan."

The site has been controversial since about a year ago when Petco wanted to purchase the property, build a new store, and move out of its current Alaska Junction location. Members of the local community protested vehemently via marches in front of the cafe, at board meetings, and mailings, as they believed that Petco would not be a good fit that location. They also deemed the Charlestown Street Cafe an historic neighborhood cornerstone on which families enjoyed and seniors depended.

"Petco's out," said Mellum. "The landlord said Petco has not followed up with the requirements needed to legally comply with opening a new store there. This may be anecdotal, but I understand that when they saw the outrage from all the protesting, they decided to move on."