JOHN DAY — The Deline Building in the 100 block of East Main Street in John Day, destroyed by fire in April, has been acquired by a Burns real estate broker.

Curt Blackburn, owner of United Country Jett Blackburn Real Estate, acquired the building from Chris Emery for about $17,000, he said.

Blackburn and his son Jake were in John Day on Sunday, Aug. 27, to remove the building’s awning above the front sidewalk. City officials and nearby business owners had voiced concern over the potential risk of the awning falling on passersby.

The building, which housed three storefronts, was destroyed on April 17 in what investigators determined was an electrical fire.

City officials and nearby business owners have been waiting for the past several months for the building’s previous owner to either sell the building or demolish it and clean up the property.

John Day officials said they had obtained a warrant in recent weeks to be able to have access to the property to remove the awning and mitigate the potential danger to people walking by.

Mayor Heather Rookstool said Emery was served the warrant about a week ago. Blackburn said he’s been making offers to Emery since July and about eight or nine days ago, Emery decided to sell.

“I think Chris being served with the warrant was what made him decide,” Rookstool said. “To me, at least, showing him we were moving the process forward showed him we were serious about getting something to happen.”

Emery, in an email, called the aftermath of the fire a “nightmare,” and added he “attempted to do the best I could for me and the community.”

“I’m so happy that someone is doing something of benefit to the community,” Emery said. “I had high hopes which were turned to ashes … It has been an astounding hit to me physically … I hope that (Blackburn) and his will be a worthy addition to the community.”

The deal closed on Friday, Aug. 25, Blackburn said. Blackburn said his immediate concern will be to complete the demolition and cleanup work before the end of the year. Blackburn said he will likely rebuild for commercial use, but the specifics on tenants and uses are still open at the moment.

“I got a good buy on it, I feel,” Blackburn said. “There’s a lot of risk to do this, but down the road, this would be a good investment.”

Directly west of the burned building is Country Preferred Realtors, which had a shared roofing system with the building destroyed by the fire. Owner Wendy Cates, whose business suffered smoke damage from the fire, said her insurance company has required her to demolish the eastern wall of her building and rebuild it in order for her to move back in because the wall could collapse.

Cates said she can’t do the work until the burned building next door is demolished.

Cates said she’s happy to hear the building next door will be demolished and the property cleaned up so that she can move back into her office. She said the smell of smoke is unpleasant whenever it rains on the rubble of the building next door.

Since the fire, Cates has operated her real estate business out of temporary space in Java Jungle across the street and also works from home.

“I’m very happy that it’s going to move forward and that someone purchased it,” she said. “It will be wonderful. I am really looking forward to that being cleaned up.”

Shannon Adair was among the tenants in the burned building with her 1188 Destinations Gift Shop, which was a total loss during the April 17 fire. Her 1188 Brewing Co. restaurant and pub, which is directly east of the burned building on the block, reopened in July after smoke damage was cleaned up.

“I’m just happy to see it move forward,” Adair said of the new ownership. “I’m happy to see someone taking action on it. I hope they do something cool with it on Main Street.”

This past week, scaffolding was seen in front of the 1188 Brewing Co. pub.

“We’re just redoing the face of the building so it looks like one business instead of two,” Adair said.