More than a year after a devastating commercial fire in downtown John Day destroyed the near-century-old Deline Building on the north side of Main Street, one of the businesses displaced by the blaze still has not been made whole.

The office of Country Preferred Realtors has been closed since April 17, 2023, when an electrical fire gutted the adjacent building to the west. Business owner Wendy Cates said she’s been having trouble with her insurance company accepting bids for a wall demolition, which needs to happen before she can move forward with structural repairs so she can move back in.

“It’s very difficult,” said Cates, who owns the property her building stands on. “It’s incredible how much business we’ve lost. I’m hoping my insurance will settle with me so I can move forward. Now it’s been over a year.”

Meanwhile, since the fire, Cates said her business has taken a substantial dive, having lost about 75 percent of what it had been.

“I don’t want to lose my business,” she said. “I’m the principal broker-owner. I have five other people depending on me to keep the doors open. It’s their livelihood.”

Customers can find Cates and her brokers across the street at the Java Jungle coffee shop, whose owner has provided them with office space. Cates has also been working from home.

Meanwhile, the empty space left by the destruction of the Deline Building found a new owner in Curt Blackburn, who acquired the property last August.

Blackburn, a real estate broker from Burns, demolished the structure in October.

The Deline Building had housed three storefronts and was set to welcome a new ice cream shop called Fire and Ice that had moved some furnishings and equipment in prior to the blaze.

Blackburn said he’s considering putting up a new two-story mixed-use building on the same footprint as the former structure, with two storefronts on the ground floor and residential space on the second.

Blackburn said he hopes to start moving on development next year and has reached out to an architect with preliminary design ideas.

“I’d like to get a plan by this fall and probably, by next spring, break ground,” he said.

Shannon Adair, whose 1188 Destinations Gift Shop was among the tenants in the burned building, was able to reopen her smoke-damaged 1188 Brewing Co. restaurant and pub last July after restoration work was completed. The brewpub is next to the burned property on the east side.

Adair said she’s been communicating with Blackburn, who has given her permission to use the empty lot for outdoor events in the summertime with the potential to combine food, drinks and entertainment.

Adair said she’s happy for the new opportunities more than a year after the fire.

“We’re glad it’s behind us because last year was really challenging for us,” she said. “We’re looking forward to the future.”