By Jimmy Britt
HYDEVILLE—On Valentine’s Day 2016, tragedy struck Paul’s Pizza in the form of an electrical fire. But out of the ashes, Paul’s is being rebuilt.
Ellis Concrete of Castleton has taken on the project. In fact, they have already poured the foundation and floor, and added walls.
“We hope that Paul’s can get back on their feet and will be able to deliver pizzas again,” said owner of Ellis Concrete, Jarred Ellis. “We got onto the project because it’s local and set up for what we do like foundations, paneling and selling paneling to other work sites.”
Though the old building is gone, the memories and history of Paul’s are still here.
“I was an ambulance attendant and my husband was a contract manager for a plumbing company,” said the owner of Paul’s Pizza, Judy Wiskoski. “My daughter Alaina was working here [at Paul’s] for the previous owner,” she said, explaining how her family became connected to the business originally.
When Judy Wiskoski came to visit Alaina at work, she fell in love with the place. When the building came up for sale 25 years ago they took the chance and bought it. But they weren’t prepared for the negligence of the former owners, which ultimately led to the electrical fire.
“The fire marshall told us that it was the exhaust fan in the bathroom. It overheated and seized,” said Wiskoski of the fire’s origin.
Of course the Wiskoskis didn’t know that there was a problem until the fire investigator’s report. “It’s been a rollercoaster so far. It’s been very hard getting through the permit process with the engineers drawing up and proofing the plans. It’s been months and months of waiting. But now it’s getting really exciting seeing it go up,” said Judy Wiskoski.
She is also proud that her son is helping overseeing the construction of the building.
The Wiskoskis hope that they can also rebuild their staff and customers when the new building is finished. They are thinking about adding a discount for college students after 9 p.m.
“I’d go there if they had discount,” said Castleton University freshman Kyle Dash.
“I’d definitely order then if there was discount,” echoed senior Cheyenne Borthwick.
