"Nov. 12, 2000 is a date Joe Bordieri will never forget. At about 10:30 in the evening a fire started in the transformer box outside 2012 Queen St. E. Six hours later, Joe and his family had lost everything they owned, including Joe's business, Vienna Upholstery, which was on the main level of the building, and the apartment where he and his wife had lived for so many years and raised their family."
"'You never think it can happen to you. It's always going to be the other guy,' said Joe. After a year, Joe is still adjusting. 'It hits me once and a while.. the pictures, memorabilia, even clothes, they're all gone...it'll never be the same .... There are some tools [used in his upholster business] that are so old, they can't be replaces."
"Borbieri and his family found another place to live, and he moved his business to a new, temporary location on Kingston Road near Midland."
"Now, however, Joe has something to look forward to. Later this year Joe will be moving both his family and his business back to Queen Street - to a new, and quite impressive residential/commercial addition to the streetscape across from Kew Gardens."
"Joe's partner in this venture is award winning builder and local resident Bob Mitchell. Bob has designed a three story condominium to replace the building lost by fire, which will include 12 residential lofts with two business on the street level. The lofts, which will have 17 foot ceilings on the main living area, and walkouts to private roof gardens range in size from 712 to 1,900 sq.ft. and are priced from $329,900 to $499,900. Nine of the units have a lake view. But don't get too excited. Mitchell barely had time to allow the ink to dry on the final plans before the units were all scooped up."
"One of the stores on the main floor of the building will house Vienna Upholstery. The other business will be Gardenscape, which is currently located on Queen near Beech, and needs a larger space. Not coincidentally, the owner of Gardenscape is Bev Mitchell, Bob's wife."
"While residential units will not be ready for about a year, Joe said that he hopes he can move Vienna Upholstery back to Queen Street some time this summer. While he can barely wait to get back into the thick of things again, Joe did have one concern. 'I drove my van down there recently ... Are you sure they haven't made the parking spots smaller?'"
