Collapsed building getting new roof and new look

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Work crews have been busy at the historic Pioneer Center on Harrison Avenue where a roof collapsed on January 23, flooding out the liquor store and thrift shop beneath it.

Hoyt Holmes of H.W. Holmes Incorporated has been hired to rebuild the structure which will have a smaller version of the liquor store and a new retail/coffee shop space as well as the existing Port-of-Subs, Sierra Veterinary Hospital, Rojo's and Jalisco's.

Holmes said the new roof will be up by October 31 and construction should be complete around the beginning of 2018.

"The City has been very nice to work with," said Holmes. He builds up and down the state and said other communities are much harder to get things built due to rules and regulations. "Dave and John have been great."

The building's owners Medhi Behmard and Shahpour Kazemi have been working closely with Holmes to design a new looking facade and new configuration of floor space. The flat roof will remain as it was cost prohibitive the change the roof line, but Holmes said people won't even notice when looking at it once completed.

Pioneer Center from Rojo's to Port of Subs was once the Globin Hotel. Fire destroyed part of it in the 1960s, leaving Rojo's as the only original portion of the 1920s construction.