DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — Damage from frozen sprinkler pipes that burst in the Fidelity Building at 211 S. Main St. has forced the evacuation and relocation of eight downtown agencies and businesses with some 120 employees.

Dayton Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Payne said the sprinkler pipes burst on Dec. 23.

Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, said she is working with the displaced businesses to find temporary office space.

Legal ownership of the building, according to the partnership, is Monarch Hotel Group-Fidelity Investments & Monterey Holdings. Montgomery County records show the legal owner as Fidelity Investments.

"Our hope is to repair the building and get it reopened as soon as possible," Sarah Fennell, spokesman for the Monarch group, said Wednesday, January 7.

Among the displaced is Community Services for the Deaf, which has relocated its 17 staff members to the United Way Building, 184 Salem Ave., and Places, Inc., which is still searching for a temporary location for the 20 full-time employees who worked on the ninth floor.

Places, Inc. administrators have been working from home and other employees are at a satellite site where they normally reported on weekends.

"Over the holidays we weren't sure there was a reason to move because we weren't sure how long we'd be out," said Roy Craig, executive director of Places, Inc., which proves residential care and supportive services for mentally ill adults, including the homeless.

Craig said he's now told it could be two to four weeks before they can move back into the 12-story building at the corner of Fifth and South Main streets, but he hasn't received confirmation the building will indeed reopen.

"The biggest issue now is what is going to happen?" Craig said. Bonnie Parish, executive director of the Family Service Association, also wonders if the situation is just temporary.

Community Services for the Deaf, a program of the Family Service Association, is now sharing office space at the United Way Building.

Parish said the fire department notified the agency on Dec. 29 that it had to evacuate its fifth floor location in the Fidelity Building, where the power has been shut off.

"It's just a mess right now," she said. "We have things swimming in water."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDailyNews.com.