Displaced by studio fire, longtime city law firm returning ‘home’
Courtesy of Ben Costello
The Yablonski, Costello & Leckie law firm will return to its North Main Street home Thursday.
Courtesy of Ben Costello
The Yablonski, Costello & Leckie law firm will return to its North Main Street home Thursday.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
An empty lot sits at 120 N. Main St. in Washington after contractors worked in April to demolish the former Ruschel photography studio, which burned down in February.
Eric Betzner has had no qualms with East Maiden Street, no qualms with being displaced, no qualms with a different work space – even during a pandemic.
His law firm could have been courting disaster six months ago, when the building next door burned in downtown Washington. None of the practice’s 10 employees were injured and their two-story structure emerged largely unscathed.
There was damage, though, and the 59-year-old firm of Yablonski, Costello & Leckie needed a temporary home if it were to continue operations. Within a week, it found one less than a mile away, still in the city, as preparations began to renovate their facility at 116 N. Main St.
The Feb. 27 blaze took a formidable toll, however, destroying not only Ruschel’s Studio, but multiple apartment units and photographer William Ruschel’s work, dating to 1957.
That renovation of 116 North Main is nearly complete, and YCL Law Firm is poised for its homecoming. The offices will reopen for business Thursday, six months to the day of the fire.
“It’s like coming back from a vacation. We want to get home,” Betzner, the managing partner, said with a satisfied chuckle. “Everyone is really looking forward to getting back into our offices.”
YCL was fortunate in that its two-story structure, where the firm is the lone tenant, experienced only slight water and smoke damage. The practice has an extensive art collection, and just one of 45 pieces was destroyed. Betzner acknowledged there were construction delays because of COVID-19, which limited the availability of workers for a while.
Shortly after the blaze, Ben Costello, another longtime attorney at the practice, praised the work of Washington police and firefighters.
“I thanked everybody,” he told the Observer-Reporter. “The building we were occupying was saved by the firefighters. We were lucky. We lost some stuff and our rubber roof melted a little.”
Betzner said earlier this week the to-do list has been whittled to cleanup and installation of new signage and blinds. New carpeting and tile are in.
“Our biggest concern is an exposed exterior wall,” Betzner said. “It looks horrible and we don’t want it to be horrible.”
Yablonski, Costello & Leckie – which specializes in workers compensation, personal injury and Social Security disability cases – has been at this North Main location for two years. Yet the practice has been a North Main staple for decades.
Ken Yablonski started the business inside two rooms of the Washington Trust Building in 1961, before eventually taking over an entire floor. The firm has five staffers and four practicing attorneys: Betzner, Costello, John Bitonti and Kelly Dollins. Scott Leckie is a retired attorney who serves as the chief financial officer.
Since early March, those 10 have been have been working on East Maiden, in the ground-floor offices of a former magistrate. Costello credited retired local businessman Andy Uram and his son, Tom, for helping the practice locate its temporary quarters.
Betzner said the accommodations have been different from what personnel had been accustomed to, but have been more than sufficient.
“It’s like one big room,” he said. “We’re making it work. We’re grateful to have been able to work.”
The northward move back will be completed soon, and Yablonski, Costello & Leckie again will be in a familiar place: on a hill up from Washington County Courthouse.
Costello, a longtime attorney with the practice, is eager to return. The message he saw recently on a billboard along Route 19 reflects his sentiment.
“It says ‘The comeback will be better than the setback,'” he said. “That is absolutely a great attitude to have, and that’s our attitude.”
Betzner, who has been with the firm for 33 years, is pleased the homecoming is imminent – and gratified that Feb. 27 wasn’t as horrific as it could have been in the heart of Washington’s business district.
“We could have been completely wiped out,” he said.