Restoration efforts are nearly complete on Gerlinger Annex, following a fire that broke out on the third floor of the facility on June 29.
The fire is still believed to have been accidentally caused by a two-burner cook stove that was left on overnight, University spokesperson Phil Weiler said.
University administration anticipates that the building will be ready for the first day of the fall term on Sept. 29, pending the passing of mandatory inspections the second and third weeks of September.
DPS responded to the fire at 9:59 p.m., and no one was believed to have been inside the building. There were no injuries.
In addition to burn damage on the third floor, the entire building has smoke and ventilation damage.
These issues will have to be remedied to be brought up to code, Vik Construction Superintendent Steve Newman said.  
Newman oversees the final phase of the reconstruction and said that his team has been busy getting the building ready.
“We had to disconnect the electrical power to make it safe,” Newman said. “You can see the finishing touches right now. You can see all those rooms on the third floor, and those rooms are virtually done. All that’s left is to drop ceiling tiles.”
Immediately after the fire, and during the start of reconstruction, Gerlinger’s employees were only allowed back into the building intermittently to grab belongings and were relocated to temporary offices.
Building Manager Marian Moser was finally permanently allowed back into her original Gerlinger Annex office on Sept. 13.
Moser said she feels safe working in the building and thinks that the reconstruction efforts following the fire may have improved the overall quality.
“I think it will be better in a lot of ways, because of [the reconstruction],” Moser said. “They’ve done a lot of stuff bringing it up to code, and they’ve put in more wireless things for classes and installed a sprinkler system.”
University administrators did not respond to calls about specific up-to-date costs associated with the Gerlinger Annex reconstruction, but estimates dating from July were approximately $500,000.
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