JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A business impacted by the devastating RISE Doro fire is now open.
Manifest Distillery had to close following the Jan. 28 fire.
David Cohen, president and co-founder of Manifest Distilling, told First Coast News he didn't know how long his business would be closed. He walked through his building with emergency officials the day after the fire. He said the fire felt like a blow to the progress in downtown.
"We were able to peak in there briefly for a minute and thankfully everything looked okay," Cohen said on Jan. 29.
"We've been dealing with construction for the past two and a half years," he continued. "And we were, what, weeks away from having neighbors and a little bit of a street life out there and so it's tough."
On Feb. 16, Manifest will hold a Thank You Party for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, for "their heroic work to contain the fire at RISE Doro."
The demolition is ongoing and expected to take 8-10 weeks. It is not happening during the distillery's business hours: Wednesday-Thursday 2 p.m.-10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 2 p.m.-12 a.m.
Its neighboring business, Intuition Ale Works reopened Sunday.