Asst. Chief Larry Stewart of the Tontitown Area Fire Department watches as the building once home to Mary Maestri’s burns to the ground Saturday afternoon.
Photo: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer
The former Mary Maestri’s restaurant at 992 E. Henri De Tonti Blvd., in Tontitown was demolished this weekend to clear the way for a planned shopping center.
The City Church found a temporary home in the building following the closure of Mary Maestri’s.
Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer
Fire crews, including members of the Tontitown Area Fire Department, destroyed the building in a controlled burn training exercise which started Saturday morning. By 3 p.m., little remained of the structure.
The 87-year-old restaurant was closed by the state in mid-2010 for delinquent sales tax payments. The building then served as a temporary home to The City Church, which recently found a permanent home in Fayetteville at 2070 N. Garland Ave.
According to a recent report in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, Cave Springs businessman Brett Hash plans to build a 30,000-square-foot shopping center called Casalini Court at the site, located at the corner of U.S. Highway 412 and Arkansas Highway 112.
Burning down a historic landmark so the local fat cats can build another ugly stripmall. The 1 Percent wins again. :(
Sad, sad day. Do we need another strip mall? Really?
Anyone concerned about saving the building should have purchased the building. Besides, with new building requirements the place will soon be something other than a white, boring, building surrounded by a nearly tree-less parking lot.
That’s right, Jerry. Now it will be a boxy strip center, just like every other strip center in the US, with a tree-less parking lot.
Bill, Come on man! Don’t gripe just to gripe.
there was nothing about that joint historic but the ” terrible owner of the modern times”. He blew it
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Tontitown is completely west Springdale now. It hasn’t had a real identity in a few years. Its a shame more wasn’t done to preserve the uniqueness of the community out there. I guess people gotta get paid, though.
Seems Michael doesn’t get the idea of new building codes. The new project will contain far more trees than when it was a restaurant. And as I said, you should have purchased the property if you were so concerned about preserving it. I do agree with glutenfree. The only identity Tontitown has today is white trash. Too bad the community never understood the economic benefits they would have gained from tourism if they’d retained a visible Italian community.
Tourism in Tontitown? What are you talking about.
That’s my point. This former Italian community missed the boat, and I doubt they are willing to try and get it back.
That was a perfectly nice building. what a shame