Operations at a Binghamton pizza restaurant could be back to normal soon after nearly five months of disruption caused by a downtown fire that destroyed a neighboring building.

Nirchi's Pizza at 166 Water Street was closed for a few days following the blaze that ripped through the Ellis Brothers Furniture store.

The restaurant reopened for a short time but then was ordered to shut down when engineers determined the damaged furniture building would have to be demolished.

Lingering structural issues kept Nirchi's from resuming business as soon as its manager had expected.

John Hanrahan said a decision was made to take advantage of the forced closing to do a major remodeling of the restaurant that they'd been putting off.

Hanrahan said renovations had been discussed for about three years but the work had not started prior to the fire just south of the business.

The location manager said the layout of the restaurant will be different. It will feature booths instead of tables. He said the business should be operating again early next month.

Hanrahan said Nirchi's Pizza opened at the Water Street location more than 20 years ago.

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