Owners of a South Florida restaurant landmark are set to start tearing down part of the eatery and rebuilding after a fire gutted the building.
Tropical Acres at 2400 Griffin Road in Dania Beach was temporarily closed after it was badly damaged by smoke and flames on Aug. 30.
The fire, ruled accidental by investigators, ripped through the laundry and kitchen area and required extensive clean up. A rolling iron sparked flames that burned about 1,200 feet of the 17,000 square foot banquet and dining hall.
Co-owner Carolyn Greenlaw started working at the more than six-decades-old restaurant when she was 16 in the '60s.
"I love this place," said Greenlaw, with watery eyes staring at the new sign her family had put up just before the fire.
Demolition will begin Monday morning, but Greenlaw says she hopes he restaurant will reopen by mid-December, in time for Christmas.
Reopening won't be any easier after thieves stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment that was being stored on a covered patio and sold it at a local scrap yard.
Two men have been arrested but police said they're looking for two other suspects.
