MACON, Ga. — People who dine in downtown Macon won't be able to enjoy one of the area's iconic restaurants.
A fire broke out on the deck of the Lofts at Silver, right next door to the historic Tic Toc Room.
The owner says when firefighters were putting out the flames, the water went through the building, causing water damage to all floors of the restaurant.
Now, they are left picking up the pieces.
David Fullman is one of the owners of the Tic Toc Room.
He says that the history the restaurant holds is what attracted him to the area.
"Little Richard played here, Otis Redding, James Brown, they all played here. It's been a staple in Macon for 50, 60 years," Fullman said.
Fullman moved here from New York, where he previously owned another restaurant, but the pandemic took a toll on things.
"In New York, we didn't survive. My restaurant closed up there, that's why I moved down here," Fullman said.
The Tic Toc Room also closed for a while, but reopened a few months later.
Now, they have to shut back down again after the building suffered severe water damage from a fire next door.
"We were building our business back up. This is a big step back for us." Fullman said.
Gene Dunwody purchased the building back in 1995.
He says that the Tic Toc Room was the first real restaurant opened in the downtown.
"I'm sad. It's a very special building to me. It's the first one I had worked on. I've worked on now 80 projects downtown, so this is our baby," Dunwody said.
Dunwody says although there's a lot of water damage, the building is sturdy and they will bring it back.
"We're going to dry it out, we're going to peel back the onion here and rebuild it," Dunwody said.
"My heart and soul has gone into this. My intention is to reopen, hopefully better and stronger," Fullman said.
Fullman points out that the fire did not start in the Tic Toc Room, and they did not suffer any fire damage, only water damage.