Rise from the ashes: Food carts, tap room fill Hillsboro space left by Weil Arcade fire [Video]

HILLSBORO Ore. (KPTV) – Downtown Hillsboro continues to move forward three years after a fire burned one of its most famous buildings to the ground and devasted parts of the local economy.

“I like being downtown, it’s still kind of old school, hometown kind of feel,” said Edward Gorman, a food truck vendor.

Three years ago, many in this tight-knit community couldn’t imagine anything new flourishing in the space where the Weil Arcade building was consumed by flames in the early morning hours on Jan. 2, 2022.

“I came down, couldn’t get on the street, they kind of let you close enough but it was bad, really bad,” Gorman said. “A lot worse than I expected.”

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The fire, which turned out to be an arson, destroyed the building, killed one person inside and caused damage to nearly 30 …