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There’s something rotten on top of West Bijou Street and neighbors say it is stinking up the neighborhood.
The vacant building has been several restaurants since it was built in 1989. According to a 2006 Gazette story, it opened in 1990 as Chicago Joe’s and was owned by SpecialtyRestaurants of Anaheim, Calif.
The company also owns the Sunbird restaurant on a hillside overlooking Rusina Road and I-25 in Pinecliff, north of Garden of the Gods Road.
The Bijou Street building was known in it’s last incarnation as the Fish Market, the name it still bears.
It was a popular place to sit, eat and enjoy panoramic views of downtown Colorado Springs. You can see it in the center of this image from FlashEarth.
But today, those views are only visible through holes punched in plywood and jagged shards of broken glass. The restaurant closed for renovation in 2001 and never reopened.
Today, the Fish Market is more of a drug market patronized by homeless and vandals who use it as a place to flop and party. Its interior has been gutted by thieves who stripped its wiring to sell for its copper value. Most of the windows have been broken.
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Colorado Springs Code Enforcement Administrator Ken Lewis, below, surveyed the damage on Friday as he and his assistant, Mark Davis, hauled out trash, painted graffiti and boarded windows. 
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The property was bought in May 2008 by the Pinery, a wedding and events center in Black Forest. Its owners paid $1.75 million and announced plans for a $7 million wedding and events facility on the site.
The nation’s economy cratered before they could get financing and the project has stalled ever since.
Eric Allen, vice president of operations at the Pinery, said the project remains alive. Eventually, it will be a huge asset to the neighborhood, he said.
In the meantime, Allen promised to ensure the building is secured and the site patrolled by security to reduce the vandalism and dissuade the vagrants attracted to the building.
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