LAKE PLACID – One year after a fire ravaged the nearly century-old Fortunes of Time building on the eve of the annual Ironman Lake Placid triathlon, hundreds of triathletes and their loved ones will return to the village for the first time for this weekend’s race.

Down at 2519 Main St., the building, constructed in 1917, looks from the outside like it’s close to an opening. The business’ exterior sign greets Main Street passersby intact, and employees were adjusting window decorations earlier this week.

Step inside, and the building’s interior has been gutted down to its “skin and bones,” as owner Mary Anne Hawley puts it.

“The water damage was so severe and the roof had collapsed from the heat of the fire leaving us with a massive level of damage and destruction,” Hawley wrote in an email this week about the July 25, 2015, fire. “We lost seven apartments and a retail store due to water damage. The fire investigators narrowed down the cause of the fire to an off-brand charger for a laptop manufactured in China located in an apartment.”

Even to salvage the building to this degree, Hawley said, was a massive effort on the part of Fortunes of Times in the year since the fire upended downtown on its busiest weekend.

The building was initially deemed to be a “total loss” by those such as village police Chief Bill Moore, due to the roof collapse.

The fire also damaged the neighboring Wanda building, owned by village Trustee and Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort co-owner Peter Holderied. That building sustained some fire and water damage. It contained apartments and three stores: Two Harts, Goose Watch Winery and Newman’s News. Firefighters used aerial ladder trucks from the Lake Placid and neighboring Saranac Lake fire departments to spray the roofs of both buildings, stopping the fire from spreading further. The Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department reportedly sprayed 6,000 gallons of water per minute.

Holderied, speaking at Monday’s village board meeting, said half of the Wanda building is new.

“Hopefully she’s rebuilding in the fall,” Holderied said of Hawley at the meeting. “That’s what she said.”

Holderied later added, “Half the (Wanda) building was destroyed. There were 29 apartments in the building, and half of the square footage of the building was destroyed, mostly from sprinkler water.”

Thanks to a mild winter, Hawley was able to install a permanent roof and temporary heating that boosted the temperature to 38 degrees inside the structure, enabling Fortunes of Time to save its brick shell.

“This was truly a blessing,” Hawley said. “Layer upon layer was removed until over 30 large dumpsters were filled. While keeping the original look of the exterior, new floor plans and an addition to the rear of the building are in the design and planning process.”

Removing asbestos was costly, Hawley said, and new steel beams were installed in October 2015. The fire also gave Hawley the opportunity to bring the building up to code by adding an elevator and interior fire exit.

Hawley said the additions resulted in much lost space, compared to the original structure, and prompted Fortunes of Time to ask for an addition on the lakefront rear. On Jan. 6, the Lake Placid-North Elba Joint Review Board approved an addition to the building 80 feet from the lake, well outside the 50-foot setback. The addition would be about 26 feet deep and about 24 feet wide, including internal square footage for apartments and decks.

Though the Main Street side of the building will not be changed, the lakeside addition will have a fairly modern style, including metal side panels. One board member called it a “contemporary interpretation” at a December meeting.

“To me, the historical part of the building is material and architecture, and the material for 80 percent of the building is staying the same,” board Chairman Bill Hurley said in December. “It’s the brick facade in the front, the cornice work in the front, the window detail in the front, and it’s all remaining the same.”

Hawley operates two other Main Street shops: Imagination Station and There and Back Again.

She said this week the Fortunes of Time building’s construction doesn’t currently have a completion date.

“We look forward to the future of the building and seeing it stand for another 100 years,” she said. “There will be updates soon, and we look forward to reopening an old historic building with a fresh new interior and a past that so many remember fondly.”