Popular Winnipeg eatery now eyesore

Basil's, arestaurant that was a cornerstone ofOsborne Village in central Winnipeg for generations, remainscondemned more than two years after a water-main break forced it to close.

Neighbouring business owners say something needs to be done about the eyesore the building has become since Basil's closed in February 2008.

Basil's offered "the most beautiful patio, bar none, in the city," recalled Jennie Diacos, who owns the adjacent Carlos and Murphy's restaurant.

But instead of a lively patio, Diacos said, she'll be spending her third summer in a row next to a dirty, dusty, boarded-up building.

"It's an empty building," she said. "You always want to see things full up. Full occupancy means everyone's happy, everyone's successful."

Even more worrisome, Diacos added, is that the buildingis turning into ahangout for street kids.

"There are people milling in the parking lot that aren't customers, so take that for what it is," Diacos said. "They're not our customers, they're just people milling there."

Theresa Sanderson, chair of Osborne Village Biz,says the area has lost an important business.

The neighbourhood "loses a lot by driving past and not seeing the warm space that it was," Sanderson said, adding rumours continue to swirl about the building's future.

"I've heard some rumblings of grand projects," she said. "It's a great space."

Basil's owner, Basil Lagopoulos, won't speak publicly. A family spokesperson says he has settled with insurance companies but still hasn't made a decision on the future of the building.

"I'm devastated. I'm in shock," Lagopoulos told CBC News at the time of the floodingthat wiped out the business he opened in 1966. "And I'll have to think very hard about this whole thing.

"I would like to reopen, but it will take quite a few weeks, I think, before anything can come to any kind of normalcy."