'If it takes millions of dollars, if it's starting from scratch, then we'll start from scratch"
Out of the ashes of Bev Cunha Ashcraft's shell of a store on Main Street came a real estate deal that means new hope for the fire-gutted store's restoration.
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Cotchett will get part-ownership of the store - a deal the two have been working on for some time - but the majority economic interest will remain Ashcraft's, according to Cotchett.
"It will always be Bev's, and it will always be Cunha's Country Grocery," Cotchett said.
"Even when she doesn't want it to be Bev's store anymore," he laughed, "it will be her store."
Financial details were not disclosed, or even yet worked out precisely, Cotchett said.
"Within the next 10 days, ownership will be worked out," he said.
That ownership could be an expensive proposition - especially if there's any kind of problem with the store's insurance.
"If it takes millions of dollars, if it's starting from scratch, then we'll start from scratch," he said.
Ashcraft was not immediately available for comment.
Cotchett said his ties to the Half Moon Bay area are strong. He was amazed, he said, to stand among the crowd Wednesday night while the fire burned Cunha's store to the ground.
"The support, the feeling, it was beyond anything I've ever seen," he said. "I stood here at midnight and watched people cry."
And it wasn't just employees or those directly affected by the fire, Cotchett said. "The whole community cried.
"And this is a community that will not let Cunha's not be rebuilt."
Cotchett hopes that raising the money for reconstruction will be a community effort, and he also hopes to make the faade of the building look just like the original - before it even became Cunha's store, the building built in 1900 had a cupola at its peak.
"We're hoping to restore it to its old glamour," Cotchett said with a smile.
"We want this store to be back as quickly as possible."
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