May 7, 2015, The New Haven Independent, by Paul Bass - A new floor of wood chips will cover the vacant lot that used to house Delaney’s at the crossroads of Westville Village, as the dream of rebuilding the popular restaurant and tap room there has been put on hold. A dramatic all-night fire destroyed Delaney’s on Aug. 25, ripping a slice out of the neighborhood’s commercial heart. Since then the lot has lain vacant as the property’s owner, Ronald Groves, and Delaney’s operator Peter Gresme haggled with insurers and sought to build a new version of Delaney’s. Groves did settle with his insurer, recouping less than he’d hoped—not enough, he said, to rebuild without help from state government. He hasn’t received that help, he said. Paul Bass File PhotoPAUL BASS FILE PHOTO Meanwhile, Gresme (pictured) has failed to come to terms with his insurer. He had insured the business’s contents and leasehold improvements. He’d need to recoup that money to afford to rebuild the business inside the shell of a new building that an owner would erect. “It’s nine months later. All the records were destroyed in the fire. We had to recreate everything. Now that we’ve done that, they’re nickel and diming every claim,” Gresme said Thursday. “I couldn’t commit [to Groves] without knowing how much [money] I’m going to have. He has to do something with his property too. I want to be here. I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to hold [him] up... 

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