'Devastating': Fire Breaks Out At The Coffee Cup In St. Paul; Firefighters Rescue Man

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A beloved St. Paul coffee shop caught fire Friday evening.

The St. Paul Fire Department says crews were called to The Coffee Cup on the 1400 block of Rice Street just before 6 p.m., and arrived to find a fire on the first floor.

Firefighters rescued a man who was on the building's second floor. He was taken to Regions Hospital for evaluation. It is not clear if he was injured.

The restaurant had closed almost three hours earlier, and no one was inside at the time of the fire. One of the owners, Amanda Elazab, said she got a call around 5:50 p.m. that her business was on fire.

"It was devastating. We had a lot of customers watching, a lot of local neighbors, a lot of our employees hugging me and crying when they got here, Elazab said.

They have owned The Coffee Cup for the last couple years, and say they have tried to keep it as it has been for years. Now, after the fire, they want to get back open as soon as possible.

"We have every intention of building back up as quickly as we can and getting open again," she said. "We've gotten so much support from the community."

Elazab believes it will take the insurance company about a month to assess the damage. The St. Paul Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire.