Fire rips through Hamburger Heaven Express in Bridgeport; ‘devastated’ owners unsure if they will rebuild

The owners of a 24-hour burger joint in Bridgeport are “devastated and heartbroken” after an early morning fire ripped through Hamburger Heaven Express on Archer Avenue.

“We are very sad to report to our customers we had a fire and will remain closed until further notice,” owner Scott Wishecoby wrote on Facebook.

Firefighters responded to a fire at the restaurant at 5 a.m. Friday in the 3000 block of South Archer Avenue, Chicago police said. No one was injured, and an investigation found the fire was accidental.

“It was very hard to watch something me and my wife and family had worked ... building 16 hours a day for the past 12 years burning in front of our very own eyes,” Wishecoby wrote.

“We are devastated and heartbroken. We are lifelong Bridgeporters.”

The restaurant — well-known for its daily specials featuring three sandwiches for $10 — was closed for Thanksgiving, and was due to open about the time the fire broke out.

“We were just getting ready to come to work,” Wishecoby, 42, said in an interview. “By the time got there, the building was completely gutted out.”

Wishecoby said he was leasing the location, and was unsure if he would be allowed to rebuild. He said his business was insured, but that he recently realized that the structure wasn’t.

“The ball is in [the landlord’s] court,” he said. “We’re in panic mode now. We just want to rebuild, but we’re not going to get much [money]. ... It really sucks.”

Wishecoby opened Hamburger Heaven Express in 2009 and ran it with his wife. He said he was proud of his businesses, and that he would often employ people that had a difficult time finding work.

“We enjoyed it, we’re neighborhood people,” he said. “We delivered 24 hours a day. We delivered up to Division and south to Hyde Park.”

Wishecoby was following in the footsteps of his father, who opened Kevin’s Hamburger Heaven in 1985 at Pershing and Wallace and ran it for several years before selling the business.

“I’m kind of in limbo,” Wishecoby said. “My goal is to open somewhere in the neighborhood. I’ve been in my own block for 24 years now. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”