Jessica George keeps her phone on silent overnight.
When she checked it at 7 a.m. Thursday morning, she had missed several calls, many texts — and a few photos of a car lodged in the side of her Edgewood coffee shop that was scheduled to open in the next few weeks.
“Honestly, I thought I was dreaming because I was still half asleep when I read the texts. But when I raced right over there, I realized it wasn’t a dream,” she said as she sat on the curb in front of her coffee shop, Spigolo, on Friday. “It was more like a nightmare.”
Around 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning, a car lost control and crashed into the side of the building that George and her business partner, Ben Blackmore, are leasing from Steiner Realty Inc.
“I don’t know much about the driver but I heard she and her passenger are OK,” George said. “I don’t wish for anyone to get hurt in this situation.”
George said they were waiting on final approval from the Allegheny County Health Department. She said they will re-evaluate when they will be able to open. They are planning a fundraiser pop-up event in the parking lot on Aug. 24, which coincides with Edgewood Community Day.
“We were so close to opening,” George said. “The plan is to rebuild.”
Steiner Realty, Inc. is insured, George said. She isn’t sure how much it will cost to repair the building, as she’s waiting on the final word from building experts about the condition of the structure. Most of the damage is in front of the counter, so she believes the equipment hasn’t been damaged.
“Steiner Realty has been fantastic with us,” said George, who lives near the shop. “They acted very quickly.”
More debris was being removed Friday morning. The area where the car hit is covered with cardboard. Several bricks are protruding from the front of the building.
George said they love the location because it is on a corner and lots of people walk and drive by. There isn’t anywhere close to buy coffee. They chose the name Spigolo — which in Italian loosely means corner or edge — because the place is on a corner in Edgewood. It will serve coffee from Redhawk Coffee Roasters and small bites.
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“We are still so excited to open,” George said. “We’re just now slightly more delayed. The last 24 hours have been overwhelming. Everything was happening really quickly with the shop, so perhaps this is just the universe’s way of saying, ‘You’re not quite ready and you need an extra month.’ ”
George said she was upset initially, but has turned her attention to what needs to be done to fix this.
“I mean, it’s bad,” she said. “I don’t know if the structure has been compromised. We will find out about that hopefully today.”
The building formerly housed an auto mechanic.
There was an entrance for one car to enter what was a garage on the side.
“For 80 years this building has been standing,” said George. “And cars have been driving into the side where the garage door was. They were cars that were supposed to be there — now there is car that wasn’t supposed to be there.”