Traffic Changes After South Side Building Collapse Impacting Businesses
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- South Side businesses, residents and visitors are adjusting to the latest traffic changes because of a partial building collapse.
East Carson Street remains closed between 16th and 17th streets because of a building that partially collapsed on Thursday night.
Since then, some businesses have welcomed fewer customers, while others have been getting more because people have been visiting just to see the damage.
"I looked out the window, I was like holy smokes," said Daniel McSwiggen, owner of Cambod-Ican Kitchen.
A crane is staged near the building and ready to be used when demolition can begin. Pittsburgh Public Safety officials said this is a very fluid situation and once a timeline is decided, the public will be informed.
This has forced the closure of the business on the first floor, Swirl Penguins ice cream shop, and at this point, the shop is not sure what will happen next.
Since the closure, the owner of Cambod-Ican Kitchen noticed a decrease in people coming to eat.
"We probably lost about 15 percent of the business we normally do with it being closed both lanes on Carson and the building," said McSwiggen. "A lot fewer new customers, people weren't coming down to the nightclubs just because of that situation,"
On the other hand, an employee at The Exchange store saw more customers because many people have been going to see the damage.
"We did have a large increase yesterday for a Friday, which is quite unusual especially in the last two hours," said Charles Nemit.
He's hopeful that business will boom until the mess is cleaned up.
"There will be enough intrigue, people will want to see it and see what happened, that way I can get some walk-ins, which is always a good thing for us. On the second hand, we're losing all the bus traffic and the car traffic coming from downtown and North Side. So it's a pro and con depending on how you look at it," Nemit said.
The weekend traffic restrictions on East Carson Street between 10th and 18th streets have been put on hold.