Building inspectors respond after Squirrel Hill business owner asks for help after several issues
Monday morning, Pittsburgh inspectors were seen speaking to a contractor reportedly working for Nexus Real Estate, who owns a building along Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill that is partially condemned.
A city inspector said, “We’re going to be writing up some violations, I’ll be giving some notices in the mail for you.”
The owner of the store Binz, says she started contacting Nexus last year after several issues inside her shop including water leaking from walls onto power outlets, a hole in the roof and a flooded basement with exposed wiring. After not hearing anything back from Nexus, she contacted the City of Pittsburgh’s code inspector out of safety concerns.
Jessica Santoriello who is Binz’ owner said, “The inspectors went around the basement and found a lot of electrical hazards. The fire exits aren’t accessible there’s only one way in and out of our store and only one way in and out of the apartments upstairs.”
The building was partially condemned last week– with city inspectors saying the roof is in partial collapse and the rear wall is failing.
Monday, city inspectors were back. And for the first time in 4 months, we’re told Nexus Real Estate did call Binz’ owner to say they’d be doing work.
Ellie Voyvodich who is a Binz Employee said, “They did put up a tarp and tape it to the back wall in order to control the mold and they also apparently pulled a permit and brought in a roofer to give them a quote to fix the caving roof in the back room.”
The city decided not to fully condemn the building, meaning tenants get to stay in their apartments and Binz can remain open.
“I don’t know if I feel hopeful or that my boss feels hopeful. It’s a little too little too late, she’s taking a lot of hits financially trying to keep the business afloat,” Voyvodich added.
WPXI reached out to Nexus Real Estate for comment. When we called the number that Binz’ owner gave us, we asked if we could speak to someone from Nexus Real Estate. A woman said we had the wrong number, but it’s the same number listed for the business. When WPXI called back a second time, the call went directly to voicemail.
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