Pittsburgh business reopens after storms tear roof off building
A business in Pittsburgh's South Side has reopened after damaging storms ripped through our region in April.
For several weeks, the PerLora furniture store on East Carson Street was closed for repairs. But on Friday, store owners Perry Sigesmund and Lora Sigesmund started the day with a literal bang as they did a champagne toast to its reopening.
It was a fitting celebration as it was a bang that forced PerLora closed in late April. The building's roof flew off during the windstorm that caused widespread damage.
"I've just never seen anything like it. I'm sure a lot of people in Pittsburgh have never seen anything like it. It was scary," Perry Sigesmund said.
The Sigesmunds didn't realize the roof on East Carson Street was theirs until they went to the third floor of their building and saw the roof was gone. Roofers started fixing the building that day. They buckled down and made sure it wasn't the end of their business.
"Luckily, the building could be repaired and we had great people working on it, so it never crossed our minds," Lora Sigesmund said.
For the last few weeks, crews repaired the roof, interior damaged by water and cleaned up the shop. Cleaners only finished up on Thursday.
"We're back together and we're just thrilled to open up today," Perry Sigesmund said.
So, as they have done for almost 31 years, PerLora welcomed customers to its East Carson Street store.
"It was really good to come in and see everybody where they're supposed to be and have customers come in. It was really nice to hear the door ringing with customers," Lora Sigesmund said.
The Sigesmunds estimated the cost to get everything back up and running was around $600,000.
