PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The nightmare on Bainbridge Street continues. A massive major outage flooded homes and businesses in 6th and Bainbridge Streets in July last year.
Months later, the street and sidewalks are still torn up while repairs drag out.
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“There’s still water in the light fixture,” Adam Volk said.
Volk walked CBS3 through the cleaned basement of its new restaurant, Redcrest Kitchen, on Bainbridge Street. It’s right where the old Bainbridge Barrel House used to be in Queen Village.
“The water was actually all over the ceiling. It was over 10 feet and went into the dining room,” Volk said.
His dream of opening was washed away after a massive water pipe rupture. He says 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water flowed in. It was back in July 2021 and now months later he is still fighting.
“There are several restaurants in this neighborhood that fought through COVID and tried to get us through something like this, it’s just devastating,” he said.
Volk assumed his insurance would cover it, but he was denied.
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“Without the backing of the insurance company and without the city stepping in to help us, it’s like just sitting back and waiting to try to raise money,” he said.
Volks’s last way to raise cash – a GoFundMe page.
But as he works inside, that’s how the outside is. He says that even if he had to open, it would be a challenge.
“The fact that the road is still not a usable, passable space will definitely ravage any business here,” he said.
Eyewitness News contacted the water department and we were told that repairs like this are time consuming and complicated, but they hope to be completed by April, as planned.
A spokesman said: “It looks like we are on track to get all the supply work done and the road repaired by the estimated completion date. But with complex projects like this involving very large water mains and dense infrastructure under the street, there could be unexpected delays. ”
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While this has been an extremely long road, Volk hopes to open Redcrest Kitchen in April or May.
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