Nearly two and a half months after a pipe burst shut down or forced the relocation of several businesses on Marshall Street, work is still underway to reopen the building where the burst occurred.

The pipe damaged by the burst was replaced Thursday, and concrete will be poured on the sidewalk in front of J. Michael Shoes on Monday, weather-permitting, said Archie Potamianos, the landlord of the building where J. Michael is located. The National Weather Service is forecasting rain during the day, so crews may put a tarp over the concrete if they have to, he said.

Potamianos said he hopes to have the building up and running again in a couple of weeks.

‘I just try to stay optimistic, but bureaucracy slows things down,’ he said.

Applications were sent in to replace the pipe damaged by the burst in late February, but it took at least a month for that to happen, he said.

The next stage of repair is getting the electrical service in the building back up and running, but that may face delays because National Grid has to give the OK for that, Potamianos said. It could be another week before that happens, as National Grid is behind schedule, he said.

Businesses on Marshall have taken a hit since the Jan. 21 pipe burst, as many reported decreased revenue or customer levels in mid-February after the burst forced barricades to go up on half the street in front of nearly a dozen businesses. The barricades created headaches for delivery drivers who either had to block the single lane of traffic to fill their delivery cars or park farther away and grab orders on foot.

Most of the barricades are now gone, except for those blocking the sidewalk in front of J. Michael. But the financial hit from the pipe burst remains for some stores.

J. Michael relocated to Marshall Square Mall in early February, and the business since has been ‘lousy, lousy, lousy,’ said John Vavalo, owner of the store. Many customers don’t know J. Michael is in the mall, and there’s no traffic in there, he said.

‘What I do in a week I used to do in a day,’ Vavalo said.

Halo Tattoo, which has sat above J. Michael on Marshall for 10 years, also closed its Marshall location after the pipe burst and was losing thousands of dollars because of it in mid-February.

Potamianos, landlord of the building, lost computers and workstations in his business, Student Storage Company, from the pipe burst. Potamianos used the building’s basement as an office for the business.

‘All my records were just destroyed,’ he said.

Since then, it’s been tough dealing with the bureaucracy and length of time it takes to repair the building, Potamianos said, adding that it blew his mind that it took nearly a month to replace the burst pipe.

As Potamianos continues to work on managing the building repair and keeping Student Storage afloat, he said he has a lot on his plate. But he doesn’t like to lose, he said.

‘Even if I’m going to lose,’ he said, ‘I like to battle.’

mcboren@syr.edu

Published on April 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm