Squirrel Hill business owner asking for help after store sustains water damage

PITTSBURGH — Jessica Santoriello is frustrated and worried about what she fears could happen to her Murray Avenue store, Binz. Santoriello who has rented the space from Nexus Real Estate since May of 2022 says the issues started last year when water started leaking from one of the walls in her shop.

Santoriello said, “When there was a rainstorm it would just - water would gush down this wall. We used to have a lot of merchandise that was damaged from the water and we’ve never been reimbursed from it, they won’t return any of my phone calls.”

She filed a ticket with Nexus Real Estate in November to fix the issue, but the problems have continued and gotten worse. In a separate incident, Santoriello says her basement flooded.

She says she’s worried about the safety of her employees along with the tenants who live in the 4 apartment units above her shop. This week, the City of Pittsburgh’s code inspector was here twice and partially condemned the building – saying the roof is in partial collapse and the rear wall is failing.

Santoriello continued, “The first time they found a lot of issues and they ended up partially condemning this room behind us. It’s raining inside of the room. The whole structure is collapsing and there’s exposed electrical in there. So it’s been a major fire hazard this whole space.”

Santoriello says, City inspectors will be back on Monday to potentially condemn the entire building. Channel 11 reached out to Nexus Real Estate about the condition of the building, but did not hear back.

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