Milford store hit by truck might be closed months

MILFORD — The Speedy Mart convenience store damaged when a pickup truck slammed into it won’t collapse, but it might be as much as a halfyear before it reopens, officials said Wednesday.

At 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, the truck reportedly sideswiped a car at the Meadowside Road and Surf Avenue intersection and careened into the building, leading to what city building inspector Lou Reszoly said is some of the worst structural damage he’s ever seen.

Between getting an insurance settlement, finding a contractor and getting the building repair and re-inspected, store owner Sanjay Patel might need four to six months to get his business going again. Finding a contractor will absorb the most time, said Charlie Corell, Milford’s chief building inspector.

“That’s where he thinks he’s at right now,” Corell said. “They have to find a qualified engineer. We’ll try to get his permits to him as quickly as possible.”

The truck knocked out the building’s southeast corner building support and wrecked the brick front-window frame and facade. Reszoly said he’s never seen a vehicle get so far into a building and so much damage, though it is all repairable. Workers have installed a temporary support and boarded up the building. Only Patel’s nephew, 22-year-old Jay Solanki of West Haven, was there when the crash occurred.

“I told Sanjay he ought to buy a lottery ticket,” Corell said.

Such crashes aren’t uncommon, said Christine Angelica, an administrative clerk in the city’s building inspection office. She said vehicles slam into buildings in Milford about once a month or so, usually at night and driven by senior citizens or kids.

Most do minor damage, but a home on Pond Point Road, a CVS on Route 1 and a bank on Bridgeport Avenue took significant damage, said Angelica.

“A lot of them are just drivers who get confused,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it happens often, but it happens often enough.”

Patel, meanwhile, is hopeful that he can reopen soon.

He expects to have a timeline to the reopening within a week or two.

Patel was upbeat at the store on Tuesday as workers began installing plywood covers for the broken windows and other damage. He joked that his nephew probably wasn’t going to come to the store for a while after the accident and soothed customers who came by to see if he was all right.

He inherited the business from his parents and has worked there for 21 years, he said.

“I am trying to get myself to stay positive,” Patel said.

Milford Fire Department/Contributed photo A convenience store on Meadowside Road in Milford was damaged Monday afternoon when it was struck by a pickup truck.