White Plains laundromat owner says construction is negatively impacting his business

Laundromat owner Jeff Pinerio fears he will have to shut down his business completely as a result.

News 12 Staff

Nov 10, 2022, 11:32 PM

Updated 764 days ago

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A White Plains business owner says endless construction may put an end to his business.
Laundromat owner Jeff Pinerio fears he will have to shut down his business completely as a result.
"They basically put us out of business," Pinerio says, who owns the laundromat on Tarrytown Road. "We've only been in business for 18 months."
He says on Aug. 1, he received a letter from ConEdison informing him that construction would be taking place near his laundromat.
"This would be done in under four weeks and that they would be closing the streets on and off between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.," Pinerio says. But he adds that that hasn't been the case at all.
"This is now three months later. We've had rolling closures for three months now," he says.
Pinerio says the construction is driving away customers.
"They pull up and there's a detour sign and they drive away. We can see it in our sales. They're very angry, they're very angry. Actually, they closed several Saturdays, which really made people angry," Pinerio says.
It's not just the owner from the first floor of the building that says he's suffering from this construction. There's also another owner on the second floor and he just had his grand opening.
"Unfortunately, I haven't seen any foot traffic since my grand opening on Nov. 1 at all," says insurance agent Johan Hernandez. He's scared of what the end result could be if the construction doesn't wrap up soon.
"Over time, it's going to hurt us very much, and if we have to close our doors as a result of a construction, I don't think it's fair," Hernandez says.
Both Pinerio and Hernandez say they just want answers on the timeline since construction is way past the initial four weeks.
News 12 reached out to Con Edison and a spokesperson replied saying in part, "The gas work is scheduled to be completed next week and full cleanup of the area is scheduled to take place the following week."
They added they regret any inconvience the work has caused.