A Hallowell restaurant is arranging repairs for a door and window after a car crashed into the building Sunday night.
Ron McNaughton, kitchen manager for Hattie’s Chowder House at 103 Water St., said the restaurant remains open, but customers are being asked to use the Water Street entrance.
McNaughton said nobody was injured in the crash, which occurred just after 8 p.m., when a car descending steep Winthrop Street slid off the road and into the building, which is at the corner of Winthrop and Water streets.
“It was glare ice all day,” McNaughton said. “It was just a matter of time before something happened.”
Calls for details on the crash to Hallowell police and fire departments were not returned Monday.
McNaughton did not have an estimate of the cost to fix the damage, which he said was mostly limited to a door and frame. McNaughton said there was no disruption to business.
“We have plywood over the door,” he said.
There were no customers in the restaurant at the time of the crash.
“We close at 8 on Sunday nights,” McNaughton said. “It was just as we were closing.”
The crash is the second time in the past month the building has been damaged. Firefighters were called to the business on Dec. 21 for a fire in the kitchen.
Firefighters, responding to a report of smoke, found a hot spot behind the oven. Crews opened up the wall and discovered a one-foot square section that was smoldering and ready to erupt in flames, Fire Chief Michael Grant said at the time. Flames broke out when crews removed the wall and exposed the hot spot to air.
Grant estimated the fire caused $8,000 in damage. The restaurant reopened within a couple of days.
Craig Crosby — 621-5642
Twitter: @CraigCrosby4
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