About 36 hours after a car rammed his Skirted Heifer hamburger restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs early Sunday morning and forced it to close for at least the next several weeks, owner Kevin Megyeri somehow described Monday as “a good day.”

“As bad as yesterday has gone, it’s been really incredible seeing the support of everybody from this community, my friends, family, people that I haven’t talked to in years,” Megyeri said. “Everyone’s been reaching out. As bad as the situation is, I always try to be a positive person. So far, it’s been OK. I’ve been really happy and thankful for everybody’s that been reaching out.”

Sometime after 1:30 a.m. Sunday, a driver allegedly fleeing a domestic disturbance incident smashed his vehicle into building facades in the 200 block of North Tejon Street, including the Skirted Heifer at 204 N. Tejon, the AT&T store at 202 N. Tejon and a vacant storefront at 206 N. Tejon, according to Colorado Springs Police.

The force of the crash ripped apart the Skirted Heifer’s sidewalk patio and a roughly 2-foot-high brick wall whose masonry dates back 130 years, Megyeri said. The restaurant’s front window, which sat atop the brick wall, was blown apart, embedding shards of glass into a bench and dining room tables that were made of reclaimed wood from the Waldo Canyon fire in 2012, he said.

“Glass exploded everywhere,” Megyeri said. “Anything that was connected to the front of my restaurant is just destroyed. It’s gone.”

The Skirted Heifer, whose name is taken from the “skirt” of cheddar cheese that melts over the sides of its hamburger patties, has gained a loyal following since it opened in 2014. The restaurant proved so popular that it was featured a year later on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives when host Guy Fieri brought the long-running Food Network television program to Colorado Springs.

On Monday, Megyeri was assessing damage and arranging for a contractor to inspect his property, which has been boarded up. He said he expects the restaurant will remain closed for at least a month and possibly longer. An exact reopening date wasn’t known, he said.

In addition to the smashed patio, brick wall and front window, Megyeri said cracks he’s seen on the inside of the restaurant space have him worried about possible structural damage to the building.

Beyond the property damage, Megyeri also said he’s concerned about the status of his 18 employees.

His insurance almost certainly will cover at least a portion of his payroll, Megyeri said. Still, he doesn’t know if his policy will cover all of their lost wages while the restaurant is closed.

As a result, Megyeri has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his employees; every dollar will go toward bridging the gap between what insurance will cover and what his workers normally would have been paid if the restaurant was open, he said. By Monday evening, the campaign had raised nearly $7,000 toward a goal of $30,000.

Megyeri also invited customers to help by patronizing the Skirted Heifer’s second location, which opened in 2019 southeast of Powers and Dublin boulevards on Colorado Springs’ northeast side. Also, diners can visit Megyeri’s Bambino’s Urban Pizzeria at 36 E. Bijou St., around the corner from the Skirted Heifer’s downtown location.

Megyeri is the third-generation owner of Bambino’s that was started by his grandmother; his parents, Suzette and Kevin Megyeri, who had taken over Bambino’s, also launched the Skirted Heifer before the younger Kevin took over the businesses.

“Any support to the other locations is just going to help out this location and put us on our feet that much quicker,” Megyeri said. “Any support, I promise you, we’re going to serve you dang good burgers and dang good pizza and make sure it’s a moment you won’t forget. You’ll be supporting a good cause.”

In addition to building repairs, Megyeri said he hopes to take the opportunity to make some upgrades. Instead of a front glass window, for example, he said he’ll look to add a garage door to the front of the building — a popular amenity for many restaurants that can be opened to allow customers to enjoy warm weather.

Damage to the Tejon Street properties is the latest in a series of incidents dating back to last year that have affected downtown businesses.

On Sept. 11, an electrical failure sparked an underground fire that knocked out power to several downtown businesses on Kiowa Street, between Tejon Street and Nevada Avenue. Some of those businesses were forced to close for a day or more. A Dec. 4 fire also caused four businesses operating in the Majestic Building on Kiowa, just east of Cascade Avenue, to close their doors, though they’re planning to re-open.

The Skirted Heifer, like other downtown businesses, is eligible to apply for a building enhancement grant from the quasi-governmental Downtown Development Authority that could be used for upgrades to its façade and entrance, said Austin Wilson-Bradley, the economic and community development manager of the Downtown Partnership advocacy group.

“They are just kind of all coincidental and unrelated,” he said of the downtown incidents. “This particular one, frankly, is a bit bizarre. The vehicle had to have been traveling at close to highway speeds to do the kind of damage that has been done.”

The AT & T store next to the Skirted Heifer was boarded up and closed Monday; its status wasn’t known. Calls to the store bounced to an AT&T customer service center, whose representatives didn’t have any information about the Tejon Street location.

The damage to the Tejon Street buildings is a reminder that small businesses should make sure they have adequate insurance to protect themselves from random acts and disasters, said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association, an industry trade group.

One type of coverage, business interruption insurance, goes beyond protection for building repairs and contents and can help business owners pay a variety of operating expenses such as employee payrolls, she said.

“This is a wake-up call to all business owners, especially smaller business owners or home-based business owners, that business interruption coverage is a coverage you absolutely need to consider,” Walker said. “Because along with just insuring the structure of your building, you need to be able to do business because that could put you out of business very quickly if you lose all your employees, if you lose that revenue from being able to open your business back up.”

The suspect who allegedly drove the vehicle that damaged the Tejon Street buildings, meanwhile, remained hospitalized Monday, Colorado Springs Police spokesman Ira Cronin said via email.

Fidencio Meza-Pelayo was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, assault, burglary and multiple traffic offenses, Colorado Springs Police said. His arrest followed a disturbance early Sunday in which he allegedly broke into a house and was shot by a homeowner before he later drove downtown and struck the Tejon Street businesses, according to police.

Cronin didn’t have an update on Meza-Pelayo’s condition or when might be released from the hospital. When he’s released, he’ll be booked into the El Paso County Jail, Cronin said.

Skirted Heifer owner Kevin Megyeri gets a hug from a friend outside his North Tejon Street restaurant on Sunday morning in downtown Colorado Springs. A car traveling at a high rate of speed plowed through downtown businesses on Tejon early Sunday morning, damaging the Skirted Heifer, a next door AT&T Store and a vacant storefront.

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

The interior of a damaged AT&T store on Tejon Street in downtown Colorado Springs can be seen through a frame of broken glass Sunday morning. The store, the next door Skirted Heifer restaurant and a vacant storefront were struck early Sunday by a car traveling at a high rate of speed, damaging the businesses.

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE