Litigation prevented earlier demolition of Arnold's former Ida’s Place building, family says

The former owner of the old Ida’s Place building in Arnold has been harassed since it collapsed late last month, according to her daughter.

Ida Peluso turned out authentic Italian food along Fifth Avenue for about 36 years until a kitchen fire severely damaged her restaurant and a neighboring building in 2016. The building collapsed July 25, a day before the city was to begin demolishing it.

“Ida is devastated by the collapse, and she is grateful no one was injured,” said Lisa Peluso, Ida Peluso’s daughter. “She is grateful for the support of the community over the years. She’s had overwhelming support.”

But some people have been harassing the elder Peluso because they feel she should have had the building torn down sooner, according to Lisa Peluso, an attorney.

Litigation over the cause of the fire and securing the stove where the fire appeared to have started has been going on for about four years, and it continues.

“Ida was not permitted to have the building torn down while it was in her possession,” Peluso said. “Ida Peluso was always willing to remove the building once she had funds together, but it was not possible due to this lawsuit and the parties’ actions.”

After the blaze severely damaged her building, Ida Peluso started over in a new restaurant, also called Ida’s Place, in Lower Burrell.

The litigation started when Forced Air Furnace’s insurance company, Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co., sued Peluso and her restaurant business for $450,000 — the amount of damages the insurance company paid out to Forced Air Furnace.

The building wasn’t insured.

Rich Bielata, owner of Forced Air Furnace Co., declined to comment on the litigation because it was filed by Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty, which didn’t return a phone call for comment on Friday.

The lawsuit claims that Peluso was negligent and caused the fire when she turned away from the stove while cooking. Peluso denied that claim in court documents and blamed the fire on her stove malfunctioning after it was serviced by Rayburg Appliance Service.

Peluso filed a complaint against Rayburg and enjoined the company as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Securing the stove from the fire-damaged building has been an issue in the ligation for several years.

An attorney for Rayburg Appliance, Ashley J. Giannetti of the law firm Hardin Thompson, said the stove was retrieved from the demolition site recently.

“We were looking forward to the building coming down because that would mean we would finally be able to access the stove,” she said.

“We would like to make it clear that we did not prevent or delay the demolition of the building,” Giannetti said. “We only sought to preserve the stove, once the building came down and we were finally able to access it.”

Peluso disputed the comments from Rayburg’s attorneys.

She said they have had permission to enter and inspect the restaurant site and remove the stove since 2018. Rayburg’s defense was granted permission by a Westmoreland County court to retrieve the stove.

“Instead, they chose to remain idle for nearly three additional years and file a motion, this time against the city, when approached again about the dire need by the city to demolish the building to delay matters further and obtain the stove at the time of demolition,” Peluso said.

However, Rayburg’s law firm reported in court documents one of their experts said they could not access the stove because of the fire damage of the building.

The litigation continues.

“We’re just glad nobody got hurt and the site has been remediated,” said David Regoli, solicitor for Arnold.

The city, which took over ownership of the building before demolition, is in the process of submitting paperwork for a grant to cover the demolition costs, Regoli said. Additionally, the city plans to sell the property to recoup any losses.

Final demolition costs are not yet available. A contractor is demolishing multiple buildings in the city to take advantage of equipment brought in for the restaurant demolition, said Mario Bellavia, city administrator.