Chan’s of Redmond Chinese Restaurant is back in business after closing for almost three months to repair and renovate the building.

It wasn’t a planned closure. A car crashed into the west side of the building March 28.

Wei Chen, owner of the restaurant at 704 SW 6th Street, has been wondering about his recent run of bad luck . Back in 2017, Wei’s family was displaced for nearly a year after a fire at their Redmond home.

Then this year, while Wei and his wife were on a business trip to San Francisco, a car traveling west on SW Glacier Avenue ran a red light at SW Sixth Street, was hit by an oncoming car, and wound up crashing into Chan’s according to Redmond Police.

Thankfully, the restaurant was not yet open, and no one was injured in the crash.

An easy-going guy, Chen, who reopened the restaurant June 15, takes these setbacks in stride.

“You’ve got to just accept it otherwise you’ll go crazy,” he said.

Chen never imagined a car could crash into his restaurant.

“Even being on busy streets I never expected something like that to happen,” he said.

Although the extent of the building damage did not appear to be severe at the time, repairs would take almost three months. Insurance companies had to be contacted, city engineers consulted, permits and inspections lined-up, and contractors scheduled.

Even on opening day, contractors were still putting finishing touches on the building. Chen was frustrated with the time it took to get the doors open again.

“Thankfully my insurance company has helped us pay our employees and paid our rent on the building,” he said. “But when we’re not open there’s no money coming in.”

Chan’s normally generates about $60,000 each month when open, which means the restaurant lost around $180,000 during the closure, Chen said. The full extent of Chan’s insurance reimbursement payments won’t be made until all repairs are complete and the restaurant is operating normally.

Repairing the building did give Chen an opportunity to update the inside of the restaurant.

“I did all the inside painting myself and we also have new chairs, new pictures, and new counters so everything is looking fresh,” he said.

Chan’s regular customers have been chomping at the bit for the restaurant to reopen.

“We’ve been getting calls and visits every day from people asking when we’ll be open,” Chen said. “When I finally told them we’re opening on Friday June 15 they were so happy.”

Regular customer Bob Constant dropped by Chan’s the day before opening day hoping the restaurant reopened.

“Geez I didn’t think they were ever going to open,” Constant said. “I went up to the other place a couple of times. Their food’s not bad but it just ain’t the same.”

— Reporter: 541-548-2185, bmintiens@redmondspokesman.com