Car Crashes into Libby Kirwin Building

An elderly driver leaving church crashed into Libby Kirwin Real Estate’s building on Spring Street on Tuesday afternoon, startling real estate agents working inside and causing damage to the building.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt in the crash, which happened at around 12:30 p.m.

The driver told firefighters that it felt like her accelerator pedal had become stuck as she drove along Dearborn Street. She lost control of the car and crashed into the side of the building.

Kelly Kirwin of Libby Kirwin Real Estate said that the car caused damage to the exterior wall of a conference room. Nobody was in the room when the crash happened, though the whole building shook.

“There were about four of us upstairs and a couple downstairs when the car crashed into the conference room,” Kirwin said. “It was very scary. Nobody saw it — we just heard it really, and you could feel it.”

A little dog in the car was not hurt, either. And the airbags did not deploy.

The building inspector was dispatched and confirmed that the structural integrity of the building was not compromised, Kirwin said.

Kirwin said that they’ll board up the outside of the building until permanent repairs can be made. Their landlord will be dealing with it.

And like any aggressive real estate agent, the folks at Libby Kirwin shrugged it off and got right back to work.

“We’re open. It’s business as usual,” she said.

The one casualty in the crash was one of the four new planters the office recently had installed along the sidewalk.

“It stood no chance,” Kirwin said. “We had just gotten all new ones a couple weeks ago.”

Planter problems are nothing new for Libby Kirwin. They’ve suffered repeated bouts of vandalism over the years.

Today’s crash comes on the heels of a crash into a bridal shop downtown on Sunday.

Photo Courtesy: Ryan Belmore/What’s Up Newp