The Skirted Heifer is back.

The popular hamburger restaurant, which was heavily damaged and forced to close in February after a car rammed its storefront at 204 N. Tejon St. in downtown Colorado Springs, will reopen to the public at 11 a.m. Friday, said owner Kevin Megyeri.

Friday’s opening will follow an invitation-only gathering Thursday evening, in which Megyeri plans to thank supporters who contributed to a Go Fund Me campaign that helped pay salaries for Skirted Heifer employees who’ve been out of work the past two months.

Next week’s reopening comes after several weeks of repairs to the restaurant’s interior and exterior that Megyeri estimates have cost $225,000.

Those fixes follow an early morning incident Feb. 11, in which a driver allegedly fleeing a domestic disturbance incident smashed his vehicle into the façade of the hamburger restaurant.

The restaurant was closed at the time and no employees or customers were injured, but the crash tore apart the Skirted Heifer’s sidewalk patio and a 2-foot-high brick wall in the front of the business.

A front window was destroyed, leaving shards of glass embedded in dining room tables that were made of reclaimed wood from the Waldo Canyon fire in 2012.

Repairs are just shy of 100% complete, but Megyeri said he was eager to reopen. While it was closed, the restaurant marked its 10th anniversary in April. A second Skirted Heifer has remained open southeast of Powers and Dublin boulevards on Colorado Springs’ northeast side.

“Welcome to the new Skirted Heifer,” Megyeri said of his downtown location. “I actually kind of want to call it a 10-year remodel.”

When customers walk in the door Friday, they’ll find new lighting and flooring, a new ceiling fan, improved menu boards and a fresh coat of paint, Megyeri said. An artist who originally designed the dining room tables was able to resurface and restore them after they were damaged by flying glass from the shattered front window, he said.

That window has been replaced with a garage door that’s now an amenity found in many restaurants; it can be opened in nice weather and will help make the Skirted Heifer more inviting to passersby, he said.

The Skirted Heifer’s sidewalk patio areas also have been made over.

A 10-foot long, 10-inch wide bar top is being installed along the base of the garage door, where some diners will be able to sit inside and others outside when the door is open, Megyeri said. Two more bar tops will replace a picnic bench and most of the other patio tables; all told, outdoor seating for diners will increase to 20 from 14, he said.

A new Skirted Heifer sign with LED lighting has been installed above the restaurant’s entrance, though Megyeri is waiting for a new building awning.

“We didn’t change the entire concept completely, the entire concept is really the exact same,” he said.

One thing that’s also the same: the menu. The restaurant will continue to offer its signature burgers, which feature a “skirt” of cheddar cheese melted over the sides of hamburger patties.

Although excited about the restaurant’s reopening, Megyeri conceded the last two months have taken a financial and emotional toll.

One insurance company has paid him about $100,000 to cover exterior building repairs, he said.

A second carrier, however, wants more documentation and has yet to reimburse him for the cost of interior upgrades and lost employee wages, Megyeri said. As a result, he’s covered several expenses out of his pocket; his general contractor, Blue Ridge Contractors of Colorado Springs, helped by undertaking work before getting paid.

“I’ve never been more stressed in my entire life,” Megyeri said.

Still, he added: “There’s a reason why things happen and I am so thankful that it looks so good on the inside here and that we’re able to make it the Skirted Heifer downtown 2.0. It makes me happy.

“I wish I could have done more, but you have to balance the reopening, getting your staff back to work and what you could do in a short amount of time. I’m really happy with the way things have progressed so far.”