Oct 6, 2014 By Rick Shrumbusiness Writerrshrum@observer-Reporter.Com 3 min read

Eat’n Park will be moving into Peters Township. And moving out.

The parent company, Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, will build a new Place for Smiles at the corner of Washington and Hidden Valley roads on the site of the former Ernie’s Esquire supper club, a tract that most recently was a chiropractic clinic.

And, in this instance, recently wasn’t recent. The property hasn’t been used for more than two years. It is especially visible now, with a substantial “Fixture Sale” sign – white with red letters – out front, an arm’s length off Washington Road (Route 19).

The current structure will be razed, and when finished, the new Eat’n Park will be across Hidden Valley Road from another restaurant, Bob Evans.

“We’ve been part of the community for about 30 years and plan to continue having a presence there,” said Becky McArdle, spokeswoman for Eat’n Park, based in The Waterfront in Homestead.

Since the 1980s, that presence has been at 3528 Washington Road, less than a half-mile south of the future home of the regionally iconic Smiley Cookie. The company, however, will shutter the current restaurant once the new one is completed. Employees at the current locale will move to the new one.

“We’re looking to open next year sometime,” McArdle said.

Blaise Larkin has a more definitive estimate on the time frame – one year from now, perhaps, pending township approval of a site plan design and passage of other clearances.

“We’re hoping to start grading this year and, hopefully, open by the middle or third quarter of next year,” said Larkin, a partner in Pittsburgh-based Madison Realty Group, which owns the property.

The future Eat’n Park, McArdle said, will feature the updated, spiffier corporate look. Restaurant space and operating hours, she said, haven’t been determined.

Egress onto Route 19 should be less perilous at that location, thanks to a traffic light at the intersection. There isn’t a light near the existing restaurant, making a left virtually impossible during peak traffic times, and even a right frequently problematic.

Eat’n Park probably will not be alone on that parcel. “We expect two or three tenants there,” Larkin said, adding that no other business has signed on yet.

Long-distance plans for the existing location are uncertain. Township planning director Ed Zuk said he does not know, and neither does McArdle.

Zuk said the company is leasing that property from Harold and Peter Rothaar of Peters. They could not be reached for comment.

Eat’n Park turned 65 in early June, launched by Larry Hatch and Bill Peters on Route 51 south of Pittsburgh. It started as an eat-in-your-vehicle endeavor serviced by carhops, and has morphed into a chain with more than 75 restaurants and 8,000 employees in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Jeff Broadhurst, a cook at the South Park site on Route 88 as a teen, is president.