Peters Eat’n Park opening pushed back
The Peters Township Eat’n Park probably will not be in its new home for Christmas.
Blaise Larkin, the project developer, anticipates a late January or early February opening at the intersection of Hidden Valley and Washington roads. A fourth-quarter 2015 launch initially was forecast.
Construction began in late May and is proceeding at the site, which has been vacant for at least three years and was previously home to a chiropractic clinic. The locally iconic Ernie’s Esquire supper club was there long before that.
Eat’n Park will anchor Peters Township Marketplace, a $4 million, single-building center going up there. The restaurant will be on one end, Northwest Savings Bank on the other, with a third business in between. The structure will have about 12,000 square feet of space, with the place for smiles and the bank slotted to occupy the majority.
“We haven’t decided (on that final tenant),” said Larkin, a partner in Pittsburgh-based Madison Realty Group, which owns the property. “We’re looking for one with the right synergies with the other tenants.”
The new restaurant will have about 7,400 square feet, about twice as much as the current Eat’n Park, with 237 seats and 90 parking spaces.
Larkin did not have a firm projection on when Northwest Savings Bank would open, guesstimating it to be late first quarter or early second quarter of 2016.
Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, parent company of the restaurant, is shutting down the Peters location that existed since 1960. It is at 3528 Washington Road, about a quarter-mile south of the future digs and on the same side of the highway. A Dunkin’ Donuts is targeted to go there.
Peters planning director Ed Zuk said the township and Heartland Restaurant Group of Pittsburgh, the franchisee for Dunkin’ in Southwestern Pennsylvania, “are working through the application process.” He added Dunkin’ will use “about half” of the Eat’n Park space and that a second tenant is being sought.
Dunkin’ will lease the building from Peters residents Peter and Harold Rothaar.
Also on Route 19
It is mere coincidence, but renovations to two nearby structures underscore the fact Peters starts with pet.
The former Colonial Modern Furniture store is being converted into University Veterinary Clinic. Zuk said the township was to receive plans Oct. 8 for the new operation. The building has a new owner, but an official in the Washington County Recorder of Deeds office said Oct. 8 a deed was not recorded yet.
About two miles south, the interior of the former Mattress World is being rebuilt to accommodate Pet Valu, a pet supply chain based in Markham, Ontario.
Also, Bowser Cadillac completed its 3 1/2-mile move along the Washington Road corridor, from North Strabane Township to Peters. It opened for business more than a week ago at the site of a former Sears service center.
The former location, near Galley Road, has been shuttered. North Strabane planning director Paulette Moyer said she was unaware of any interest on that property.