Developments continue along Route 19 corridor
The Route 19 corridor continues to evolve in South Strabane Township.
The building housing Sharp’s Furniture, which closed in August after 99 years of operation, is almost razed. Eventually, after all of the rubble is cleared, a strip shopping center will be built on the site. Aspen Dental is the only tenant known to have signed on.
Across the road, The Staenberg Group, a St.Louis-based developer, is forming plans for Phase II of the Old Mill shopping complex – and reworking its proposal to build apartments near Berry Road.
And in Northgate Plaza, a few hundred yards to the north of the Sharp’s site, the remains of the former Bruster’s Real Ice Cream shop have been cleared away and construction of a Taco Bell restaurant is well underway on the site. Even during the January chill, workers have been putting up the framework at 460 Washington Road.
Taco Bell, based in Irvine, Calif., is a chain of fast-food restaurants featuring Mexican fare. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Taco Bell public relations team had not responded to requests for details about this location.
This will be the fourth Taco Bell in Washington County, including a new one on Route 19 in Peters Township. The others are on West Chestnut Street, North Franklin Township, and Cavasina Drive, Canonsburg. There is one Greene County location, in Greene Plaza, Franklin Township.
The Minors have organized a major celebration.
SpringHouse Country Market and Restaurant is 40 years old, and founders Sam and Bev Minor and their family have organized some distinctive events this weekend to mark the facility’s ruby anniversary.
“We got through Christmas and started thinking how we were going to celebrate our 40th,” said Marcia Opp, store manager and the eldest of Sam and Bev’s five children.
The market, on Route 136 in the Eighty Four section of North Strabane Township, will keep its regular hours on Friday (9 a.m. to 7 p.m.), Saturday (9-7) and Sunday (noon to 7). But they won’t be regular days.
Opp said there will be special prices, including items for 40 cents. There will be a calf-dressing contest, on the porch, for kids Saturday afternoon, and a cow will attempt – yes, attempt – to blow out a candle on a large chocolate whoopie pie Sunday afternoon.
And starting with the opening at noon Sunday, there will be an all-you-can-eat turkey and ham dinner – with sides – for $14.
“We’ll be doing a couple of other things,” said Opp, including introducing a commemorative glass milk bottle and a line of SpringHouse greeting cards.
Her parents launched the market/restaurant in December 1975 on their 420-acre dairy farm.
Opp is one of three siblings involved with the operation of the SpringHouse. One of her three sisters, Jill Minor Miles, supervises catering, and their lone brother, Sam, runs the dairy farm.
It has been a fruitful 40 years, and Opp appreciates those who have made it so.
“We have been blessed with the people who come through here,” she said. “And we’ve been blessed with the people who work here. We have 120 on the payroll, and it’s so great to have all of them.”
• Comcast will have an open house for military veterans, active duty members, Reserve and Guard members and spouses or significant others from 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 10 at its Keystone Region headquarters, 15 Summit Park Drive, in the Point at North Fayette development. Recruiters and hiring managers will be available to discuss open positions with Xfinity. To pre-register, email NED_Comcast4Military@cable.comcast.com.
• Arshad Bachelani, a gastrointestinal and general surgeon, has joined the Monongahela Valley Hospital practice of Chito M. Crudo and Hiram A. Gonzalez. Bachelani was an Air Force major while in his previous medical position, general attending surgeon at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base (Calif.). His office is at 25 Fayette St., Belle Vernon (phone 724-929-4122).
• Joseph DeFazio of Eighty Four has been appointed an instructor in Point Park University’s School of Business, Pittsburgh. He also is also an associate financial planner for Pittsburgh Financial Planners in Bridgeville.
• Eighty Four’s signature company – 84 Lumber – put on a show at the 2016 International Builder Show in Las Vegas. The National Association of Home Builders presented the company with its 2015 NAHB/Builders Mutual Insurance Company Safety Award for Excellence – specifically, for taking first place in the Associate Member Safety Program of the Year category. Safety manager Jill Klocek accepted the award.