Proposed subdivision could lead to another development on Tarentum Bridge Road
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A new restaurant may be coming to Tarentum Bridge Road in New Kensington.
It would be located on a parcel city officials are considering creating between Shamey’s Gulf Service and the main entrance to Giant Eagle, in front of the Quality Inn.
City Council is scheduled to vote May 2 on the proposed subdivision. The planning commission has recommended approval, said Tony Males, the city’s engineer and zoning officer.
What business would be built on the lot has not been revealed. Males said city officials know only informally that it is some type of fast food.
A representative of Gateway Engineers, the engineering firm on the subdivision, did not respond to requests for comment.
According to plans submitted to the city and as explained by Males, the new parcel would be three-fifths of an acre.
About 60% of the land would come from the Giant Eagle property and is grassy open space; about 40% would come from the hotel’s land and is a parking area and short access road between the hotel and gas station.
Joe Shamey, who has owned his gas station on Tarentum Bridge Road for more than 55 years, said he was not aware of what might be built next to his property.
The plans also do not reveal what business would be built there, where a building would be placed on the parcel or what the traffic patterns would be.
That information typically would come in the land development plan, which the city’s planning commission would review after and if the subdivision is approved.
“They are permitted by ordinances to proceed this way,” Males said.
Quality Inn for sale
The entire hotel property has been for sale for 18 to 24 months, but the owner is more interested in selling off pieces of the 12 acres for development, said Jason Campagna, managing director of SVN Three Rivers Commercial Advisors, the real estate company representing the hotel.
According to the property listing with SVN, the two-story hotel was built in 1965. It is nearly 85,000 square feet and has 113 rooms.
The listing says the site could be divided into four parcels, keeping the hotel in place and splitting the front parcels into three separate outparcels that could be used for assisted and senior living, retail, a restaurant, a car wash or a bank.
The hotel also could be repurposed or removed, but Campagna said it has been performing well.
A busy road
With nearly 31,000 cars and trucks traveling Tarentum Bridge Road every day, the stretch from the Tarentum Bridge to the intersection with Leechburg and Freeport roads has been active with development in recent years with more coming soon.
O’Reilly Auto Parts opened in early 2020, and a Clean Express car wash opened in late 2021.
Plans have been approved but construction has not yet started on three developments — a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in front of Giant Eagle, and an Aldi grocery store and a ModWash car wash on the site of the demolished Kmart in Riverview Plaza.
An Aldi representative said they expect their store to open by the end of the year, while Popeyes said they anticipate opening in the first quarter of 2023. A ModWash representative could not be reached for comment.
Construction of Zen Leaf, a medical marijuana dispensary, is underway using a building that had previously housed a Papa John’s pizza shop.