Rivertowne Pub demolition bids submitted for review by North Huntingdon commissioners

The condemned former Rivertowne Pub & Grille on Route 30 in North Huntingdon — a piece of the defunct, bankrupt Rivertowne Brewing Co. — likely will be razed this spring, township officials said Wednesday.

The North Huntingdon commissioners expect to vote on a demolition contract when the board meets Jan. 15, said Harry Faulk, township manager.

DJ Demolition Co. of Braddock is the apparent low bidder for the job at $23,300. Tedesco Excavating and Paving Co. of White Oak submitted a $24,000 bid, and Lutterman Excavating Co. of Salem submitted a $28,000 bid. Township officials will review and determine the lowest responsible bidder, said Josh Andrykovitch, township community development director.

The township will place a lien on the Rivertowne property to recoup its costs when the property is sold, Faulk said.

The building on the 2.9-acre property, which was closed in 2018 when Rivertowne went bankrupt, is being demolished after North Huntingdon won a multiyear court battle last summer with property owner Prasad Margabandhu of Mt. Lebanon. He had purchased it through his Shivs Real Estate in 2019. It never reopened as a tavern or restaurant.

The township condemned the vacant building in October 2021 on the grounds it was uninhabitable and unsafe, despite Margabandhu’s claims it remained structurally sound and only needed cosmetic repairs.

Margabandhu provided the Tribune-Review last week with a February 2024 letter from Herron Engineering of Pleasant Hills that was addressed to the township, stating the building was structurally sound but was in need of maintenance and repairs.

“I have done everything they want to get the drawings approved,” Margabandhu stated in an email last week..

Ryan Fonzi, township assistant manager and planning and zoning director when North Huntingdon condemned the building, said he is not aware of the township receiving any letter last year from an engineer regarding the condition of the building.

Four hours after township officials opened the demolition bids Wednesday morning, Margabandhu was scheduled to voluntarily report to the federal prison in Lewisburg, Union County, where he is to begin serving a three-year prison sentence. Margabandhu pleaded guilty last September to bankruptcy fraud and mail fraud related to a building he owned on Pittsburgh’s South Side that was destroyed in a fire in June 2022.

Prosecutors accused Margabandhu of conspiring with another person to set fire to the property at 1925 E. Carson St., but that charge was withdrawn as part of the plea agreement.

U.S. District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand on Tuesday denied Margabandhu’s request to delay his reporting date until Jan. 22. The judge said she took into considerations Margabandhu’s bond violations.

Margabandhu sought to delay the beginning of his prison sentence because he has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 13 in Allegheny County Court on charges of illegal operation of a liquor establishment and a Jan. 15 arraignment on charges of illegal liquor sales, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.