Category: News || By

Eat'n Park's fans in Our Fair City indeed have something to smile about.

The restaurant on Lysle Boulevard --- among the first in the regional chain --- is not only staying put, it's slated for renovations and a bigger parking lot when a new so-called "flyover ramp" is built into the RIDC Industrial Park.

"We're excited," says Kevin O'Connell, senior vice president of marketing for Homestead-based Eat'n Park. "We've been in McKeesport since 1952, and we're staying in McKeesport."

The company has also agreed to sign a 10-year extension on its present lease on Lysle Boulevard, according to a letter sent Thursday to Mayor Jim Brewster from Eat'n Park's vice president of real estate, William Bates.

. . .

The Almanac first reported on Aug. 11 that county officials had reached a tentative agreement with Eat'n Park on construction of the flyover ramp, which will require taking several parking spaces from both Eat'n Park and the neighboring Rite Aid pharmacy. County officials are still negotiating with the owner of the Rite Aid property.

The long-awaited flyover ramp will eliminate a major hurdle to marketing the industrial park at the old U.S. Steel National Works site. Cars and trucks must use railroad crossings at Center or Locust streets to enter the property and sometimes face significant delays.

While Eat'n Park will pay for its own interior renovations, Allegheny County will provide assistance with changes necessary to the exterior, the letter says.

. . .

The agreement "represents a continuing commitment (by Eat'n Park) to enhance the viability of our county's brownfield sites," Bates told Brewster in the letter.

When the new ramp is built, a new entrance and new parking spaces will be added to Eat'n Park. City officials have agreed to give the restaurant Martin Street, an unused alley between the restaurant and the Mega Muffler garage.

The city also will work with Eat'n Park to construct a dedicated left-turn "stacking" lane into the parking lot from Lysle Boulevard. Lysle Boulevard is a state highway, and the lane is subject to approval from state Department of Transportation officials.

. . .

Eat 'n Park expects the present parking lot to grow from 44 spaces to more than 50, O'Connell says. At the same time, the interior will be extensively remodeled, he says.

Exact details of the renovations aren't yet complete, O'Connell says, and the work won't begin until construction plans for the ramp are finalized.

"We will be making some significant upgrades to the restaurant," he says, "and we should be giving the people of McKeesport a very nice place to eat."

. . .

The current Eat'n Park is successor to an earlier, car-hop style restaurant that also was located on Lysle Boulevard. Another Eat'n Park at the intersection of Walnut Street and Eden Park Boulevard closed in the early 1980s.

Besides preserving one of Downtown's few sit-down eateries, the Eat'n Park announcement also preserves the jobs of cooks, waitstaff and others at the restaurant. O'Connell did not have exact employment figures for the city location.

Founded in 1949, the privately owned company has food service operations in seven states, including 80 Eat'n Parks in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, where it is the state's largest family restaurant chain.

You are previewing your comment. Be sure to click on 'Post Comment' to store it.