Valentine's Day Spurs Sales for Moon Chocolatiers

Trello Cioccolato offers up Valentine's Day confections with a Pittsburgh twist.

For Valentine's Day, there's no better gift than chocolate, said Moon Township-based chocolatier Pat Trello.  Trello and his family seven years ago launched Trello Cioccolato, a business that sells confections from both its website and Beaver Grade Road store.  He said the business, which frequently ships candy to customers across the country, sees an uptick in sales during the Valentine's season.  "It's really Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day," said Trello of the holidays that woo would-be gift buyers into purchasing chocolate.  Chocolate roses, lips, dipped strawberries and a one-pound, heart-shapped hunk of chocolate are all included in the store's Valentine's inventory, Trello said.  "Well, I think women love …

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Moon Police: String of Vehicle Break-ins Reported

Township police warn residents to lock car doors.

Moon Township Police will issue a SwiftReach Alert call at 5:30 p.m. to warn residents of a string of thefts from vehicles occurring off Beaver Grade Road.  Sgt. Jeff Smith said the department has received six reported incidents of a person or group of people entering unlocked vehicles and taking items from within.  Smith said the thefts occurred overnight at homes near McCormick Elementary School.  "We're sending out a brief message that in the McCormick school area, we've had several break-ins or attempted break-ins," Smith said. "We're just warning people to be extra vigilant."  Smith said Moon-area residents should lock vehicles and remove valuables. 

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Vision for Vacancy

Visions for Vacancy: Hoss's Steakhouse

What should move into this newly vacant Beaver Grade Road building?

Vacant buildings and unused storefronts are eyesores, but an empty storefront can also be an opportunity. You don't need to be a commercial developer or city planner—or have money to invest in a business project—to have the next great idea. The property a 1011 Beaver Grade Road is newly vacant—Hoss's Steak and Sea House shuttered its doors at the building earlier this month, after more than 20 years in business.  The property is owned by Hoss's Restaurant Operations LLC, according to county property records.  Now that Hoss's has closed, we want to know: What business would benefit the Moon-area community? How could this space better serve you and your neighbors? If you had your pick, what business would move into this Beaver Grade Road …

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UPDATE: Hoss's Steak and Sea House to Close in Moon Township

The Beaver Grade Road restaurant goes out of business at the end of the week.

Hoss’s Steak and Sea House in Moon Township will close its doors on Sunday after 22 years in business.  Assistant manager Michael Hertzer Jr. said the Beaver Grade Road location will close at 9 p.m. Jan. 20.  The restaurant will operate at normal hours for the remainder of this week. The chain eatery opened its Moon Township location in 1991, Hertzer said. He said he was unsure of the reason behind the closure, but said no other Hoss’s location is slated to close. Hoss’s corporate office could not be reached for comment. The business operates 36 dining locations in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The property has not yet been placed for sale.  Hertzer said 40 employees at the Moon Township location will be laid off with the closure, but the …

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McCormick Elementary Receives Target Book Award

The local elementary school receives an award through the Target Corporation.

Moon's McCormick Elementary received a $500 book award through Target's "Books for Schools," according to a school district announcement.  Each Target location across the country, including the North Fayette store, has the opportunity to provide a local school with the award. McCormick, located on Beaver Grade Road, received the donation on Nov. 28.  Books in the program are provided by First Book, a nonprofit that provides books and reading materials to children in need. 

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Crews Tear Down Abandoned Gundelfinger Home in Moon

The site of a vacant mansion on Beaver Grade Road has been purchased by developers.

Developers have torn down a long-abandoned 1920s-era mansion along Beaver Grade Road in Moon Township. The Pittsburgh-based Aloe Brothers LLC bought the former Gundelfinger mansion at 971 Beaver Grade Road on Sept. 28 for $1, according to Allegheny County property records. Crews have begun tearing down the dilapidated home, which sat on 7.3 acres of wooded land on Beaver Grade Road.  The firm purchased the property from the Global Country of World Peace, an Iowa-based meditation group that acquired the house in 2005 for $595,000, according to property records.  Moon planning director Adam McGurk said Aloe Brothers has not yet submitted plans for the property to the township. The Global Country of World Peace intended to use the mansion as …

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Drivers Dodge Deer in Moon, Robinson

The likelihood of a licensed driver in Pennsylvania hitting a deer within the next year is 1 in 77, according to State Farm Insurance.

On my way to the gym in Moon Township days ago, I dodged two of them—deer ambling across Beaver Grade Road in front of the path of moving cars.  Blame it on Mother Nature. It's brains are so scrambled by hormones during the October-January rutting season that deer do not look where they are going and will step right into the path of a moving vehicle. The likelihood of a licensed driver in Pennsylvania hitting a deer within the next year is 1 in 77, according the State Farm Insurance website. Pennsylvania is fourth on the list of states where an individual driver is most likely to run in to a deer. "PennDOT statistics show nearly half of all reportable crashes in the past five years involving deer occurred in the months of October and …

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Developer Scraps Plan for Gundelfinger Property

A Mars Township developer said coal deposits prevented him from building garden-style apartments on the site of an abandoned Moon Township home.

Thomas Janidas said the bureaucratic hurdles were just too high to jump.  Janidas, of the Mars Township-based R&D Holdings Inc., intended to develop a seven-acre property along Beaver Grade Road, tearing down a home that has sat vacant for half a decade and constructing a group of apartments and mixed-use commercial storefronts in its place.  But Janidas said Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations stonewalled the plan.  DEP officials said R&D Holdings was not able to remove deposits of coal beneath the property without obtaining a mining permit.  "It's foolish," Janidas said. "We're not in the mining business. We called it nuisance coal and to us it just didn't make sense."  And without mining that coal, Janidas …

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Robert

9:07 am on Friday, September 7, 2012

This is FANTASTIC NEWS! Maybe there is still hope to save the Gundelfinger Mansion!   more ›

Developers Plan Apartments for Site of Historic Moon Home

A vacated historic home with a colorful past may be demolished in favor of garden-style apartments and new commercial space.

Developers have unveiled plans to construct a cluster of buildings for residential and commercial use at the site of an abandoned mansion on Beaver Grade Road. The Mars Township-based R&D Holdings Inc. has placed an offer on the 7-acre, Gundelfinger estate on Beaver Grade Road and is filing requests for a series of building-code variances through Moon Township.  Thomas Janidas, of R&B Holdings, said the company hopes to break ground on the eight-unit development by spring of 2013, but the discovery of coal underneath the historic property could delay the project.  R&B Holdings' offer on the land is contingent upon approval from both the township and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Janidas said the company must …

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