Rostraver Airport restaurant closes, authority seeks another tenant

If someone wants to open a restaurant in Rostraver, the Westmoreland County Airport Authority has just the space for it.

The airport authority this week authorized its engineer, Scott Kunselman, and architect, Ethan Hine, to prepare floor plans and dimensions for a request for proposals for use of the space occupied by Eagles Landing II, a restaurant that closed this summer.

The restaurant at the airport shut its doors after the business suffered problems created by the covid pandemic, said Gabe Monzo, airport authority executive director.

“They’re out and will not be coming back,” Monzo said.

A notice on the door to the restaurant states that the locks have been changed and there is no admittance.

The lease with Eagles Landing II ended when the restaurant closed, Monzo said. The authority’s financial report for the period from February through October shows Eagles Landing owing the authority $6,443 in back rent.

When the restaurant closed, it owed the airport authority about $13,000 in payments, Monzo said, but some of that amount would be forgiven because of the pandemic.

As for a new tenant, Rossi said the authority does not want “a fly-by-night” business to occupy the site.

Eagles Landing II left behind the restaurant equipment, but it is outdated, said Don Rossi, authority member.

The restaurant covers about 3,400 square feet of an airplane hangar that spread across 8,400 square feet, said Kunselman, an engineer with McFarland Johnson of DuBois.

Based on a preliminary design and scope of a renovation project for the hangar and restaurant space, it would cost about $1 million for the rehabilitation, Monzo said.

The engineer and architect will prepare a rendering of the project, then they will pursue another tenant, Monzo said.