George Gatto is happy that his longtime family motorcycle business, Gatto Cycle Shop, is in Tarentum, but he has worried about keeping it there.
With his successful motorcycle sales and service facilities scattered among five locations in Tarentum, Gatto desperately wants to bring everything under one roof. That would make running the business founded by his father, George Sr., easier and more profitable as well as more convenient for customers, he said.
He recently took a step aimed at doing that by buying three houses adjacent to his building at the corner of Ross Street (Route 366) and Seventh Avenue that was once the YMCA.
“We are hoping that these purchases will solidify our place in Tarentum,” Gatto said.
Those buildings, one of which was just torn down, front East Eighth Avenue. He would like to buy three more along that street but said the owners don't seem interested in selling.
“We're going to see if we can buy those properties before we do any building,” Gatto said. “If these people say, ‘No I don't want to sell,' then we might look at doing some building.”
He said the catch is that officials with Harley-Davidson, his flagship line of motorcycles, would have to approve the plan.
“We need 50,000 to 60,000 square feet, easily,” Gatto said. “Being built into the hillside, we can do multiple levels.”
“If they (Harley-Davidson) don't think it's big enough,” Gatto said, “we might have to start looking elsewhere.”
That is something he doesn't want to do, since the business has been in Tarentum since 1967.
In addition to new American-made Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which are sold out of Gatto's East Sixth Avenue showroom, there's a showroom for used Harleys two doors down.
Gatto Cycle Shop sells Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Polaris, Kymco, Yamaha and Triumph motorcycles, all imports, from the old YMCA building.
Its service operations are in the 300 block of East Seventh Avenue. There also is a parts warehouse across the street.
“We struggle with being all chopped up in all these buildings,” Gatto said. “We love being in Tarentum. The politicians, the police, everybody treats us really well. Our issue is that every motorcycle that we sell has to be delivered to the service shop on Seventh Avenue to be put together.
“Every vehicle that we sell — and that's over 1,000 vehicles — has to be moved three blocks each way several times,” he said.
Tarentum Mayor Carl Magnetta was glad to hear that Gatto bought the Eighth Avenue properties and would like to see them anchor the business in town.
“We don't want to lose him,” Magnetta said. “He's had a good business, and he brings in a lot of people from out of town.”
Gatto said the timetable for tearing down the other buildings and constructing an addition is about three years.
“If I could just get the Harley facility under one roof and the Honda facility under one roof, then that would do it for us,” he said. “This running all over town is just killing us.”
Tom Yerace is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4675 or tyerace@tribweb.com.
About Gatto Cycle Shop
• Founded in New Kensington in 1964 by George Gatto Sr., who ran an auto body repair shop and sold motorcycles as a sideline.
• Moved to Tarentum in 1967. It's now operated by Gatto's sons, George and Mark.
• Employs 80 people at its Tarentum operations and about 20 more at its Shaler dealership.
• Although its main brand is Harley-Davidson, Gatto also sells and services seven other brands of motorcycles, all-terrain and utility vehicles in Tarentum. Bicycles are also sold and serviced at Gatto's main facility.
• Its main Tarentum facility is at 117 E. Seventh Ave., which once housed the Allegheny Valley YMCA.
• Voted by Dealernews magazine as the No. 1 dealership in America in 1998 after being the first runner-up in 1996 and 1997.
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