Revamp of old restaurant on tap in Franklin Park
A family-owned restaurant that became a hometown tradition in Franklin Park closed last year after 62 years in business.
Now, new operators plan to reopen the former Carmody's restaurant on Nicholson Road with a new name, concept and layout.
“I think we just want to continue that tradition that was around for 62 years. It was a nice, family-style restaurant,” said Mark Baranowski, a Pittsburgh area restaurateur who, with two partners, is leasing the former Carmody's space.
Property that the Carmody family once owned also is the setting for other changes coming to that part of the borough.
Franklin Park Council approved developers' preliminary and final land development and minor subdivision applications last week for a Sheetz gas station and a five-story Microtel hotel at Wexford Bayne and Nicholson roads.
The site is on former Carmody's property across the street from the former restaurant, said Timothy Phillips, the borough's building inspector and code enforcement officer.
Council had considered challenging in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court the zoning hearing board's issuance of 11 variances, which are exceptions to zoning rules, for the planned gas station and Microtel, but decided against that April 1, borough Manager Ambrose Rocca said.
Separately, a Hampton Inn is under construction off Wexford Bayne, near the former restaurant. It will be the first hotel in Franklin Park.
Baranowski is the sole or part owner of several restaurants in the Pittsburgh area, including North Park Lounge in McCandless and Cranberry and additional locations planned for Murrysville and the North Shore; Pope's Place on Polish Hill; Bonnie & Clyde's in Pine; and Rum Runners in Ross.
He will run the restaurant in the former Carmody's space with Jimmy Zapparao and Joe Piccirili, who own 424 Walnut in Sewickley.
Baranowski plans a 2,000-square-foot addition with a new bar area and decks for outdoor seating. The “casual-upper scale” restaurant will offer American fare at affordable prices, he said. He expects the restaurant to open by Sept. 1.
The project still needs Franklin Park Council's approval of revised final land development plans.
The planning commission tabled a vote on recommending council approval Tuesday, Phillips said. If the planning commission votes to recommend approval in May, council could vote in June.
The Carmody family is pleased that Baranowski's group's will take over their restaurant space.
“Mark is very successful and I'm very pleased that he came on board. So we'll see how it all turns out,” said Eileen Mayor, 78, whose parents, Joe and Ethel Carmody, founded Carmody's.
Five or six family members were always involved in the ownership or operation of the restaurant, including Mayor's brother, Mike Carmody, who died 14 years ago, she said.
Mayor, who was running the business with her grandson as of last year, decided to close it March 1, 2014.
“I just got a little bit mature (in age) and I wanted to update the restaurant. And at my age, I just felt it was too late in life for me to do that,” she said.
Mayor and her sister-in-law, Janet Carmody, still own the property.
Carmody's grew up with Franklin Park, a formerly rural area that is burgeoning with new residential and commercial development, said Sean Carmody, 50, who is Janet Carmody's son and the attorney who handled the leasing transaction with Baranowski's group.
“It was there before any of the development and it sort of grew with Franklin Park as (Interstate) 79 came in. You know, as (Route) 910 developed, it was kind of unique in that you still had customers who had been there when it opened in the 1950s,” he said.
Tory N. Parrish is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-5662 or tparrish@tribweb.com.
