Condemned Rivertowne Tavern slated for demolition

The Rivertowne Pub & Grille building along Route 30 in North Huntingdon will be demolished next year, six years after its owner filed for bankruptcy and closed the tavern and more than three years after the township condemned the building as unsafe and uninhabitable.

North Huntingdon advertised for bids to be opened on January 8 to demolish the building in the west end of the township after a contractor removed 100 square meters of asbestos-laden floor tiles. The contractor must also level the footprint of the building so that it does not leave shear walls after demolition.

locality votate in August to proceed with demolition of the structure that rotted. City officials called it a hope along the west gate of the municipality.

To get to the point where North Huntingdon could raze the building, the township endured a long court battle to to impose his sentencing in October 2021 command. Prasad Margabandhu, who acquired the building through his business, Shivs Real Estate LLC of Mt. Lebanon, argued that the building was structurally sound and only needed cosmetic improvements and cleanup of the property around the structure.

Shivs Real Estate appealed the township’s decision to the Westmoreland Township Commons Court and then to the Commonwealth Court, which ruled in favor of the township this summer. Amid the legal battle, Margabandhu sold the 2.9-acre property to a sister company he owned.

The building closed in 2018 after Rivertowne Brewery filed for bankruptcy in May of that year. Rivertowne’s bankruptcy also led to the closure of its North Shore tavern in Pittsburgh, one in Verona, a pour house in Monroeville and the brewery in Murrysville.

The North Huntingdon site drew no bidders when it went up for auction in October 2018. Rivertowne Brewery owner Christian Fyke and business partner Joseph Boros of Monroeville bought the property for $520,000 in 2011. Fyke sold his 50 percent interest of the building for $7,500 to Shivs Real Estate in January 2019. That left Boros to share the remaining 50% interest in the property.

As for Margabandhu, he was sentenced this month to three years in prison after it pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud and mail fraud in September in federal court in Pittsburgh. He was also ordered to pay $141,000 in restitution and another $100,000 in fines.

Federal investigators accused Margabandhu, 48, of conspiring with someone else to burn down a property at 1925 E. Carson St. in June 2022.

The judge ordered him to begin his sentence on Jan. 8, at the same time that township officials are set to open bids for the demolition of his property.