New Theater, Restaurants To Boost McCandless Crossing Nightlife

McCANDLESS (KDKA) -- On land that once housed part of La Roche College in McCandless, a new entertainment destination is rising out of the ground.

Adventure Development President Kevin Dougherty says, "We want people to live, work and play at McCandless Crossing."

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A 12-screen Cinemark theater will open next to the Dick's Sporting Goods store that opened a few weeks ago.

Dougherty says the theaters will be the centerpiece of nightlife at the Crossing, "With stadium seating and 12 screens on the cinematic level that has been missing here in the North Hills for some time."

The theater is expected to open in mid-July and will be followed by no fewer than eight restaurants in short order.

"We're talking more towards the date night category of restaurants like Bonefish Grill, Longhorn Steakhouse, an Asian concept and a burger concept that everybody will be very excited about and familiar with," he says.

KDKA has learned that burger joint will be Burgatory.

Panera Bread will open its first location that includes a drive-up window in McCandless Crossing.

Chipotle and FirstWatch Cafe will anchor the corners of the development. The restaurants are all expected to get up and operating through the fall and into next spring.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's North Shore will be buzzing by early fall with a new destination across from Bettis' Grille 36.

Continental Development's Mike Hudec says, "On or about July 1, we will be ready to turn over space to the three restaurant tenants who have signed leases on the building that includes Toby Keith, Burgatory and North Park Lounge."

Hudac estimates it will take a couple of months for the restaurants to do the interior build out.

"We're looking at forecasting a fall opening for those restaurants, sometime during the football season. The biggest of the three will be Toby Keith's I Love This Bar, which is promising events or concerts three night's a week. Outdoor dining around the three restaurants promises to provide a destination party atmosphere," he said.

In Robinson Township, Lattitude 40 is in the process of changing it's name to Lattitude 360 and making some upgrades.

The biggest change is already in place with the construction of a dine-in movie theater.

Lattitude 360's Carlene Gnazzo says the idea is, "so that your friends, your family, corporate events, can come in and have a real live dining experience while you're watching a movie. We have servers come in an take your order and they will come in and serve you food to you."

The theater features second run movies that are fresh out of the main theaters.

Gnazzo says Frozen has been a big hit for families in the new CineGrille Theatre.

Speaking of a different kind of movie experience, the Cinemark Theatre at Pittsburgh Mills is now operating 42 seats in 200 theatres that interact with the movie.

Called DBox seats, they can move in all directions and are programmed to the action on the screen put you into the movie. So if the image on the screen is flying, you feel like you're flying. If the image on the screen is crashing, you feel like you're crashing.

Cinemark is testing the seats in Pittsburgh and Houston and Manager Terry Vattimo says "It's all about enhancing your movie experience by putting you in the environment of the movie."

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Meanwhile, in South Park, there are areas that need attention, too.

"We identified about $17 million worth of improvements," said Sndy Baechle, the director of Allegheny County Parks. "This project here is the first million dollar chip away at it."

So with funding from the Allegheny County Parks Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the county, work begins Monday on upgrades to the football area and baseball fields.

And sources tell KDKA look for a significant change at Station Square starting late this year into next year.

Plans are just coming off the drawing board for a "Dave and Busters type" entertainment destination in the main Station Square building, opening expected sometime next year.

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