By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor
The renovated Garden Theater building has gained its second and final tenant, who will join Mayfly Market & Deli in reopening the historic building to the public for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Golden Age Beer Co., a Homestead- based craft brewery, was announced as the next occupant of The Garden, the new name for the Garden Theater, in a Sept. 30 press release by Q Development and Trek Development Group, the two companies overseeing the theater’s redevelopment.
“We have always looked for community- friendly serving partners to be in The Garden,” Rick Belloli, principal for Q Development, told The Chronicle. “Golden Age is exactly that.”
Peter Kurzweg, co-founder of Golden Age, said the brewery specializes in traditional lagers, which he called the beers that “the craft beer movement left behind.”
However, beer enthusiasts should expect differences between the Homestead and Northside locations. Kurzweg said while the original Homestead Golden Age has a “very German-leaning vibe” in terms of its drinks, the Northside location is going in a different direction.
“We’re going to make (the Northside) our exclusive home for Bohemian lagers,” Kurzweg said.
Bohemia in this context refers to the western side of the Czech Republic and surrounding lands. This, Kurzweg said, means influence from Polish and, in some cases, Eastern German sources.
The aim is to make the Northside location not simply a copy of the existing Golden Age.
“We want this to feel unique,” he said.
Kurzweg is himself a Northsider, living in Deutschtown, and knows the historic significance of the Garden Theater. He referred to it as a “missing part of the Northside” ever since its closure, and is enthusiastic to be part of the structure’s “next chapter.”
“It’s a beautiful spot,” he said. “I think the face is one of the most beautiful in Pittsburgh.”
As mentioned, Golden Age Beer Co. will join Mayfly Market in occupying the building. Mayfly was announced as a tenant back in April of this year. Kurzweg said knowing that Mayfly was going to be in the building was a “huge factor” in his decision to open up a location in The Garden.
“As a Northsider, Mayfly has been a true gift to the Northside,” he said. “I love that they have brought a grocery store as well as an eatery to an area that really needed it.”
Belloli said things have been “going smoothly” in terms of construction work on the interior of the building, and the companies involved are aiming for an opening sometime around the end of the year, likely between Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
The Garden Theater was built in 1915 and was closed in 2007, though it received its historic designation by Pittsburgh City Council in 2008.
The theater was infamously an adult film theater for many decades of its existence, starting in the 1970s. The Chronicle reported on protests held at the theater in our February 1990 issue.
Attempts have been made to reopen the Garden Theater over the years, but none have proven successful. For example, a plan to have a restaurant move into the property in 2014 fell through despite a planned opening in June of that year.
