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Local Ponderosa Steakhouse closes after nearly 40 years

By Steve Ferris sferris@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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One of the first tenants of Uniontown Mall has closed after more than 39 years in business.

Ponderosa Steakhouse, which opened on West Main Street in South Union Township outside of the mall in 1974, two years after the mall opened its doors, closed last week.

“It’s been almost 40 years,” said Jon Rice, spokesman for HomeStyle Dining LLC of Plano, Texas, the company that owns Ponderosa. “It opened in January 1974.”

“This restaurant was closed due to termination of the lease,” Rice said.

He declined to say whether HomeStyle or the company that owns the mall terminated the lease, but he was told that another tenant is planning to move in.

Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), which owns the mall and former Ponderosa property, could not be reached for comment on the lease or possible future tenants.

Only four of the 28 employees transferred to other Ponderosa restaurants, Rice said. Three went to the restaurant in Belle Vernon, and one went to the Washington location.

Two others found jobs with a business that bought some of the restaurant’s equipment, and the rest were laid off, he said, adding that some of the equipment was donated to a local church.

HomeStyle owns and franchises 225 Ponderosa and Bonanza restaurants across the county, including five in the Pittsburgh area and others in Beaver Falls, Butler and Johnstown.

“Uniontown has been a good market for us. We’ll miss our loyal guests. It was a very nice restaurant in a very nice location,” Rice said.

The Ponderosa lease was inherited by PREIT when it bought the mall from the previous owner Crown American Realty Trust in 2003. The building measures 5,300 square feet. Ponderosa’s departure leaves six restaurants on the mall’s property.

Township Supervisor Robert Schiffbauer said he didn’t know what led to the closing or what business might take its place, but he heard that a mattress retailer would be the next tenant.

“They were one of the first businesses to move in there along Route 40,” Schiffbauer said. “At one time that Ponderosa was one of their most productive stores, from what I understand, in the United States. But times change … more competition. We’re sorry to see them go, but that’s an excellent location there.”

HomeStyle is looking into opening a Ponderosa using a new building prototype in western Pennsylvania, Rice said.

“We’re looking at a number of sites and have discussed and researched locations in the western Pennsylvania area,” Rice said. “There is no specific plan at this time, but the Uniontown market, and western Pennsylvania in general, have been very strong markets for us. We still have very good presence in the Pittsburgh market.”

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