Couple has high hopes for Washington banquet hall
Terri Wiley-Rhodes and Ken Rhodes, an experienced, established business couple, were looking to launch a second endeavor in the city. But before doing so, they consulted with an expert.
A college student.
“My mom wanted me to look at the building to see if had potential as a venue to rent out for wedding receptions and other events,” said Carly Rhodes, their daughter. “It’s a really nice space. People are looking for warm character and it’s very accommodating for events.”
Carly is a senior business major at Robert Morris University, with a focus on hospitality management. So her double thumbs up gave them the confidence to proceed with Venue 54, a banquet hall at 54 W. Wheeling St. in downtown Washington, a few doors from City Mission.
It opened offically Nov. 29, in a space that most recently housed Habitat for Humanity and once was a hardware store. The couple remodeled the building into a hall that can be reserved for birthday, anniversary and holiday celebrations; showers; banquets; and fundraising and other events.
Venue 54 is spacious, with 3,400 square feet and three rooms off the banquet hall. The place has old-fashioned ceilings and refinished floors — the latter Ken’s handiwork. He and Terri purchased the building about two years ago.
The new hall has been used just twice, on Dec. 6 and this past Saturday, for the indoor markets the Rhodes clan plans to have every weekend. The Saturday markets are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring homemade food, clothing, jewelry and other interested vendors.
“We’ll have more vendors this Saturday,” Carly said last week, heading into the second market day, optimistic the event will grow with time. “I think it’s going to do really well.”
Event No. 3 will be Thursday, when Judson Wiley & Sons has its Christmas party. Terri Wiley Rhodes works in her family’s business and is a real estate agent.
She and her husband also own Rhodes Carpet & Installation at 408 S. Main St., Washington. They live in East Washington.
“Here’s to your health” is more than a toast at Beechie’s Place. It’s a guideline for doing business.
Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association selected Beechie’s as one of 10 member organizations statewide to win its 2014 Excellence in Food Safety Awards. PRLA honors restaurants that exceed food safety and sanitation standards, and made the 12th annual presentations Oct. 28 in Lancaster.
Beechie’s, on Pike Street in Meadow Lands, was one of only three winners from Western Pennsylvania. The others were Lynn Dairy Queen in Uniontown and Aramark at PNC Park.
Dean’s Water Service is making an even bigger splash in Washington County.
The company broke ground last month for a 15,120-square-foot addition to its main facility at 950 Jessop Place, Washington – a pre-engineered warehouse.
Dean’s provides water hauling services, bottled water, heating oil for homes and kerosene for mobile homes. The company also operates a convenience hardware store on Sheffield Street in Washington, a location in Wheeling, W.Va., and a laundromat in Amity, where the company started in 1970.
General Industries, another family business, is handling the construction. The Charleroi firm, founded in 1973, has built more than 112 facilities in Washington County, including corporate offices and a bottling plant for Dean’s.
In an attempt to clarify . . . there is a Washington Area Federal Credit Union and a Washington Community Federal Credit Union.
Washington Area has a spiffy new building in the Meadows Landing development in South Strabane Township. Washington Community has two locations, Griffith Avenue in Washington and Racetrack Road in North Strabane.
Community is essentially getting a spiffy new building. The Racetrack branch, open since 2003, will be expanded and entirely renovated, said Amanda Lunger, chief branch officer and vice president.
Groundbreaking will be in February with a July target for completion. Lunger said the office will continue to operate during construction.
A top educator at California University of Pennsylvania was honored Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
Dr. Caryl Sheffield, associate provost and associate vice president in the Office of Academic Affairs, was named one of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s 2014 Women of Excellence.
Sheffield, Cal U class of 1973, was chosen for her leadership at the university and for her work as a “businesswoman, mother, wife, philanthropist, daughter, entrepreneur and African-American woman.”
She is the third Woman of Excellence selected from Cal U, following interim university President Geraldine M. Jones and Dr. Lisa McBride, former director of the Office of Social Equity.
René Despot of Clarksville has been appointed Pre-K manager with the Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette, Inc. It is a new position in the expanded PA Pre-K Counts Partnership program, which PIC operates.