New owner plans to revive shuttered Southpointe event venue
Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter
NOAH’s Event Venue at 2000 Town Center Blvd. in Cecil Township
Compitello
Turton
Omer
NOAH’s Event Venue, which closed suddenly in February 2020, will be getting a new life in Southpointe.
Burns Scalo Real Estate Advisory Services announced in a news release that Abbott Properties of Kansas City purchased the multipurpose venue for $2.4 million. The Green Tree-based commercial real estate company added that the “9,500-square-foot property, at 2000 Town Center Blvd., will continue to operate as an event center run by the new ownership group.”
Kelley Hoover Heckathorne, senior brokerage adviser for Burns Scalo, represented the seller, 35 Market Street LP of Pittsburgh.
NOAH’s was a national chain headquartered in Lehi, Utah, that operated venues for weddings, proms, corporate functions and other events. All 28 NOAH’s locations closed that February, shut down by a Utah judge nine months after the company had filed for bankruptcy.
The closures had prospective brides and grooms running amok, seeking new wedding locations on short notice, and forced cancellations of more than 2,500 events nationwide – at an estimated cost of $7 million.
NOAH’s shutdown had a local impact beyond being in Southpointe, as it put Fort Cherry High School’s prom in jeopardy. The district had made a $3,420 deposit months earlier to reserve the venue for May 15, 2020. Fort Cherry eventually came up with a new location, and the prom was saved thanks largely to a community fundraising effort that netted $7,000, plus a $2,000 donation from Clearview Federal Credit Union.
Hoover Heckathorne said in a statement: “While Southpointe continues providing amenities for companies to recruit and retain employees, this new event center is perfect for weddings and personal events, corporate training, and banquets. With three hotels and many bars/restaurants across the street, it’s convenient for all.”
W&J energy
Washington & Jefferson College is about to resume its Energy Lecture Series.
W&J’s Center for Energy Policy and Management has organized an enlightening session focused on energy-efficient municipal streetlight replacement projects. The webinar, titled “Shedding Light on Energy Efficiency: Exploring the RSLPP,” is scheduled for 11 a.m. Feb. 15.
Liz Compitello, manager of Sustainable Energy at Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and Mike Fuller, founder and president of Keystone Lighting Solutions of State College, will speak. They will discuss how transitioning from older lighting systems to light-emitting-diode (LED) can save small- and mid-sized municipalities time and money down the road.
Compitello’s Delaware Valley organization, based in the greater Philadelphia region, oversees the Regional Streetlight Procurement Program (RSLPP), which assembles resources necessary to design, procure and finance the conversion to LED.
The program is set up to help towns elude potential barriers when proceeding with an LED conversion project – navigating the process, determining best solutions, selecting trusted project partners and paying upfront costs. Compitello will speak about the how RSLPP is structured and the results it has had, including its successes in southeastern Pennsylvania streetlight conversion projects.
Fuller’s company, Keystone Lighting Solutions, is a specialty lighting design and consulting firm that assists with all aspects of a lighting upgrade program.
The webinar is free and open to the public. To register, visit wjenergy.org or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shedding-light-on-efficiency-exploring-the-rslpp-tickets-525263867367.
Steel Nation
Southpointe-based Steel Nation has announced two corporate promotions.
Shawn Omer has been appointed executive vice president of the company, a leading designer and builder of transmission, storage and compression facilities for midstream and transmission oil and gas operators. The firm said in a news release that since moving to the construction side in 2014, Omer “has gained insight and an understanding of a wide-range of customer requirements. As a project manager on multiple projects for a variety of large gas producers, Shawn developed the skill set to manage complete turnkey building systems.”
Mike Turton has been named director of operations. The company said, “Mike is a proven project manager with extensive experience in the construction, environmental sciences and land use industries. Mike has planned, estimated, and managed complex construction projects, including more than 50 pipeline projects spanning hundreds of miles. He supervised every aspect of operations, from site analysis and acquisition to reclamation and supervising both field and office staff.”