Liquor license transfer approved

Buffalo Wild Wings cast a fowl atmosphere over the South Strabane supervisors meeting Tuesday night. Yet no one found it distasteful.
Blazin Wings Inc., the parent company, plans to open a Buffalo Wild Wings location in the township’s burgeoning Old Mill project. Acquiring a liquor license, of course, is a significant step in the process for a restaurant that embraces the slogan “Beer, Sports, Wings.”
So John Devine, a regional manager for Buffalo Wild Wings, made his pitch for a license transfer from an unnamed site in Donora, and it resulted in a home run. The board approved the request by a 5-0 vote.
“Did you bring samples?” supervisors Chairman Dan Piatt asked Devine in jest.
Devine, a Peters Township resident, spoke for about 10 minutes, addressing the board and audience and answering questions.
The local Wild Wings will go into a strip being built behind the Olive Garden and Max & Erma’s restaurants, the only businesses operating on the 104-acre tract off Route 19. He said it will have 5,000 to 6,000 square feet of space, including a patio, with seating for about 225. And job opportunities.
“We normally hire 125 full- and part-time (workers). We hire all local individuals,” he said.
Buffalo Wild Wings is considered a casual dining restaurant and sports bar, but is reputed to be more of the latter, which is reflective of the slogan. Each site has bunches of large-screen TVs that show sports.
Devine, however, stressed that “We are wings, sports and beer, but we’re also very family-oriented.”
Because of the availability of alcohol and later closing times, Supervisor Robert Koman expressed concerns about security.
“We’ve had some issues in recent months,” he said.
A crime spree earlier this winter, in which windows of cars were broken and items removed, occurred across Route 19 from Old Mill, in the parking lots of Applebee’s and Red Lobster.
Devine said the company has a quality security record.
“In four years with the company in Western Pennsylvania, I haven’t had any incidents,” Devine said. “We try to work with local police. All of our employees go through ServSafe (alcohol training), even persons who aren’t serving alcohol.”
He said the South Strabane site will open at 11 a.m. daily, but closing times have not been established. Devine estimated them to be midnight or 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday; 1 or 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday; and midnight Sunday.
Blazin Wings has not yet signed a lease for the site, where a previous retail project, the Foundry, failed more than five years ago. But the license transfer application for 50 Old Mill Boulevard indicates the Minneapolis-based firm’s intent to be the fourth tenant since Christmas to commit to the revived retail endeavor.
Hobby Lobby, a national arts and crafts chain, signed a lease in late December, and Field & Stream, an outdoors store launched by Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2013, did so in late February. LongHorn Steakhouse was approved for a liquor license transfer in January, but hasn’t agreed to a lease.
Buffalo Wild Wings debuted in 1982 in Columbus, Ohio, and has expanded to more than 950 locations in 49 states and Canada. (None are in Rhode Island.)
Only three Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants are within 30 miles of Washington, the nearest being at The Pointe in North Fayette. The others are in West Mifflin and Wilkins Township.
Now one is headed to Old Mill, a project revived and renamed over the past year or so.
J.C. Penney was the first store to open in the former Foundry development in March 2007, and three others followed, but subsidence issues caused damage to the buildings, forcing three to leave by mid-2008. Penney returned to Washington Mall, and Bed Bath & Beyond and Ross Dress for Less fled.
The Max & Erma’s property was unaffected, and it was the only tenant to remain. Olive Garden opened next door in December 2012.
Moving there, Devine said, would be divine.
“We would be very happy to be here.”