Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania to move HQ to Butler Street building
Pittsburgh Business Times- Two Greek partners best known for their backgrounds in the restaurant business are leveraging their investment in a Butler Street building to host one of Pittsburgh’s oldest and largest nonprofit institutions dedicated to children.
Partners Dimitri Takos, owner of Central Diner & Grille in Robinson Township, and Stavros Manolakos, the Maryland-based founder and CEO of Manoli Canoli food important business, bought the underused building at 4126 Butler St., featuring a handsome 19th century facade, last spring through their SD Real Estate Holdings LLC for $2 million, according to real estate records.
It’s a building that fronts onto a public parking lot in a busy stretch of Butler Street that long was the home of the local Mediterranean restaurant Diljah, which closed last year.
“They’re looking to add value to the property and the community by adding good-quality tenants,” said Andreas Kamouyerou, a senior advisor for SVN Three Rivers Commercial Advisors, who represents the property along with his brother, Michael.
Now, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania and its 135 years of history providing facilities and opportunities throughout the region for young people is poised to move its administrative office to the long-vacated second floor of a little more than 6,200 square feet at 4126 Butler St., a building amidst new leasing efforts and changes to come at the property.
“It’s a good space for us for a lot of reasons,” said Chris Watts, president and CEO of the organization amid a move from the Highline on the South Side to the Lawrenceville address. “We wanted to find administrative space as close to the mission as possible.”
The organization operates one of its largest clubs, the Estelle S. Campbell Club at 4600 Butler St., a short walk from the new administrative office address, one of 11 such facilities around the region. The organization is moving an administrative team of about 30 to the new office and hopes to be settled in by Memorial Day.
The move marks a return to Lawrenceville for the organization, which was based in the neighborhood for years and at one time operated a charter school a few blocks away on Butler Street that was converted into an apartment building years ago.
Kamouyerou is working to lease the vacated former Diljah space to a new tenant and added the lease for the Contract Furniture Professionals business in the middle retail space in the building is set to expire at the end of the month and he’s been in talks with a couple boutique clothing stores as potential newcomers.
The former Diljah space is a bit of a blank slate, he added, since all of the equipment has been removed and the space has been gutted for renovation.
“We really have free rein on what we could do that, whether it be a restaurant or another retailer,” he said. “Most of the interest is coming from restaurant groups.”
The move by the Boys & Girls Clubs comes with some renovations to the long-unused second floor as well as 20 parking spaces included in the lease agreement.
“I think it’s a perfect fit for the Boys & Girls Club given their history there,” Kamouryerou said. He continues to add other newcomers to the property’s first floor, which currently also includes Salty Paws Pittsburgh Doggie Bar & Bakery.
Watts singled out his organization’s board member Andrew Miller, a senior vice president in the Pittsburgh office of CBRE, for playing a key role in the office search, which considered properties throughout the region before settling on Butler Street. Watts also lauded its new landlord, among others, as he and his team work to move in and establish a presence in Lawrenceville, including eventually new branding on the building.
“The ownership group here truly went above and beyond to be accommodating to us,” he said.
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