Two Downtown Latrobe Buildings, Two Rescue Attempts, Two Different Endings

Inside 319 Main St., the roof was held up by a wooden pole standing on a cinder block and three wooden planks. That was how the Latrobe Bulletin described the former Olympic Theatre when Latrobe Foundation Secretary Linda McKenna Boxx gave the paper a tour in March. Insulation hung through ceiling tiles that covered less than half the ceiling, and the walls leaned and were coated with rust.

This month the building is coming down. Around the corner at 810 Ligonier St., a building about as old, also bought by a local nonprofit to rescue it, is being finished out as a restaurant. Both started with the same plan: a community group buys a historic building nobody else will take on. The condition of each structure when its rescuers arrived decided which one could be saved.

The Theater the Foundation Bought to Save

The Olympic has a longer story than most people driving past it knew. Bulletin archives say it opened around 1907 as the Twilight, a vaudeville house. After "extensive improvements," it reopened on June 29, 1918, as the Olympic, with a new screen and a large organ. A 1961 renovation added seats so it could show first-run films. The theater stopped advertising shows after 1963, and the building later became a warehouse for the vending machine company Westmoreland Amusements.

According to the Bulletin, that warehouse use is exactly why the Latrobe Foundation stepped in. Boxx said the group wanted the building used for something that benefited the community, and the foundation took ownership on Feb. 7, 2025. Then came a structural study. Contractors judged the building unsound and beyond saving, and Boxx said even a contractor who specializes in unsafe buildings wouldn't go inside. The foundation made what she called the "tough" decision to tear it down and partnered with the city to do it.

The building was also on Latrobe's vacant and blighted property registration. Mayor Eric Bartels told the Bulletin:

"Tearing down a building is the last resort … The city is in a better position now to try and counteract the processes of blight."

The foundation and the city received $75,000 in state Local Share Account gambling revenue, announced by state Rep. Leslie Rossi. In the March story, City Manager Sue Trout said the grant covered only about half of what demolition was expected to cost. This summer, Latrobe City Council voted 6-0 to accept an $89,900 bid from Greensburg-based Lutterman Excavating LLC. Trout said the grant would cover most of that.

What Replaces It, and for How Long

The current plan for the lot is green space. Trout confirmed that by text in the summer coverage. In March the outlook was looser: green space or a parking lot first, and the city would decide later what comes after. Trout called demolition "just the first step."

"We wanted a blank slate," Trout told the Bulletin.

The timing is the part that matters for anyone using Main Street right now. At the October council meeting, Trout said demolition would begin that Thursday, which was mid-month, and last three to four weeks, the Bulletin reported. If it stays on schedule, work should still be going into early November. Earlier, Boxx had said the slowest part of the whole project would be waiting on PennDOT, because traffic has to shift during the work. Expect lane changes near the 300 block of Main Street until the lot is cleared. The next council meeting, where updates are likely, is Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. on the second floor of 901 Jefferson St.

Around the Corner, the Same Bet Paid Off

The building at 810 Ligonier St. was a similar gamble that came out the other way. It began as an 1875 building on Ligonier Street. A separate building went up on Main Street in 1903, and by 1935 the two had been joined with a third structure into one L-shaped building that wraps around the Quatrini Law building. A G.C. Murphy Co. department store was there from the 1930s until 1987, citing Latrobe Area Historical Society President Mary Lou Townsend, and Dollar General ran a store there from 1991 to 2019 before moving to Depot Street.

The nonprofit Latrobe Community Revitalization Program bought it in January 2023 with a grant from the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation. Executive Director Jarod Trunzo told the Bulletin that LCRP usually avoids owning property, but 810 Ligonier was a special case. Even as a nonprofit, it chose to pay all the taxes on the building to support the city.

Unlike the Olympic, this building had bones worth working with. LCRP's own project page and the Bulletin trace the order of the work:

1. Roof repairs first, then repointing on all four sides, sealing the "envelope" to keep water out. The Bulletin put the repointed exterior at 27,000 square feet.
2. The Main Street side got a new awning under a rebuilt signboard, about four months after the purchase.
3. The original floors, mostly maple with some pine, were sanded, repaired and finished in a light stain.
4. Four large windows that had been removed decades ago came back, based on the original blueprints. They have custom stained glass developed with Br. Mark Floreanini, a Benedictine monk from St. Vincent Archabbey.
5. The ceiling was resurfaced with sound-dampening spray, with adjustable warm-white lighting, and one original brick side wall was left exposed.

Trunzo told the Bulletin the goal was to make the building code compliant without changing its historic character. That took more than three years, and it worked because the structure could carry it. At 319 Main, the support was a pole on a cinder block.

Who Is Moving In at 810

The first-floor tenant will be Sand Springs Steak & Brew, run by mother and daughter Jo and Jacy Eisel. It's a sister location to their Sand Springs Saloon & Steakhouse in Frostburg, Maryland. Jacy Eisel reached out to LCRP after hearing about the renovation. The two made their first trip to Latrobe during the 2024 Great American Banana Split Celebration.

"We felt an immediate pull to Latrobe — we knew this was where the next Sand Springs belonged," Jacy Eisel said in a statement published by the Bulletin.

The planned menu includes steak, seafood, chicken, burgers, pierogi and salad. The Ligonier Street entrance will lead to the main dining room and a glass party room for events. The Main Street entrance will open onto a horseshoe-shaped bar. Latrobe Billiards is in the basement. Plans for the second and third floors haven't been decided.

In the summer, council approved transferring a liquor license from Sinola Enterprises, LLC, previously held in Derry Township, to Sandsprings Steak and Brew, LLC. The Bulletin's coverage of that vote still called the place a "soon-to-be restaurant and bar." LCRP's Fall/Winter 2026 issue of The Times said the build-out was on track and set a goal of a public bar preview during Banana Split weekend in late August. No regular opening date has been announced yet. When one is, expect it to come from LCRP and the owners.

The Blocks Between Them

You can see the difference between rescue and removal on a short walk. Canvas & Crumb Cafe opened this summer inside the Latrobe Art Center at 819 Ligonier St. It took over the space Ricolita's Cafe held for 10 years. Owner Kim Wing, who also owns the Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Unity Township, keeps it open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., per the Bulletin. On Main Street, Mystic Thrift Emporium opened July 2 at 223 Main St., selling secondhand clothing and spiritual goods. It's open Tuesday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., the Bulletin reported.

Here's what's on the downtown calendar from Halloween through the holidays:

• Saturday, Oct. 31: Trick-or-treating in the city, 4 to 6 p.m., per the city.
• Saturday, Nov. 7: The Latrobe Art Center's Pages, Parks, & Paint Cash Bash, 5 to 9 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church Social Hall, 306 St. John Drive. Drawings start at 6, and tickets are $35.
• After the first frost: City leaf collection begins.
• Thursday, Nov. 26: The Greater Latrobe Turkey Trot 5K run/walk, 9 a.m. at Latrobe Memorial Stadium.
• Thursday, Dec. 3: Light Up Latrobe and the Holiday Night Market, 5 p.m. on Main Street, with a tree lighting, reindeer and entertainment.
• Dec. 3 to 23: The Holiday Artist Market at the Latrobe Art Center, featuring work by member artists, according to LCRP's The Times.
• Saturday, Dec. 5: Holly Jolly Christmas in Latrobe, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. downtown.
• Dec. 14 to 25: Free on-street holiday parking, approved by council in October.

If demolition finishes in the three to four weeks Trout described, the Holiday Night Market crowd on Main Street will walk past an open lot at 319 Main St. where a theater stood from around 1907.

When the old buildings around you start changing, it's natural to wonder what that means for your own block. I've watched downtown Latrobe for a long time and I'm always happy to talk through what's happening in your corner of town, no strings attached. Elizabeth Bires — Let's Connect.