Pita Gourmet to expand in Southtowns with new Hamburg site

Pita Gourmet will expand its reach in the Southtowns with a new location in Hamburg, with plans to open in a former Pizza Hut in May.

The local Mediterranean chain is working with Bevilacqua Development L.P., which developed the 2,938-square-foot building at 5565 Camp Road where Pizza Hut closed its franchise early in the pandemic. Bevilacqua bought the building last year in partnership with broker Tammy Recckio.

The store, which will employ 15 to 18, will be Pita Gourmet’s first standalone location, joining stores in Niagara Falls, East Amherst, Williamsville, Orchard Park and Amherst on Sheridan Drive, the newest store that opened in early January. Bevilacqua developed the stores in East Amherst and Orchard Park as well.

It’s the next in a series of new restaurants to be developed at former Pizza Hut sites.

Plans call for redeveloping the interior to match Pita Gourmet’s signature color scheme and branding, said Joe Mahfouz, who co-owns the business with his brother, Mark.

“We want everything to be uniform with branding, the color scheme and the finishes,” he said. “This will be our first standalone location and will be one of our larger stores.”

Founded in 2005, the company specializes in fast-casual Mediterranean-American fusion, including stuffed pitas, souvlaki, hummus and wraps and salads.

The brothers had been eyeing Hamburg for a while, Mahfouz said.

“We wanted to extend our presence in the Southtowns, parlaying our Orchard Park location, and Hamburg’s a good fit with our demographics,” he said.

No plans are underway for further expansion for now, but there is talk of growing outside the region.

“We’re not sure we’re there yet, but everything we do now is with that in mind,” he said. “We make our decisions with the ultimate goal of regional or national franchising, but there’s many steps yet to get there.”

Multi-phased project planned for Transit Road

Concept plans for the vacant land at Transit and Miles roads will be submitted in the coming weeks to the Town of Clarence for Bevilacqua’s mixed-use, residential-anchored proposed development.

Almost one year after acquiring a 36-acre parcel along Transit Road, Bevilacqua Development L.P. has fine-tuned its plans for the property.

Jonathan Bevilacqua, development company CEO, said the multi-phased plan will be steeped in residential options.

Bevilacqua’s Lymstone Lofts in Williamsville and University Place in Amherst both have commercial, restaurant and retail street level tenants and market rate apartments on their respective upper floors.

That same development pattern is proposed for the Transit Road complex.

A trio of projects — all geared for retailers, restaurants or offices — are planned along Transit Road, while five buildings will be set further back. The five buildings may either be three or four stories and collectively have anywhere from 80 to 100 apartments. Later phases will focus on the development of as many as 20 single-family homes.

The still-to-be named project is just north of another Bevilacqua project along the Clarence side of Transit Road. That project, Transit Meadows, is nearing its complete build out.

Carmina Wood & Morris has been retained to help Bevilacqua with the engineering work. Bevilacqua said he hopes to start the project next spring.

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Bevilacqua lands three tenants for Transit Road project

Buffalo Business First
By James Fink | Published July 27, 2018

With construction nearing completion, Bevilacqua Development has landed a trio of tenants for the retail wing of its Transit Meadows Office Park.

Signed for the 8,900-square-foot out parcel building that fronts onto Transit Road are: Pita Gourmet, Domino’s Pizza and Divine Nails and Spa.

For Pita Gourmet, the site will be its second along the Transit Road spine running between Clarence, Lancaster and Amherst.

Domino’s is relocating from another Transit Road site.

The building should be open by early fall, said Jonathan Bevilacqua, development company president.

Transit Meadows has five office buildings totaling 45,000-square-feet with a mix of tenants.

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Bevilacqua to invest $11.5 million in two Amherst developments

Buffalo Business First

A pair of projects — one residential and the other commercially-focused — have been added to Bevilacqua Development L.P.’s pipeline.

The Amherst-based developer is proposing to construct an eight-unit apartment complex just off of Edgewater Drive in Amherst and has also landed its first two tenants for the fledgling Transit Meadows Office Park. Combined the two developments represent an $11.5 million investment by the company.

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Mayor believes Williamsville is ripe for development

Buffalo Business First

Buoyed by a pair of high profile residential-based projects and the completion of a $3 million make over of Main Street, the Village of Williamsville is poised to be a development hot spot.
At least that’s the hope of Brian Kulpa, Williamsville mayor.

Kulpa, in releasing his “Prospectus: Williamsville” blueprint for the suburban village, said he would love to see investors use the its Main Street business landscape as a development destination.

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Citizens Bank plans smaller retail branch on Transit Road

Buffalo Business First

Citizens Bank N.A. plans to relocate its Transit Road retail branch this year from one side of the street to the other.
The No. 5 largest bank in Western New York will switch this spring from a single stand-alone building at 6545 Transit Road in Clarence to a smaller office in a newly constructed retail center at 9430 Transit Road in East Amherst. Customers have been notified of the move, which is set to happen in May, a spokesperson said.

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Bevilacqua pays $1.3 million for Amherst Lymstone Lofts site

Buffalo Business First

An affiliate of Bevilacqua & Associates has officially closed on the property it needs to develop a mixed-use building that straddles both the Town of Amherst and Village of Williamsville municipal lines.

Bevilacqua, through its 5933 Main St. LLC and 5949 Main St. LLC affiliates, paid $1.3 million for the 1.7-acre parcels of land to construct the Lymstone Lofts. Construction is expected to start this spring.

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