La-Z-Boy, 5th Avenue Fido Get Final Approval

Cranberry area residents will soon have a new place to shop for furniture well as a unique facility to take the family dog.

At Thursday’s meeting, Cranberry officials unanimously gave final approval to at the

Developer Phil Bishop of ECHO Realty said the 12,063 square-foot furniture store would be the final piece to the development, which currently is under construction on Route 228. When finished, the shopping center will feature a two-story Dick’s Sporting Goods at its center.

Bishop said the store would function as a showroom gallery only, meaning customers won’t be able to cart their furniture choices from inside the building on the same day they visit it. Instead, customers will order the furniture from the showroom and it will be delivered to their homes.

The La-Z-Boy store is slated to be located to the left of the two-story Dick’s Sporting Goods. A GetGo gas station and convenience store and a Men’s Warehouse clothing store also are slated for the complex. 

Bishop has said he hopes to begin construction on the furniture store by July.

“It’s the last piece of the puzzle, so to speak,” he said.

Pittsburgh's Elmhurst Group also is developing 90,000 square feet of business and professional office space in the same area.

Once finished, Cranberry Crossroads also will include pedestrian and bike paths. There also are plans for a gazebo, trees, shrubs, benches and other landscaping details required by the township’s streetscape enhancement ordinance.

Bishop said he hopes to have the complex complete—with all tenants occupying the spaces—by late fall.  

5th Avenue Fido

Officials also gave the green light to and doggie day care facility that will be located along Route 19 at the vacant Northgate Honda building.

Co-owner Linda Beard, a Cranberry resident and dog trainer, said 5th Avenue Fido would not be a traditional dog kennel. There will be no chain link runs, no cages and no concrete blocks at the facility, she said.

The facility is an indoor kennel, she added. The only time the dogs would head to a fenced-in outside area would be for supervised potty breaks. When they’re not playing, the boarding dogs sleep in individual hotel-like rooms with painted walls and a bed.

Fifth Avenue Fido also plans to offer dog training, including puppy, basic and socialization classes. Dog owners also may drop off their pups before they head to work at the facility’s doggie day care.

Beard said the hopes to have the facility open by fall.

North Catholic High School

Official also gave final approval to plans for the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School along Route 228 in Cranberry

Michael Arnold, chief facilities officer for the Pittsburgh diocese, has the board’s decision would affect when construction begins on the project.

Although the school originally was intended to be open in time for the 2013-14 school year, that no longer is the case.

Instead, Arnold said he hopes work will be complete on the school, which will be located on 65 acres near Cranberry’s border with Seven Fields, prior to the start of the 2014-15 school year.

The school, which will accommodate as many as 1,000 students in grades 9-12, is the largest building project the Diocese of Pittsburgh has undertaken in recent history. In 2010, the diocese announced plans to close the school’s building in Pittsburgh's Troy Hill and move programs to Cranberry in response to population growth and shifts in the North Hills.