Opening of ScareHouse’s Scream District in Pittsburgh further delayed

The opening of the new ScareHouse attraction on Penn Avenue in the Strip District — “Scream District” — has again been delayed, the company said Tuesday.

Scream District was originally scheduled to launch Sept. 27. Then officials said it would open Thursday. Now, the anticipated opening is Oct. 18. Company officials cited permitting issues with the City of Pittsburgh as a reason for the delay.

Tim McNulty, a spokesman for Mayor Bill Peduto, said the permits were issued Friday.

“I have no idea why the company is repeatedly blaming the City for their delays,” McNulty said in an email.

The 10,000-square-foot space at 2420 Penn Ave. was transformed into the ScreamDistrict over the summer. It includes two experiences,”The Basement” and the “Stalked by a Killer” escape room.

“The two amazing attractions within The Scream District are all ready, and our cast and crew can’t wait to thrill and entertain you … but all required inspections and issued permits have not yet been issued as anticipated, so we cannot yet finalize the building upgrades and open the doors,” a statement from ScareHouse said.

ScareHouse creative director Scott Simmons said the delay centers on inspection of bathrooms. He said workers began building the bathrooms after obtaining the permit.

“The building permit took longer than anticipated,” Simmons said. “If we knew it was going to take this long, we would have submitted plans six months ago. We did everything correctly, just the process takes much longer than anticipated.

ScareHouse operated out of the former Elks Lodge in Etna since 2007, but moved to a historic building in the Strip District last June in order to expand.

Simmons said ScareHouse plans to extend its operating schedule into November.

“We are going to be an experiment to see if people will go to a haunted house in November,” he said.