A Gilpin couple is working to turn a New Kensington hotel’s ballroom into the area’s newest concert venue.
Daniel and Brenda Leo, through their businesses, Leo’s Productions and Strobe Lighting & Sound, are planning to host monthly concerts in the grand ballroom of the Quality Inn off Tarentum Bridge Road, across from Giant Eagle.
The first is a tribute to Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand, billed as “The Concert That Never Was,” with Bo Wagner and Elaine Painter accompanied by a full orchestra. It is scheduled for Feb. 11 and will feature a buffet dinner.
A Sinatra tribute artist, Wagner sang with and for Sinatra when he was in Las Vegas with Canonsburg doo-wop group The Four Coins, with which he performed from 1975-80.
It will be followed in March by a concert to benefit Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire’s family, featuring seven bands. The New Pure Gold, an oldies group, is slated to perform April 8.
The Leos have been running food and beverage at the hotel, including banquets and The Sports Page bar, for six years. Brenda Leo, a Tarentum native, had worked at the hotel as a cocktail waitress in the early 1980s. Cheswick native Daniel Leo and his mother, Dorothy Leo, ran a bar, The Sands, in Cheswick from 1980 to 2000.
Daniel Leo said they were doing well at the hotel and just getting on their feet when the covid-19 pandemic almost put them under.
“Somehow, we managed to survive,” he said.
What helped them was the size of the ballroom. At 10,000 square feet, the space could fit 250 people even with restrictions, Brenda Leo said. At full capacity, it can accommodate 600.
“We have the room to do it, so why not?” she said.
The ballroom has been repaired and restored after being damaged in February 2022 when a car crashed into the building and broke a natural gas line and sparked a fire.
The Leos are hoping the events will intrigue people who otherwise might not visit the hotel to check it out.
“People don’t know the beauty of the ballroom until they come in and see it,” Brenda Leo said. “It’s a beautiful room.”
As he works to book a variety of acts that will appeal to all ages, Daniel Leo hopes it will become an alternative for people to attend a good concert without having to drive to Pittsburgh.
“It’s the perfect setup — parking, the hotel, the size, food,” he said. “We thought it would be something people would enjoy.”
