North Huntingdon officials voted this week to condemn the former Rivertowne Pub & Grille building on Route 30 so it can be demolished, though the saga might not be over.

Commissioners voted 6-1 on Wednesday to condemn the closed tavern, following a hearing Oct. 14.

The property is owned by Shiv Real Estate LLC, Mt. Lebanon.

Shiv Real Estate co-owner Prasad Margabandhu said Thursday he plans to appeal the decision, for which he has 30 days to file the paperwork in county court once he receives official notification from the township. Margabandhu did not attend the vote but testified last week that the problems with the building and property are cosmetic, not structural. He asked for more time to fix the problems.

The decision to condemn the building for demolition “is kind of like pointing a bazooka at an ant,” he said. “They need to be more empathetic, more caring.”

Commissioner Jason Atwood said he voted against the condemnation because he believes that “the property owners should have the opportunity to make (the building) right.”

The township should give the owners some guidance to resolve the problems, he said.

“I would rather give (Margabandhu) the benefit of the doubt,” Atwood said.

Margabandhu contends other buildings in the township are in worse condition and questioned whether he was being discriminated against by township officials.

Mike Turley, township assistant manager, said the action was “purely a matter of enforcing township ordinances.”

Details about the building’s condition were part of the hearing, plus “part of (the) correspondence over several years, much of which was ignored by the property owner,” Turley said via email.

Township building inspector and code enforcement officer Joshua Andrykovitch testified last week that the Rivertowne building has broken windows, bare electrical wires on the exterior and part of the floor is collapsed. There is garbage on the property and abandoned vehicles. Andrykovitch had issued a condemnation notice to Shiv Real Estate on Aug. 12, giving the company 30 days to raze the structure or bring it to code.

Andrykovitch said he had issued a stop-work order in February 2019 when a contractor had not obtained a building permit to remodel.

The tavern closed in 2018 as part of the Rivertowne Brewing Co.’s bankruptcy.

In 2019, Shiv Real Estate bought 50% interest in the property from a co-owner, Christian Fyke, who was a founder of Rivertowne. The tavern has never reopened, and Margabandhu said the corporation owes about $22,000 in back taxes, which he told township officials would be resolved.

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