Two West Newton trailside businesses for sale

Two businesses that have been mainstays along the Great Allegheny Passage in West Newton — a bed and breakfast and a restaurant — are for sale by owners who have been serving patrons from Western Pennsylvania and around the globe for two decades.

The owners of the Bright Morning Bed & Breakfast, just off the trail on Jefferson Court, and the Trailside Pub & Restaurant along West Main Street are looking to retire and sell their businesses as spring draws near and activity on the trail ramps up with hikers, bikers and joggers.

Mary Lou and Robert Rendulic, owners of the Bright Morning Bed & Breakfast are slowly weaning themselves from the business that Mary Lou began in 2001, when she started using her first house at 127A Jefferson Court to conduct piano lessons and house the bed-and-breakfast. For the past 18 months, the Rendulics have had a manager handle the day-to-day operations of the business, which is spread over four houses.

“We’ve had a really nice clientele and people have come here from around the world,” Mary Lou Rendulic said.

They got into the business almost by accident. The avid bicyclists and hikers had the idea to open a B&B while hiking the Appalachian Trail in central and northern Pennsylvania. On some occasions, they had to hike three miles off that trail to find lodging, Mary Lou Rendulic said.

Like so many other tourists-reliant businesses, their B&B suffered in 2020, she said.

“It was cut exactly in half” that first year of covid, she said.

Business has recovered fairly well and they have been busy, keeping open in the winter.

While they may miss interacting with people locally and around the world, the downside of operating a B&B is the daily grind of cooking and cleaning.

The three houses that the Rendulics converted into B&B properties are being offered for sale for $750,000 as a package deal, said Jami Hudson, the Berkshire Hathaway Realtor handling the sale. Separately, their first B&B at 127A Jefferson Court is being offered for sale at $300,000, with the asking price for the houses at 129 and 131 Jefferson Court at $250,000 each.

A fourth house that is part of the Bright Morning family of B&Bs is not for sale, said David Kahley, president of The Progress Fund, a Greensburg-based community development financial institution that owns the home.

The Progress Fund, which specializes in small business loans, has been heavily involved in funding businesses along the Great Allegheny Passage, including both of the ones for sale in West Newton.

Trailside Pub

Rod Darby, who has operated the Trailside Pub & Restaurant for two decades, is selling the popular eatery just off the parking lot for the West Newton trailsite.

Darby, who wants to retire, declined to comment regarding his desire to sell his business, which went on the market this winter.

The restaurant’s 75-by-35-foot porch overlooks the West Newton trailhead parking lot, with outdoor seating for 40 and indoor seating for 80, according to an advertisement from broker Sofranko Advisory Group LLC of Marshall.

The asking price for the business is $399,000, with an additional $95,000 for the restaurant category liquor license, which is owned under the corporate name of D&A Operations LLC, according to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. The property, which also has a rental income, has a gross annual revenue of just under $1 million, according to Sofranko Advisory Group.