Re-energizing one downtown is not an easy task but two local businessmen hope their hard work will soon pay off.
Jim Colombo is from Altoona. When he and his business partners bought the old Ford Music building, they weren’t sure what might work there. So, they decided on a hotel. Colombo said, “The town was a booming town in its day with the railroad. It was the largest railroad in the world. And so it’s went like this through the years, but now if you look at how the growth is, from the Casanave project, to the Water Authority, to here, to the Sheetz, to Leonard Fiore, the hospital — it’s outstanding. Chestnut Avenue is really good, this area is really booming. This is really a growth area.”
Colombo has his hands in a number of buildings downtown — including the Casanave building — which houses Dickey’s Barbeque Pit and apartments. Owners, managers and employees say they’re happy to see more people coming downtown.
“It’s fun, it’s exciting,” said Colombo.
And over on 11th Ave. — the Pennsy Place is renovated and held an open house on Thursday night. The building’s new tenants are the Allegheny Ballet Company and the Railroad City Brewing Company. The Brewing Company hopes to be officially open by the end of the month.
John Horell, one of the project managers for Pennsy Place, said, “We’re ecstatic, we just can’t believe we’re seeing the project come to life and seeing people enjoy this space, it looks even better with people in it.”
Like Colombo, Horell is from Altoona and is getting involved in creating more attractions in downtown Altoona.
“We’re looking forward to other people catching on and doing projects just like this,” said Horell.
What Altoona may lack the big city buzz– but it has people like Colombo and Horell genuinely care about their city.
Colombo said, “It’s changing downtown and it’s good, and it’s a good project.”
Dan Damron, Hotel Site Superintendent, said, “Everybody that I’ve talked to wants to see the town grow to what it used to be.”
Hotel construction started on February 23rd, 2016. Their goal is to have the hotel completed by December 2016.
