Ramada auction draws crowd as longtime Hempfield hotel is set for demolition - TribLIVE

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Jeff Pollick got to the Ramada by Wyndham Greensburg Hotel and Conference Center just in time Saturday.

The owner of Wooden Door Winery walked into the Hempfield hotel moments before the draft system he was hoping to get went up for auction. After a short bidding war, he won it for $1,600, which he said was “basically half off.”

“That was my main goal,” he said after taking a picture of it from across the bar.

Pollick said once he installs the system at the winery’s Allegheny Township location, he will be able to have 10 beers and homemade ciders on tap. Other business and restaurant owners and contractors got some good deals at the auction that cleaned out the 42-year-old hotel in preparation for demolition.

A large crowd gathered Saturday morning to check out the furniture, kitchen items and bar equipment up for auction. There was no holding back — the light fixtures, the drop ceiling, carpeting and entryway sliding doors all went to the highest bidder.

“If there’s something here that you see, it’s all going to be sold,” auctioneer Mark Ferry told the group that gathered in the hotel lobby.

The Ramada, which opened in 1978, closed in October to make way for Menards, a Wisconsin-based home improvement store. The building will be demolished at some point after all of the auction winners clear out their goods.

Prospective bidders wandered the rooms examining items for sale — ranging from pictures on the wall to the dance floor. Auctioneer Randy Betton with Mark Ferry Auctioneers sold 15 wall sconces in the hotel hallway off the lobby for $5 each.

The bar sold for $300 and five high-top tables and chairs went for $170 each.

Dan and Brenda Leo came with a budget. They run Leo’s Sports Page and the food and beverage portion of the Quality Inn in New Kensington under Leo’s Productions. By mid-morning they had won a few items.

“We’re after bar equipment, ballroom stuff,” Dan Leo said.

Brenda Leo had her eye on pots, pans and silverware, as well as a large mixer in the kitchen.

“It’s sad to see such a landmark go,” she said.

The hotel across Route 30 from Westmoreland Mall originally opened as the Sheraton Inn, owned by Greensburg-based Adam Eidemiller, Inc. It was sold in 1999 to Crown American Hotels based in Johnstown and became Sheraton at Four Points. After that, the facility changed hands several times, finally owned by a group from Los Angeles called Greensburg Hospitality.

The ballroom, the largest between Pittsburgh and Seven Springs, has been the site of numerous events, including conventions, weddings, training sessions and fundraisers. In the last several years, local music acts regularly performed in the bar area.

But once the coronavirus pandemic hit, the event space sat empty and food and beverage at the hotel shut down as mitigation orders tightened to help slow the spread of the virus.

The closure and auction led to some good opportunities for the area’s business owners. Shane Gorman, who runs made-to-order bake shop Maisy Cakes with his fiancee Cheri Cole, was checking out kitchen equipment to aid in a potential expansion of the Mt. Pleasant business that opened in February.

“I’ve been going to restaurant auctions for like 10 years and this is one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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Ramada auction draws crowd as longtime Hempfield hotel is set for demolition - TribLIVE

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