Barring setbacks, Scott Fadzen is feeling pretty positive that the multi-million dollar construction project at the former Yankello's site will be finished on time.

Fadzen, general contractor, said the work at 604 Beaver St. is moving along very well and very quickly.

“It looks like we may stick to our schedule and have the place open before Light Up Night,” he said. “We’re very excited.”

Fadzen said the old building at Beaver and Chestnut streets was at least 70 years old and had to be torn down rather than renovated.

“There was nothing good about it,” he said.

Demolition to the old building started in May, and work has continued to progress, with the shell of the new building already standing. Fadzen expects to install the roof in early September.  

Site plans include a First National Bank in the front section of the building facing Beaver. Yankello’s, which has moved temporarily across the street, will move back into new digs in the back on the first floor. Fadzen said a Marcellus Shale service company is expected to move into the office space on the second floor.

Fadzen said it’s not a coincidence that the building’s grand opening is planned for Dec. 7, same as the borough's LightFest, Sewickley's annual holiday celebration. 

A few years ago when one of his renovation projects, the Penguin Bookshop, was complete, Fadzen said the grand opening was purposefully planned to coincide with the borough’s annual Harvest Festival.

“We like to open those new properties as part of a village celebration,” he said.