Several years into a complete redesign, SouthSide Works is drawing tenants from near and far — Columbus-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which objectively has some of the nation’s best ice cream, and Osaka-based Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, which serves up sushi on a conveyor belt.
“Guests can look forward to our two-layered conveyor belt system, drink delivery robots, prizes for eating sushi and more,” says Lauren Murakami, public relations & social media supervisor with Kura.
The assembly line approach fits the methodical construction of sushi perfectly, and it has been a viable concept in Japan and elsewhere for years.
Jeni’s finally opened its first Pittsburgh location in Bakery Square this year and the South Side store will be its second.
Before it was a trend, Jeni’s was making unusual, distinctive scratch-made flavors of ice cream for those ready to move beyond vanilla and mint chocolate chip. Current flavors include Watermelon Taffy, Golden Nectar (“tastes like fading summer sunlight topped with cracked caramel”), Powdered Jelly Donut, Everything Bagel and High Five Candy Bar. Flavors are constantly arriving and departing, however, so there’s always something new.
Kura Revolving Sushi Bar and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams are both projecting 2023 openings at the Box Office, the former SouthSide Works Cinema space. SouthSide Works owners SomeraRoad and architectural partner HOK transformed the theater in 2021 into a Class A office building.
Other arrivals at SouthSide Works include a new dog park with Levity Brewing that’s now open, and multiple modular restaurants coming soon to the Town Square. Pins Mechanical (bar/pinball/games concept) plans to open next month. The Speckled Egg and Commonplace Coffee are currently renovating their collaborative concept which is slated to open in early 2023.
The Park, a 247-unit apartment complex facing the Monongahela River, also broke ground recently at SouthSide Works.
