Superstars Pizza owner planning new deli, catering hub in Museum District

The vacant building sits at the corner of Roseneath Road and Patterson Avenue. (Mike Platania photo)

A space that had once been eyed as the first Richmond location of a national coffee shop chain is now being planned as a spinoff of a longtime West End pizzeria.

Superstars Pizza and its owner Taylor Antonelli are looking to take over a former dry cleaners building at 3401 Patterson Ave. and convert it into a both a hub for Superstars’s catering operation as well as a public-facing concept. 

Antonelli said he hasn’t finalized all the details on what the public-facing concept would be. City planning documents show it would be called Antonelli’s Deli and is described as a “neighborhood pizzeria/delicatessen.” 

The 1,000-square-foot Museum District building had previously been planned as a location of PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans. PJ’s went as far as getting city approval for the project in 2021, but work never got underway and the chain eventually punted on those plans. 

Superstars first opened a few miles west at 5700 Patterson Ave. in 1994 and in 2020 Antonelli converted a 1951 Ford truck into FiftyOne Mobile Kitchen, a pizza truck that’s used exclusively for catering and private events.

The 1951 Ford truck that Antonelli converted in 2020. (Courtesy Superstars Pizza)

Antonelli Superstars’ current space is to support the catering business, but that it’s been growing at a such a rate that they need more room. That led him to 3401 Patterson Ave., a space he said he’d been interested in for years. 

The existing parking area at 3401 Patterson Ave. would be converted into an outdoor patio and a food truck loading area. Antonelli said the space wouldn’t be used as a food truck court, with other operators setting up shop, though they are considering doing events there with the FiftyOne truck. 

The original Superstars Pizza at 5700 Patterson Ave., now in its 31st year in business, would remain operational. 

Antonelli is looking to amend PJ’s previously-approved special-use permit to green-light the project. The proposal is scheduled to be heard by the city Planning Commission at its Jan. 7 meeting, where it’s on the commission’s consent agenda. 

The Planning Commission is also set to make a recommendation on the proposed redevelopment of the Westhampton Pastry Shop building into a four-story retail and office building. 

The post Superstars Pizza owner planning new deli, catering hub in Museum District appeared first on Richmond BizSense.