ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Allentown businessman is seeking a partner to breathe new life into MainGate, one of the Lehigh Valley’s longest-running clubs.
The right partner — someone who’s “an entrepreneur and an idea maker” — can make sure MainGate and “the legacy of the corner of 17th and Liberty continues in the right way,” according to owner Dominic Germano.
- MainGate owner Dominic Germano wants a partner to help him carry on the club’s four-decade run in Allentown
- Germano is selling a 50% stake in Telfair Inc., which owns MainGate and two other properties
- MainGate has been in the Germano family since 1980
Germano said his dad, Michael “Skip” Germano, acquired the property at 448 N. 17th St. in 1980 and “turned MainGate from a beer garden into a full-service nightclub.”
He also took over the Allentown Fairgrounds Hotel around the same time, after that property was “abandoned and pretty much left for dead,” Germano said.
“What originally started as a family business is no longer. It needs the support of other operators, too.”Dominic Germano, MainGate owner
Shortly after, crews made “extensive renovations” from “top to bottom” on the Fairgrounds Hotel, which “is what you see today,” he said.
Family business
Germano said he’s been part of the family business for most of his adult life.
Skip Germano and his wife, Joan, ran the business for several decades until their son took over as manager and owner about 15 years ago.
“I wouldn't consider myself old, but as far as a club business goes, sometimes a fresh mind and a new approach is what can take a club” to the next level.Dominic Germano, MainGate owner
Germano also serves as head chef at the Allentown Fairgrounds Hotel, a full-service bar and restaurant that can serve more than 200 people at a time.
“These businesses can be complex, and it's not necessarily feasible or even good for their overall future to do it on my own,” Germano said.
“What originally started as a family business is no longer. It needs the support of other operators, too.”
Germano, who is in his mid-40s, said he has taken “more of a liking to the restaurant business” as he’s matured in the hospitality industry.
“I wouldn't consider myself old, but as far as a club business goes, sometimes a fresh mind and a new approach is what can take a club” to the next level, he said.
Special noise exemption
Germano said he feels no “sense of urgency or desperation” to find a partner.
“It could take six months or six years," he said. "But I'm going to keep trying because I think it's important for the future of the corner.”
The corner that houses Telfair’s locations is an area where some late-night businesses are exempt from Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s music regulations.
Realtor Robbie Stephens called that an “awesome” feature of Telfair’s businesses.
Allentown police are responsible for enforcing the city’s noise ordinance in some parts of the Fairgrounds district. The noise-exemption zone includes MainGate, Ringers Roost and The Shanty on 19th, among other businesses.
Germano closed down MainGate several times since 2016 after noise complaints. He pushed Allentown officials to take over noise-ordinance enforcement because that allows him to “face our complainants.”
Telfair was “very close to losing our liquor license, which would have put us out of business,” before the city stepped in, Germano said.
'A great opportunity'
An online listing shows Germano seeks $625,000 for a 50% share of Telfair and its three businesses.
MainGate is the highlight of Telfair’s portfolio. The club can hold more than 1,800 people and “is still going strong” after more than 40 years, Germano said.
He called it “one of the most successful, longest-running nightclubs” in the Lehigh Valley.
Maingate owner Dominick Germano is looking for a partner who "understands the new hot acts and how to put them in there to help them get maximum use out of" MainGate.Realtor Robbie Stephens
Germano said his offer is “a great opportunity for somebody to get in the club business with minimal investment.”
That investment would include a liquor license that covers all three properties Telfair owns at 17th and Liberty streets, realtor Stephens said. He said that license alone is worth about a quarter-million dollars.
Germano is looking for a partner "that understands the new hot acts and how to put them in there to help them get maximum use out of" MainGate, the realtor said.
Stephens started bartending at MainGate in 1982 and worked there for several years before returning in 1990 to manage the SportsGate section of the club.
He credited Skip and Joan Germano for giving him "the knowledge and the ability to open up my own place" — Jelly Beans Southside Jam — in the mid-1990s.
"They taught me so, so, so much; they really did," Stephens said of Dominic Germano's parents.
"It just means the world to me" to help Germano secure his family business’ future, Stephens said.
