The biggest storefront at Murray and Forbes has been dark since Rite Aid left it. The space at 1700 Murray Avenue takes up the corner where Squirrel Hill's two main commercial streets cross. It is still empty as November begins, and the business that has signed for it doesn't plan to open until around March 2027, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Squirrel Hill Night Market is also finished for 2026. It ran on Murray Avenue between Forbes and Beacon, the same stretch that runs past the empty corner. Uncover Squirrel Hill lists the season as over.
That leaves a gap at the center of the business district for the next few months. The neighborhood calendar keeps going anyway, because the venues that carry it sit a block or more from the intersection: a Sunday market on Beacon Street, a library on Forbes, a city rink in Schenley Park. Each one keeps the same hours every week. This winter, the calendar is easier to follow by day of the week than by address.
The Corner Starts Its New Clock in Spring
Three things are happening at the corner, and none of them puts anything on a sidewalk this fall.
The ground floor of 1700 Murray is going to a kosher grocery called Murray's, which the landlord's announcements also call Murray Avenue Market. When Rite Aid went into bankruptcy and began giving up its leases, a bankruptcy court approved Itchy Glassner's plan to take over the corner space, the Post-Gazette reported. Later, the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment approved the project as well. The building's owner, Brandywine Communities, announced Murray's as its anchor tenant on August 7. The release describes a 12,000-square-foot store and said construction was expected "in the coming months." Glassner told the Post-Gazette that remodeling would start once engineering plans were finished.
Upstairs, the second floor is filling, but slowly. In April, Brandywine announced second-floor leases with Techstra Solutions, Pittsburgh City Paper and Generation Dental. All three were expected to move in later in 2026, and the building is getting a new lobby, upgraded access control and new tenant signs. As of this writing, Generation Dental's own site says it will "soon" start seeing patients at the address.
A few doors up at 1720 Murray, Murray Avenue Grill, open close to 40 years, served its last meal on Sunday, December 28, 2025, WTAE reported.
So the busiest crossing in the neighborhood has a vacant anchor space, a closed restaurant and an office floor that is still moving in. Everything below is happening elsewhere.
Saturday Night Puts the Whole Corridor to Work Once More
The first event on the calendar is two days after this post goes up. Uncover Squirrel Hill's Business District Trick or Treat runs Saturday, October 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. along Forbes and Murray as far as Forward Avenue. Participating shops will have a poster in the window.
It's the last night this year that the full Forbes and Murray corridor works as one event, much the way the Night Market used Murray on summer evenings. The storefronts with tenants will carry the posters. The corner at 1700 Murray won't have one, and the gap will be easy to see on a route that otherwise runs storefront to storefront.
Once Halloween is over, holiday decorations take over the streets. Uncover Squirrel Hill sought sponsors this fall for banners and lit LED snowflakes along Forbes, Shady, Murray and Forward Avenues, and it sells bus-shelter holiday placements for November and December. The decorations go up whether or not every storefront is occupied.
A November Week, Day by Day
From November on, the neighborhood's activities are mostly regular sessions. The table below combines the Squirrel Hill Farmers Market schedule, the posted public sessions at the Schenley Park Skating Rink, and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh–Squirrel Hill programs at 5801 Forbes Avenue.
| Day | What's running | Times |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Farmers Market, 5737 Beacon St. | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| Sunday | Schenley rink, once open | 1:30, 3:30 and 6 p.m. sessions |
| Monday | Schenley rink | 4 to 5:30 p.m. |
| Tuesday | Schenley rink | 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. sessions |
| Wednesday | Schenley rink | 1:30 to 3 p.m. and 7 to 8:30 p.m. |
| Thursday | Schenley rink | 6:30 to 8 p.m. |
| Friday | Schenley rink | 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. sessions |
| Saturday | Schenley rink | 1:30, 3:30, 6 and 8 p.m. sessions |
| Saturday, Nov. 7 and 14 | CLP–Squirrel Hill "The Brain's Social Default" series | Check the library calendar |
The rink at 10341 Overlook Drive opened in 1975. The city's page, last updated October 1, says the ice is closed for now and will reopen "in mid-November," without a specific date. Sessions have no intermissions and depend on the weather. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and veterans with ID, and $3 for youth. Skate rental costs $3, sharpening costs $10, and buying online adds a $0.90 processing fee.
Sunday Is When the Schedules Meet
Once the rink opens, Sunday is the one day the week's schedules connect. The farmers market at 5737 Beacon Street closes at 1 p.m., and the rink's first Sunday session starts at 1:30. Both are run by CitiParks, and you can do both in one Sunday afternoon.
The city's calendar has it running from May 10 through December 20, 2026. The remaining dates are November 1, 8, 15 and 22, then December 6, 13 and 20. There is no market on Sunday, November 29. One listing elsewhere gives the end as "mid-November," but the city's schedule shows three more Sundays in December.
The holidays change both schedules. The rink is closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, and on Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve it has only a 1:30 to 3 p.m. session. The market runs on November 1 and 8, before the rink's mid-November reopening. With no market on November 29, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is another day when the two don't line up.
One-Off Dates for the Calendar
Some events happen only once. These are the ones on the neighborhood's calendar between now and mid-December, from the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition, the library and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy:
- Sunday, November 1: SHUC lists a Día de los Muertos celebration. Details hadn't been posted at last check.
- Thursday, November 5, 6 to 8 p.m.: SHUC's 2026 Squirrel Hill Treasure Awards Dinner at Pittsburgh Golf Club.
- Saturday, November 7, and Saturday, November 14: the library's Fall 2026 series "The Brain's Social Default: Wiring, Behavior, and Psychology."
- Tuesday, November 10: a poetry discussion on Mary Oliver at CLP–Squirrel Hill.
- Tuesday, November 10, noon to 1 p.m., and Thursday, November 12, 6 to 7 p.m.: virtual public meetings on accessibility upgrades at the Frick Environmental Center campus. Topics include arrival and wayfinding, gathering and program spaces, and the amphitheater.
- Wednesday, November 11: a library discussion of Carson Faust's If the Dead Belong Here.
- Sunday, November 15: a library discussion of Tommy Orange's There There. On a market Sunday, the library on Forbes adds a third stop.
- Wednesday, November 18: SHUC's Holiday Mingle. Details to come.
- Tuesday, December 8: a library discussion of poems by Wisława Szymborska.
The ones with a posted venue are away from Murray and Forbes. The coalition's dinner is at a golf club, the library talks are at the branch on Forbes, and the Frick meetings are online.
What the Corner's Clock Will Look Like
Murray's has published its planned hours, and they suggest how the intersection will run after it opens. The Post-Gazette reported that the store plans to open Sunday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on Friday from 8 a.m. until two hours before sundown. A commercial kitchen will make take-away food, there will be 8 to 10 seats for eating in, and ordering and delivery will start out through third-party apps. The plans also include an ADA ramp at the back of the store for shopping carts, leading to a 23-space parking lot.
Glassner told the Post-Gazette he is aiming at "the broader community and neighborhood at Squirrel Hill." If it opens on that schedule, the corner will be busy on Sundays, the same day the market and the rink already draw people. The store would also open earlier and close later on Sundays than either of them.
Until spring, the corner stays empty. The neighborhood's routine for the next few months runs on Beacon Street on Sunday mornings, on Forbes during library programs, and in Schenley Park once the rink opens in mid-November.
The new tenants coming to 1700 Murray will change how the blocks around Murray and Forbes work, and Kate follows those changes as part of understanding home values in Squirrel Hill. If you'd like to know what your home could sell for as this corner fills back in, The Kate White Team can put together a free home valuation for you.
