"A part of me doesn't want to stop making the food," Angelina Genovese told CTV News Barrie in late August, a few weeks before Pizzeria Italia on Mulcaster Street closed for good on Sept. 10, 2026. Two days before that final service, about 250 students started classes elsewhere downtown at Lakehead University's new Barrie STEM Hub.
It's easy to read those two events as one story, with new people arriving just as an old business leaves. The sources tell a different one. The City says the STEM Hub will create "more demand for goods, services, dining, and entertainment" downtown. Pizzeria Italia didn't close because it ran out of customers, though. By its owner's account, it closed because of the finances it had faced since the pandemic and because she was the last of her family still working there. That matters to anyone who eats downtown, because more people on the sidewalk doesn't solve either problem.
Sixty years at 18 Mulcaster
Pizzeria Italia opened in 1966 at 18 Mulcaster Street. An earlier Simcoe.com profile called it one of the city's best-kept secrets. Genovese told CTV that when it opened, Barrie didn't have many restaurants and hers was the city's first Italian one. The two news outlets tell the founding a little differently. Genovese says her parents opened it. BarrieToday says Antonino "Nino" Barbaro co-founded it with his sister Pina and his brother-in-law, and notes that the same family later started Nino's Italian Restaurant on Blake Street.
Either way, it was a family business across generations. Genovese worked there as a kid. At a recent family reunion, she said, everyone in the room had worked at the restaurant at some point. That earlier Simcoe.com profile said everything on the menu was made by hand, with bread baked fresh every morning and old-style pizza. In the final weeks, Genovese named the deluxe pizza and the meatballs as the restaurant's signature dishes.
She was clear about why it was closing. Pizzeria Italia was a sit-down family restaurant until COVID-19, then switched to takeout only. Since then, she said, keeping it going had been hard financially. She was also the last family member working there, with only her and her kids left, and she said running a business is harder now. She said the decision had been a year in the making. She announced it on the restaurant's Facebook page on Aug. 18.
"What started as a small family business in 1966 became so much more because of you." Angelina Genovese, in the closing announcement quoted by BarrieToday
One detail leaves the future open. Genovese said she isn't selling the business, only the building. As of early October, there has been no public news about a buyer for 18 Mulcaster, who might move in, or what Genovese will do next. So the recipes and the name still belong to the family, and the building is a separate question.
What moved into the old transit terminal
The STEM Hub was built on a short timeline. In December 2024, City Council directed that space in the transit terminal at 24 Maple Avenue be renovated for a Lakehead campus. Lakehead later said it needed more room, and a second site at 5 Ross Street was announced on Jan. 28, 2026. Lakehead president Dr. Gillian Siddall said the project went from announcement to completion in about 21 months.
| 5 Ross Street | 24 Maple Avenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Former use | Not specified in coverage | Barrie Transit Terminal |
| Role | Lakehead's primary Barrie location | Engineering instruction |
| Inside | Computer labs and classrooms | Four engineering labs |
| Status as of Aug. 20 | Furniture and equipment going in, ready for Sept. 8 | Officially complete Aug. 20, 2026 |
The two sites together add up to more than 26,000 square feet of labs and classrooms for engineering, mechatronics and computer science, at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The people BarrieToday met on the first day were mostly local. T.J., a 26-year-old master's student in computer science, moved to Barrie from Mumbai four years ago and said he wanted to keep studying "and not leave the community that I've built." Daniil Burak, 18, a mechatronics student who calls Barrie home, said he didn't have to pay for a dorm.
The City has also folded the students into its own services. In June, BarrieToday reported a Lakehead transit pass at $150 per semester and a negotiated package for city recreation passes. Mayor Alex Nuttall described the hub as part of downtown's "emerging education district." The City groups it with Georgian College's downtown location and the Sandbox Centre next door.
The forecast and the count
There are two numbers to keep apart. The first is 250, the number of students who started on Sept. 8. The second is about 800, which associate vice-president Chris Glover called the plan "in the first five years." The City's release adds researchers and staff to that 800 figure and links it to more spending on dining and entertainment downtown.
That spending is still a forecast. So far, coverage from August to early October hasn't included any downtown merchant or the Downtown Barrie BIA describing more lunch traffic, new sales, a student discount, or a business opening to serve the campus. The first cohort has been in class for less than a month, so that's not surprising. It just means the effect on Dunlop and Mulcaster hasn't been measured yet.
Pizzeria Italia shows why the forecast may not reach every kind of business. A restaurant that switched to takeout and was down to one family member gets limited help from more people walking past. Genovese's account points to cost, staffing and succession. Those pressures belong to the owner, whether 250 people are studying on Ross Street or 800.
Other restaurants on the same street are still serving. Cocina Mexicana lists its address as 5 Mulcaster St. and posts regular hours. Reviews posted on its website in late September 2026 show it serving at that address this fall.
What you can actually walk into this month
The STEM Hub is mostly an academic building, and so far its public calendar is short. Here's what's listed:
- Oct. 8, 1 to 3 p.m., 5 Ross Street. Lakehead's "All About International" table invites people to stop by and ask about campus services and events.
- Oct. 20, 9 to 10 a.m., online. "Discover Barrie STEM Hub" is a Zoom session on programs and student life, meant for prospective students.
- Any day, Sunnidale Park and Lampman Lane Park. Barrie Public Library's Little Free Libraries pilot started July 1, 2026, with book-exchange boxes in both parks where you can take a book or leave one.
The City hasn't announced public open houses, lectures or showcases at the hub. Local businesses can reach the hub through Invest Barrie, which the City lists as the contact for partnerships.
The most concrete open question downtown this fall is what happens to 18 Mulcaster Street. The building is for sale, the Pizzeria Italia name is staying with the family, and Genovese has said she isn't sure she's finished cooking.
When a downtown building with 60 years of history changes hands, how it's presented matters as much as what's on the deed. If you own property near Barrie's growing education district and want to know how the STEM Hub's growth could affect its story and its value, The JRB Group can walk you through it. Elevate your lifestyle and request a consultation.
