Lehigh graduate Yongkang Gao and his business partner, Bill Geddes, recently purchased the iconic Southside eatery, Pete’s Hot Dog Shop, and an adjacent three-story building that houses two residential units. They plan to reopen a restaurant in the Pete’s building at 400 Broadway after renovations to it are complete. They also plan to renovate the two residences, each of which has its own entrance.

Gao hopes the residential units at 406 Carlton Ave. will be ready for occupancy by late summer and the restaurant at the end of August, beginning of September. “We need to do a lot of renovations,” Gao said.

An electrical engineer, Gao, who earned his PhD at Lehigh, had eaten at the hot dog shop a few times while a student. Pete’s which had been at that location since 1937, closed in March. John Mamounas bought Pete’s in 1988 from Teddy Kourpas, whose uncle, Pete Kourpas, opened the business. Generations of Lehigh Valley residents, including Bethlehem Steel workers and Lehigh students, feasted on hot dogs, cheesesteaks, burgers and perogies at Pete’s over its many years.

Gao, who lives in the Bay Area of California, where he works for Apple, owns several other residential properties on the Southside and was eager to purchase Pete’s and the residential building when he learned they were for sale. Geddes, who is known as Excecutive Chef Billy G, has restaurant experience (including a hot dog truck) and will oversee the renovations and opening of both. Geddes, who lives in South Jersey, is also a contractor and is moving to Bethlehem to oversee the project.

Gao said they had some idea of what they want to do in the Pete’s space, which is small, but haven’t made any decisions yet other than it will be a restaurant. Geddes said hot dogs will be on the menu “because that’s what people want,” but he expects the menu to be “a little bit of everything.”