Category Archive: Architecture & Architects
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E Properties & Development Restore Abandoned Lawrenceville Houses
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
234 38th Street, Lawrenceville
E Properties and Development is nearing completion on the transformation of two blighted properties on 38th Street in Lawrenceville, contributing to the major revitalization efforts taking place on the hill between Butler Street and Penn Avenue.
The two connected townhouses at 234 38th Street sat neglected for some time, until E Properties and Development principal Emeka Onwugbenu purchased them last June.
“In terms of challenges, people suggested that the properties be demolished,” says Onwugbenu. “Our team of architects and engineers created value-based solutions that would restore the structural stability of each building while building on its architecture.”
Onwugbenu and architect Andrew Moss extended the foundations of the houses to create a more open environment with two added rooms, and installed bamboo floors throughout the buildings. They are also raising the second and third floors, and installing clear story windows, which will allow light to pour through the master bedrooms that will open into unique balcony decks overlooking downtown. The exterior, which is currently composed of vinyl siding, will be swapped out for cement board side material. Coldwell Banker has signed on to market the homes, which will start in the low $200,000 range, and are slated for move-in by Thanksgiving.
Onwugbenu, originally from Nigeria, attended Penn State for industrial engineering, and is currently in his final semester of the MBA program at CMU. He started E Properties and Development in 2007, in order to create unique value-added properties, which mix traditional design with a modern feel.
In addition to the homes at 234 38th Street, architect Andrew Moss is currently building his dream home one block away at 221 38th Street. Two other homes, at 236 and 238 38th Street, are currently being renovated by private owners, within steps of the 234 buildings.
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Source: Emeka Onwugbenu, principal of E Properties and Development
Writer: John FarleyImage courtesy Emeka Onwugbenu
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Challenge Grant Generates $100,000 for Historic Religious Properties Program
PHLF News
Wednesday, August 04, 2010Thanks to $25,000 in challenge grants from two anonymous donors, The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation is reviving its recently troubled Historic Religious Properties Program, which provides matching grants to help congregations perform exterior maintenance on their facilities.
“Since 1997, we’ve been giving an average of 70 to 80 thousand dollars a year in grants. When we hit economic hard times in 2010, we suspended the grant program, because there just wasn’t enough money,” says Carole Malakoff, coordinator for the religious properties program.
With the grant program in limbo, two donors stepped up three weeks ago, giving the foundation 60 days to match the grants. The foundation’s President put up $12,500, and over 288 donors contributed gifts totaling $62,710, bringing the total grant package available for the 2011 grant cycle to over $100,210, making this the most successful annual appeal in the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation’s 46 year history.
Applications for grants will be due by December 1, 2010, and provide matching grants up to $10,000 to Allegheny County churches that are over 50 years old.
“Over the years, the majority of our grants have gone to stained glass window work, roof and gutter repair, and masonry work,” says Malakoff.
As a result of the generous outpouring of support, PHLF has decided to host a technical assistance workshop on September 20 at the Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside. Experts will provide demonstrations to members of congregations on green building, handicap accessibility, and all that it entails to maintain a historic building.
“We sent out a letter in June to see if there was enough interest, and we’ve had 30 congregations call to say they are interested. So, we’ve had a wonderful response, and we’re still accepting people to come,” says Malakoff.
The workshops go from 10:30 a.m. to two p.m. Interested parties can contact Carole Malakoff at 412-321-3612.
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Source: Carole Malakoff, coordinator for PHLF Religious Properties Program
Writer: John Farley -
Roxian (Theater) Ready for Start of Renovation
Thursday, July 29, 2010By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWhen Andrew Hieber saw a “for sale” sign on the Roxian Theater in McKees Rocks, he had an instant vision.
A musician, he knew the local concert scene. A longtime restaurant worker, he knew entertainment. As the owner of a martial arts and fitness gym, he knew business. As a native of The Rocks, he knew what lower Chartiers Avenue had once been. And as a lucky early investor in America Online stock, he even had a bit of money.
“I had always looked at the Roxian as a great music venue,” with nice acoustics and a size that slotted neatly between the clubs and the stadiums, he said. Built in the late 1920s as a movie theater and used for every conceivable stage show since, the Roxian was well-worn but structurally sound. Mr. Hieber figured he could slap on some paint, work his connections and start bringing in mid-level touring bands.
That was 2004. The vision has taken a couple of beatings since. “I don’t get excited anymore,” Mr. Hieber said. “I got really excited five years, six years ago, and it just got me frustrated.”
But if he starts feeling the rush again, it is excusable — the grand old theater is in the process of being gutted in the first phase of a renovation that should have it open by next year.
The plan is to open a side wall to create space for ticket booths and a new entrance, refurbish the main floor with a new bar area and removable seats, raise the stage for safety and better sightlines and replace the 285 balcony seats with 225 seats sized for modern rear ends. The building is also getting an elevator, new wiring, plumbing and ventilation systems, new bathrooms and new light and sound systems.
In all, the cavernous space — five floors on a 27,000-square-foot footprint — will be able to hold 1,500 for a concert, but also will be able to function café-style for banquets, receptions and smaller shows.
In some ways, all this is possible because of the first beating that was administered to Mr. Hieber’s dream six years ago.
When he inquired about buying the building, he was put in touch with an old Sto-Rox schoolmate, Taris Vrcek, who had recently taken on leadership of the McKees Rocks Community Development Corp. Mr. Vrcek told him the Community Development Corp. was acquiring the building and already had someone lined up to be owner/operator of the theater business.
But he promised to keep Mr. Hieber atop the list if anything happened, and when the original operator bailed out six months later, he gave Mr. Hieber a call.
The next blow came when Mr. Vrcek said the community corporation would rent him the building, but would not sell it.
“I said, ‘Why should I rent it from you when I can own it myself?’ ” Mr. Hieber said. “But he waved the carrot of nonprofit grant money in front of my nose.” The Community Development Corp. could get the kind of support that no for-profit business could.
The final blow made the necessity of that arrangement clear; architectural studies showed that to meet code, the theater would need an elevator and bathrooms with 42 toilets, far beyond what it had. “That kind of tore down my dream,” Mr. Hieber said.
Mr. Vrcek, however, was undeterred. He had a strong vision of what lower Chartiers could be, and the redeveloped Roxian was “the game-changer, the catalyst for the rest of the strategic plan,” he said.
“Bring 1,000 people in here several times a week, imagine what that would do. It would really give us a chance to market some beautiful old buildings.”
The neighborhood already has Hollowood Music Center, a music store with a regional clientele, and the Roxian is catty-corner from the Father Ryan Arts Center, a nonprofit facility that supports visual and performing arts.
Mr. Vrcek sees other clubs and restaurants sprouting, capitalizing on the arts-centered theme. “The Roxian could really make this a destination of choice,” he said.
Mr. Vrcek spent years obtaining a $500,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and a $250,000 county grant. He also brought in Dennis Stasa, owner of the McKees Rocks company Penn Interiors, as a private partner. The company is doing the renovation work and will have an ownership stake.
Mr. Hieber described Mr. Stasa as “a visionary” when it comes to the building’s interior. “He’s sure when he’s done with this that he’s going to end up on the cover of Pittsburgh Builder magazine.”
The full flow of Mr. Stasa’s vision may have to wait a while, though. Mr. Vrcek said the focus for now is on getting the building ready for effective use as a concert venue, with the “extra bells and whistles” to follow as money is available.
That puts the current focus on the building’s mechanicals and on bringing the main floor and main stage up to standards.
The “bells and whistles” could be a lot of fun, though, because the building is a maze of half-hidden rooms, like a real-life “The Phantom of the Opera” set.
There are rooms flanking the stage along the back wall, stacking up to the ceiling. These were delicately referred to as “sleeping rooms” in the theater’s club days and could be used as “green room” space for artists.
Mr. Hieber envisions opening a small restaurant in a room above what is now the entrance and a cigar bar in an identical room above that. There’s a lounge between the two entrances that was, until recently, adorned with hanging beads and disco posters. The projection room still holds the original projectors — huge machines from the dawn of the movie era.
And then there’s the basement, a huge space previously used as a sports and dance bar; Mr. Hieber envisions a similar use in the future.
“I’ve been through the building probably 20 times,” Mr. Hieber said, “and every time I find a new space I didn’t know about.”
And standing in the empty, dusty darkness of the main floor, he betrayed the fact that the excitement really is still there.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said.
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New Hope for Jeannette Glass Co. Plant Site
Thursday, July 29, 2010By Candy Woodall – Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRobert Carter drives past it every day. He sees the blemish on the city landscape and questions the fate of the old Jeannette Glass plant.
A city firefighter for the past 36 years and the mayor for the past six months, Mr. Carter is quite familiar with Jeannette Glass Co.
“I remember when it was booming,” he said.
He remembers when the plant got so busy churning out coffee cups and bowls that the fire department had to go there to cool the tanks.
He remembers when it closed in 1983.
And he remembers getting a call to put out flames when a fire ravaged the plant for 22 hours in the mid-1980s.
Even though he still wears a fire helmet, it’s the hat he wears as mayor that is causing him to put out flames of a different kind these days.
In a 3-2 vote, city council last week approved a trip to New York City, during which Mr. Carter and solicitor Scott Avolio will try to calm a decades-long dispute between Abraham Zion and officials throughout Westmoreland County.
Mr. Zion bought the Jeannette glass plant for $4 million in 1983. Since then, local leaders have engaged with him in a number of fits and starts, hoping to do something with the old facility that is now falling apart. It has been exposed to the elements and is “a total eyesore,” according to the mayor.
John Skiavo, president of nonprofit Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland County, said officials got close a few times, but talks ultimately went nowhere. He last communicated with Mr. Zion in 2007, he said.
“We had meetings for five years straight, but in the end, [Mr. Zion] was never agreeable,” he said.
Mr. Zion, 85, was not available for comment. An assistant in his New York office said he has a medical condition and doctors appointments.
That medical condition is why Mr. Carter is traveling to him.
The mayor said Mr. Zion first reached out to him six months ago with a phone call to congratulate him on his election.
“Out of nowhere, I got a call. It knocked me off my heels a little. He definitely caught my attention,” Mr. Carter said.
Mr. Zion told him he wanted to do something with the property, and Mr. Carter saw it as a breakthrough.
“It’s been a long time coming, and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to get that property cleaned up,” he said.
No specific plans are in place for their visit, but Mr. Carter said he hopes to go “within the next month, as soon as possible.”
The property sits in the heart of the city like a monument, with rusted remnants reminding passers-by what Jeannette was in its heyday. It sits on about 32 acres on two parcels between Chambers and Bullitt avenues facing Sixth Street, with an appearance starkly different from the development going up around it.
As part of a $31 million effort to revamp the city, 25 single-family homes and a nine-unit townhouse complex have been built along South Sixth Street.
“There’s a major project in front of [the glass plant],” Mr. Carter said. “When people look out their back doors, they see an old, rundown industrial yard. And I don’t want people to think this is some old, rundown community.”
Getting the property cleaned up is his first priority.
“I’m not going to New York with stars in my eyes. I’m going on a mission,” he said.
The mayor and Councilman Jeff DePalma, who voted in favor of the trip, noted that Mr. Zion has been a good taxpayer, doling out $68,000 a year in property taxes — more than $1 million in the past 20-plus years — and can only hope he will be as diligent with the actual property.
“I honestly can’t read his mind. [Mr. Zion] has just never seemed totally determined to do anything with the property,” said Mr. Skiavo, of Economic Growth Connection. “That property is a real nuisance for the city and can become a real detriment as it further deteriorates.”
Three years ago, Mr. Skiavo and colleagues, through their redevelopment organizations, offered to buy the property for about $500,000 and clean it up, which would have cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said. Mr. Zion would have been relieved of all liability and able to sell the scraps.
“He entertained the possibility, but turned us down,” Mr. Skiavo said.
In 2007, Mr. Skiavo wrote a report to city council, saying the only avenue left was to force Mr. Zion to clean up the property through enforced ordinances and codes.
The history of failed business relations with Mr. Zion is why councilmen Mike Clark and Ron Dinsmore voted against the trip to New York.
Mr. Carter said he’s aware of the history, but has to try.
“I have a lot of naysayers, but I can’t live in the past. I can’t change yesterday.
“That property has just sat there for years and years and years. This is an opportunity to change that.”
Mr. Skiavo said the property could probably house a commercial or light manufacturing facility.
Mr. Carter drives past the dilapidated plant and envisions green space, a park setting, small specialty shops, something to promote the city rather than put a damper on it.
“One way or another, when that meeting is over, I will have a defined answer about what is going on with that property,” he said.
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Regent Square Brick Streets to Remain Brick
Thursday, July 22, 2010By Deborah M. Todd, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWith parts of the Regent Square neighborhood’s brick-paved Macon and Trevanion avenues in shambles following a recent water main break, residents’ efforts to make sure the street is repaired in its original condition have paid off.
Swissvale council President David Petrarca said the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority agreed Tuesday to repair portions of the streets affected by the water main break with brick, rather than making repairs with asphalt as they had previously requested.
Borough ordinances require anyone excavating or repairing local streets to restore the surface and subbase with the same kind of materials that were originally in place, but the authority requested to repair the street with asphalt to alleviate costs.
“The water authority was very cooperative; we had a cordial meeting and the borough is happy with the agreement we reached. This is the best settlement that could have come out of this,” he said.
Questions about long-term maintenance, plus an offer from the authority to replace Macon Avenue’s waterline with the installation of asphalt, led Swissvale council to hold off on a final decision regarding the road’s repairs during the July 7 legislative meeting. More than 50 residents packed into Swissvale’s council chambers that day to voice objection to the authority’s request.
Neal Harrison of the Regent Square Civic Association outlined the benefits of brick paved streets, such as greater rainwater absorption, no annual repaving and increased property values for homes on brick streets. He also said several cities throughout the country are removing asphalt from bricked roads and renovating the original brick because of long-term maintenance costs.
“We would like to see the brick replaced. There are financial reasons, safety reasons and environmental reasons. The community is an asset and the brick streets are a part of that,” he said.
Mr. Harrison estimated replacing the brick road using existing materials will cost the authority about $81,000 compared to an approximately $90,000 estimate for the cost of asphalt.
However, Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority executive director Anthony Russo Jr. said the agency’s engineer’s report estimated a total cost of $475,000 to repair the street with brick and replace water and service lines. The report said making the same repairs with asphalt would cost about $250,000 and it is unlikely the company’s insurance will cover the costs of restoring a brick street.
The report also noted that the authority’s repairs would fix only damage from the water main break, not repair the entire road.
“Macon Avenue is 30 feet wide and 640 feet long. It should be noted that repairing only the areas where it is evident that the damage was caused by the water break will not produce a consistent cross section and/or eliminate the wavy appearance of the street,” it reads.
Mr. Petrarca said the parties agreed during Tuesday’s meeting to have each of their engineers examine the damaged streets to determine exactly which portions will be repaired by the water company this month. However, the authority has not committed to installing a new waterline on Macon Avenue under the new agreement.
Mr. Petrarca said the borough does not have plans to repair portions of the road that weren’t damaged by the water main break, but said the road will be back in working condition once the authority’s repairs are made.
The borough is preparing a letter detailing results of the meeting to be read during its July 28 meeting.
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Buying Here: Deutschtown
Saturday, July 17, 2010By Kevin Kirkland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Northside Leadership Conference rehabbed 621 Tripoli St.| Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette
Even by North Side standards, 621 Tripoli St. was a challenge.
The original 1890s brick townhouse was intact, but the later wood-frame addition on the back was crumbling and falling away, and raccoons had made themselves at home. Worst of all to an old-house lover, someone had cut into the front facade and installed a picture window, probably in the 1970s.
Members of the Northside Leadership Conference, from left, are Bernard Beck, president of East Allegheny Community Council; Greg Jones; Nancy Noszka, director of real estate for the Northside Leadership Conference; and Teekie Smith, Coldwell-Banker agent. Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette
The window is history now, as is the early 20th-century addition, replaced by a new wood-frame rear section containing the kitchen, part of the dining room and a second-floor bedroom. The two-bedroom, 11/2-bath house is on the market for $219,900 through Teekie Smith of Coldwell Banker Real Estate’s Shadyside office (412-708-1588 or www.pittsburghmoves.com, MLS No. 826966).
The front room with its original fireplace. Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette
Ms. Smith says the house is a perfect blend of old character and new amenities.
Deutschtown:
At a glance- Website: www.deutschtown.org
- Size: .236 square miles
- Population: 2,635 (2000 census)
- School district: Pittsburgh Public, www.pghboe.net
- Enrollment: about 28,000
- Average SAT scores: 358 verbal; 383 math; 362 writing (2009, Oliver High School)
- Taxes for a house assessed at $100,000: $2,941; County: $469 (4.69 mills); City: $1,080 (10.8 mills); School: $1,392 (13.92 mills)
- Wage tax: 3 percent (1 percent to the city, and 2 percent to the school district)
- A bit of history: Deutschtown — also known as East Allegheny and Dutchtown — dates back to the mid-1800s and grew as the City of Allegheny expanded eastward. As its name implies, it was once the heart of Pittsburgh’s German-speaking community. It is still headquarters for the 150-year-old Teutonia Maennerchor, the largest German singing society and social club in the region. The neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
“The developers have tried their hardest to preserve anything original,” she said. “The hardware is wonderful. There are locks and latches that I’ve never seen before. But it’s also got new floors, air conditioning, a second-floor laundry, off-street parking [two spaces] and a big backyard.”
This is the fifth project in the past 10-15 years involving the Northside Leadership Conference and East Allegheny Community Council, says Greg Jones, project manager for the Northside Leadership Conference. Al Depasquale and October Development were the general contractors on this renovation and another at 517 Tripoli. Mr. Depasquale is also the developer and contractor on three new houses going up around the corner on James Street.
In late 2008 and early 2009, October Development finished building three new brick houses and renovating two old ones in the 900 block of James. The three new townhouses sold for $229,000 each and the old ones for $190,000 and $165,000, respectively.
“The new ones sold before construction,” Mr. Jones noted. “The speed and price were unprecedented in this area.”
This part of the North Side is usually called East Allegheny or Historic Deutschtown in recognition of its large German population in the late 19th century. It was divided by construction of the Parkway North in the 1980s. Many century-old brick townhouses remain, along with more modest wood-frame dwellings. Some have been renovated, but not as many as in nearby Allegheny West and the Mexican War Streets, where houses are generally more expensive.
Mr. Jones said buyers are fairly evenly divided between young professionals and older empty-nesters, many of whom are familiar with the North Side and its historic yet affordable housing stock.
“They say, ‘My friend bought one in this neighborhood.’ It’s a limited supply but a heck of a market. They often sell by word of mouth,” he said.
“These people have an interest in historic restoration. They know what they’re getting into. They get a house with some character that has a story to it.”
Adding to the attraction is a 10-year abatement on city and school property taxes and a three-year abatement on county taxes that can save buyers as much as $30,000 to $40,000, he said. Depending upon income, they may also qualify for a second, deferred mortgage, Ms. Smith said.
The home at 621 Tripoli is unusual in that it was renovated with no public subsidy through funding from the Northside Community Development Fund. The design/build process used reduced the need for an architect and sped construction. Luckily, many of the old doors and much of the hardware and trim were reusable, as was the original staircase and mantels on the two decorative fireplaces. Preservation expert Nick Kyriazi, a longtime member of the East Allegheny Community Council, even came up with old lighting fixtures for the first floor.
“They were restored and rewired. They’re stunning,” Ms. Smith said.
Although the front parlor and floor plan were retained, the new rear section is very open, with granite countertops in the new 13-by-13-foot kitchen. The new powder room is tucked away nearby, and the large modern bathroom upstairs serves bedrooms measuring 17 by 15 feet and 17 by 13 feet, respectively, each with large closets. The developers opted to make the third floor a storage area rather than living space (the ceiling height is only about 6 feet).
The East Allegheny Community Council bought the property for $9,900 in June 2008, and its assessed market value is $9,000 (www2.county.allegheny.pa.us). Five properties have sold on Tripoli in the past three years for prices ranging from $17,500 in July 2009 to $215,000 in September 2009 for the October Development rehab at 517 Tripoli. One property sold twice (www.realstats.net).
This house is three blocks away from Allegheny General Hospital and Allegheny Commons Park and 5-10 minutes waking distance from Downtown, Heinz Field and PNC Park. An open house will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. this Sunday and next Sunday.
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Old School Steps to Front of the Class
By Eric Heyl
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The former South Hills High School in Mt. Washington
Consider it a textbook example of how to transform a dilapidated eyesore into a potential community jewel.
For nearly a quarter-century, the former South Hills High School in Mt. Washington slowly deteriorated while various redevelopment proposals were about as successful as the initial Hindenburg launch.
As recently as 18 months ago, the enormous 155,000-square foot building occupying an entire city block at the corner of Ruth and Eureka streets stood empty and decaying.
Surrounded by an imposing chain link fence, the old school appeared as though it never would be anything more than a refuge for birds seeking shelter through the holes in the roof.
Since then, the scene has changed dramatically.
“We’ve come a long way,” Victor Rodriguez said Tuesday, standing in the vicinity of where the principal’s office used to be. “I think this is pretty monumental in terms of what we’ve accomplished.”
Rodriguez is senior vice president of a.m. Rodriguez Associates, which purchased the building from the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority two years ago for $1. Given the structure’s condition at the time, Rodriguez might have overpaid for it.
But following a $23 million makeover that included $10 million in public money, the structure will reopen in about six weeks as the South Hills Retirement Residence.
The place is proving popular among the senior crowd even before the first tenants move in. As contractors scurry to apply the finishing touches, 42 of the building’s 106 units have been leased.
Rodriguez yesterday provided me a tour of the building, the inside of which looks virtually nothing like it did when the Class of ’86 closed the school for good.
Although some of the original hardwood and ornate metal railings were incorporated into the interior design, it’s unlikely the 2,200 members of the school’s alumni association would recognize the place.
That’s a good thing.
Rodriguez removed several unsalvageable portions of the former school, including the auditorium and the swimming pool, while adding amenities the 94-year-old building desperately needed — elevators and air conditioning.
In addition, a portion of the building is expected to house medical offices, which should further increase foot traffic in what had become a desolate neighborhood. An early childhood development center also might occupy some space.
“What we’re striving for here is something community-changing,” Rodriguez said.
Joshua “J.T.” Smith, board president of the Mt. Washington Community Development Corp., lives about two blocks away and is thrilled with how the place looks.
“For years, that building created a real negative mood with all of that prison-style fencing around it,” he said. “It’s great to walk by now and see something vibrant and alive, with the new trees and the clean sidewalks. This is going to alter the mentality of the whole neighborhood.”
Again, it’s a textbook example of transformation.
For an old school, what could be more appropriate?
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Artists on Board for Mural Project Behind Tarentum Station Restaurant
By Tom Yerace
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Last updated: 7:41 amThe mural project for the wall behind the Tarentum Station restaurant is picking up steam, according to borough officials.
Borough Manager Bill Rossey said he has been contacted by five local artists who want to volunteer their services for the project.
Councilman Ray Kerr, who is coordinating the project with Rossey, said more artists are needed on a volunteer basis since the borough wasn’t able to secure a grant to pay for the project.
He said paint for the mural is being donated by two borough paint stores: Van Sciver’s Wall Covering and Paint and Verner’s Paint Center.
“Right now we are moving pretty good on it,” Kerr said.
Rossey said a primer was applied to the wall over the weekend.
It’s ready for the mural, which will be 175 feet long and range from 6 feet to 4 feet high.
Kerr and Rossey said the mural will have a historical theme, using the image of a train, but with the cars of the train depicting historical people and events related to the borough.
“What we need now are people (subjects) from Tarentum,” Kerr said. “We need faces if anybody can come up with some pictures, they would be welcomed.”
Kerr said the project should be completed before the end of summer.
“It will certainly be a point of interest for people coming through town to pass by and look at that wall, ” Rossey said.
In other business:
• Council approved applying for a federal Community Development Block Grant for Streetscape improvements to the business district.
The application will be for $105,000 to do the actual improvements, such as new sidewalks and lighting, according to Rossey. He said that will supplement a $60,000 grant the borough received this year to pay for planning of the improvements.
Rossey said the borough will be putting out a request for proposals on designs soon.
In addition to the $60,000, the borough also has set aside $15,000 from its budget for planning costs, Rossey said.
He also said that it also is reserving $45,000 to use for the improvements and could use money left over from the $75,000 reserved for planning to pay for the actual work.
He said borough officials believe they can do at least one block of E. Sixth Avenue and try to do subsequent blocks every year.
• Council has granted permission for the Alle-Kiski Historical Society to hold a Civil War encampment in Riverview Park. The encampment by re-enactors will be Aug. 21 and 22.