Category Archive: Historic Properties
-
Historic Summit Inn, local mountaintop landmark, celebrates 100th anniversary
06/03/2007
By James Pletcher Jr.,
Uniontown Herald-StandardBuilt in 1907 when Theodore Roosevelt was president and the U.S. population stood at about 87 million souls, the Summit Inn is celebrating its first century of continuous year of operation this year.
Bought in 1963 by Eunice and the late Don Shoemaker, the historic hotel has survived economic depression, two world wars and a myriad of changes in society ranging from the advent of the automobile to manned flight to television and computers.
At one time, the Summit Inn “used to be the only attraction to bring tourists in,” Karen Harris, owner and the Shoemaker’s daughter, said. When it was built, Harris said, “there was no bike trail, no Fort Necessity, no Laurel Caverns, no Fallingwater.”
Now it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the official documentation for the National Register, the Summit Inn is a distinctive important example of 20th century Mission and Craftsman-influenced architecture built as a stop for travelers along historic U.S. Route 40. Clinton Piper, who researched and submitted the material for review by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, said. “It (the Summit Inn) stands as perhaps the only sizable rural hotel that exhibits elements of a particular style. The building’s dramatic rambling roofline with twin towers, its central block with a parapet gable, expansive porches and prominent setting make it one of the region’s most notable hotels of its era.”
The Summit Hotel Co., comprised of a group of local businessmen, opened the hotel in 1907. The owners acclaimed it as “unequaled anywhere on the National Pike between Washington City and St. Louis.”
In addition to holding a three-star AAA rating, the hotel offers a nine-hole regulation par 35 golf course, all situated on 1,000 acres of mountain forest. “On a clear day, you can see the U.S. Steel Building in Pittsburgh from the No. 4 hole,” Harris said.
It boasts “the best crab cakes in the U.S.A.,” Harris said, as well as authentic period Gustav Stickley furnishings in the lobby.
On a cool day a fire crackles in the lobby’s stone fireplace. Small desks of oak and tables with checker games ready to be played add to the hotel’s nostalgic charm.
“We have an air of authenticity,” Randall Harris, Karen’s husband said. “People are sitting on the same chairs as Ford, (early auto racer) Barney Oldfield, Edison. That’s what you get when you visit an historic resort.”
“People liked the mountaintop property because of the cooler air. There was no air-conditioning for many years after this was built,” Randall Harris said.
According to its history, no architect has been found who designed the hotel. “Its detailed execution indicates that there was an architect or skilled builder responsible for the design. The building’s dramatic rambling roofline with twin towers, its central block with a parapet gable, expansive porches and prominent setting make it one of the region’s most notable hotels. Only a few hotels of this design remain in existence today.”
Nine Uniontown businessmen formed the Summit Hotel Co. and built the original structure. They were J.C. Work, Isaac W. Semans, Frank H. Rosboro, B.B. Howell, Dr. Charles H. Smith, John F. Hankins, John M. Core and M.H. Bowman, all from Uniontown, and W.W. Ramsey of Pittsburgh.
The group sold the hotel in 1930 to Leo Heyn.
Eunice Shoemaker said Heyn “started a lot of advertising,” even placing roadside signs similar to those for popular products of the day. “The Greyhound Bus Line even had a stop here,” she said. Heyn advertised homegrown vegetables and chickens raised on the property, elite table water and a “Summit Spa,” saying that Gen. George Washington once used water from the spring flowing into it.
Boasting “absolute quietness and cleanliness assured,” Heyn attracted other notables of his time, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and one of the Mayo brothers, who founded the clinic bearing their name, Shoemaker said.
While the original developers built the golf course in the early 1920s, Heyn brought in Sam Parke as the golf pro in 1931. “He won the U.S. Open in 1935,” Shoemaker said.
The father of legendary golf course designer Pete Dye visited the course in 1923, returning to Ohio to begin his work designing golf courses, according to Summit Inn history.
Heyn also created a ski slope in the 1930s that the Shoemakers resurrected for a time during the 1960s.
The Great Depression and World War II made it difficult to continue the business due to a drop in automobile traffic. Heyn sold the property in 1946 to Maxwell Abbell.
The Shoemakers first exposure to the property came in 1958 when Don was hired to manage the hotel.
“He saw only vestiges of the historic porch hotel’s former glory, and he was far from impressed,” the hostel’s history relates.
“It was so rundown, there wasn’t a decent room in the whole place,” Shoemaker said.
Don and Eunice bought the property in 1963, investing their time and capital in restoring it to its former glory.
“It’s been a good experience,” Eunice Shoemaker said. “Many of our guests would return year after year. We enjoyed closing in November for the season. It gave us time to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas as a family. So, we had the best of both words,” she added.
Shoemaker said she and her husband visited local sales and auctions during the early years, buying furniture and other accessories they needed.
“My parents struggled to keep the hotel up and didn’t throw anything away but would reuse it, repaint it, change it if needed,” Karen Harris said.
“We bought the chandelier in the dining room and the landing from the White Swan Hotel,” Eunice Shoemaker said.
During their tenure, the Shoemakers added 21 rooms to the hotel, which also features two swimming pools, shuffleboard and tennis. The banquet area addition, done in a Colonial motif with ivory window frames and red and blue checked carpeting, was the last design Don Shoemaker did before he died in 1997. “He had the contractor come to the hospital so he could show him what he wanted. He never got to see it completed,” his wife said.
Don Shoemaker designed the growth, even helping in construction, spending one winter, for example, excavating dirt from under the hotel to create a downstairs lounge.
In addition, there are smaller conference rooms (one named for Harvey Firestone) and the Summit Dining Room, all available to the public as well as guests.
“We are open 24 hours a day. We have entertainment on weekends and our golf course is open to the public. We have summer memberships for our pools, too,” Karen Harris said.
Harris, who was 5 when her parents took over the hotel, began her official career there as a lifeguard. “I did a little bit of everything here,” in her career, she said.
Shoemaker said she has enjoyed all aspects of her life at the hotel and resort.
“I can’t think of anything about this that would be the downside of the business,” she said.
The Shoemakers’ efforts were honored in 1996 with the Pennsylvania Travel Council’s Distinguished Hotelier of the Year Award, presented by then-Pennsylvania Secretary of Commerce Thomas Hagen.
Hagen described the Summit as one of the few remaining “porch hotels” in America, meaning a hotel with what can be described as a grand outside deck overlooking the surrounding flora, the type of porch that conjures images of white wicker rockers, cool summer breezes and gentlemen and ladies of a different era altogether.
Business continues to be good at the 94-room hotel, Karen Harris said.
She and her husband Randall and her daughter Amanda Leskinen, operate the hotel today. Leskinen, a recent Washington and Jefferson College graduate with degrees in political science and business administration, is the events coordinator. Randall Harris, who was once associated with Herman Dupre, who founded Seven Springs Resort, handles infrastructure and is an innkeeper. Others on the staff include Sam Shoemaker, a cousin; Anna Marie Collins and Ray Parris, the executive chef.
Karen Harris said the hotel features all new menus this year including steaks exclusively from Black Angus steers.
Owners are also planning to expand the golf course from nine to 18 holes and will be offering special anniversary packages over July 4 and Labor Day.
As for the future, Randall Harris noted that with “1,000 acres of land, we have unlimited opportunities for development.”
—
For more information, call the Summit Inn at 724-438-8594 (toll free at 1-800-433-8594) or visit its Web site at www.summitinnresort.com.
Updated 06/04/2007 09:04:08 AM EDT
©The Herald Standard 2007 -
Ohio developer builds on Pittsburgh success
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, June 2, 2007Buoyed by success developing historic properties in Pittsburgh and other cities, developer John Ferchill is taking on what he terms his biggest challenge yet — a $180 million building revitalization project in Detroit.
Ferchill is deeply involved in an effort to turn the abandoned 33-story Book-Cadillac hotel in the “Motor City” into a luxury hotel and condominium project. He hopes to use some lessons learned here to aid in that effort, he said in an interview Friday.
“Pittsburgh has been just terrific for us,” said Ferchill, whose Cleveland-based company, the Ferchill Group, found success here in 2002 when he built Bridgeside Point, a five-story, 153,000-square-foot office building at the Pittsburgh Technology Center industrial park in South Oakland. In 2005, he added to his local resume with historic conversion of former H.J. Heinz Co. buildings on the North Shore into the Heinz Lofts, a 267-unit luxury apartment complex that is 95 percent leased.
And by the end of June, a development team that includes Ferchill will be reopening the Bedford Springs Resort, in Bedford County, a historic restoration project in the range of $100 million.
“We are going to use some things we learned in Pittsburgh and apply them in Detroit,” he said. “We used a couple of things with historic development that we had never used before that brought significant money for our projects.”
Tools used in Pittsburgh include historic tax credits and easements, said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. The South Side foundation worked with Ferchill to secure the historic financing help he needed for the Heinz Lofts and Bedford Springs projects.
“John is one of the most experienced and focused developers, whether it involves new construction or restoration,” Ziegler said. “He knows how to harness together a wide variety of funding sources that make projects that seem to be impossible, possible.”
That includes the Detroit project, according to Ziegler, who became familiar with the Book-Cadillac building about a year ago while conducting a study of the site on the city’s West Side.
“It is a wonderful, historic building that will be very difficult financially to restore to make usable again,” Ziegler said. Nonetheless, he expressed confidence that Ferchill is the man to take on such a task.
“I think he can operate it very well,” Ziegler said.
“I’ve got a lot on the line here,” said Ferchill in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. His company has assumed more than $80 million in loans and other debt associated with the project, he said.
Plans are to open the building in the fall of 2008 as a 455-room Westin hotel. The top eight floors will house 67 upscale condo units, most of which already have been sold. Penthouses commanded as much as $1 million.
“I’m counting on the city of Detroit reviving itself in a manner that nobody expected to happen,” he said. Ferchill said he thinks the start of a turnaround is under way, as the city’s new ballparks, casinos and housing developments are luring more tourists and investors.
Despite his involvement in the Detroit project, Ferchill’s plans for Pittsburgh projects won’t be affected, he said.
“We have completely different teams of people working in Detroit and in Pittsburgh,” he said.
In late 2005, Ferchill sold the Bridgeside Point building at the Pittsburgh Technology Center for $31.5 million, with plans to use some of the proceeds to build a second building at the industrial park.
Plans are to break ground for that $30 million, 150,000-square-foot project within the next 30 days.
“We’re targeting technology companies, some that will have laboratory space,” he said.
Recently, local economic development officials have expressed the need for such facilities for fledgling technology firms in the region.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
-
Row house shows off South Side’s potential
By Pamela Starr
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, June 2, 2007When Ashley Snider bought her South Side row house four years ago, nothing had been done to it since the 1970s.
So, the 31-year-old interior designer ripped up the shag carpeting and had the original soft-pine floors refinished. She took the wallpaper off the kitchen walls and painted them an eggplant color on the bottom and a lemon yellow color on top. Snider painted the metal cabinets with black chalkboard paint so she can write on them.“Paint is cheaper than anything else,” says Snider, who works at Perlora in the Strip District. “I also redid the kitchen floor with black-and-white checkered tiles.”
Snider’s row house is one of 12 homes that will be featured on the 16th annual Historic South Side Home Tour, which will be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. today. Jennifer Strang, marketing and communications director for the South Side Local Development Company, which benefits from tour proceeds, says the group chose the house to illustrate how Snider was able to do a lot of work herself and stay on a budget.
“Ashley represents the next generation of South Sider, very in touch with her own sense of style but respectful of her home’s history,” says Strang. “Tourgoers will find a well-balanced mix of classic and modern design throughout and come away in awe that Ashley was able to do much of the work unassisted.”
Snider paid just $90,000 for the 1,500-square-foot row house on Jane Street, which was built in 1866 and has had 12 owners. A German immigrant, Jacob Dietz, purchased the lot for $300 in 1865 and had the house built the following year. The home was turned into two apartments at the turn of the 20th century.This is the first home she has bought herself.
“I knew I wanted to live in the South Side,” says Snider, who owns a friendly pit-bull mix named Totsi. “It was the second house I looked at. I think I got lucky.”
There was an unlucky incident shortly after she moved in. Plumbing problems when the sewage backed up in the basement cost her $9,000 to fix. New pipes had to be installed. She also paid $4,000 to have the hardwood floors refinished.
Snider painted the walls in the dining room a nice, taupe shade and used the same paint in the master bedroom. She painted a wide, taupe strip in the middle of the walls of the master bedroom and painted the rest of the walls eggshell. Violet sheers on the windows add a splash of color.
“I kept the light fixture because I liked it, but it’s not original to the house,” she points out.
The bathroom on the second floor sports pink wall tiles that came with the house. The black-and-white checkered tile floor matches the kitchen floor. Snider created the medicine cabinet herself with a beautiful mosaic pattern. She painted the rest of the walls a charcoal color, but wanted black.
“That’s the way it came out,” she says with a laugh.
The second bedroom was painted with the taupe color; and Snider painted the ceramic Elvis bookends herself. She also made the platters in the kitchen.
“I used to work at Color Me Mine in Squirrel Hill,” she explains. “I have a lot of experience working with paints and stuff.”
The woodwork throughout the row house is all original, as are the fireplaces in the living room and master bedroom. She painted one wall in the living room a rich terra-cotta shade and the other walls eggshell. Snider just started to strip the original marble fireplace in her bedroom but it’s taking a lot of time.
“I work on stuff when I have the time,” she says. “I don’t plan to do anything next. I don’t have the money for a new kitchen or bath. I just paint things all the time. I do things in cheap ways.”
Strang says that the home tour will show very diverse houses.
“From painstakingly remodeled 19th century homes to beautifully repurposed churches and industrial space, there is something for everyone,” she says. “All represent the South Side’s commitment to historic preservation.”
-
Block House roof removal sheds light on history
By Allison M. Heinrichs
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, June 2, 2007The Block House, owned by the Fort Pitt Society of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and a National Historic Landmark. It protected soldiers during the French and Indian War and was used as a residence through most of the 1800s.
As the wooden planks were removed, sunlight streamed into the Fort Pitt Block House’s pyramid-shaped attic, illuminating six inches of dust.
Kelly Linn couldn’t have been happier.
“Nobody living today has ever seen this,” said Linn, curator of the Block House, as she perched on scaffolding, clutching a handful of dirty straw, twine and horsehair insulation.
Over the next three weeks, workers with RickJohn Roofing will remove the old roof, built in 1894, and replace it with a roof of similar design. The Carnegie-based company volunteered to do the project and provide materials for free, a $20,000 value. General manager Jean-Paul Bibaud made the arrangements.
The 243-year-old Block House’s attic didn’t contain any huge surprises — no bones of Revolutionary War soldiers or American Indians — but the materials used to build the five-sided roof, and the way it was put together, make it a historical treasure, Linn said.“Knowing what’s under here will launch a whole body of research into the history of roofing,” said Linn, an archeologist and historic preservationist.
The Block House, owned by the Fort Pitt Society of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, sits in Point State Park. It’s the oldest building in Pittsburgh and a National Historic Landmark. It protected soldiers during the French and Indian War and was used as a residence through most of the 1800s.
The roof has a top layer of cedar shakes, tacked atop the existing roof in 1948. Beneath is a layer of thick black felt, seven layers of tar paper and another layer of older felt, followed by inch-thick wood planks. Between the planks and the second-floor ceiling is an attic 4 feet tall at its highest point, and 16 feet wide.
The floor, coated in clumps of the dusty insulation, is littered with animal skeletons, bird eggs and old papers.
As she sifts through the attic in the next three weeks, Linn hopes to find a date on one of the scraps of paper or an old coin that would give clues about the age of the roof materials — which could date from 1764, when the building was constructed, to 1948, when the final layer of roof was installed.
Several archaeologists will inspect the roof, including a team of historic preservationists from Belmont Technical College in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
For Rick Gammiere, who co-owns RickJohn Roofing with Bobby Wallo, the project caps off an education that began when he was a child.
“When I was in grade school, we visited the Block House, and there was this rope that blocked off the upstairs,” said Gammiere. “I said, ‘I’m going to get up there.’ I can now say I have been.”
Allison M. Heinrichs can be reached at aheinrichs@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5607.
-
Historic groups see opportunity in Rt. 28 project
Friday, June 01, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteAs the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation begins its final design plans to widen and upgrade Route 28, several organizations are working with PennDot to not only preserve the oldest existing Roman Catholic Croatian church building in the country, but also to beautify the entrance to Troy Hill and attract tourists.
The St. Nicholas Church, unused since 2004, is at the heart of the efforts of Preservation Pittsburgh and the Preserve Croatian Heritage Foundation. They want to turn the 106-year old church into a national shrine and museum to tell the story of the original St. Nicholas, the model for Santa Claus, and the story of the Croatian community that was established in the neighborhood.
“We’re trying to make the church a destination and to find a way to make this venture financially practical,” said Jack Schmitt, a board member of Preservation Pittsburgh.
One of the earliest Croatian settlements in the country grew up along the canal that used to parallel the river and provide a means for Allegheny City — which became the North Side after Pittsburgh annexed it in 1907 — to receive goods off-loaded from the Allegheny River. It is a history few Pittsburghers know, “but it was one of the greatest things that happened,” said Mr. Schmitt. “It was key to Pittsburgh’s development.”
He said the preservation effort began seven years ago “to save all the green hillsides and homes and mitigate the loss of historic fabric” along the North Side portal. The group has since accepted that it will lose many structures along the 21/2-mile section between the 16th Street Bridge and the Millvale interchange.
A collection of nonprofits are lined up to complement PennDot’s redesign, including the Riverlife Task Force, Friends of the Riverfront, and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
“As a North Sider, I looked at the possibilities and thought, ‘Hey, this is the entrance [to the neighborhood],” said Mr. Schmitt, a resident of Allegheny West. “We can have walls with bolts sticking out of them or we can do something creative and save some of our history. It would be interesting and uplifting. If we don’t do something good, we’ll have to live with what is done.”
Goals include connecting the Allegheny River trail, via its footpath across the highway, to a green space that would run from the Pennsylvania Brewing Co. at Troy Hill and Finial streets to the church; to provide access to the church from the roadway; and to present the area’s history by posting canal stones and interpretive plaques along the river trail.
The road redesign will be a compromise of green space and concrete, but the retaining walls present an opportunity, he said. The preservation groups have asked PennDot to imitate the lock stone walls of the old canal that once followed the same course as the road. They also propose bronze outlines of canal boats against the wall as a whimsical experience for Route 28 travelers.
Dan Cessna, PennDot’s district executive, said the canal boats would have to be paid for by state enhancement funds, not from the Route 28 redesign budget, if PennDot approves their installation.
“We haven’t investigated to determine whether it would be feasible from a safety standpoint,” he said. “We haven’t determined the exact limits of rights of way.” He said PennDot wants the result “to look pleasing” and would consider the suggested hillside plantings and stone wall texture of the old canal.
In one of many options in its most recent design report, PennDot proposes to regrade the church parking lot to be level with Route 28 and to expand the road “primarily to the east to minimize hillside impacts.”
Arthur Ziegler of Landmarks said that though “nothing is definite, we are interested” in creating the interpretive plaques. “They would tell the physical history of the area, and it’s a history of transportation — canal, railroad, river and road.”
Other stories could include those of Indian trails and settlements, George Washington’s crossing, Herr’s Island, canal houses, the Croatian community, and the Heinz and Pittsburgh Wool factories.
Mr. Ziegler said Landmarks has been “very interested in saving [the church], and we like the idea that it might be a Croatian shrine. We were involved in getting a roadway to access the church with parking.”
In March, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh had all religious objects removed from the church, as canon requires. The Follieri Group of New York City has a sales agreement to buy the church, said Victor Kamber, a Follieri spokesman. “We should close within the month.”
Mr. Kamber said the Follieri Group has been in contact with the preservationists and expects to lease the church back to them.
“We’re sort of excited about their plans and hope they will be able to” make them succeed, he said.
The Follieri Group, a real-estate development company, targets unused Catholic churches for preservation, said Mr. Kamber, “rather than see them destroyed or developed as something that isn’t representative of the community.”
(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )
-
YMCA moving to Market Square – New facility in former G.C. Murphy is cornerstone of renewal
Friday, June 01, 2007
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteMillcraft Industries wanted foot traffic to help support its revitalization of the old G.C. Murphy’s store. The YMCA wanted a more central location Downtown.
It proved to be the perfect marriage.
The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh announced yesterday that it will open a new Downtown facility in the Murphy’s building as part of Millcraft’s $32 million Market Square Place project.
With the decision, the YMCA plans to sell its current Downtown building on the Boulevard of the Allies, but won’t be moving out until its new facility is completed. There will be no interruption in services or programs, said John Cardone, vice president of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh.
“This is a seamless transition. There won’t be any break in services at all,” he said.
The new facility will be 38,000 square feet. The Downtown YMCA will occupy about 30,000 square feet of the old Murphy’s building and become the lead tenant of the Market Square Place project, which also will feature shops and apartments. It also will use about 8,000 square feet of an adjacent property that’s part of the Millcraft project.
At the new location there will be a 25-meter, five-lane swimming pool, men’s and women’s locker rooms, wellness facilities with cardiovascular and strength equipment and exercise rooms, and a multitude of services and programs, including nutrition, smoke cessation, weight management, physical therapy and cardiac rehabilitation.
Programs and services will be spread over three floors, from the basement to the second floor, rather than seven as at the current location. The new facility also will house Activate Pittsburgh’s staff and wellness programs.
Mr. Cardone said the YMCA had been looking for a more central location Downtown and has been seeking to consolidate space and programs. He said it has found that people generally won’t walk more than three blocks to an exercise program. Navigating seven floors in the current building also has proved to be inconvenient for members.
“Quite frankly, it’s really just too much space. The way it’s designed, it’s really broken up,” he said.
Moving to the Murphy’s building more in the heart of the Downtown business district should make it more convenient for existing members, some 2,000 to 2,500 strong, and help recruit new ones.
Mr. Cardone said the YMCA also is excited about being part of the resurgence in the Downtown business corridor, with the Murphy’s project, the construction of the Three PNC Plaza skyscraper and the conversion of the Lazarus-Macy’s store to office space and housing.
For Millcraft, the move will provide a steady diet of foot traffic, about 1,000 people a day, and a great amenity for residents of the 50 loft apartments it is planning as part of the Murphy’s conversion, said Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate.
“It’s really going to activate Market Square and the whole Fifth and Market district,” he said.
Even with the YMCA, Millcraft will have 27,000 to 30,000 square feet of ground-level space to offer retailers and others. It sees that as potential homes for restaurants, spas, salons, and lounges. It also has plans for a market catering to the needs of residents and office workers.
The YMCA hopes to open the new facility in late 2008 or early 2009. Millcraft plans to begin taking reservations for apartments by mid-2008. A non-profit, the YMCA pays property taxes on a small portion of its current building. The Murphy’s building will become taxable once Millcraft completes its purchase. The move of the YMCA won’t affect that.
The Downtown YMCA expects to add about 50 to its 150-member staff with the move.With the sale of the Boulevard of the Allies building, about 30 administrative staff members for the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh will move to another location.
(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )
-
YMCA to anchor Market Square Place
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 1, 2007The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh will cut the size of its Downtown facility by more than half when it moves to the vacant G.C. Murphy store complex on Fifth Avenue on the edge of Market Square, officials said Thursday.
The nonprofit organization will lease space at the Murphy structure and the neighboring former D&K retail store building, with the move expected by late next year.The two buildings are being developed by Washington County-based Millcraft Industries Inc. as part of its Market Square Place project, a $32 million complex that will include retail stores, restaurants and apartments.
In November, the YMCA disclosed to its nearly 2,500 full-time and 500 seasonal members that it planned to sell its seven-story headquarters building on the Boulevard of the Allies and seek another Downtown site.
“The YMCA has made a major commitment to the revitalization of the Fifth and Market District and to making Downtown a much better place to live and work,” said Lucas Piatt, vice president of Millcraft Industries.
“As the lead tenant in the Market Square Place project, the YMCA will provide a sought-after amenity to the residential aspect of the project and provide essential foot traffic to help support the additional … retail use within the development.”The move will bring 200 staffers, including 50 new hires, and the 500 to 1,000 people who use the Downtown Y’s facilities each day into the heart of the city’s deteriorated retail corridor along Fifth and Forbes avenues.
In addition to its members, the YMCA serves hundreds of others through its wellness programs.
“In our new Downtown location, we will provide wellness and other services that match the needs of our Downtown members at a convenient central location,” said Dan Lebish, board chairman of the Downtown YMCA branch.
The facility at Market Square Place will include a 25-meter, five-lane pool, men’s and women’s locker rooms, wellness facilities with cardiovascular and strength equipment and exercise rooms.
However, it will not have the basketball court, running track and other court game facilities offered at the current site.
The YMCA signed a long-term lease at the Murphy site, but terms of the deal were not disclosed. Because it is a leased facility, the new YMCA will be fully taxable property, said Piatt and John Cardone, the Downtown Y’s executive director.
Over the years, the Downtown Y attempted to secure tax-free status for its land and building at 330 Blvd. of the Allies, which drew objections from private health clubs in the city.
The organization will not move from its current location until the new complex is ready, said Cardone. He said efforts continue to sell the building, which has been home to the YMCA for 20 years.
“Our new YMCA will not only help us serve our Downtown members better, it will also enable us to invest more in YMCA programming throughout the greater Pittsburgh community,” said Cardone.
The building will be substantially more cost-effective to operate, and Cardone said savings will be returned to the community in the form of scholarships and enhanced services.
The majority of the YMCA’s new facilities and offices will be on the second floor of the former G.C. Murphy complex, about 30,000 square feet of its 38,000-square-foot space, Piatt said.
However, its main entrance will be on the ground-level floor of the seven-story D&K building, across from PNC Financial Services Group’s Three PNC Plaza project under construction. The connection between the D&K and Murphy complex will be on the second level of the two structures.
The five floors above the Y’s facilities in the D&K structure will be developed as rental apartments. Other apartment units will be located on the upper levels of the former G.C. Murphy complex, which is a combination of several adjoining buildings.
The Piatt project is being built with the aid of about $6 million in state funds. Additional help is being sought in historic tax credits.
Possibilities for ground-level retail space include a high-end spa and salon, restaurants, clothing shops and a bank, Piatt said.
News of the YMCA’s decision was welcomed by Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which has been concerned about preservation of historic and architecturally significant structures Downtown.
“We’ve worked closely with the Piatts and their architect to ensure that the entire complex of buildings could be saved and made workable,” Ziegler said. “We’ve been pleased with the uses they are creating.”
YMCA on the move
New site
Location: Former G.C. Murphy complex and D&K Store building
Size: 38,000 square feet
Pool: 25-meter, five lanes
Facilities: Men’s and women’s locker rooms; wellness facilities, with cardiovascular and strength equipment and exercise rooms; whirlpool, sauna and steam room
Current site
Location: 330 Blvd. of the Allies
Size: 97,000 square feet on seven stories
Pool: 25-meter, six lanes
Not moving from old site: Gymnasium, racquetball courts, walking/running track
-
New YMCA planned for Murphy building
Thursday, May 31, 2007By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh will move to the old G.C. Murphy’s building Downtown as part of efforts to revitalize the Fifth and Forbes corridor.It is teaming up with Washington County developer Millcraft Industries to open a 38,000-square-foot facility in the old building. The new facility at Market Square Place will include a 25-meter five-lane pool, men’s and women’s locker rooms, wellness facilities with cardiovascular and strength equipment, and exercise rooms.
As part of the move, the organization plans to sell its current building on the Boulevard of the Allies, where it has been for more than 20 years. The YMCA plans to make the official announcement at a banquet this evening.
The YMCA’s administrative offices, which are at its current site, also will be moved to a yet-to-be-determined location.
“The YMCA has made a major commitment to the revitalization of the Fifth and Market District and to making Downtown a much better place to live and work,” said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft vice president of real estate.