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Category Archive: Neighborhood Development

  1. Preservationist seeks delay in sale of land for library

    Thursday, December 27, 2007
    By Rich Lord,
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    A historic preservationist yesterday asked Pittsburgh City Council to withhold approval of a land sale that would allow the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to move its Allegheny Regional branch, warning that he and others may sue.

    David Tessitor argued in a letter to Council President Doug Shields that because the old library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, federal and state law demand that a study be done before it is altered.

    He said he and others will “pursue legal remedies” should council approve the sale of a Central North Side plot to the library system without analysis of alternatives. The sale is on the agenda for council’s meeting today, and if not aproved would need to be reintroduced next year.

    The Allegheny Regional branch in Allegheny Center was damaged by lightning in April 2006, and has been closed ever since. The library system wants to move it to the corner of Federal and Parkhurst streets, near the Federal North development.

    “The longer the process goes on, the longer there isn’t library service,” said Suzanne Thinnes, communications manager for the library system. There is paperwork to be done even after the city approves the sale of the plot, now owned by its Urban Redevelopment Authority. “Barring any complications, or any unforeseen circumstances, the groundbreaking will occur in April.”

    The old library, though repaired since the lightning strike, is inconvenient and inefficient, the library system has argued. It is now being used to house rare books and artifacts, and Ms. Thinnes said no decision has been made regarding its future. It is owned by the city.

    “I guess we would all like to see the library stay in the library,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. At the same time, he added, “We have to be sympathetic to the library’s economic situation. … I wish we had time to get to a global solution.”

    Mr. Tessitor, of Allegheny West, and other activists engineered a Dec. 18 public hearing on the library’s fate. “That’s important to the federal courts, that you’ve done everything you can” before suing, he said.

    Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.

  2. Future of historical buildings precarious

    By Craig Smith
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Monday, December 24, 2007

    The stone house built two centuries ago by John Woods played host to the movers and shakers of its day but stands silent, its windows and doors boarded shut.
    Composer Stephen Foster was a frequent visitor to the two-story home in Hazelwood, often entertaining the Woods family and their guests by playing guitar or piano.

    “They would be the local leaders of the day — judges, mayors, town leaders. The social register of that period,” said Deane Root, a University of Pittsburgh professor and director of the Center for American Music.

    “They would read poetry or sing,” Root said. Foster loved to hear Woods’ daughters sing the songs of the day.

    As Pittsburgh readies to celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2008, Root is thankful the vacant Woods house is standing because it is one of the oldest, tangible connections to the origins of the city.
    “Why don’t we appreciate that? What’s wrong? Why do we always have to live life as if we were the first ones here?” Root said.

    The home, built in 1792, is among 589 sites in Southwestern Pennsylvania that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and one of three surviving 18th century structures in Pittsburgh.

    Some of the buildings have been lovingly restored; others never will be. One building — the oldest structure designed by an architect in Pittsburgh — is for sale.

    “Competition for restoration dollars is very keen,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which did work to stabilize the Woods house in 2003 in conjunction with the Hazelwood Initiative.

    Those looking to buy and renovate a historic structure won’t get any help from the state or federal government, said Bill Callahan, community preservation coordinator at the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission’s Bureau for Historic Preservation.

    “There are no monies available for owner/occupied structures for preservation purposes,” he said. “I get phone calls every day about that. I wish I could give them a different answer.”

    That leaves communities, local history groups or private citizens scrambling to preserve the buildings.

    “We’ve got these gems in the community. It’s interesting what they could be,” said Jim Richter, director of the Hazelwood Initiative.

    But the price of restoration is high.

    The cost of a historical preservation of the Woods home has been estimated at $600,000. Just to make it liveable would cost $200,000, Richter said. A century-old Carnegie library down the street needs $900,000 in repairs.

    Woods, the first surveyor of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, was a state senator in 1797 and elected to the 14th Congress in 1815. He died in 1817 at age 55.

    The Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh in 2005 included the Woods home among its top 10 historical renovation opportunities.

    “It’s a very important house. It needs a sponsor, a chief advocate,” said Dan Holland, who founded the association.

    In Westmoreland County, Don and Cordelia Miller of Irwin bought Brush Hill, one of the first “mansion-style” homes constructed west of the Appalachians, 30 years ago and have been carefully restoring it since.

    “You have to love it. I basically work on it full time,” Don Miller said about the home that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

    Brush Hill was built by Col. John Irwin, the town’s namesake, and was the largest of Irwin’s three plantations. Work on the Federal-style, two-story fieldstone home began in 1792, Miller said.

    Materials used in its construction came from the area, he said.

    “The stone was quarried here, the nails were handmade,” Miller said.

    Living in a house this old isn’t for everyone, said Miller, a retired engineer. Homes of the era didn’t come with bathrooms so finding space to include such modern amenities must be included in the planning, he said.

    There are other aspects peculiar to the times.

    “Every window was a different size,” Cordelia Miller said.

    The Millers have demolished a later addition to the house, renovated the kitchen and removed six inches of carpet, concrete and other flooring to reach the original wood floors. Future projects include replacing a slate roof that was added in the 1800s.

    Rich heritage
    Southwestern Pennsylvania’s rich heritage is reflected in the number of sites registered as national historic places.

    Allegheny County — 207

    Armstrong County — 18

    Beaver County — 20

    Butler County — 10

    Fayette County — 72

    Greene County — 46

    Indiana County — 27

    Somerset County — 32

    Washington County — 104

    Westmoreland County — 53

    Source: The Pennsylvania History and Museum Commission

    Testaments to the past

    The region’s oldest buildings include:

    • The Fort Pitt Blockhouse, built in 1764. It’s Pittsburgh’s earliest building and the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains. The five-sided, two-story building constructed by Col. Henry Bouquet is in Point State Park and administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

    • The Neill Log House was built about 1787 in Schenley Park. The Neills, who owned 262 acres in the northern section of the park, moved in 1795 to what is now Market Square. After their deaths, the log house and property were handed down to different people before being sold to Col. James O’Hara and his granddaughter Mary Schenley, who gave the property to the city in 1889. The Neill house received a City of Pittsburgh historic designation on Feb. 22, 1977.

    • The Burke Building, 209 Fourth St., is the oldest building in Pittsburgh designed by an architect. The Greek revival-style, 3-story structure was built in 1836. The building was designed by William Chislett for Robert and Andrew Burke, attorneys active in land development in Pittsburgh. It has been the home of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy for 10 years. The sale of the building is under negotiation.

    • Nemacolin Castle was built in Brownsville by stages between 1789 and 1900 by several generations of the Jacob Bowman family. The 22-room castle features a three-story octagonal tower and a squared third-story tower room. Jacob Bowman operated a trading post at the site and was named commissary to government troops during the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1795, he was commissioned justice of the peace and was named Brownsville’s first postmaster by President Washington. The castle, owned by the county and maintained by the Brownsville Historical Society, is a museum.

    • The David Bradford House was built in Washington in 1788. Bradford was one of the leading lawyers and politicians of the area, serving as deputy attorney general for Washington County and as a delegate to the Whiskey Rebellion conferences in 1791 and 1792. The home is owned by the state and is a museum.

    Craig Smith can be reached at csmith@tribweb.com or 412-380-5646.

  3. Smaller housing projects dot the city

    By Ron DaParma
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Sunday, December 23, 2007

    While large new housing developments draw much of the attention Downtown — among them Piatt Place, the Carlyle, Three PNC Plaza, 151 First Side and the Encore on 7th Street — there’s also a fair number of smaller projects adding to the mix.

    An example is a plan by the Urban Evergreen Group to develop 10 to 12 units in two buildings: 333 Boulevard of Allies and 330 Third Ave.

    “Pittsburgh is an ideal place for developments and investments,” said Jose Caro of Urban Evergreen, who moved here from New York about two months ago.

    This is his first development in Pittsburgh, and Caro wants to do others.

    Urban Evergreen paid $495,000 for the two buildings, with plans to develop retail on the first level, offices on the second and residential units on the floors above. Caro says it hasn’t been decided if the units will be offered for sale as condominiums or rented as apartments.

    Together, the buildings have about 19,200 square feet. The structures were sold to Urban Evergreen by Human Services of Western Pennsylvania, with Tom Sullivan, a broker with Pennsylvania Commercial Real Estate who handled the deal.

    Other projects adding to the residential mix Downtown include Philadelphia developer Solara Ventures’ condominium development at 941 Penn Ave. that is providing 18 units.

    Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is moving forward with its plans to convert three vacant buildings on the edge of Market Square into Market at Fifth, a $2.5 million to $3 million complex that will feature seven upper-floor apartments, a ground-level restaurant and a rooftop garden.

    Another smaller development is 5 Lofts, a project that, as the name says, provides five residential units. The complex is being developed in a six-story building at 806 Penn Ave. by Ninth and Liberty Partners LLC, a group that includes investors Sean Luther, Tom Jackson and Patty Burk.

    The first floor will be for commercial use, while the floors above each contain one unit with about 1,850 square feet.

    Burk is vice president of housing and economic development for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, an advocacy group.

    One of partnership’s goals is to promote conversion of vacant upper floors of older commercial buildings into new housing.

    Judging from recent evidence, the idea seems to be catching on.

  4. Library’s plan to build anew on North Side meets strong opposition

    Monday, December 17, 2007
    By Diana Nelson Jones,
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    When Carnegie Library officials decided last year not to reopen the Allegheny Regional branch — the second Carnegie Library in the country and one that had been damaged in April 2006 by lightning — traditionalists and preservationists were livid.

    After heated public meetings, most North Siders accepted plans for new construction at the site at Federal and Parkhurst streets, even some persnickety advocates of preservation.

    The hoped-for groundbreaking this fall is now set back to spring, but there could be another delay.

    Two weeks ago, in the wake of City Council’s draft of a resolution to approve transfer of land for the new library, it received a petition for a public hearing, from people who want to reopen the old branch. The hearing will be tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the New Hazlett Theater in Allegheny Center. (To speak before council, register in advance by calling the city clerk’s office at 412-255-2138.)

    The library’s administration has been unequivocal about the need to leave the current location, but one petitioner, Glenn Walsh of Mt. Lebanon, wrote in an e-mail, “Carnegie Library is not a private club that can do as they please. Carnegie Library is a public trust, funded by the taxpayers! They operate out of buildings owned by the taxpayers. This is all intentional, the specific will of Andrew Carnegie.”

    Of 58 petitioners, 16 live outside the North Side but in Allegheny County. Two live near Harrisburg.

    Most are residents of Allegheny West, whose civic council in November 2006 opposed the relocation in its minutes, said Gloria Rayman, the civic council president.

    “We also support opening Federal and East Ohio streets [cutting through a traffic circle] to make the existing library building more viable,” she said.

    The site of the new construction at 1210 Federal St. in the Central North Side, was approved unanimously by that neighborhood council in September 2006, said Claudia Keyes, president of the board.

    The Manchester Citizens Corp. and East Allegheny Community Council have not taken positions.

    Of 19 library branches to be updated, six have been completed, either by renovation or new building, said library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes. The Allegheny branch jumped to the front in priority after the lightning hit. While subsequent repairs cost $2 million, library officials had already determined that the cost of adapting the building for energy efficiency, accessibility and technological upgrades could not be justified against the needs of the other branches. There has been no service at the library for the past 18 months.

    The proposed new building would be 15,000 square feet and include a children’s room and program space, a separate area for teens, a meeting room and a room for Allegheny City history materials.

    Tomorrow’s hearing prompted a rash of chat on North Side Web sites, most in favor of the move.

    The branch in Allegheny Center, with its Richardsonian Romanesque style, is protected from demolition by historic status.

    Denise Mahone, a young mother on the Central North Side, credits the Carnegie’s decision to build on a stretch that, for years, has not been child friendly or socially well integrated.

    She said the Federal Street location was “site specific in the best sense of the term.”

    “Preservation and new spaces are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “In this neighborhood, the emphasis will always be to marry the historic with places that reflect the present.”

    David Shlapak, a Central North Sider, said the fight against a new library “is a classic case of people knowing how to spend other people’s money.”

    “We can continue to fight until we get a perfect solution no one can pay for, or we can say, ‘This is a positive step, let’s go forward.’

    “The Federal-North corridor is the heart of the North Side, and revitalizing that area should be a high priority,” he said.

    Petitioners, however, say the best way to preserve Carnegie Library buildings is to use them as libraries.

    David Tessitor, an Allegheny West resident who spearheaded the petition drive with Mr. Walsh, said the new construction “is a way to support under-performing real estate speculation projects” at Federal-North while the best chance for success on Federal is to build north from Allegheny Center by first unblocking its arteries.

    “There’s a strong sense among neighborhood residents of seeing Ohio Street opened through and Federal reconnected” by getting rid of Allegheny Center’s traffic circle,” Mr. Tessitor said.

    “With the library gone, there’s less impetus for that to happen. When we build new, we undermine the history that’s there.”

    Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or412-263-1626.
    First published on December 17, 2007 at 12:00 am

  5. Banks reborn as nightclubs, restaurants and a spa

    By The Tribune-Review
    Thursday, December 13, 2007

    Back in the day, banks were built with a grandeur and strength in both material and design.

    These magnificent shrines to commerce were built with tall granite columns, marble counters and brass cashier cages. The structures spoke of trust, reliability and permanence.

    Fast-forward to the next century, and enter the world of credit cards, ATM machines and online banking.

    The permanence of those banks as imposing buildings remains, but many have been renovated into new establishments, such as clubs, coffeehouses, condos, restaurants — and even a spa.

    Here are a handful found throughout the area — and one with plans for the future.

    CARSON CITY SALOON, SOUTH SIDE

    You want a nightclub, you want a big, sturdy, solid building. Something that the bass from a Timbaland or Kanye West track isn’t going to shake apart. So why not a bank?

    Carson City Saloon inhabits a space built for the German National Depository in 1896. It also was a Mellon Bank, then a Citizens Bank. Typical for its time, the massively imposing, thick-walled neoclassical building conveys fortress-like safety and stability. It’s an attractive structure, if not particularly festive or fun.

    But inside, it has been totally transformed into a spacious, high-ceilinged cavern of sports, television and beer. One thing that remains from its bank beginnings is the giant, steel walk-in vault in the far back wall. Once, it probably served to reassure customers and intimidate potential robbers. Now, it’s just another decoration on the wall between the kitchen and the digital jukebox.

    Carson City Saloon, 1401 E. Carson St., South Side. Hours: 11:45 a.m.-1:45 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, noon-midnight Sundays. Details: 412-481-3203.

    PERK COFFEE GALLERY, WEST END

    The vault of a West End bank is now a treasure house of coffee, wraps, soups, sandwiches and an ever-changing selection of home-cooked entrees. New to the scene as of Nov. 17, Perk Coffee Gallery began serving customers in the safe deposit vault where generations of banking clients once stored their valuables.

    Toni Herd, a Munhall resident and the owner of Perk Coffee Gallery, was looking for a space to open a coffee shop and art gallery that would become part of the West End’s revitalization. An artist friend told her about this available space.

    Constructed in 1927 for the West End Savings and Trust Co., the building had been subdivided into an indoor mini-mall for shops and a National City Bank branch office.

    Herd fell in love with the tiny space, especially when she learned she could fill the adjoining vault with tables and chairs for her customers.

    She offers homemade dishes such as macaroni and cheese or green beans and smoked turkey alongside the lighter options that include vegan wraps, red beans and greens salads. The $6.25 Saturday lunch special menu features smoked and barbecued ribs or chicken, collard greens or baked beans, a corn muffin and a choice of cole slaw or potato salad.

    Right now, most of Herd’s customers are people who work in the neighborhood. But there’s a number of art galleries nearby, and the walls of Perk Coffee Gallery are lined with original artworks created by Herd and other local artists.

    “I’m hoping the area will become a place (for artists and their customers) to hang out comfortably,” she says.

    Perk Coffee Gallery, 22 Wabash St., West End. Hours: 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Details: 412-773-1057.

    ROCKWELL’S RED LION RESTAURANT, ELIZABETH

    The building that houses Rockwell’s Red Lion Restaurant in Elizabeth originally was built for the First National Bank of Elizabeth in 1906. The bank closed its doors permanently seven years later. The building housed a drugstore and a second-hand store and stood vacant until the Rockwell family purchased and renovated it, opening the restaurant May 14, 1980.

    Framed old photos on the restaurant walls are a reminder of life in Elizabeth as far back as the late 1800s.

    The restaurant is run by Orrie Rockwell Jr. and his children, Lynn McHolme, who runs the business office, and Orrie Rockwell III, who is the chef. The menu changes periodically to feature seasonal dishes. Chef Orrie’s specialties include roasted duck with blackberry and black cherry demi-glaze ($21.95), salmon with blueberry glaze ($16.95) and chicken with apricot glaze ($14.95).

    The restaurant will hold a Christmas wine tasting and dinner Dec. 22. Cost of the four-course meal is $40.

    Rockwell’s Red Lion Restaurant, 201 Second St., Elizabeth. Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays. Details: 412-384-3909.

    THE VAULT COFFEE & TEA BAR, BRIGHTON HEIGHTS

    There are banks, and then there are savings and loans. The former typically is a marble-floored financial institution whose Doric columns and gilded ceilings radiate fiduciary gravitas. The latter is the bank’s folksy cousin, with functional carpeting and color schemes that recall the Brady Bunch rec room.

    It makes sense that The Vault Coffee & Tea Bar, a mainstay of the Brighton Heights business district, should take up residence in a former savings and loan. Its homely intimacy serves its quirky sensibility well.

    You won’t find a bank vault in The Vault — at least not on the main floor. But you will enjoy spotting vestiges of its former life while you wait for barista Matt Haberman or owner Bradley Richards to make your espresso.

    The small lectern where folks used to fill out deposit slips now holds napkins. Beneath a sign that proclaims “Today’s Interest Rates” is a menu that touts stuffed grape leaves, Chicken Feta Mojo, bagels or toast. Another sign invites customers to “angry up” their usual cup of Joe with a shot of espresso.

    The original office couches, where anxious customers waited for loan approval, now serve as posterior magnets in the small upstairs balcony. It’s strewn with laptops and back issues of Spin. If the coffee doesn’t wake you up, the loud blue walls will.

    Customers Michele Knickerbocker and Michelle Ligon, both nursing students and moms, park themselves by the counter, where bank tellers reportedly served customers from behind bulletproof glass.

    “I have two kids, and you can bring them here,” Knickerbocker says. “People don’t act annoyed that they’re around.”

    The Vault Coffee & Tea Bar, 3619 California Ave., Brighton Heights. Hours: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Details: 412-734-1935.

    THE SEWICKLEY SPA, LIGONIER

    Money-related puns abound with satisfied patrons at The Sewickley Spa, who often tell the owner that they got a wealth of a wonderful treatment with rich pleasures. Given that their pampering took place in a former bank vault, there’s no better way to describe it, says Dorothy Andreas Tuel, owner of the Ligonier spa that is housed in a former Mellon Bank building.

    “People really get a kick out of it,” she says. “It’s a conversation piece as well as a relaxing treatment.”

    Andreas Tuel — who also owns The Sewickley Spa at Sewickley, and The Sewickley Spa at Wisp Resort in Maryland — opened the Ligonier location in 2001. She says she was thrilled to discover that the Mellon Bank building was available, after looking around Ligonier for a new spot.

    With plenty of open spaces, the bank building was easy to convert into a spa, she says. The building, with its granite columns, still retains some of its turn-of-the-century bank look, and some banking remnants — like a $20 bill from the 1940s — were found during the renovation. Inside the spa, visitors can get pampered with more than three dozen treatments, mostly skin and body therapy.

    The Sewickley Spa, 112 N. Market St., Ligonier. Hours: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays, 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Details: 724-238-3878.

    PITTSBURGH ENGINEERS BUILDING, DOWNTOWN

    The former bank that now houses the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania was built in the heart of Pittsburgh’s financial district, Downtown, at the turn of the last century by famed architect Daniel H. Burnham. He also designed the Flatiron Building in New York City and Pittsburgh’s Union Station, now the Pennsylvanian, among many other buildings.

    Members and guests of the Engineers’ Society have the privilege of eating inside the bank vault during daily lunches. But you’ll have to make friends with an engineer; unfortunately, the club dining room is not open to the public.

    DISCOVERY & INTERACTIVE SCIENCE CENTER, GREENSBURG

    A former Mellon Bank building in downtown Greensburg could become an interactive, hands-on science center if Douglas Lingsch and his wife, Mari-Pat, can make it happen.

    The Bedford couple hope to open the Discovery & Interactive Science Center — run as a nonprofit, similar to the Carnegie Science Center — in the fall of 2008 or 2009.

    The granite-block structure was built in 1928 for the Barclay-Westmoreland Trust Co. and has been vacant since Citizens Bank closed its branch in March 2005. In September, the Lingsches bought the vacant building for $258,000. Douglas Lingsch says it remains in good condition, and he anticipates spending about $1 million to convert it.

    The lobby of the former bank would be completely renovated, and a mezzanine floor would be added to create more exhibit space. The bank’s two vaults — whose 800- to 1,000-pound doors have glass panels exposing the gears — would be part of the attraction.

  6. Proposal would dust off Wilkinsburg train station

    By Sam Spatter
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Thursday, December 13, 2007

    There’s a proposal to bring new life to the Wilkinsburg train station, which has been vacant since the 1970s.

    The board of the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County last month approved a request from the county’s Department of Economic Development to apply for a $15,000 grant from the state Historical & Museum Commission.

    “The funds will be used to hire a professional to evaluate what renovations are needed, and their costs, to restore the station,” said Cassandra Collinge, assistant manager of the department’s housing division.

    That person also will be asked to do an environmental survey of the property and provide suggestions for re-use of the station, she said.

    The station is located at Hay Street and Ross Avenue, on a site behind the CVS Pharmacy on Penn Avenue.

    This is not the first attempt to renovate the station.

    In 2004, a team of students from Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management received a $10,000 grant from an anonymous contributor to conduct research regarding the station, including obtaining public suggestions for its use.

    The students hoped to discover how the station could be used in a way that would benefit the community and boost the economy. Suggestions included a jazz museum, restaurant and cafe.

    In 2005, architect Sylvester Damianos asked permission from the Wilkinsburg Municipal Authority/Wilkinsburg Borough Industrial and Commercial Development Authority to purchase the station.

    Damianos said he could use the property for his offices, a community gallery and for a woodworking shop in the basement.

    “We were definitely interested in doing the project, but found there were too many legal problems, because of a variety of ownerships, and we decided to drop out,” he said.

    However, several groups continued to express interest in having the station preserved and reused.

    Among them are Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.

    “We have been interested in the station for 30 years, and am happy the county has allocated funds for an architectural/engineering study to determine its current condition and how to stabilize the building,” said Arthur Ziegler, the foundation’s executive director.

    “Once that is achieved, perhaps we can market the building.”

    The Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh has listed the station as an historic site and offered assistance to any developer interested in restoring it.

    Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.

  7. Salvation Army plans please North Side groups

    By Craig Smith
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Wednesday, December 12, 2007

    Neighborhood groups welcomed the Salvation Army’s decision to build a worship and service center in the North Side and not remodel a Greek Orthodox church.

    “We are pleased that the Salvation Army has decided to reinvest in the North Side community and continue to provide, and even expand, services at their current location,” said Paul Carson, a Mexican War Streets resident who is president of the North Side Neighborhood Coalition.

    The Salvation Army’s plans to convert Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church into a worship and social service center had concerned neighbors who thought a homeless program would be located close to homes, schools and playgrounds.

    “We were getting pressure from the community, but the decision was more dollars and cents,” said Maj. Robert J. Reel, divisional commander. The Salvation Army will raze two buildings it owns on West North Avenue near the closed Garden Theatre and build a center there.

    The church would have required extensive renovations, he said.

    “It makes more sense to build … without making adjustments and trying to retrofit,” Reel said.

    Concerns remain that the North Side is being deluged with social service programs, but community leaders said the neighborhood is poised for an economic infusion.

    The Salvation Army project and plans to renovate the Garden Theatre will help “build up the area,” said Robin Rosemary Miller, president of the North Side/North Shore Chamber of Commerce.

    “There is a lot of money to be invested in this neighborhood,” she said.

    Holy Trinity’s 300-family congregation plans to build a home in McCandless.

    Reel said the Salvation Army’s approximately $4 million project will begin sometime next year.

    Craig Smith can be reached at csmith@tribweb.com or 412-380-5646.

  8. Rebuilt West Newton station newest gem on riverside trail

    By Richard Robbins
    For The Valley Independent
    Monday, November 26, 2007

    Jack Cusick eyeballed the sloping, overhanging roof, the antique-looking lights attached to the red-brick exterior and the smartly appointed conference room and office, and said, “It’s a culmination.”

    Cusick was talking about West Newton Station on the Youghiogheny River Trail, a new structure that resembles the old Pennsylvania and Lake Erie Railroad Station devastated by fire four decades ago.

    The rebuilt West Newton Station will serve as a visitors center for trail users and as headquarters for Regional Trail Corp., the nonprofit partnership that sponsored the development of the Youghiogheny River Trail.

    An open house at the station is slated from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday.

    The $750,000 one-story building represents an effort that started in the late 1980s with the “concept” of converting the abandoned P&LE rail line into a biking-hiking trail. Cusick was on the original Regional Trail Corp. board of directors and now is a trail volunteer.
    The idea grew into reality. One estimate places the number of annual visits to some portion of the 132-mile Great Allegheny Passage, which includes the Youghiogheny River Trail, at more than 700,000.

    The West Newton Station will have special appeal because the design came directly from blueprints left behind by the P&LE, said Cathy McCollom, regional director of Trails Town Initiative, an alliance of towns along the passage from Cumberland, Md., to McKeesport.

    With the West Newton facility, visitor centers are available about every 45 miles.

    John Markle, a West Newton businessman and retired educator, lauded the Yough River Environment and Education Center, headquartered in a railroad car next to the station.

    He said the center reflects the growth of the trail concept from small pieces. In its final form, sometime next year, the combined Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Towpath will stretch 335 miles from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C.

    Richard Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@tribweb.com or 724-836-5660.

Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation

100 West Station Square Drive, Suite 450

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Phone: 412-471-5808  |  Fax: 412-471-1633