Category Archive: Neighborhood Development
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Residents say quaint Zelienople has it all
By Joan Greene
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 8, 2007Zelienople’s official motto is “Zelienople — a modern place with old-fashioned grace.”
But many residents also refer to the picturesque borough as a “Crossroads Community.”
Located seven miles north of Cranberry in Butler County, the historic borough of 4,300 residents is a popular destination for both highway travelers and visitors attracted to Zelienople’s small-town charm.
On their way from visiting friends in Erie to catch a flight out of Pittsburgh International Airport, Peter and Kathy Eyster, of Lakewood, Colo., decided to have lunch at the historic Kaufman House and take a brief tour of the town.
“(Zelienople) looked like a quaint, interesting town, and we had read about the Kaufman House in a AAA Tour Book, so we decided to stop, have lunch and look around,” Peter Eyster says.
Nestled among trees and rolling hills near the Connoquenessing Creek, Zelienople’s picturesque location is what compelled the borough’s founder, Baron Dettmar Friederich Basse, to buy 10,000 acres of Revolutionary War Depreciations Land in 1802.
Basse laid out the town and named it after his daughter, Zelie, who arrived in Zelienople from Germany in 1807 with her new husband, Philippe Louis Passavant.
After discovering iron ore on his land, Basse, in 1813, built Zelienople’s first industrial plant, Bassenheim Furnace, one of the first charcoal blast furnaces in Western Pennsylvania.
Zelienople was incorporated as a borough in 1840, and by the turn of the 20th century, industrial expansion spurred growth.
Zelie and Philippe settled into their permanent home, Passavant House, on South Main Street (Route 19), where Zelie gave birth to five children, among them William Alfred Passavant, founder of hospitals, homes for the aged and orphans, and schools and churches — many of which still carry his name.
Passavant House, which was built in 1808, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is home to the Zelienople Historical Society. The restored home is open for tours and features a vast collection of historic items, including clothes worn by family members, furnishings, family portraits and letters written by Zelie to her children and other family members.
Buhl House (built in 1805) is the oldest existing building in Zelienople and is named after another early settler, Christian Buhl. In 1804, Buhl, a German immigrant furrier, married Fredericka Dorothea Goehring, of Cranberry, and they had 11 children. Today, the Buhl family name is associated with philanthropy. Buhl Planetarium, opened in 1939 on the North Side, was built with money from a foundation set up by Christian’s grandson, Henry Buhl Jr. The new planetarium at the Carnegie Science Center retains the Buhl name.
Joyce Bessor, 75, executive director of the historical society, has vivid memories of growing up in Zelienople. One of the biggest changes that affected Zelienople was the opening of Interstate 79 in the 1970s, Bessor says. Before that, Route 19 was the main thoroughfare heading north from Pittsburgh to Erie.
“When I was a child growing up in the 1930s and ’40s, there was only one stoplight on Route 19 between West View and Mercer,” she says. “On Sundays, when people were driving to and from Erie, Route 19 was packed with cars, backed up for miles.”
Although Zelienople retains its small-town charm, the stores and schools have changed “considerably,” Bessor says.
Today, St. Gregory’s Elementary School is the only school within Zelienople’s borders. Zelienople Elementary School and High School were torn down in the 1960s. Students living in Zelienople attend Connoquenessing Elementary School, in the neighboring borough of Harmony, and Seneca Valley Middle, Intermediate and Senior High Schools, in Jackson Township.
Although many of the shops and restaurants lining Main Street have retained their facades, the types of businesses have changed, Bessor says. The antiques stores have been replaced by gift shops. “For 60 years, Buhl House was owned by an antique dealer, and people came from all over to buy antiques,” Bessor says. The home now is operated by the historical society and is open for tours.
Ketterer’s, owned by two sisters, was a popular clothing and dry goods store when Bessor was growing up and “almost everyone in town” bought shoes at Blum’s shoe store, which closed in the 1980s after being in business for almost 100 years. Today, it is a bicycle shop.
The Strand Theater, which is undergoing renovation, was where children would flock to the Saturday matinees. “In those days, Saturday night at the movies was a big deal,” Bessor says.
The Strand closed its doors in 1984. In 2001, Ron Carter, of Cranberry, formed the nonprofit Strand Theater Initiative to raise $5 million for its restoration. The goal is transorm the theater, which was built in 1914, into a performing-arts center for touring groups, off-Broadway plays, classic films, orchestras and bands.
To date, the theater’s facade has been renovated, and a new marquee lights up Main Street at night. Work on the theater’s 2,700-square-foot interior is under way. Recently, 300 seats were removed and auctioned to raise funds. “There’s nothing like it in the North Hills,” Carter says. “The Strand Theater will be a destination and another reason for people to come to Main Street. It will feed into the restaurants and shops.”
Today, shoppers strolling along Main Street will find an array of shops reflecting old and new, ranging from Mathew Jewelers — in business for 60 years — to Tattoos by Boney Joe, Room to Grow toy store and C.T. McCormick Hardware, specializing in Lionel Electric Trains.
“Business is good,” says Claudia Brueckman, owner of Gift Baskets, Flowers & More. “Zelienople is still a walking town, and people are now into exercise. The events and attractions bring people into town.”
Borough Manager Don Pepe describes Zelienople as “a town of sidewalks.”
“Sidewalks promote communities,” he says. “We still have pressure to compete with the strip malls, but Zelie still retains itself because the type of businesses here seem to thrive and have found a niche.”
Mayor Tom Oliverio says residents have a great deal of pride in their town. “Everything grows off of that. People love their Main Street, and they keep the shops vital,” he says. “At the hardware store, you can buy one bolt at a time, not the entire package.”
Events commemorating Zelienople’s history and celebrating holidays draw huge crowds from Zelienople and neighboring communities, Pepe says.
One popular event, sponsored by the Zelienople Lion’s Club, is an annual summer horse show. In its 44th year, the event has been renamed Horse Trading Days and is Zelienople’s premiere attraction, attracting as many as 40,000 people during three days in July.
The borough has four or five parades a year for holidays like Halloween, where children and their pets dress up and parade down Main Street. When Santa arrives at Christmas, he takes up residence at Four Corner Park, where he is visited by thousands of children.
“People love the parades. A town is not a town unless you have a Main Street with a parade,” says Oliverio, who enjoys watching the parades with his grandchildren.
The Kountry Kitchen is a favorite among residents and commuters who work in Zelienople. Eating lunch at the family-style restaurant, Kelvin Mack, 22, says Zelienople was “an amazing place to grow up.”
“We could walk to wherever we wanted to go — the park, the pool, the basketball court. My favorite sight is coming down the hill off of Route 19 from Cranberry into Zelienople at night. I like the way the streets and buildings are lit up,” says Mack, who lives in Evans City.
Built in 1902, the Kaufman House is a destination restaurant and bar that attracts visitors from throughout the region, says owner Ken Pilarski, of Cranberry. “It’s popular because of the food, the location in a quaint town and the history of the town and building,” he says. Early in the 20th century, the railroads housed workers in the 32 rooms at the Kaufman House. The hotel portion of the building closed several years ago, Pilarski says.
Residents at Lutheran SeniorLife Passavant Retirement Community, on North Main Street, enjoy “the walking town atmosphere of Zelienople,” says Laura Roy, Passavant’s executive director. “They can walk to the grocery store, shops, bank and restaurants.”
Established in 1905 as the Old People’s Home, the retirement community has grown from eight acres to 42 and serves 650 residents in assisted-living, independent-living and skilled-nursing facilities, Roy says.
Originally named the Orphans Home and Farm School, Glade Run, on West Beaver Road, was founded in 1854 by Rev. William Alfred Passavant and offers residential services to abused and neglected children.
Zelienople’s demographics are a mix of older, longtime residents and families moving in to raise their children in a small-town atmosphere, Pepe says.
In addition to Passavant Retirement Community, which employs more than 300 people, Sysco Food Services of Pittsburgh, Billco Manufacturing, BNZ Materials, ITT Leopold and Robinson Industries are major employers. The 100-year-old Robinson Industries employs 100 people, manufacturing fan equipment for steel, aluminum, mining and utility companies.
Because the borough encompasses only two square miles, there’s not much room to grow. Three hundred acres of land, owned by Glade Run, is the last large parcel left and is being considered for single-family and multi-family development, Pepe says.
Pepe says he would love to start a project to beautify Main Street by burying the utility cables and improve parking.
A picturesque borough that offers historic charm with modern living, Zelienople lives up to its description by the Chamber of Commerce as a place “Where the Past Is Always Present.”
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Monroeville history can be viewed on Web
By Jake Panasevich
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 5, 2007In the past month, Monroeville Historical Society president Lynn Chandler has witnessed what she thinks are the organization’s most exciting changes since she became a member 27 years ago.
Those changes are allowing history to be pieced together by Monroeville natives scattered across the country.After six years of work and nearly a year of revision, the Monroeville Historical Society’s improved Web site is up and running at www.monroevillehistorical.org.
“The advantage to have an organ to reach out to the public is very important,” Chandler said. “We hear from people from all over the country. The fact that we can do all of this is wonderful.”
The site features a much-expanded “Our Photo Album” with more than 600 pictures. They are organized into different categories, such as people, events and street scenes. One category displays multiple shots of the same location that illustrate changes in the local landscape over the years.
The “Significant Houses” and “Monroeville’s History” sections have been updated and expanded with the help of feedback given by visitors to the site.
The society’s Web designer, Jeff Federoff, said the information on the site is presented more clearly, and it’s easier to navigate. It allows visitors to search and download articles with ease, he said.
“There’s more menu options available,” said Federoff, a Monroeville native who now lives in Forest Hills. “You can view articles faster with the new menu options.”
Family profiles have been added to the Web site. This section contains biographical sketches of 20 families who helped shape the community. The society collected information for the profiles over the years.
The profiles are a work in progress. The society is seeking additional information on the Tilbrook, Snodgrass, Lang, Simpson, Speelman, McMasters and McGinnis families.
It is seeking comments, corrections, additional photos and ideas on how to improve the site. People can contact Louis Chandler, the Web site coordinator, and Lynn Chandler’s husband, at lchan@alltel.net or 724-327-6164.
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Building on Saltsburg history
By Paul Paterra
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 5, 2007A builder is doing his part to preserve the historic flavor of downtown Saltsburg, and he’s hoping to entice new residents in the process.
Bob Sekora, of Salem, purchased buildings at 214 and 216 Washington St., as well as the structure in the rear of one of the buildings, which he’s converting into three townhouses that might be ready for tenants in two or three months.
“I’m a retired engineer, and I’m always building something or restoring something,” Sekora said.
He’s giving the buildings a modern touch with insulation and gutters, but the structures willl retain their 19th-century look, including colonial-style shutters and traditional color schemes.
The buildings are deeply connected to Saltsburg’s history. The Indiana County borough of little more than 900 residents was founded in 1769 where the Kiskiminetas River is formed by the convergence of the Conemaugh River and Loyalhanna Creek.
The stone house at 214 Washington St. is the town’s oldest building, reportedly constructed in 1827. In the Pennsylvania Canal’s heyday, brothers Robert and William McIlwain established a general store there.The brick building at 216 Washington St. once housed a drugstore, along with the office of Dr. John McFarland, the town’s first physician. McFarland wore many hats throughout his life, including a stint as director of the Indiana County Medical Society. He later served in the state House of Representatives and was one of the first directors of the Northern Pennsylvania Railroad.
P.J. Hruska, council vice president, says Sekora’s plans to keep the buildings true to form are important.
“To some people, it’s life or death,” Hruska said. “I want to keep it that way myself, (but) I know it’s hard and expensive to do it that way. It looks good to people coming into town. It’s important to me personally, and I know it’s important to a lot of people in the town.”
Local historian Jack Maguire appreciates Sekora’s efforts.
“That’s important to have that attitude, to preserve that rather than just tear it down,” said Maguire, president of Historical Saltsburg Inc. and past president of the Saltsburg Area Historical Society. “It’s important to have somebody who has the energy to do that.”
Sekora wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You don’t have a historic district if you tear your structures down. We’ve removed over 180 years of changes and modifications. It’s like doing an archaeological dig on a building. It’s really the only way you can find the true history of a structure,” he said.
He’s already received inquiries from people interested in renting the townhouses, but he hasn’t decided just what he’s going to do with the other buildings.
“They can be private residences, or I can seek a permit and change the use and make them commercial,” he said.
After completing the townhouses, Sekora will focus on 214 Washington St. He’s planning to have that completed in about two years.
Sekora will call his enclave of buildings Canal Commons, because the townhouses will face Canal Park, as will the rear entrances of 214 and 216 Washington St.
Sekora, who’s doing most of the work himself with the help of some family members, hopes to plant a seed for growth in the community.
“Saltsburg is a well-kept secret,” Sekora said. “You have everything you want here. It’s a very peaceful, quiet community. There’s a very broad range of ages. There’s a lot of senior citizens, but you also see a lot of youth. It’s a family community. There’s going to be more people coming. There’s more restoring that’s going to be done.”
Paul Paterra can be reached at ppaterra@tribweb.com or (724) 836-6220.
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Officials looking beyond new housing to rejuvenate Mon Valley communities
Thursday, June 14, 2007
By Karamagi Rujumba,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteFor Mon Valley residents and officials, almost every time Dan Onorato visits their old steel-mill towns these days is a happy occasion.
In May and June alone, Mr. Onorato, a consortium of community groups and certain Pennsylvania departments launched new housing and refurbishment projects in Rankin, Braddock, and North Braddock.
All told, the projects will cost well over $17 million and give more than 150 families in the region a chance to live in new or refurbished houses or apartments.
But while such projects have been received with open arms in these communities, which have been yearning for a face-lift for the last couple of decades, they haven’t yet significantly changed the quality of life, says Bob Grom, president of the Heritage Health Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization in Braddock.
Mr. Grom would know, because his nonprofit was one of the first groups to build new homes it considered “affordable housing” for low-income residents in Braddock two years ago.
The four homes built by Heritage, all located near UPMC Braddock, were priced between $60,000 and $63,000, and were unoccupied until recently because no one could afford to buy them.
“We were a little naive going into this project,” Mr. Grom said, noting that his organization is now in the process of finalizing the sale of two of the houses.
“We didn’t understand the breadth of what we needed to understand at the time,” he said. “We can build all kinds of houses, but if the people in the community don’t have jobs or health care, how can they afford the houses?”
That, Mr. Grom said, is an elemental question that state, county and community officials ought to have some answer to if they really want to wholly transform communities like Braddock, North Braddock and Rankin.
On his part, Mr. Onorato recognizes this. He is often quick to note that community reinvestment can never be a one-pronged approach.
He regularly talks about how his office wants to see the redevelopment of the Carrie Furnace site complement neighborhood revitalization in Mon Valley communities.
And that, said Mr. Grom is “music to my ears.”
“We now live in an era of huge development opportunities — especially the potential of Carrie Furnace,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves, given all this possible investment, what kind of jobs, education systems, training programs will allow the residents of these communities to participate in this development?”
(Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719. )
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Dormont gets grant to fund pool repairs
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Post GazetteDormont has received a $250,000 matching grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to use toward pool repairs, said John Maggio, president of Friends of Dormont Pool, a fund-raising group.
He is confident fund-raising efforts will result in matching that $250,000, with $67,000 already raised. Coupled with the $312,000 the borough has set aside for the pool, the town is well on its way to the approximately $800,000 to $1.1 million needed to make all the repairs to the landmark 1920s-era pool.
The pool is open for summer.
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Artists bring flourish to Penn Avenue
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteNine years ago, two nonprofits designated a 12-block stretch of Penn Avenue through Bloomfield, Garfield and Friendship as a destination for artists. Some local residents ridiculed the idea. The corridor was pestilent.
Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. and Friendship Development Associates teamed up to pitch empty storefronts to artists. They attached big colorful banners over doorways between Mathilda Street and Negley Avenue in a 16-building strategy. Vandals and several seasons of weather had their way with the banners for a few years.
Fast forward to the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater at 5941 Penn Ave., where at 6 p.m. tomorrow, the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative will throw a release party for its new 20-minute video that documents the turn of events since 2001. The event, celebrating “Electric Avenue,” is free and open to the public and will include live music, refreshments and art for sale.
Despite many ills remaining, the nonprofits feel vindicated. Nearly a dozen arts groups have clustered along the corridor in the past six years, many of whom perform and offer classes, including the Pittsburgh Glass Center, Dance Alloy and Attack Theatre. More than a dozen arts-related businesses and individual artists who live upstairs and work downstairs also have invested in the corridor, as did two architecture studios, Edge Architects in 2003 and Loysen + Kreuthmeier in 2005. Some of the artists and arts groups offer workshops and classes to all age groups.
Garfield Artworks was the lone gallery, and Dance Alloy had just moved into the neighborhood when artist Jeffrey Dorsey began volunteering with the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative. It started in 1998 as a joint project of Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. and Friendship Development Associates. Both are nonprofits that provide neighborhood services and develop real estate. They compiled a database of more than 400 artists in three immediate ZIP codes.
Mr. Dorsey served on the steering committee to get the initiative on its feet, then was hired the next year to run it. He was instrumental in establishing the Unblurred event that draws the public to artist spaces the first Friday evening of every month and is now executive director of FDA.
“Artists were interested” in the corridor early on, he said, but it took a few years for momentum to build. “We would have an artist ready to buy, and then there would be trouble with financing, or a contractor and the artist at the last minute decided not to buy.” On two buildings in particular, “the banners were up way too long, but we got a lot of response.”
On the new video, the second the arts initiative has made to document its progress, Mr. Dorsey said artists were the target to jump-start revitalization “because artists are connectors.”
A revival of Penn Avenue is radiating to some of its troubled side streets. Recently, two new homeowners relocated here from other cities, one a young family, the other a young couple, and bought blighted, abandoned homes to renovate and live in north of Penn, said Becky Mingo, real estate specialist for Friendship Development.
Aggie Brose, deputy director of Bloomfield-Garfield, said BGC has sold 22 of 23 new single-family homes of a 50-house plan that will occupy a four-by-four block area. Eight more are being built now, and 19 will be started next summer, she said.
The BGC also owns seven homes being rehabbed this and next year on North Fairmount.
The arts initiative has had “minimal impact on the sale of new houses in Garfield,” she said, “but I’m hoping that unconsciously, all the excitement on Penn Avenue in general fed into buyers’ decisions.”
She said the BGC and FDA “labored for years” to fill small storefronts that continued to lie dormant until the groups met with Artists in Cities, an organization that was finishing construction of the Spinning Plate Artists Lofts and Galleries on Friendship Avenue in 1998.
“They had a waiting list,” said Ms. Brose. “So Rob Stephany, [commercial real estate specialist for East Liberty Development, who was then on the BGC staff] jumped in and said, ‘We have places on Penn Avenue. Let me take you on a tour.’ That’s how the Arts Initiative was born, and a movement started.”
(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )
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East Liberty development would create public plaza
By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 13, 2007A proposed $40 million development would bring a second new hotel, another ethnic-style restaurant and other amenities to the city’s rebounding East Liberty neighborhood.
Montrose Exchange, a mixed-use project proposed by Morgan Development Group, will be centered on a new public plaza called Kirkwood Square at North Highland Avenue and Broad Street, according to plans presented to the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority last week.
“We will be seeking about $12 million in funding through the URA, both in low-interest loans and grants,” said Nigel Parkinson, managing partner at Morgan, a firm with offices in Washington and Pittsburgh.
He hopes to begin construction early next year on the project, which will be located in an area bounded by Highland Avenue and Broad, Kirkwood and Whitfield streets.
The Montrose project comprises new construction and renovation of nine properties on three blocks along Broad and Highland. All properties are owned by his firm, Parkinson said.
Designed by architect Andrew Moss, of Moss Architects in East Liberty, the development will build on other projects already under way and planned in the East Liberty neighborhood.
It will tie into three blocks on Broad being improved with new sidewalks, street trees, pedestrian lighting and parking.
The 135-room hotel, named Hotel Indigo, is planned at a site at 129-131 N. Highland. Two vacant buildings there are to be demolished, Parkinson said.
The restaurant, Latin Concepts, would be across the street from the hotel, at the site of the former American Legion Post building.
Hotel Indigo will include a lobby that will tie into the 126 N. Whitfield building and the historic Kirkwood (Governor’s) Hotel building that is to be renovated. Hotel Indigo will incorporate a garden area that will provide a semi-public green space for outdoor dining and special events, Moss said.
Latin Concepts will bring three new establishments to East Liberty. They are the Chi Cha Lounge, offering Modern Andean Cuisine; Agua, with items originating from Peru and Ecuador’s Andean grains, fruits and seafood; and Menta, a planned dance destination.
“If the Montrose development comes to fruition, it will have a tremendous impact on revitalizing the community and serve as the heartbeat of East Liberty,” said Paul Brecht, executive director of East Liberty Quarter Chamber of Commerce.
Already planned for East Liberty is a $20 million Marriott SpringHill Suites to be developed by Kratsa Properties of Harmar at the corner of Highland and Centre avenues. That proposed hotel is adjacent to the Highland Building, which the Pittsburgh-based Zambrano Corp. plans to retrofit into residential units, either condominiums or apartments.
Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.
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Grant may get Dormont residents in the pool
By Rick Wills
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 13, 2007The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is giving Dormont $250,000 to boost efforts to restore the borough’s 87-year old pool.
The borough must match the grant. If that happens, the amount raised will be $812,000, the bulk of the $1 million needed to fully upgrade the pool, said John Maggio, president of Friends of Dormont Pool and a Democratic candidate for borough council.
“I am confident we can match the grant,” Maggio said. “We have been able to match other grants we have gotten.”
The state money will pay for rebuilding the pool tank and filtration system, deck paving and landscaping — most of the needed repairs.
“This is the biggest gift we have had so far, and a grant of that magnitude goes a long way toward the pool’s renovation and future,” said Dormont Mayor Thomas Lloyd.
The landmark art-deco pool, which opened in 1920, is believed to be the largest public pool in the state. Other than the addition of a community recreation room in 1996, the facility has undergone little renovation.
“It’s important to our borough, and we certainly want to maintain it,” Lloyd said.
State Rep. Tom Petrone, who helped secure the state money, said the pool is one of the region’s most popular attractions.
“The pool is a real selling point for the borough. It’s really a recreational facility for the whole area, and the quality of life in the South Hills would be affected without it,” said Jon Castelli, research analyst for the House Urban Affairs Committee, which Petrone chairs.
In the past 18 months, plans for the pool and surrounding Dormont Park have generated controversy, sparking a grassroots effort to save the pool as some borough officials discussed closing it.
In January, many residents protested after learning that some council members met with private developers interested in commercially developing parts of the park in exchange for building facilities there.
Last month, three Dormont council members, including the council’s president, were ousted in the Democratic primary.
Rick Wills can be reached at rwills@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7123.