Category Archive: Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Penn Hills Development Group Begins to Bloom
By Tony LaRussa
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 10, 2010
President of the Penn Hills Community Development Corporation Erik Hardy, 58, of Penn Hills works with volunteer Colton Sankey, 17, of Plum High School to form a plumb line as they plot out a community garden. The municipality is allowing the CDC to use a parcel of land along Jefferson Road for a community garden in which residents and groups can rent 4- by 12-foot plots for $20. Samantha Cuddy | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Penn Hills’ burgeoning Community Development Corporation took a significant step in its organizing efforts when the state recently designated it as a private, nonprofit organization.
That’s not all. The CDC has a project under way: a community garden.
Since last year, organizers have worked to create an organization to promote the community’s strengths: its location, plentiful and affordable housing, diverse population and parks and other recreation facilities.
Equally important is addressing the poor reputation of the community’s schools, its inability to attract and keep businesses, and the deteriorating quality of life in some neighborhoods caused by crime, poor property maintenance, government-subsidized housing and other factors, officials say.
Working committees include housing, economic development, education, community beautification, public safety and communications. CDC officials are encouraging residents to join the organization and serve on a committee.
“We’ve found that people here have a lot of energy and great ideas for promoting or improving various aspects of the community,” said Erik Hardy, CDC board president. “What we didn’t have was a central place to go to channel that energy and put those ideas into practice. That’s really what led us to form this organization.”
Margie Howard of the Community Technical Assistance Center in Pittsburgh said obtaining nonprofit status from the state is a critical step toward becoming eligible for funding.
Jim Black, standing, Vice President of the Community Development Corporation of Penn Hills, ponders his next move with fellow workers at the municipality's community garden. David Wolf, right, and his son Gregory Wolf, 13, are helping to construct 4 by 12 foot garden plots which residents and groups can rent. Samantha Cuddy | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“You have to have the state designation before applying for federal tax-exempt status,” said Howard, who helped the CDC develop its structure. “There are a lot of state and federal agencies and foundations that require groups to be a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization before they will consider them for grants.”
CDCs operate apart from local government, and money such as federal housing rehabilitation grants are available only to them.
Lack of money has not prevented the CDC from taking on a project its members hope will help spur interest in its activities.
The municipality is allowing the CDC to use a parcel of land along Jefferson Road for a community garden in which residents and groups can rent 4- by 12-foot plots for $20. Municipal officials also have agreed to supply water to the site.
Businesses donated materials, supplies and services for the garden. Penn Hills Lawn and Garden donated soil testing and mushroom manure; Penn Hills Rental provided equipment to clear the site; Hanson Aggregates gave gravel for the access road; and The Home Depot provided lumber, fencing, tools, water barrels and other supplies.
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Elegant Vaudeville-Era Theater in Dormont to be Razed
By Chris Ramirez
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Demolition is taking place at West Liberty and Dormont avenues as the former South Hills Harris Theatre bites the dust. Once the elegant backdrop for countless Vaudeville acts and live-action performances, it will soon be gone, much to the dismay of local historians. It was built in 1927 and opened in 1928. Heidi Murrin | Tribune-Review
Harris moviehouse’s heyday long past, CVS now owns property, hit by vandals, in disrepair.
The final curtain is coming down on the old South Hills Harris Theatre.
Broken windows, stained walls and a partially collapsed roof are all that remain of the once-regal theater on West Liberty Avenue. Soon, the one-time hot spot will be demolished to make way for a pharmacy.
“It’s sad news, as far as I’m concerned,” said Muriel Moreland, president of the Dormont Historical Society, “It’s such a shame because it’s a beautiful building. It’s just one more thing that’s going down, going away.”
Long before there was Dolby Sound, multiplex theaters and six-story IMAX picture screens, there were entertainment houses like the South Hills Harris Theatre, which was the backdrop for countless Vaudeville acts and live-action performances.
It was built in 1927 and opened in 1928. Watching a production there was an experience.
Ushers in tuxedos and white gloves guided theatergoers of the 1930s and 1940s through a main lobby illuminated by the shimmering light of a crystal chandelier. There was no Dolby Sound. For many years, audiences heard just the music of Bob Mitchell, tickling the keys of a Wurlitzer pipe organ.
The site was converted to show motion pictures and short films, including pro-military spots that became popular during World War II.
After years of operation, the theater closed in 2001. Pharmacy giant CVS bought it, along with a corner property and two houses surrounding it, Moreland said. All of them are to be razed, she said.
Despite several fundraising campaigns and efforts to find new owners, the building has been cordoned off from public access, fallen into disrepair and become a magnet for vandalism and animal infestation.
The interior has been gutted. The organ has since been sold to a theater in Ohio. And no one seems to know what happened to the chandelier that greeted theatergoers when they entered.
“One part of it (the theater) is already pretty much rubble,” Moreland said.
Nancy Fenton chronicled the building’s lapse into disrepair over the years, snapping photos of her childhood getaway while walking her dog.
She was a child living in Brookline when she and friends went to see “Psycho” at the theater in the 1960s. “We always made sure we got to sit in the balcony,” said Fenton, 63, of Dormont. “It was like a big opera house.”
Walking there was part of the fun. Coming home later that night was more frightful after sitting through the thriller that “just about did us in,” Fenton said.
“The two houses that were by it had these bushes and trees that used to have branches that were hanging over the sidewalk we’d take to get back home,” she said. “That was spookier than the movie.”
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Historical Societies Foster Pride and Preservation
By Matthew Santoni
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Ronald A. Baraff, director of museums and archives for the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area, which chronicles the history and culture of the industries and mill towns along the rivers, visits the former Carrie Furnace steel mill site in Braddock. Rivers of Steel recently acquired the site from the county to turn into a museum. Sidney Davis | Tribune-Review
The statue of Pittsburgh Pirates legend Honus Wagner might stand outside PNC Park on the North Shore, but fans who desire something more can head six miles down the Parkway West to the Historical Society of Carnegie’s miniature museum to learn about its native son.
In a historic building along West Main Street, a small exhibit on Wagner shares space with yearbooks and photos from area schools, a memorial wall for the town’s military veterans, and a painstakingly crafted scale model of the borough’s buildings along East and West Main Street, all funded without help from the municipality.
Volunteer Joan Harbin points out a model of the building housing the artifacts and exhibits on display at the Historical Society of Carnegie in the small museum on West Main Street. Keeping up with the maintenance of the building and expansion plans has been a struggle, but officials say local history groups, such as the Carnegie's, help to instill local pride and encourage tourism and redevelopment. James Knox | Tribune-Review
“We support ourselves. We figured it was better to be people-funded rather than tax-funded,” said Marcella McGrogan, executive director of the society. “Our town’s streets and parking lots need the help more than we do.”
Carnegie is one of many communities in the region with a historical society, which officials say can encourage economic development by drawing tourists, instilling local pride and marketing a community’s historic assets.
“We have a ‘Babushkas and Hardhats’ tour … that looks at the development of the Pittsburgh region, why industry located here, why it isn’t here now and how Pittsburgh has reinvented itself,” said Ron Baraff, director of museums and archives for the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area, which chronicles the history and culture of the industries and mill towns along the rivers.
About 15 acres of the former Carrie Furnace steel mill site in Rankin and Braddock were transferred from the county to Rivers of Steel, and officials hope to turn the former blast furnaces into a museum. Sidney L. Davis | Tribune-Review
About 15 acres of the former Carrie Furnace steel mill site in Rankin and Braddock were transferred from the county to Rivers of Steel, and officials hope to turn the former blast furnaces into a museum.
“The idea is to bring people into the region and get them to understand that the past built the present, that that’s the foundation for the future,” he said.
How and why it helps
The Young Preservationists Society of Pittsburgh released a report last month estimating that preserving and restoring historic properties added at least $475 million to Southwestern Pennsylvania’s economy from 2003 to 2009. Local historical societies can encourage such redevelopment and reinvestment by making people more aware of the history of their communities and homes, said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
“People tend to believe in the value of that area and are more willing to invest, particularly in historic buildings,” Ziegler said. “It can also develop visitor interest, which can bring income to a town.”
The Sewickley Valley Historical Society is too small to maintain a museum space of its own, but its library allows people to research the history of their families or their homes, said Harton Semple, executive director.
“We’re a small society — only about 400 members — but we have a rich history to draw upon,” Semple said. “We are assailed on all sides by development and general apathy, but we’re beating back that tide.”
The Sewickley Valley society’s “nest egg” was hit hard by the recession, but it has sustained itself with members who made donations above and beyond their yearly membership dues, Semple said. The group published a history of Sewickley last year, and is beginning a push to fund and erect historical markers around the area, he said.
The Historical Society of Mt. Lebanon charges a small fee for its “home history project,” which presents homeowners with a report on the architect who designed their houses, construction plans for them and any other tidbits that members of the historical society can dig up, said Executive Director Margaret Jackson.
Mt. Lebanon’s society is entering its second year of operating a small museum space off Washington Avenue, which hosts rotating exhibits on local subjects such as the nearby Washington School or the Mt. Lebanon Soccer League, Jackson said. More and more residents are donating artifacts and photographs, but that raises the new challenge of how to store and protect them all. Yearly contributions from the municipality’s budget are enough to cover rent on the museum space, she said.
“We’re slowly getting the word out that we’re here, that we’re not just for little old ladies,” Jackson said. “Mt. Lebanon is just celebrating our centennial. … Hopefully, we’ll preserve our community’s past for decades to come.”
The Westmoreland County Historical Society this week moved its library and museum space to a new location on Sand Hill Road, which is more accessible to the many people who use its archives to research their family’s past, said Executive Director Lisa Hays.
“What’s surprising is how far people will travel to study their genealogy. … We had people come from as far away as Australia last week,” Hays said. “Typically, one person will sit and do research while the rest of the family goes out and sees the local sights.”
Hays said local societies help residents understand their communities’ place in the larger events of history, and knowing what roles they played or how they were affected can foster civic pride.
“Everyone thinks nothing ever happened in their backyard, but it did — everything that’s happened on a national level, on a world level, was played out on a local level,” she said. “Once that dawns on people, it creates a real sense of local pride.”
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SEA Consultants Advise Razing Mellon Arena
By Adam Brandolph
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 10, 2010Consultants for the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority recommended in a draft report sent to the state Bureau of Historic Preservation that Mellon Arena be demolished and the 28-acre Uptown site be developed, SEA officials confirmed Wednesday.
The report, according to Chris Cieslak, a consultant working with Oxford Development and the SEA, “evaluates several alternatives,” but concludes that the Penguins’ plan to demolish the arena and construct a mixed-use development on the site would have the greatest economic benefit to the region. A full copy of the report, which was sent to the preservation bureau last month, was not available.
Representatives from two groups seeking alternatives to demolition walked out of last night’s closed-door meeting with SEA officials and other interested parties because they said the historic preservation process is not being followed.
“Their process is designed to divide and conquer,” said architect Rob Pfaffman. “The democratic process is being badly managed and badly executed.”
The SEA has hosted six other closed-door meetings that included developers and preservationists. A public meeting was held in the lower Hill District last month.
The $321 million Consol Energy Center is set to open across the street from the 49-year-old arena this summer. The main tenant, the Penguins, own the rights to develop the property.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and other public officials have said Mellon Arena should be demolished to create room for retail and housing developments. The Sports & Exhibition Authority — whose members are appointed by the mayor and county executive — has the final say on what will happen but has not made public any decision.
The preservation bureau has 30 days to review the draft report, while a consulting firm hired by the two groups seeking alternatives to demolition completes its own study.
“Everybody’s trying to beat the clock now,” said Todd Poole, managing principal of 4Ward Planning, representing Preservation Pittsburgh and ReUse the Igloo. “Obviously, I think from the standpoint of my clients, they would prefer that the process not be rushed.”
Poole hopes to have a “fully fleshed-out analysis that covers all the bases that we’ve discussed to this point” by early July. Poole said the SEA consultant’s plan falls short of a full analysis of what could be done with the arena. He said adding more retail space to an area with vacancies is a poor idea.
Gary J. English, a Penn Hills resident who filed for the Igloo’s historic preservation and has attended the SEA’s closed-door meetings, wants Allegheny County voters to decide the fate of the arena with a ballot initiative.
“I think the whole process is a farce,” English said. “They had one public meeting in the Hill District, but (the arena’s) owned by the residents of the entire county.”
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Denis Theatre Group Applauds $155,000 Gift
By Bill Zlatos
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 9, 2010The Denis Theatre Foundation has received a matching grant of $155,000, putting the group near the amount needed to buy the movie house in uptown Mt. Lebanon, leaders said Tuesday.
“First of all, especially coming on the heels of The Pittsburgh Foundation grant, it’s an incredible affirmation of the viability and importance of the project to the community,” said Anne Kemerer, executive director of the Denis Theatre Foundation.
The Pittsburgh Foundation recently gave a $100,000 grant.
Kemerer said her group has until June 30 to exercise its option to buy the theater on Washington Road. If Denis supporters raise the full match, they must obtain $75,000 more to buy the building and pay related closing costs.
“It’s nothing compared to what we had to raise so far,” she said.
The latest anonymous gift is the largest of eight grants from foundations. The matching money will have to be raised from individuals, Kemerer said.
After buying the building, the foundation must raise another $1.8 million for the first phase of the renovation. The phase involves opening one screen; updating or replacing basic systems; and installing an elevator.
The second phase includes opening two more screens; restoring the stage; and adding meeting rooms.
For more information or to make a contribution, contact Kemerer at 412-480-0187.
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Discover the scope of Western Pennsylvania history while walking
By Deborah Deasy
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 19, 2010Nothing beats sightseeing on foot when it comes to discovering Downtown Pittsburgh.
“It’s hard to look up and see the full height of a building when you are in a car or bus — and, so
often, distinguishing elements of a building are at the top,” says Louise Sturgess, executive
director of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
“We have a very intact city with a streetscape that dates to 1784, and it’s on a little triangular
piece of land that’s very walk-able,” Sturgess says.
To showcase the area’s crazy quilt of historic structures, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks
Foundation invites people to sign up for a smorgasbord of upcoming weekly and monthly tours –
– most free — and special events.
Offerings range from a dinner tour of the Twentieth Century Club in Oakland to a walking tour
of Wilkinsburg.
“We want to get people out of their chairs and outside,” Sturgess says.
The Wilkinsburg tour, for example, will showcase the efforts to revitalize and preserve historic
buildings in the borough.
“We are doing major work in Wilkinsburg,” Sturgess says.Other upcoming events include an invitation-only dinner tour of Oakmont Country Club, and an
evening reception at the Negley-Gwinner House in Shadyside, built in 1870 for Civil War
veteran and attorney William B. Negley.
People may attend either or both events by joining the Landmarks Heritage Society with a
$1,000 donation to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Plenty of free tours, however, are available, including guided walking tours of Downtown from
noon to 1 p.m. every Friday, from May through September.
“We feel it’s an important part of our mission to offer free walking tours,” says Sturgess, who
plans to lead a couple of the new “Segway Golden Triangle Tours,” set for 10 to 11 a.m.
Saturdays in June and July. “The idea is (that) Segway will provide the equipment, but we will
train and provide the tour guides.”
Foundation tours generally attract diverse participants of all ages, including college students and
professionals on lunch hours. In 2009, more than 12,000 people participated in the foundation’s
tours and educational programs.
“On our walking tours, our goal is to have 10 people for one tour guide,” Sturgess says.
“The value of having a real tour guide — as opposed to a cell phone, or virtual reality game — is
that the tour guide does engage the group of people in conversation,” Sturgess says. “We’re
always asking people in our tour groups to share what they know, and to add to the
conversation.”
The tour schedule opens this weekend with two sold-out tours of the City-County Building,
Allegheny County Courthouse and former jail. Sturgess hopes to offer the same tour again in
upcoming months to accommodate the overflow of those interested in it.
SOME UPCOMING WALKING EVENTS
(also available online at www.phlf.org)
Twentieth Century Club Lecture, Tour and Dinner: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 12; 4201 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland. Admission: $35 for members and students; $50 non-members
Segway Golden Triangle Tours: 10 to 11 a.m. June 5, 12, 19, 26, and July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31.
Meet at Freight House Shops (near Smithfield Street Bridge entrance), Station Square
Admission: $55 per person (You must be 18 years or older).
Bus Tour to Historic Harmony, Butler County: 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 28. Meet at Freight House Shops entrance, opposite the parking garage, Station Square. Admission to be
announced.
Wilkinsburg Walking Tour: 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 11. Meet at Jean’s Southern Cuisine, 730 Penn Ave. Admission: Free to members; $20 non-members.Market and Fifth Downtown Walking Tour: 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 25. Meet at PNC’s Triangle
Park, Fifth Avenue and Liberty Avenue, Downtown. Admission: $10 members; $20 nonmembers.
Who Wants to Go? Wheeling, W.V. in October: If enough people are interested, PHLF will
plan a full-day bus trip to Wheeling, including tours of several private homes.
For questions and reservations about all the events, except the Segway tours, contact Mary Lu
Denny at 412-471-5808, ext. 527, or marylu@phlf.org. For the Segway reservations, e-mail
leo@mediainmotionpa.com or call 724-972-4316FREE WALKING TOURS
Grant Street & More: noon to 1 p.m. May 7, 14, 21, 28. Meeting at Grant Street and Sixth
Avenue, Omni William Penn Hotel entrance.
Market Square Area: noon to 1 p.m. June 4, 11, 18, 25. Meet at PNC’s Triangle Park at
Liberty Avenue and Fifth Avenue.
Penn-Liberty Cultural District: noon to 1 p.m. July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30. Meet at Katz Plaza, Penn
Avenue and Seventh Street.
Fourth Avenue & PPG Place: noon to 1 p.m. Aug. 6, 13, 20 and 27. Meet at Fourth Avenue
and Smithfield Street.
Bridges & River Shores: noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 3, 10, 17, 24. Meet at 107 Sixth St., in front of
the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel.
Oakland Civic Center: noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29. Meet by dinosaur at Forbes
Avenue and Schenley Drive Extension.
Reservations need to be made at least one day before each event. Contact Mary Lu Denny,
412-471-5808, ext. 527, or marylu@phlf.org.
Deborah Deasy can be reached at ddeasy@tribweb.com or 412-320-7989. -
‘Lazarus’ on the Hill?
By Glen Meakem
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Sunday, August 31, 2008In 1998, Pittsburgh celebrated as the “glitzy” new Lazarus department store opened on Fifth Avenue, Downtown. In the spring of 2004, after just five years, Pittsburghers mourned as the store closed its doors forever — another blow to a city struggling to succeed.
Now Pittsburgh politicians and community leaders face another economic decision — which grocery store to build in the Hill District. I am hoping, for the sake of Hill residents and city taxpayers of all neighborhoods, that our leaders will choose the best long-term economic answer instead of short-term glitz.
The Lazarus project was a costly mistake. In order to attract the store, the Urban Redevelopment Authority lent Lazarus $18 million and the city provided $5 million in additional cash. Despite the large government subsidies, once construction was completed and the doors opened, sales were well below expectations.
Lazarus was obligated to begin repaying the $18 million loan once in-store sales reached $41 million per year. But peak sales never exceeded $22 million. The taxpayer loan never was repaid. Even with more than $20 million of government subsidies, Lazarus sustained big losses and was forced to close.
The truth is Lazarus might have worked if marketproblems — high parking taxes and the lack of downtown residential living — had been addressed first. Instead, politicians chose a reality-ignoring strategy that cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and dealt Pittsburgh a tough blow.
The first proposal for the Hill District grocery store is being presented by St. Louis-based grocer Save-A-Lot. Its store is economically viable, based on a business model that works and experience with more than 1,200 stores around the country.
Save-A-Lot deliberately keeps its stores smaller than other grocers, eliminating amenities such as on-site bakeries, pharmacies and dry cleaners. It also limits inventory to approximately 1,200 frequently purchased items — what the corporation refers to as an “edited assortment.”
By keeping its stores small, forgoing amenities that increase the costs of doing business, and stocking only the most popular items in the most commonly purchased sizes, Save-A-Lot claims it saves customers 40 percent on food purchases.
The company is experienced in providing quality service to urban markets like the Hill District. According to Mayor John Thompson of Wilkinsburg, where a Save-A-Lot opened in 2007, the store has surpassed the community’s expectations, providing not only quality food at low prices but also many jobs to community residents and financial support to local charity efforts.
Save-A-Lot says it would not be economically viable to build a full-service grocery store on the Hill. But the small size of the proposed building project (16,500 square feet) would allow additional businesses to move into the Center Avenue location over time (such as a pharmacy), complementing the smaller grocer.
The new Save-A-Lot building is projected to cost $5 million to $6 million and can be up and running in less than a year.
The second proposal, presented by Kuhn’s, is not based on experience or a proven business model.
Similar to the “glitz” of Lazarus, this proposal calls for a $24 million revitalization project that includes a 50,000-square-foot Kuhn’s Market, among other stores. The plan surprised many, since Kuhn’s previously stated — along with Giant Eagle and Aldi — that it was not interested in building a grocery store on the Hill.
Unlike Save-A-Lot, Kuhn’s is a local, family-owned business with eight locations but no experience in urban markets. Yet some community leaders and activists see this more ambitious plan — including a pharmacy, bakery, deli, meat counter and fresh fish section — as a better fit for the neighborhood.
The proposed Kuhn’s project would require an as-yet-unspecified level of taxpayer support above the $2 million in subsidies already promised by the URA and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Before making their decision, Pittsburgh leaders also should consider one more set of facts: Grocery shopping habits are changing all over the country.
According to a 2007 Gallup Poll, 46 percent of adults say higher food costs are creating financial hardships.
Prices climbed 5 percent in 2007 and 6 percent in 2008 (the largest single-year jump since 1990).
Americans are now buying fewer luxury food items and more store brands.
According to Willard Bishop, a Barrington, Ill., consulting firm, limited-assortment grocery stores such as Save-A-Lot enjoyed an increase in sales of more than 16 percent last year while sales at full-service grocery stores rose only 3 percent.
The Save-A-Lot proposal is in line with current trends while the Kuhn’s proposal runs against them.
The last few days of summer are upon us and community leaders are struggling to make the right decision between two very different grocery store proposals. Will this generation of leaders choose the proven business concept from the company with experience that is likely to serve the Hill community for many years to come?
Or, as their predecessors did with Lazarus, will they choose the expensive, unproven model from a company relying on big government subsidies with no experience in the market it is entering?
In the business world, we call this decision a “no-brainer.” Political and community leaders should choose the commonsense solution over government-subsidized “glitz” and go with Save-A-Lot.
Hill District residents and city taxpayers from all neighborhoods will thank them for it.
Glen Meakem, founder and original CEO of FreeMarkets Inc., a business-to-business Internet company Downtown, is co-founder and managing director of Meakem Becker Venture Capital.
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Hill District deal angers Save-A-Lot executive
By Kim Leonard
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, August 20, 2008A Save-A-Lot executive is angry over a section of the new community benefits agreement for the Hill District that he views as an attempt to keep his discount grocery chain from building a store in the neighborhood.
The agreement among the One Hill Neighborhood Coalition, the Penguins and government agencies was signed Tuesday. The contract related to the new hockey arena being built at the neighborhood’s edge provides $2 million toward a grocery store and calls for “good faith efforts” to ensure the business is a full-service store with a pharmacy — and is a minimum 25,000 square feet.
Save-A-Lot discount supermarkets don’t contain pharmacies and are smaller. “It appears to us that the language was purposely drafted to specifically eliminate Save-A-Lot,” said Rick Meyer, vice president of market development for the St. Louis-based company, though Hill District officials disagreed.
Meyer emphasized yesterday that his company is ready to build a store, right away, in a neighborhood that has lacked easy access to groceries for more than two decades.
“All I am saying is that there has been noise and talk and theories and grandiose ideas for years, and no one has ever delivered,” Meyer said. “We are ready to deliver.”
Save-A-Lot wants to put a 16,850-square-foot store along Centre Avenue on land controlled by Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. Prices would run 40 percent less than those in a regular grocery store.
But Kuhn’s, a locally based supermarket chain, more recently proposed a 100,000-square-foot store on the same site that would include a pharmacy, bakery, deli, meat counter and a fresh fish section. The Kuhn’s store would be part of a larger development called Centre City Square.
Neither URA officials nor Kuhn’s representatives could be reached for comment yesterday. The URA is expected to choose one of the proposals in early September. Kuhn’s hasn’t said how quickly its store might open.
Howard Slaughter, CEO of Landmarks Community Capital Corp., has been working with Save-A-Lot and said based on the specifications in the benefits contract, the discount grocer might have to drop its plans.
“If you already know one store is under 25,000 square feet, why put that language in there?” he asked. “The document should have said a ‘quality grocery store’ irrespective of the size.”
One Hill Chairman Carl Redwood said the coalition wrote the grocery store standards into the benefits contract. A larger, full-service market “has clearly been the preference of the community for some time,” he said, adding the document doesn’t exclude Save-A-Lot.
“We would like to have both, actually,” Redwood said of the chains, which could locate in different sections of the Hill District.
Hill House CEO Evan Frazier said early drafts of the benefits agreement contained even stronger, more specific requirements for a neighborhood grocery store. They were written before Save-A-Lot came on the scene, he said.
Frazier said Save-A-Lot still should be eligible to benefit from the $1 million each that the Penguins and the URA plan to put toward a new store. Frazier said he “would hope” the URA doesn’t choose a retailer based on terms in the agreement.
Slaughter also said Kuhn’s plan for a larger store with more departments shouldn’t be the deciding factor. “Whatever supermarket goes there, other retailers will follow,” he said.
Kim Leonard can be reached at kleonard@tribweb.com or 412-380-5606.