W. Homestead : Development News

When eminent domain claimed Ed Eberle’s ceramics studio as part of the Route 28 expansion in 2010, Eberle and his wife were determined not to open a new studio until they found the right space.

Two-and-a-half years later, Eberle Studios is back and almost fully operational at its new location in Homestead.

“We bought this building in September of 2011 and took 18 months to fix it up,” Eberle says. “It’s still not all done but it’s more than functional. I’ve been working here since last fall and my wife’s been working since December.”

The new studio takes up about 12,000 square feet between the two stories of an old Elks Lodge at 229 East 9th Avenue. It includes plenty of workspace on the first floor and a 5,400-square foot gallery on the second. Because the building is nearly fireproof, it’s ideally suited to an artist like Eberle, who works mainly in clay.

“There’s no wood. It’s all metal and brick exterior, and metal on the inside. It’s open. There are no pillars,” Eberle says.

While the studio isn’t officially open yet, Eberle says he expects to host a grand opening once all renovations are complete. In the meantime, he says that anyone is welcome to visit, and may do so by calling him at 412-401-3851 to schedule an appointment.

“We’ve had people in pretty much every week,” he says.

Writer: Matthew Wein
Source: Ed Eberle

The Great Allegheny Passage is almost complete, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held this weekend to celebrate the construction of the trail’s final two segments.

The trail is a 141 mile car-free route for cyclists and hikers running from Homestead, PA to Cumberland, Maryland.  In Cumberland the GAP joins the C&O Canal Towpath, which together creates a continuous, 325-mile long trail from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C.

Saturday’s ceremony was held at Sandcastle Waterpark, where a new segment will be built along the amusement park’s interior road, at the rear of the park.  The new segment will be separated from vehicular traffic.

The final segment will be built on a former railroad spur on land that had until recently belonged to Keystone Iron and Metal.  Friends of the Riverfront (FOR) had worked with Keystone to develop a land-swap deal that was necessary to fill this final void in the trail.

“They’ve been a great partner for a very long time and it was a pleasure working with them now and into the future,” says Thomas Baxter, FOR executive director.

Baxter expects the two segments to be complete sometime next year in late spring or early summer.  Once complete, a trail party will be held to commemorate the occasion.  Baxter says a date will be announced soon.

“It’s a monumental undertaking, but thankfully, through a lot of dedicated people it’s finally all coming together,” Baxter says.

The Great Allegheny Passage has been a work in progress for the past 30 years.  In 1995 the Allegheny Trail Alliance was formed, a coalition of regional trail organizations that includes the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, the Steel Valley Trail Council, Mountain Maryland Trails, and more.

 
Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source: Thomas Baxter

The Waterfront just got a little tastier. The newly opened Pittsburgh Burger Company, now occupying the former space of Fuddruckers,  isn't your average burger joint.

A full-service eatery and bar, the menu features more traditional burgers along with its popular "wild meat" selection. Featuring kobe, ostrich, elk, buffalo and wild boar meats, owner Ralph Flannery says these burgers are leaner and healthier than traditional beef. Coming soon to the menu are venison and lamb.

There's a rapidly growing marketplace for a different type of hamburger, says Flannery. "People are so much more educated these days that the consumer is willing to try new types of things."

Using additive and hormone-free USDA Certified Black Angus Beef for its regular burgers, Flannery says the restaurant focuses on local ingredients and high quality beef. Today's customers are more conscious of where their food comes from, he continues, and the restaurant needs to be on the forefront of educating its patrons.

"We're going to do whatever we can to educate them on where our product comes from, how that animal is treated and how we get it to you," Flannery adds.

Complete with a projection TV in the bar and an outdoor patio, the 6,600 square-foot Pittsburgh Burger Company will also serve as a gathering place that locals can call their own, he says. "We want to be known as the best local burger," Flannery continues, "and connect to Pittsburgh pride."

The Pittsburgh Burger Company is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (extended to midnight on Friday and Saturday) and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. Orders over $100 are eligible for delivery.

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Writer: Alex Audia
Source: Ralph Flannery, Pittsburgh Burger Company

Photograph copyright Alex Audia

The Steel Valley is looking to show that it's got more going for it than its moniker implies.

The Mon Valley area, which encompasses Homestead, Munhall, West Homestead and Whitaker, was the center of steel production for many decades. But with the mills long closed, the Steel Valley is in search of a new identity. And what better way to look toward the future than to build on the past? A past that deviates from the established story of the Steel Valley, that is.

The Society for Pennsylvania and Surrounding-Area History (SPSAH) has announced an open call for a new Historic Landmark in the region, but with one condition--the landmark must have nothing to do with steel. The landmark can be a place or thing or even a person, and cannot, the guidelines state, be "related to the steel industry that reigned in the Steel Valley 1875 to 1982."

"What's interesting about the Steel Valley region is that its identity is confined by a period of industry that is no longer active. About 75 percent of historic designations in the Steel Valley region are directly related to the steel industry," says Albert Ana with SPSAH. "What we would like to do is help people think about another identity that is more contemporary and relevant to conditions in the community as it is today. The number one job sector in the region is now the service industry, not steel. I wouldn't expect the community to be renamed Service Valley, but we want to do it begin to think about other important elements of our community."

So far, Ana says, nominations have ranged from people (an influential teacher, a friendly shopkeeper) to physical structures, including buildings at the Waterfront, the major commercial center built on the Carnegie Steel Company brownfield.

Nomination deadline is April 30. Nominations are being accepted at www.historyofpa.com and at 412.894.0655.

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Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Albert Ana, executive president for strategies and historic initiatives, SPSAH

Photograph of previously designated historic landmark courtesy of SPSAH

The Tin Front Cafe is bringing vegetarian cuisine to what owner Daniel Steinitz calls a "meat and potatoes market."

Situated at 216 East Eighth Ave. in Homestead, the cozy cafe on the historic street focuses on foods that are organic and local and, most of all, meat-free. When the place opened in September 2009, the menu started as a strictly coffee shop affair (homemade baked goods, caffeination courtesy of Sacramento-based Java City), but it has since expanded into a full-on onslaught of lacto-ovo breakfast, lunch and dinner options. The menu offers simple, straightforward comfort food, and will change seasonally when more is available locally than just slush for snow cones. Current options include four-cheese macaroni, butternut squash lasagna, a mustardy herbed potato salad and an eggplant parm sandwich. And, yes, the Tin Front's got a liquor license, so beer, wine and cocktails are served, and boozy coffee creations are encouraged.

Also, the cafe will make use of its outdoor courtyard when warmer weather emerges. Steinitz and his wife, co-owner/chef Ellie Gumlock--who helped shape Kiva Han's veggie menu during her tenure there--have plans for al fresco dining and a small food garden out back, as well as a rain barrel and a living wall done by the same company that created PNC's green wall Downtown. They're also talking about doing BBQ--yes, with real, live meat--in the back for the carnivores in the midst.

The Tin Front is connected to the Annex Cookery next door, which Steinitz's mother Judith Tener-Lewis reopened in Homestead in 2004 after closing her iconic Walnut Street location in 1998. Above the cookware shop and cafe sits an impressively restored four-bedroom, two-story, 2,400-square-foot live-work space the family is hoping to rent for $1,990 a month (ideal for a visiting professor at a nearby university, Steinitz points out). The family also owns several other properties along Eighth Avenue in Homestead, including the former 5 & 10 across the street with four loft apartments currently rented at regional market value.

History is important to the community-minded family, which shows up not just in their devotion to revitalizing Homestead on their own dollar, but also in the details in those efforts. The 5 & 10's got a green roof (the first on a nationally registered historic building in the state, says Steinitz), and Tin Front Cafe features folk paintings of Pittsburgh by Peter Contis, a hefty wood bar salvaged from local landmark Chiodo's Tavern, and tables and chairs from the old Moose Lodge. Also, the tin panels--which used to be part of the ceiling where the outdoor courtyard now is--have been shaped into wall sconces and hanging light fixtures, and also wrapped around the front of the Chiodo's bar.

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Writer: Caralyn Green
Sources: Daniel Steinitz, Ellie Gumlock, Judith Tener-Lewis

Photograph copyright Caralyn Green

Port Authority of Allegheny County announced approval last week of plans that will change the way Pittsburgh uses public transportation.

Yes, some routes are being cut, and yes, some fares are being raised, but Heather Pharo from Port Authority explains how these changes are being put into place to increase ridership and efficiency. Duplicate and underused routes are the only ones being eliminated; and these cuts, she says, are enabling Port Authority to add trips, increase hours of operation and simplify service for the routes are in-demand. Just 0.04% of routes are being totally eliminated; nearby alternatives exists for the other 10.1% that are being cut, according to Port Authority.

"The Port Authority system hasn't seen real service changes since the beginning," says Pharo. "We've had the same route system in Allegheny County for decades. Certainly Allegheny County has changed, the population has shifted. The purpose of the plan is to better match service to demand to serve people where they live today."

Some of brand-new routes include busses connecting neighborhoods that are up-and-coming and heavily student-populated with key centers of work and play. Lawrenceville, for instance, figures heavily into the new route plans. A new bus will connect Lawrenceville to the Waterfront at Homestead, with stops along the way in Bloomfield, Squirrel Hill and Shadyside; another a new bus will connect Lawrenceville directly to Oakland, which will enable students to live in the area rather than around campus; and yet another bus will travel directly between Shadyside and the South Side, without the traditional transfer in Oakland.

Other route changes include the introduction of rapid busses, described by Pharo as "like a light rail on rubber tires," between Pittsburgh's major employment centers, Oakland and Downtown, and to and from the airport (when you're trying to catch a flight, that 28X stop at Robinson Town Center can be a real time-suck, says Pharo).

In terms of the fare increase, the $2 base fare in Zone 1 will not change, and the Zone 2 fare will increase from $2.60 to $2.75. Transfers will cost 75 cents (up from 25), and prices of monthly and annual passes will rise.

Fares will increase starting January 1, and the other changes will start to go into effect in March 2010.

Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Heather Pharo, Port Authority of Allegheny County

Photograph courtesy of Port Authority of Allegheny County

Last week, Kennywood announced plans for a new multi-million dollar roller coaster, the amusement park's first ride addition since Ghostwood Estate in 2008. The ride will be complete for the 2010 season.

The still-unnamed coaster will be Kennywood's seventh. Others include the Li'l Phantom, Exterminator, Phantom's Revenge and classic coasters the Jack Rabbit, Racer and Thunderbolt.

Kennywood spokesperson Jeff Filicko promises the new ride, a 2,100-feet-long Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM) launch roller coaster, will be unlike any other coaster at the park. It will go from 0 to 50 miles-per-hour in three seconds, and offers Kennywood's first upside-down experience since the Steel Phantom.

The new coaster will be built on the site of the current Turnpike ride, which has been at Kennywood since 1966. The Turnpike will return to Kennywood in an upcoming season, just at a different park location.

"Kennywood has made a name for itself blending the best traditional rides with the best modern rides. This new coaster speaks to that," says Filicko. "We're launching the coaster in the shadow or Noah's Ark and the Turtle, and the Turnpike will be back in future seasons. A lot of parks choose to remove the older rides and go with a more modern pace, but Kennywood provides a mix."

Kennywood, located in West Mifflin, began as a small trolley park in 1898. Together with Idlewild Park in Ligonier and Sandcastle Waterpark in Homestead, it attracts more than 2.1 million visitors a year. Kennywood was recently used at the filming location for the 2009 film Adventureland, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Twilight's Kristen Stewart, which grossed more than $16 million at the domestic box office.

Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Jeff Filicko, Kennywood

Photo courtesy Kennywood

Students and faculty at Propel HOMESTEAD are enjoying the K-8 school’s very first library.

Thanks to the efforts of 100 Target and Pittsburgh Cares volunteers, a library was created on the school’s E. Tenth Ave. campus on Sept. 29.

“We never had space for a library. It’s a sanctuary for students, a place with a different tone. Students can experience the feel of going to a library and be responsible for checking out books,” says Megan Newsome, Propel HOMESTEAD’s literacy coach. The self-described “boomerang” returned to Pittsburgh after teaching in Maryland. “It’s a learning lab. Our kids are so used to doing online research. We want them to understand how to use print research. We’re prepping them for high school and beyond.”

With materials and furniture donated by Target and Pittsburgh Cares, the library features a blue and gold color scheme, hanging lanterns and geometric motifs. Author quotes adorn walls and a decorative frieze. Target also donated beanbags, rugs, lap desks, and its signature white author’s chair.

Designed with input from families, children, teachers, and administrators, the space also features an IdeaPaint whiteboard, refurbished computers and professional resources for teachers. The flexible space will house the school’s literature circles, book talks and Intervention Hour programs.

Based on its percentage of low-income children and need for library improvement, Propel HOMESTEAD was selected by Target as one of 23 schools across the country to receive a new library. Pittsburgh-based nonprofit Propel Schools operates high performance schools of choice in educationally underserved communities, including Turtle Creek, McKeesport and Montour.

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Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Megan Newsome, literacy coach, Propel HOMESTEAD; Anne D'Appolonia, director of development, Propel Schools

Image courtesy Propel Schools and Target