Bob and Lola Barton see the decrepit remains of the former Fort Pitt Brewery every time they leave home. The West Jeannette couple said the crumbling, red-brick complex attracts rodents and troublemaking kids who have thrown rocks from the roof.
Bob and Lola Barton see the decrepit remains of the former Fort Pitt Brewery every time they leave home.
The West Jeannette couple said the crumbling, red-brick complex attracts rodents and troublemaking kids who have thrown rocks from the roof. The Bartons have lived on 11th Street for about 25 years. They remember when businesses operating in the buildings were forced out by new ownership.
Since then, it’s been nothing but a nuisance — a mammoth structure left to rot on the edge of a neighborhood so many families call home.
“They need to do something with it,” Bob Barton said. “It’s a shame that that building got like that because I’m sure at one time that would’ve been a good landmark.”
Lola Barton agreed: “It should’ve been taken down a long time ago.”
It’s a familiar scene in Jeannette.
A huge building where people once earned a living now is a playground for vagrants and a drag on city resources. Ownership issues stymie progress in getting the property back on the tax rolls, resulting in large sums of public money being spent to acquire and demolish buildings.
Similar stories played out at the former Monsour Medical Center and the old Jeannette Glass plant. The brewery buildings, nestled between Penn Avenue and Clay Avenue Extension, could be a sequel — as well as yet another opportunity. Revitalizing the site, a stone’s throw from Jeannette Industrial Park, could be a key part of helping the city build on its recent progress, said Nathan Bish, city clerk.
“That really is the last big piece, and so we can start trying to rebuild a better image,” he said.
Source: Blighted old brewery complex in Jeannette the ‘last big piece’ to city’s rebuild
