Blight demo contract OK’d in McKeesport

By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com

McKeesport City Council on Wednesday approved a contract to have blighted buildings demolished in the Downtown Business District, and will use grant dollars from the Commonwealth Financing Authority to do so.
A majority of the properties approved for demolition are along Fifth Avenue, which runs parallel to busy Lysle Boulevard. Fifth Avenue is considered the city’s main street, as it’s home to City Hall, The People’s Building, The Executive Building and businesses such as Minerva Bakery, Natale Sporting Goods, McKeesport Candy Company and more.
In a unanimous vote, councilwomen Jill Lape and LuEthel Nesbit and councilmen Tim Brown, Rich Dellapenna and Brian Evans voted in favor of awarding a contract not to exceed $264,000 to Rostraver Township-based Advanced Builders Inc., the lowest bidder.
Councilmen Keith Soles and Jim Barry were absent. Documents shared by the city at the council meeting show Minniefield Demolition also submitted a bid for $323,800.
The contract calls for the demolition of structures at 903, 907, 911, 1013 and 1017 Fifth Ave., 328 Sixth Ave. and 422 Shaw Ave.
“This will focus on pretty much all of the vacant buildings down by Minerva’s,” Mayor Michael Cherepko said at Wednesday’s workshop council meeting prior to council taking its vote. “So, that part of town will be free of blight on that block.”
Minerva Bakery, a locally infamous bakery that’s been in the Tube City for generations, is located at 927 Fifth Ave.
“We are very excited with this number,” Cherepko said of the contract award dollar amount and of the money awarded by the state CFA.
In late May, state Sen. Jim Brewster and state Rep. Austin Davis — both McKeesport Democrats — announced the city was awarded a $294,063 CFA grant for the demolition projects.

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Thursday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.