Demolition of old Fort Pitt Brewery buildings underway

JEANNETTE, Pa. — After years of complaints, Westmoreland County officially started tearing down the former Fort Pitt Brewery buildings.

Laken Cope lives just across the street from the old Fort Pitt Brewery.

She said over the last few years, animals — like rabbits and mice — living in the old building started making their way out into neighbor’s yards.

“I had to get cats because of the animals,” Cope told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek. “Now that they’re ripping it down, there will be a lot more, but then it’ll be all gone.”

She said that the biggest concern for her has been the safety of kids in the neighborhood. She’s glad the buildings are being torn down.

“I always think when they rip down stuff it is sad, because it is history, but like I said the kids going in there, it’s doing more harm than good,” Cope said.

County leaders agree.

“[There are] millions of gallons of water in the basement, a child could drown in there. The building was beginning to fall apart,” said Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew. “At some point, regardless of the amount of history or memories that we have a facility, we have to be cognizant of the public, cognizant of the safety of our people, and make sure we do what’s right to clean up that area.”

The project to demolish the old brewery is going to cost the county a little more than $330,000.

That money came from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act.

This project is part of the county’s plan to fight blight and revitalize communities.

“These properties served their purpose at a point in time, but it’s very difficult to bring them back to life,” said Brian Lawrence, Executive Director of the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank.

Lawrence said all of the steel will be recycled from the buildings, and the masonry will be used on-site for fill material.

The hope is to be able to repurpose this large piece of land.

“Our hope is to reposition it pretty much for anything, but primarily for something that’s producing taxes and creating jobs,” Lawrence said.

County leaders said work on demolishing this old brewery will take about six months.

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