Allegheny Land Trust closes deal to acquire the former Churchill Country Club for about $3 million

The Allegheny Land Trust officials announced Wednesday that they have closed on the deal to purchase the former Churchill Valley Country Club.

It’s an event more than two years in the making.

The 151-acre site at the Churchill/Penn Hills border will be preserved for recreation.

The Sewickley-based Allegheny Land Trust sought ownership of the land since May 2019. The nonprofit plans to conserve the hills, meadows and golf cart paths as a place where an estimated 95,000 surrounding residents can enjoy the outdoors.

“We are very excited to permanently conserve this unique green space,” said Land Trust president and CEO Chris Beichner. “This land will be easily accessible for everyone to enjoy — especially the thousands of residents who live within walking distance.

“We are humbled and honored that so many residents, companies, elected officials, foundations and others supported our efforts to conserve this beautiful local green space. It is a special place for its many environmental, health and community benefits.”

Officials announced in April that their years-worth of fundraising efforts were successful enough to secure the $3 million needed for the deal.

The closing took place late Tuesday.

The Allegheny Land Trust could not have gotten to this point without a whole lot of support from private foundations, corporations, community members and state legislators, according to Tom Dougherty, its vice president of development and external affairs.

“We’re thrilled for the community,” he said. “It has a lot of positive, far-reaching benefits for both Penn Hills and Churchill. The most exciting part I think is the collaboration between individuals in the community. A whole lot of people had stepped up to donate a significant amount of personal money.

“It’s pretty encouraging when you see that many people and that mix of public and private collaborations to make it happen. It’s pretty inspiring.”

State Sen Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, was one of the project’s many vocal supporters. He and state Rep. Summer Lee, D-Braddock, assisted the trust in obtaining grants for it.

“We saw the deteriorating nature of the property,” Costa said about wanting to be involved. “It was really an eyesore for many in the community. … I’ve always felt it was important to maintain as much green space as we can for folks to enjoy the beauty of the East suburban communities, particularly something like the hills and the trails and everything else that will become a part of this project. It’s just a great project for this eastern region.”

State, county, foundation money

State funding included $1 million from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, $250,000 through the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Multimodal Transportation Fund and $115,000 through DCED’s Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program. Additional government support came from the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority.

Then there were the foundations: The Pittsburgh Foundation, Colcom Foundation, S. Kent Rockwell Foundation, Duquesne Light Co., Mark A. MacKay Memorial, Bradley L. Henninger Memorial, K.C. Henninger Sokol Foundation, Sierra Club, and Lanxess Corp.

And then there was the local support from the more than 800 individuals who donated a total of more than $273,000.

“That’s wonderful that they’re able to move forward,” said Penn Hills Mayor Pauline Calabrese. “It’s a done deal, and we expected it to come through. We never tried to prevent it. A misconception people had was they thought the municipality could control that. That was a private owner. That’s private property.

“The municipality never had any power to say what was going to be done there.”

Dougherty said his organization will begin the process of acquiring national land trust accreditation and craft a plan for stewardship of the site as part of its next steps.

Redevelopment plans include repairing trails, bridges, creating a more formalized parking lot and increasing accessibility.