A Tarentum domestic violence shelter hopes that tearing down one of its buildings will help it sell another.
The dilapidation of a building that once housed the Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center’s offices at 415 E. Sixth Ave. has hindered the center’s efforts to sell its former shelter building next to it at 413 E. Sixth, according to the organization’s executive director, Michelle Gibb.
Gibb called the former office building an “albatross.”
“I’m sure the neighbors will be sort of happy” the building is being torn down, Gibb said. “It will make a nice green space for Tarentum.”
DRZ Excavating, of Harrison, started demolition work Thursday. The building was reduced to a heaping pile of rubble by the end of the day.
Owner Dave Zembrzuski said cleanup of the debris would take three or four days.
The center bought both buildings at the same time in 1989, according to Allegheny County real estate records.
The HOPE Center had used the former office building until about 10 years ago.
After the shelter was moved about 20 months ago, Gibb said the organization began trying to sell both buildings together. While there was interest in the former shelter building, the former office building’s condition scared away potential buyers, Gibb said.
The center’s board “decided to go ahead and spend money to have it torn down to make the old shelter more marketable for sale,” Gibb said.
The former shelter building and the vacant lot will be for sale through Czekalski Real Estate, Gibb said.
Proceeds from the sale will go toward funding the center’s operations, Gibb said.
