Peoples Gas demolishes eyesore in Kiski Township

A demolition crew paid for by Peoples Gas toppled an old, abandoned three-story commercial building in Kiski Township that was so flimsy it groaned when the wind blew.

Township officials are still deciding what they can do with the now-vacant property of less than an acre at 502-26 Highland Ave.

But they are sure happy the building was demolished and Peoples Gas paid for it.

The old building was dangerously close to a Peoples Gas facility.

“The building was leaning like it was going to fall,” said Rebecca Rupert, Kiski Township zoning officer.

The building was close to a station that regulates gas pressure to the immediate residential neighborhood, said Barry Kukovich, spokesman for Peoples Gas.

“The building was in a dilapidated state, and we razed it because we felt it presented a danger to our employees working on and around the site,” he said.

Details about the cost of the demolition were not available on Friday, Kukovich said.

In recent years, delinquent taxes led Armstrong County to take over the property, which is in the county tax repository, Rupert said.

The building was a former battery storage warehouse, a feed store, a general storage facility and at one time a produce processing area for the former Armitage market in Apollo, according to Rupert and township Supervisor Chuck Rodnicki.

Rodnicki is elated: “It will make the neighborhood look better.”

The township is investigating uses for the land.

The township doesn’t want anything built on top of the site to avoid damaging a large storm sewer beneath it, Rodnicki said.