$650K Greensburg mansion eyed for group home for Torrance residents

A seven-bedroom brick mansion along Greensburg’s West Pittsburgh Street — and next to Morey Place, a tree-lined street in a neighborhood dotted with other well-maintained brick homes — could become a group home for people with intellectual disabilities transitioning back into the community.

A proposed $1.4 million project to open such a home in the city will be contingent on zoning board approval, officials said. The project, which has been under consideration for a year, would be Westmoreland County’s second facility to operate as part of a state program to reduce the population at state mental hospitals, according the Human Services Director Dirk Matson.

“We want people to be integrated into the community when they are ready. This will provide the right amount of support to help make these people successful,” Matson said.

Part of the state’s Community Hospital Integration Projects Program, the initiative aims to transition patients out of a hospital setting. It is funded through a state grant, which will be used to buy the property and pay for program operations.

Residents will work with on-site staff to help improve independent living skills, socialization and community integration, Matson said.

County officials identified the three-story, 10,000-square-foot home owned by Jim Antoniono, an attorney and partner with Greensburg firm DeBernardo, Antoniono, McCabe & Davis, P.C. The property, which he has owned for 23 years, has been on the market for seven years. It’s listed at $650,000.

If developed into a transition home, the mansion would be one of the other former stately homes in that area to be repurposed, usually as medical and business offices. Others include Pantalone Funeral Home, Forefront Dermatology and Peters Eye Clinic.

Westmoreland County is paying Monessen-based Southwest Behavioral Care Inc., a private firm that specializes in mental health services, $1.4 million to run the program and buy the property. The county would have the first lien, meaning it would take ownership if the program should fold.

Sara Stenger, a program coordinator for the county’s Behavioral Health department, said residents in the group home will receive 24-hour care and supervision from Southwest Behavioral Care.

“We need to renovate, but we’re hoping for spring to move tenants in. We took time to find a location that was big enough,” Stenger said.

Purchase of the home is not finalized. Officials said the sale is contingent on getting a special exception permit from the city zoning board. A hearing on the issue scheduled Thursday got delayed to September after just two of five board members showed up.

“We want it resolved,” a frustrated Antoniono said.

If sold to the county, the property would be the second group home in the hospital diversion program and reduce the number of beds the county is allocated at Torrance State Hospital in Derry Township from 46 to 32. The program’s first group home in Penn Township opened for 10 residents in 2016.

“We’re trying to reduce the number of people in Torrance, move them towards the path to set them up for success,” Matson said.