Developer seeks help for former Monsour hospital site in Jeannette

Colony Holding Cos. is enlisting the help of another firm in an effort to bring tenants to the former Monsour Medical Center property in Jeannette.

The Route 30 parcel has sat empty since 2017 following a $2 million demolition project.

Don Tarosky Jr., whose company purchased the property for $2.1 million from the Westmoreland County Land Bank, said he plans to work with CBRE Group, a global commercial real estate services company with local offices.

“I don’t want this property to keep sitting there, the city deserves a good user,” Tarosky said.

The Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. in 2017 finished the demolition project funded by local and state dollars. The nine-story cylindrical hospital had been a landmark at the city’s entrance since 1971 until it closed in 2006 after a series of failed state inspections. The land bank bought the 6.4-acre property in 2014 at a judicial sale for about $15,000.

After the deal with the county was struck, Tarosky proposed building a gas station there, which led to a back-and-forth vote over zoning at the property as newly elected city council members joined the group in January 2018.

The zoning situation and coronavirus pandemic led to delays in developing the property, Tarosky has said. He told the Tribune-Review that a local grocer was under agreement to build on the property but backed out. He declined to name the grocer.

“We’re pretty upset that they didn’t pull through,” Tarosky said. “We feel there’s a lot of value in that land.”

Now he is hoping for significant movement. Tarosky is proposing a multitenant strip mall dubbed Glass City Galleria, replacing the previous proposed name of Jayhawk Commons. Working with CBRE will give the property “more exposure and attention than I can give it right now,” he said.

The delays have prompted frustration expressed at past public meetings by city council members and residents. Mayor Curtis Antoniak said this week he was happy to hear there is a plan in the works.

“I would welcome anything up there right now,” he said. “That’s our only entryway into Jeannette (from Route 30).”

Antoniak said he worked at Monsour Medical Center while he was in high school, and the short distance between the two made it easy for him to get to the after-school job.

“It’s a good opportunity for high school kids to get a job or some employment to help them out,” he said.

Tarosky has worked in the past with CBRE to fill some of his other commercial developments with tenants, including at least one in North Huntingdon.