Ex state prison in Hempfield being reduced to rubble

The former SCI Greensburg state prison property has caught the eye of potential developers.

As a result, Westmoreland County and Hempfield officials don’t think they’ll have much difficulty getting the 94-acre property off their hands once demolition is done.

“It’s well-positioned property, it’s a big site,” said Jason Rigone, director of the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. “There’s going to be interest in the market once this project gets completed.”

Demolition of the old state prison is about halfway done in a project being coordinated by the IDC and Hempfield. Work tearing it down started a couple months ago after Ritenour and Sons Construction Co. was awarded a contract for $732,000. Hempfield is using a state grant to pay for demolition.

The township in mid-2023 bought the former state prison off Route 119 between Greensburg and Youngwood for $3.5 million with the intention of redeveloping the land.

The prison closed in 2013 and later was sold at sheriff sale before Hempfield took ownership.

Two excavators clawed at pieces of the building this week and county and township officials got a close-up view of the demolition through old prison bars.

They declined to share any additional details on the developers who have inquired about the property, but said those interested have asked about zoning, acreage and whether their proposed project would be a good fit.

“The township has no intent of retaining this site and using this site, nor does the county,” said Hempfield Township Manager Aaron Siko.

The property is zoned for commercial use.

One excavator ripped away blocks that once stood as the most modern wing of the prison near recreation yards while a second crushed some of that material, pulling out metal rebar to be salvaged.

The medium-security prison was built to hold 900 inmates and employed 360 people.

Sections of it were constructed in the 1960s, ‘70s and ’80s, said Bryan J. Clement, associate and project engineer with H.F. Lenz Engineering. The fencing around part of the site, topped with razor wire, remains, as do some cell blocks and the main entrance.

“They’ll separate out as much metal as they can,” Rigone said.

Any clean material will be crushed and repurposed while everything else will go to a salvage yard or landfill.

“You’re basically going through a recycling process with these projects,” he said.

The building should be leveled by Nov. 1 and final restoration completed in the spring, Clement said.

Hempfield Supervisor Bill Bretz was impressed by how quickly the project has progressed — the deed was recorded in July 2023 and the demolition contract awarded March 24.

“The speed that the project has gone has been remarkable,” he said.

Rigone credited the township’s proactive approach to get the wheels turning. Soon, it’ll be bringing in revenue for the township, said Supervisor Doug Weimer.

County Commissioner Doug Chew said he’s pleased the partnership between the county and township is making a difference, especially with a building that has been abandoned. When the prison closed in 2013, state officials cited maintenance costs and a declining inmate population. It had been vacant since.

It was sold at auction in 2015 for $950,000 to Carlisle businessman David Goldsmith, who later titled it to Verdant Holdings LLC. Goldsmith announced a plan to build a veterans rehabilitation center there, but that project never materialized.

The property was foreclosed upon in 2018 and later sold at a sheriff’s sale for close to $147,000 to Midwest Bank of Detroit Lakes, Minn., before being transferred to Hempfield.