Hempfield seeks engineering firms to help with SCI Greensburg property

Hempfield Township is meeting with engineering firms about the former SCI Greensburg prison property while soliciting proposals on how to best tackle the site, officials said.

According to township manager Aaron Siko, a walk-through tour of the prison was held Wednesday for engineers who might be interested in submitting proposals for the site.

The township decided in July to work with the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation to formulate plans for tearing down the former prison buildings.

“This was just a walk-through for any engineers who wanted to put in for that proposal,” Siko said. “This is just for the design, engineering and analysis, to get us to the point of redeveloping this site.”

Plan for the property

At a meeting in late June, Hempfield announced its intent to purchase the prison, a 350,000-square-foot facility on a 96-acre property on Route 119 between Youngwood and Greensburg, for $3.5 million. It closed on the property about a month later.

The township’s goals are to prevent the prison from becoming a nuisance property and to repurpose the land for economic development, according to officials.

The prison was built to hold 900 inmates and employed 360 people before its closure. The state Department of Corrections announced the closure of the facility in January 2013 because of maintenance costs and a declining inmate population.

Engineering and consulting

Because of the size, scale and complexity of the site, outside engineering and consulting services are needed, said Jason Rigone, executive director of the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation, which is working in partnership with Hempfield on managing the property.

“Really, it’s to ensure that we have a complete understanding of the property, as well as preferred reuse,” Rigone said. “When I say reuse, (I mean) developing a program that will position the property to attract a developer for the site, after the site has been cleared.”

According to Rigone, the township and WCIDC are looking for proposals on multiple fronts: evaluating the current condition of the property, looking at prospective reuse of structures, formulating a demolition plan and addressing environmental, transportation or utility issues. The selected firm would help with project management.

About 10 firms attended the tour, he said.

Next steps

Siko described the walk-through as “promising” at a township meeting Wednesday. He expects to see the proposals returned by Oct. 4 and to review them with the selection committee with the Industrial Development Corporation team.

“Basically, we opened the buildings, allowed them to take a look,” he said. “It gives them a better opportunity to make sure their costs align with their proposals, and it gives them a better chance to make sure they are putting together their proposals on an equal basis.”

He explained that the proposals are not the same thing as a traditional competitive bid process. Rigone said the WCIDC and Hempfield would evaluate the different applicants for their level of experience with projects of this caliber and their value proposition.

“Both entities will have involvement with scoring and evaluation, and really, it will be a discussion between both entities that the selected firm is one that we both are in agreement with,” Rigone said. “We’re hopeful to have a firm selected and the final contract negotiated by the end of the year.”