Officials ponder how to dispose of 3 million gallons of water at Jeannette's former Fort Pitt Brewery

Enough water to fill five Olympic-sized swimming pools is, in part, delaying efforts to tear down the former Fort Pitt Brewery in west Jeannette.

Brian Lawrence, director of the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank, said officials are working out the best way to dispose of 3.3 million gallons of potentially contaminated water in the basement of the crumbling red-brick multibuilding complex on Penn Avenue and Clay Avenue Extension, as well as the sludge at the bottom.

“It’s not something we can easily dispose of, given the site’s history,” Lawrence said. “At the end of the day, the demolition is funded … to improve public health, so we have to take our time and be thoughtful about all of this.”

The project — estimated at $1 million or more — is being funded through Westmoreland County’s federal American Rescue Plan allocation, part of which has been set aside for blight removal. Lawrence said Jeannette was not awarded state grant funding city officials had applied for in hopes of putting it toward the redevelopment project. Waiting on that announcement also contributed to the delay.

“We will be looking for other grants,” he said.

The water situation should be remedied in the next couple months and demolition could begin later this year, he said.

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The property was purchased at judicial sale by the Westmoreland County Land Bank in August for $1,876. It was owned by Frank Trigona’s Rufus Corp since 2002. The Jeannette businessman died in 2015, leaving behind thousands in delinquent taxes.

During his ownership, the property caused headaches for city officials who tried to keep vagrants and troublemakers out, and it was the site of a suspicious fire in July 2017. The buildings are littered with debris and a large section of a rear wall has collapsed. Parts of several roofs are missing, including on one building that is separated from homes only by an alley.

A site assessment will determine if there are any environmental contaminants to contend with in the project that will prepare the land for redevelopment, Lawrence said.

The site previously was home to Victor Brewing Co., which organized in 1907. It was purchased in 1941 by Fort Pitt Brewing, according to news accounts. In the mid-1950s, Papercraft Corp. expanded its gift wrap manufacturing operations there before the plant went dormant in the mid-1970s. It was later purchased by Laurel Mould, which produced plastic food containers. The property was sold at sheriff’s sale and, eventually, purchased by Trigona’s Rufus Corp.