Westmoreland Bar Association to move in Greensburg, starts $900,000 renovation

A new, larger and more functional headquarters for the Westmoreland Bar Association is expected to be operational this summer, officials said.

Members and staff gathered Wednesday in downtown Greensburg to celebrate the lawyer organization’s $900,000 construction project to renovate a vacant building at the corner of Maple and Otterman streets that will serve as the group’s new base of operations.

“The idea of this building is not a new concept for the bar association. There has been a lot of discussion for many, many years about what was the best fit for our bar association,” said organization President Joyce Novotny-Prettiman. “We made a decision today to make this groundbreaking ceremony very public because the WBA is proud to be part of the revitalization efforts of the city of Greensburg.

“There are so many good things going on in the city, and if you are in the city for any amount of time you can feel that excitement. The WBA has been headquarted in Greensburg for many years and made a decision to stay in downtown Greensburg to revitalize this building.”

The new digs will include office space, meeting rooms and conference areas for the nearly 500 lawyers who are members of the county’s bar association.

It will replace the organization’s three-story headquarters building on North Pennsylvania Avenue.

Jeffrey A. Feret, president of ArTech Group, the project’s general contractor, said a demolition permit to gut the inside of building that once housed a trophy and T-shirt business is in hand and a building permit was filed with city officials this week.

“We are going to be very aggressive getting this project done. We’re hoping to have you in here sometime in June,” Feret said.

Henry Cook, chairman of the board for Somerset Trust Co., the bank that is financing the bar’s construction project, said the work will be a continuation of Greensburg’s downtown revitalization efforts.

“The Westmoreland Bar Association is making a very significant investment in downtown Greensburg,” Cook said. “That speaks volume for the bar association, but also for Greensburg. It’s a real comment that this kind of investment can be made.”