Westmoreland gets $2M financial boost for Hempfield prison demolition plan

The demolition project at the former SCI Greensburg state prison got a $2 million boost from the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

Now, officials are hoping it will be enough to do the entire demolition.

“We feel that $2 million is enough to be able to proceed with bidding the project,” said Jason Rigone, executive director of the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp., which is partnering with Hempfield Township.

If the $2 million turns out to not be enough to foot the whole bill, the project will have to be done in phases. Past cost estimates pegged the demolition work between $3.5 million and $5 million.

“We’re really very excited, that $2 million is going to be the catalyst to ultimately demolish the buildings on the site,” said Aaron Siko, township manager, adding that the support is vital to the advancement of the project.

The township in mid-2023 purchased the former state prison off Route 119 between Greensburg and Youngwood for $3.5 million with the intention of redeveloping the land. Officials intend to demolish all the buildings on the site, which closed in 2013.

How the land will be reused afterwards has been up for discussion.

Rigone said he expects the demolition work could go out to bid in the first few months of 2025. For now, the corporation is seeking bids for the purchase and salvage of equipment, structures and materials at the site. That includes steel frame buildings, a diesel generator, boilers and piping.

Those bids are being accepted until 2 p.m. Dec. 11. Rigone said the money received will be put back into the project, which could take as long as a year.

The medium-security prison was built to hold 900 inmates and employed 360 people. It closed in June 2013, with state officials citing maintenance costs and a declining inmate population. It has 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 veteran rehabilitation center there, a project that never materialized.

The property was foreclosed upon in 2018 and later sold at sheriff’s sale for close to $147,000 to Midwest Bank.