An Ohio landscaper bought Pittsburgh's 20-foot-tall wooden replica of a Roberto Clemente Bridge arch and trucked it to suburban Columbus on a flat-bed trailer.

The replica stood under the portico of the City-County Building for most of 2016 as part of Pittsburgh's bicentennial celebration. The city decided to auction off the replica after receiving numerous inquiries about it, said spokeswoman Katie O'Malley.

Ernest Lee of Groveport, Ohio, paid $365 for it Dec. 7. He picked it up Monday from an Uptown warehouse where it had sat partially disassembled.

“I was drawn to the massive size of it, the history behind it and the workmanship,” Lee said Wednesday. “I'd talked to some of the carpenters. They put a lot of detail work in the piece.”

Lee doesn't have many ties to Pittsburgh — one of his daughters lived here for a few years and a neighbor grew up in the area. Beyond that, Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell attended high school in the suburb where Lee lives.

Lee said he fell in love with the Pittsburgh region when visiting his daughter, but that wasn't a factor in buying the bridge replica.

“I just looked at it as a special piece, a piece of art, not just to be shared with the people of Pittsburgh but also the people of Ohio,” Lee said.

Lee said he hasn't settled on an exact location for the replica yet, but it could become a wedding backdrop for his daughters and friends.

He said the replica needs some weather-proofing and repainting before he sets it up for good. For now, it will remain in storage with another quirky item — a wooden pirate ship that Lee bought from the Cleveland Zoo.

Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724 836 6660, msantoni@tribweb.com or on Twitter @msantoni.

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