Monsour Medical Center tower to get the wrecking ball after all
Piece by piece, the former Monsour Medical Center in Jeannette has been quietly disappearing.
But there might be a little more noise in the coming days in the form of a wrecking ball.
“I think it's going to attract quite a few people to see this,” Jeannette Mayor Richard Jacobelli said.
Demolition work at the abandoned hospital site along Route 30 has been steadily progressing during the past few months.
Jason Rigone, executive director of the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp., which is overseeing the demolition, said the project is on track to be completed at the end of March.
A crane is being erected to handle wrecking ball duties, which Rigone said was not part of the original demolition plan.
The contractor performing the work, Dore & Associates of Michigan, changed methodology to take down the cylindrical tower, Rigone said.
“The fashion they proposed, we feel comfortable with,” he said.
The tower and a helipad are the remaining structures to be cleared at the deteriorated facility that became a dangerous eyesore for the community and a target for thieves, vandals and arsonists.
“Most of the asbestos and environmental contaminants have been collected, contained and removed and disposed,” Rigone said. “The project is progressing very well, on schedule and on cost. We're very happy.”
Jacobelli is looking forward to the day when the tower is no longer part of the landscape.
“Once it's all cleaned, it will look nice for development,” he said. “It just kind of brings that area up there for development more eye-appealing.”
The medical center, built in the 1950s by four Monsour brothers, was shuttered in 2006 after it failed state inspections.
In 2014, the county land bank purchased the property for $15,172 at a tax sale. County officials plan to remediate the site and market the property for redevelopment.
In October, county commissioners awarded a $1.1 million demolition contract to Dore & Associates.
Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-837-5374 or rsignorini@tribweb.com.
