The sign - which will be replaced with a neon Pittsburgh Tribune-Review sign - will be refurbished and installed atop a concrete wall across a parking lot from the D.L. Clark Building on the North Side.
'This was the final piece in the puzzle to preserve the Clark sign and so that the Tribune-Review can go ahead and get its sign up there, too,' said Alan Shuckrow, an attorney representing Clark building owner Merrill Stabile.
Stabile is covering the costs of relocating the sign, which has not been illuminated in years, and expects to have it moved and the newspaper's new sign in place by the end of this month.
'I think this sign is a floating historical artifact by this time,' said Regis Murrin, chairman of the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment.
City Council members Sala Udin and Barbara Burns had sought historic status for the sign, which they said reflected the important role the candy maker played in Pittsburgh's history.
The D.L. Clark Co. produced candy bars in the North Side building from 1911 to 1986, when the company moved to O'Hara Township. In 1999, New England Confectionery Co. bought the bankrupt company and moved production to Cambridge, Mass.
Last August, the zoning board approved the Tribune-Review sign, and an agreement was reached between all parties providing for relocation and replacement of the Clark sign.
'To me (the sign) will be reinstalled in a placement that is appropriate,' Burns said. 'I thought this was a productive solution that would help everyone preserve what they want.'
Under the agreement, Stabile will apply to the State Historical & Museum Commission for a historic marker for the Clark building. Burns said an exhibit is planned inside the entrance to the building, and a formal dedication will be held when the refurbished sign is unveiled in its new location. No date has been set.
'We've even got (Stabile) buying candy bars for the kids on the North Side,' Burns said.
