Facility for non-violent offenders coming to West Homestead

Renovations to convert the former Keystone Plumbing buildings into a facility for non-violent female offenders in West Homestead are to begin next year.

Carol Hertz, the Program for Offenders Inc. executive director, said her organization hopes to break ground at 225 W. Seventh Ave. in March.

The one-story structure was Keystone's retail store and the three-story structure was its warehouse.

The buildings are scheduled to be turned into a 42-bed intensive inpatient drug and alcohol treatment facility for women.

The total project cost is approximately $10 million.

“The construction will be in two phases, essentially,” Hertz said. “Phase one will be the renovation of the one-story building. What we want to do first of all is go back to how the building was initially built. We'd like to open up the spaces where there are windows that were bricked (over) over time.”

She estimates the one-story structure will be open by the end of 2013.

“Our intention is to seamlessly move to phase two,” she said. “That's the renovation of the three-story warehouse building.” Both buildings will be residential facilities, and the first floor of the warehouse will include administrative offices, Hertz said.

The executive director said the West Homestead site is perfect for the new facility.

“The support of the mayor and borough council has been extraordinary,” she said. “The site is on a transportation line and there's access to jobs. The wide openness in both of the buildings allows us to create an internal design where we have full control of what's happening in the building.”

“I think the facility is going to be great for the community,” West Homestead Mayor John J. Dindak said. “It will bring jobs and fill vacant buildings.”

Hertz said both facilities would bring approximately 100 jobs to the area.

The Program for Offenders, which contracts with Allegheny County, purchased the West Homestead property on June 29 for $1.06 million. Funding was obtained through grants.

The Program for Offenders operates male and female facilities along Fifth Avenue in Oakland.

“We've provided residential alternatives to incarceration for women since 1984 and for men since 1993,” Hertz said. “We have a complete and thorough screening process, not only for the people who we bring into those facilities, but also for anyone who ultimately becomes an approved visitor.”

“We do a thorough background check for all visitor requests,” said Carol Bender, the program's director of development. “So as residents come into the facility and give us a list of potential visitors, they all have to be screened. We run background checks on them and management has to approve them before they come in for any of the visitation hours.”

Hertz said the program has allowed children to live with their mothers at the Oakland facility.

“There's a real conscious effort on our part to help the moms reunite with their children,” she said. “We also provide family services.”

“We offer the women parenting groups and family groups to come in and discuss drug and alcohol issues and the impact on the family,” Bender said. “Therapists will work with the whole family when there are issues affecting the resident's recovery. We attempt the best we can to provide opportunities for mothers to do things with their children.”

Keystone Plumbing closed at the end of February after approximately 50 years of business in West Homestead. Keystone still operates a business in Pittsburgh.

The buildings at 225 W. Seventh Ave. previously housed Standard Steel Propeller Co., which manufactured Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis propeller.

Stacy Lee is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1970, or slee@tribweb.com.