The Edge of blight to finally vanish

Finally, the end appears near for the Edge.

If there were a National Historic Eyesores program, this former restaurant abutting Grandview Avenue in Mt. Washington would merit instant inclusion. Consider the building's qualifications:

Vacant for decades• Check.

Faded "No Trespassing" signs on the padlocked front entrance• Check.

Numerous graffiti tags spray-painted on the building• Check.

Gaping holes where windows used to be• Rubble and refuse strewn across the parking lot• A stained mattress surrounded by garbage in an exterior alcove you pray no one is desperate enough to use for shelter?

Check, check and check.

Located next to the Monongahela Incline, a National Historic Landmark, the Edge has been empty since serving its last souffle in 1979. To underscore just how long ago that was, the restaurant closed the same year the Pirates last won the World Series.

Several proposals over the years to reuse the building, visible from Downtown and Station Square, failed to materialize. An increasingly frustrated community wondered how much longer this large monument to neglect would be allowed to stand.

They need wonder no longer.

The building's former owner, Fox Chapel ophthalmologist Dr. Francis Hurite, sold the 1.25-acre property in October to Sycamore Grandview Associates for $3.6 million. The purchase price was more than four times the real estate's assessed value of $850,000.

That should tell you Sycamore Grandview is serious about plans to build on the site One Grandview, a 20-story tower with a 115-room luxury hotel, 50 condominiums and a 500-car garage.

So, too, should the demolition application the developer has filed with the city Bureau of Building Inspection that will enable the Edge to vanish. Contractors could begin razing the structure within a few weeks.

"This is a big step," said Lawrenceville architect Luke Desmone, the project's designer. "I think there will be widespread jubilation when that demolition permit is officially granted, and we can tear down the building."

Among the jubilant will be Len Semplice, who has a sizable investment in the Shiloh Street business district a block from the proposed development. He owns Redbeard's, a popular restaurant and bar, and Packs & Dogs, a hot dog and six-pack shop.

"It will be great for the city to have (the Edge) gone," Semplice said. "People from all over the country ride the incline, and for all these years, the first thing they saw when they got out on top was that ugly building."

Desmone said that having a cleared site should make it easier to obtain financing for the development and lure a flagship hotel chain. "They'll know we're ready to begin construction right away," he said.

The point at which this blighted building could have reopened with just minor modifications passed a generation ago. Even if One Grandview fails to come to fruition, Desmone and company will have done the city a favor by making it disappear.

This Edge doesn't need beveled. This Edge needs leveled.