Town Square to bring fresh, affordable food to Millvale
One good thing about a drop in population is there's more room to grow and evolve, as is the case for Millvale.
The Millvale Borough Development Corp. is beginning work on its latest project — Bennett Station Town Square — which aims to bring fresh and affordable food to the borough, said Brian Wolovich, vice president of Millvale council. The corporation broke ground for the project earlier this month.
The corporation bought two vacant buildings — the former Dinette Place at 524 Grant Ave. and the Kitman Furniture building at 216 and 220 North Ave. — for about $370,000 earlier this year. Crews began work on phase one to remodel 524 Grant Ave., which has been vacant for about 10 years. The Kitman Furniture building will be remodeled in phase two.
The goal is to begin to revitalize the borough by breathing new life into its main crossroads.
“We certainly look at it as an anchor building project,” said Eddie Figas, Millvale's director of administrative services. “Our hope is that it has a significant impact on everything around it.”
Wolovich said the plan is to transform the ground floor of 524 Grant Ave. into a fresh food hub — possibly a market or restaurant-market combination — where residents easily can access fresh food and groceries. The second floor of the building would house office space for business and start-ups.
In 2013, Millvale was identified by Just Harvest, a Pittsburgh-based organization that addresses hunger and poverty issues, as a “food desert,” meaning the borough lacks easy access to grocery stores. Figas estimated that the closest grocery store is the Shop 'n Save on Babcock Boulevard in Shaler, about a mile and a half away from the center of Millvale and not accessible without a car.
“Especially for people like the elderly that don't get around well or don't have access to a car, going to a larger grocery mart just doesn't work for them, so they're stuck,” Figas said.
The development corporation has received donations from The Heinz Endowments and the Henry L. Hillman Foundation and funding from the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and has $1 million to spend on phase one.
Wolovich said the development corporation is actively looking for tenants to fill the top and bottom of the building. And the sooner tenants sign on, the more say they will have in the building design, he said.
Bennett Station Town Square got its name from the Bennett railroad station that used to run through town in the mid-1800s. Millvale, once a booming steel town with a population around 9,000 in its heyday, has about 3,500 residents now, Wolovich said.
Wolovich said developers hope to play off the success of established institutions such as the renowned Pamela's Diner and Jean-Marc Chatellier's French Bakery and new, growing businesses, such as Salon 22, which moved to Millvale from Lawrenceville over the summer.
“It's like a doughnut,” he said. “There's good stuff all around it, but there's a hole in the middle. We want to fix that.”
Rachel Farkas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-772-6364 or rfarkas@tribweb.com.
