 
|
|||||||||||||
              
|
Station Square expansion plan derails artifacts
Tuesday, October 10, 2000 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Two vintage trolley cars and a small coal-hauling locomotive have been moved out of Bessemer Court at Station Square to make way for new shops and restaurants to be built there later this year.
The trolley cars, which date to 1906, were donated to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington County, said Elisa Cavalier, general counsel of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which owned them.
The Tom Thumb locomotive, which once was used at the former U.S. Steel mill in Duquesne, was taken to Sewickley to become part of a park that is being created along the Ohio River, she said yesterday. All three of the old vehicles were moved out of Station Square over the weekend.
The locomotive coal-tender had been given to the foundation in 1978 by Fred Okie, a Sewickley resident and former railroad employee. While it was smaller than a full-sized locomotive, it still weighed in at a hefty 47,000 pounds, Cavalier said.
The locomotive, believed to have been built in 1897, "was made in Pittsburgh by the H.K. Porter Co. and used for operations within the industrial plant in Duquesne," she said.
Washington trolley museum Director Scott Becker said one of the trolleys from Station Square was originally used in Cleveland and the other came from Brooklyn, N.Y. They are to be sent to other cities in exchange for other trolley equipment that once was used in Pennsylvania. One will go to Chicago and the other to Middletown, near Harrisburg.
One of the pieces that Becker's museum will receive is a four-wheel trolley that's 30 feet long. It was made in 1911 and once carried passengers in Philadelphia.
The vehicle is smaller than most trolleys, which are about 50 feet long and have eight wheels, Becker said. The four-wheel trolley will be added to the museum's collection of 45 old trolleys from all over the state.
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation was the original developer of Station Square, a former train station, in the mid-1970s. It sold the 50-acre property to Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland for $25 million in 1994.
Forest City, which has been slow to make changes at Station Square, recently began a $71 million renovation and expansion project. The first phase of the work is the addition of 104 rooms to the Sheraton Station Square Hotel Pittsburgh, which will take it up to nearly 400 rooms. That work is to be completed by next fall.
Later this year, Forest City will start construction of three buildings in Bessemer Court, in a small central parking lot facing the Monongahela River. The buildings will contain restaurants, shops and clubs.
The old Bessemer converter, which stands in the central section of the Station Square complex, will also be moved, Cavalier said, but not too far. It will be relocated next to a large new fountain planned for an outdoor plaza at the new restaurants.
The fountain will shoot water high into the air and beam colored lights that are synchronized to music.
"The Bessemer converter and two other artifacts, a brick press and a Herault electric oven, will be relocated to be featured as part of the plaza," said William Voegele, regional director of development for Forest City.
The three new buildings in Bessemer Court will have a total of 57,000 square feet of space. There also will be a live entertainment venue there, Voegele said.
|
||||||||||||
