Focus on Renewal and Point Park University have some big plans for a vacant building in the heart of the McKees Rocks business district, and they have rustled together $800,000 in community development grants to make it happen.

The Rev. Regis Ryan, FOR executive director, wants to turn the 26,000-square-foot site into a cultural arts center that will house a theater, coffee shop and artist studios.

FOR purchased the old office furniture warehouse at 420 Chartiers Ave. last year for $258,750, using community development money that was tied to the Sanders Consent Decree to fight housing discrimination.

The site is about four blocks from FOR headquarters and less than a mile southeast of Island Avenue.

Helping the center reach its potential will be students and faculty from Point Park University, which recently received a three-year community outreach grant itself to partner with McKees Rocks on the cultural arts center.

Patricia Moran, who grew up in McKees Rocks on River Road, will administer the grant and work as a liaison between the college and the community. She is the director of the university's Community Outreach Partnerships Center.

"Point Park brings a lot of strengths to the project," Moran said, "with its strong background in the performing arts, music, theater and dance."

The first phase of renovation will begin early in September with removal of asbestos, floor tiles and rugs. New heating and air conditioning, restrooms and a new entrance way are targeted for the second phase. Architect John E. Bevarso is overseeing the work.

While the $800,000 in grants will go a long way toward getting the project off the ground, it won't be enough to complete the building's conversion into the cultural arts center, which Ryan estimates will cost about $4 million.

Still, he believes it is a dream well worth pursuing, one he and other McKees Rocks residents have been working on for some time.

"Seven years ago we sat down with parents of several parts of the community and they said they thought an arts center or cultural center would be the perfect resource to help their children develop in every way.

"This will be a valuable resource," Ryan said, "where young folks can come to discover their talents."

The Point Park partnership has already borne fruit, Moran added. This spring 21 children from ages 6 to 14 were exposed to music, theater and dance, performing skits, plays and dancing, under the direction of Point Park students at Christ Community Church. The program was so successful a similar program will be held in September at the Boys and Girls Club in McKees Rocks.

"The business plan for the cultural arts center," Moran said, "is to bring people together. The arts help to break racial and other barriers by bringing people together of all races and ethnicities."

The building is 80 years old, but Ryan said it is structurally sound. The architect's plans for using all three floors and the basement.

What is now just open space will become studios for sculpture, ceramics and dance. Also planned are an arts studio, computer lab, gift shop, 120-seat theater and art gallery.

There are even plans to tear down an adjacent White Tower restaurant, now out of business, and convert the space into outdoor seating and a garden.

To help with funding, FOR is approaching local foundations and hopes to sponsor fund-raisers. One is already scheduled for the spring in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Although the building is now vacant, signs of its future potential are already in evidence.

On one side, facing the McKees Rocks Plaza, is a large mural painted by Laurie Marshall, a Mt. Lebanon resident. The mural depicts scenes symbolizing the many nationalities and races that make McKees Rocks home. In the front display windows facing Chartiers Avenue are a series of colorful works painted by local students.

Each painting represents the artist's own interpretation of life, done on doors salvaged from the building.

These are small signs of things to come if Ryan, Moran and their supporters can bring their vision to reality.

"It's very challenging, but worth the effort," Ryan said.