John Heller, Post-Gazette Line dancers fill The Palisades in McKeesport on Friday night for country-western line dancing. Bruce Cover, of Cranberry, and his date, Sandy Schmidt, of Center, like both the line dancing and the ballroom dancing. Click photo for larger image.

This year, for the first time since The Palisades in McKeesport was renovated eight years ago, the building is slated to turn a profit.

It will be a small profit, acknowledges Ray Dougherty, managing director of The Palisades and the marina for the city, but at least it won't lose money.

The Palisades, a great brick building at Fifth Avenue and Water Street, has a huge dance hall with a stage that has, in its time, been known for its dances as well as the wrestling and boxing matches that have been held there.

Now Dougherty is turning his focus on the Marina at McKees Point and hoping, if not to make money, to cut down on how much the marina loses.

Dougherty said he was looking at the costs of hiring private contractors to install the docks in the spring and move the boats into the river with the thought that there may be a less expensive way to have the work done.

He said he wouldn't be able to figure out until April 15, at the earliest, just how much money the marina stands to lose this year.

The Marina was built in 1997 for about $2 million and the McKeesport Redevelopment Authority invested $1.5 million in The Palisades to renovate it and keep it running.

But through the ensuing years, the city has wound up supporting both of the attractions.

Mayor Jim Brewster said Dougherty had been able to turn The Palisades around by not giving the space away.

"Everyone wants it for free," Brewster said.

Controller Raymond Malinchak said preliminary figures from audits on The Palisades showed that it lost $6,751 in 2002 and $9,950 in 2003.

He said figures for The Palisades were not available for 2004.

Dougherty is projecting that the building will show a profit of at least $6,124 for 2005, and that does not include any money made from special events that are scheduled in the coming months.

Dougherty said five shows had been booked into the space.

Four of them are so-called "impersonation'' shows, with The Vegas All Star Review, featuring impersonations of Elton John, Roy Orbison and Michael Jackson, appearing June 11; Let's Be Frank, with impersonations of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, appearing Sept. 17; Beetlemania on Nov. 5 and another Los Vegas review called the Vegas Christmastime Show on Dec. 17. Johnny Angel and the Halos will appear Oct. 8.

The Palisades rents restaurant space to McKees Cafe, which serves breakfast and lunch. McKees Cafe pays $1,200 per month in rent and $475 per month toward a business improvement loan.

While The Palisades had been losing thousands of dollars, the Marina at McKees Point, which is across Water Street from the building, has been losing tens of thousands of dollars.

Malinchak said preliminary audits showed the marina lost about $60,000 in 2002, which rose to nearly $96,000 in 2003.

He projected the losses for 2004 would be similar to those suffered in 2003.

Malinchak said one of the issues facing the marina was whether to take over the building it currently leases from the Redevelopment Authority when the lease is up, but even if that occurs, there is still $60,000 in financing owed on the building, which would keep the marina running a deficit.

"That's not the way you run a railroad or a boat dock," he said.

Dougherty said he needed a full season to really grasp the issues facing the marina before he will know what can be done to bring the revenue and expense sides of the ledger closer together.

One quick way to make some money, he told McKeesport council, is to auction off some of the boats that have been abandoned by their owners and are sitting in storage at McKeesport's expense.

Prices for slips at the docks range from $34 for each foot in length of the boat to $38 a foot.

There are 200 slips available for the season.

"I think we will lose money," Dougherty said about the marina this year, but it won't be as dramatic as it has been in the past."

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Correction/Clarification: (Published March 30, 2005) This story in the March 23, 2005 South contained an incorrect figure for rent paid to The Palisades hall in McKeesport by the McKees Cafe. The cafe pays $1,200 per month in rent and $475 per month toward a business improvement loan.