In its heyday, the Main Hotel in downtown Braddock was a symbol of the steel mill town's boom years. Initially known as the Hotel Lloyd, it opened in the late 19th century with 27 rooms and a shared bathroom.

But as Braddock fell on hard times over the years, so did the hotel. The historic red brick building with a green facade, abandoned and ruined by years of neglect, was torn down nearly three years ago because it was considered to be beyond repair.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Paul Harper, 17, of Braddock and the Braddock Youth Project, uses a Rototiller to break up the earth. The frames await topsoil for vegetables to be planted. The Braddock Urban Farm project is on a vacant lot at Braddock Avenue and 10th Street, with U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Works in the background. Click photo for larger image.

Now, Allegheny County, Braddock officials and residents see the parcel of grass where the hotel once stood as yet another piece in the economic revitalization of Braddock. The 6,000-square-foot patch of rubble and grass is being converted into the Braddock Urban Farm.

On a cloudy Monday afternoon, Paul Harper, a 17-year-old Woodland Hills High School senior, pushed a green Rototiller up and down the parcel of grass along Braddock Avenue bounded by Woodlawn Avenue and 10th Street.

"He is trying to dig up the grass and the weeds, flip it over and expose the roots so that we can start the process of decomposition," explained Jeff Jaeger, of Grow Pittsburgh and the site project manager.

A collaboration of urban farmers and market gardeners, Grow Pittsburgh is one of a number of state, county, community and private donors involved in the project, which will cost more than $170,000 to establish fully over a two-year period.

The idea of an urban farm in Braddock was tossed around last year between Grow Pittsburgh and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, said Miriam Manion, executive director of Grow Pittsburgh, which runs urban farming projects in Stanton Heights and Wilkinsburg.

"He was very enthusiastic about how we could use some of the open spaces in Braddock for urban farming," Ms. Manion said. "And so we started looking for properties in the area where we could put a healthy and visible urban farm in the community."

The site they chose in the 1000 block of Braddock Avenue, "surprised us all," Ms. Manion said, "because it's seated right in front of a steel mill. We had the ground tested and found that it was not contaminated. We were excited because the ground is safe and it's the perfect site to showcase an urban farm."

The challenge, however, as is often the case in urban settings, she said, was preparing the ground for farming.

On Monday, a group of teenagers from the Braddock Youth Project, two AmeriCorps students from Carnegie Mellon University and Mr. Jaeger started digging and setting up 27 12-foot-by-4-foot raised beds they made themselves from rough cut lumber.

"Not knowing what is buried underneath here is one of our challenges right now," said Mr. Jaeger, 48, a Wisconsin native with a master's degree in agroecology or small-scale organic farming from Slippery Rock University.

His conception of the farm consists of four quadrants covered with about 128 wooden raised beds, which will be filled with 8 inches of top soil and compost manure. At the center of it will be a square brick patio with paths leading from it to all four corners of the farm.

Because of a 6-foot variance from the top to the bottom of the parcel, one side of the farm will be terraced using rocks that are being torn down from a structure in Homestead.

Noting that it is "somewhat late in the season to start planting," Mr. Jaeger, who worked on urban gardening projects in Minnesota and Colorado before returning to the Pittsburgh area last year, said he plans to plant kale, beets, squash, beans, radishes, carrots, tomatoes and peppers.

"Whatever works," he said, adding that in addition to seeding, some of the crops to be planted were started in beds at the Frick Art and Historical Center greenhouse.

"We're just going to put everything we have in the ground," he said.

Expected to be a productive venture by next summer, the farm, down the road will partner with the Penn State Cooperative Extension of Allegheny County to develop an urban farming certification program for people in the community, said Ms. Manion.

"We want to use that site as a teaching farm where we can show people what it takes to grow an urban garden," Ms. Manion said.

In addition, she said, the farm will be the site of an annual farmers market and some of the produce will be sold directly to restaurants in the Pittsburgh area.

"This is really a win-win idea for Braddock," said Mr. Fetterman. "It engages people outside the community, gives us access to fresh produce and will provide some job opportunities for our youth."

That model, Mr. Fetterman said, is the future of Braddock. "We are trying many things and now we want to see Braddock grow as a seat of urban farming in Allegheny County," he said.