Downtown Kittanning Crews Enjoying Beautiful Weather

Demolition has begun on the building that formerly housed the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization in downtown Kittanning.

by Nathan Lasher

If you noticed smoke rising from behind the old VFW building or were prevented from turning left off of the Kittanning Citizens Bridge and on to North Water Street yesterday; don’t be alarmed. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and local workers were outside breaking a sweat.

The old VFW building is in the beginning stages of demolition. Yesterday, a demolition crew was removing shingles from the roof, extracting windows from the building, gutting the building, and setting fire to its burnable materials in burning barrels.

Back in December, Northwood Realty Services Agent Lisa Bowers sold the building to New Bethlehem resident Tim Murray, a business owner who owns Subway Restaurants from Interstate 80 all the way down through Worthington, including the franchise in Kittanning. “The building will hopefully be demolished by summer, and then we will be rebuilding,” said Murray during a December interview. “That location is absolutely prime because of the beautiful view of the river, but the current building is sort of an eyesore now. It is in too poor of shape to try to fix. The electric and plumbing is bad, and there is not enough parking. Just tearing it down will be an improvement to the community.”

There is currently an ordinance against burning in Kittanning Borough. However, the crew has paid for and obtained a permit to do the work.

Also, the northbound lane of North Water Street was closed yesterday as workers dug a large hole in the middle of the street in order to replace a manhole.

According to Kittanning Sewage Authority Member Frank Soloski, the crew performing the work was from Graziani Contracting. “They were replacing a manhole as part of phase 2 of our sewer separation project,” said Soloski. “There was a break in the pipe of the manhole that was there before. It was washed out underneath, and the street was in danger of collapsing.”

Due to temperatures reaching into the mid 50s, the outdoor workers were able to walk around in jeans and t-shirts or hooded sweatshirts while on the job. Hopefully the bright, shiny weather was a sign of things to come.

Members of Graziani Construction were able to soak up some sun yesterday afternoon while they replaced a manhole on North Water Street in front of the YMCA.