Downtown Erie redevelopment set to begin

[pj3000]

From the Erie Times-News

Saint Vincent Health Center is planning a $35 million expansion that will include the addition of a new energy plant, a new emergency room, expanded operating rooms and an expanded front entrance. The expansion (shown here, green roof, upper left), will connect the current hospital (the gray building on the right) to the Hardner Medical Office Building (red building on the left) at West 24th and Myrtle streets and create three new floors totaling 105,000 square feet, with the capacity to add more floors in the future.

Erie board grants variance for $35 million hospital project

Plans for a $35 million expansion of Saint Vincent Health Center are moving from blueprint to reality.


The city's Zoning Hearing Board today granted the hospital a needed variance for the project, which will create a new emergency department and central energy plant and expand the hospital's operating rooms.

The expansion will connect the hospital to the Hardner Medical Office Building at West 24th and Myrtle streets and create three new floors totaling 105,000 square feet, with the capacity to add more floors in the future.

Saint Vincent sought the variance because current zoning requires that 50 percent of any lot be uncovered in residential-limited business zoning districts. The project as designed would cover 66.4 percent of the lot.

Saint Vincent expects to break ground on the project shortly after necessary permits are approved. Construction should be complete within 18 months, hospital officials said.

[pj3000]

Erie's Griswold Park gets new fountain bowl


Rog's Inc. employees Brandon Tolley, left, and Karl Gunther, right, and J.M. Kuneman Construction owner Jeff Kuneman, center, help install a new fountain bowl on its pedestal in Griswold Park on Thursday. The new bowl replaces one that had several hairline cracks. A 100-ton, 140-foot-tall crane lifted the old 6,000-pound bowl from its base and settled it onto the bed of a truck at about 11 a.m. City Public Works Director Doug Mitchell said he expects the fountain will be turned on by Memorial Day weekend. The fountain is part of a $700,000 expansion and redesign of the park. The project is the visual centerpiece of a planned $55 million mixed-use midtown development.

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...=2010304029911

[pj3000]

As a guy who likes to ride his bikes, this is cool.

Plans under way to extend Titusville trail as part of Erie-to-Pittsburgh system

By TIM HAHN

TITUSVILLE -- Joe Galletta's key to good health is a daily walk south from his home in Titusville, following the Queen City Trail as it stretches 11/2 miles to the Drake Well Museum and Park in Venango County.

"It keeps me in shape," said Galletta, who turns 84 in late May.

Galletta and other Titusville residents who regularly use the popular trail could soon have the option of traveling north.

Plans are being developed to extend the Queen City Trail more than 5 miles north to Hydetown in Crawford County, where it could eventually connect with developing trails in Spartansburg and Corry.

The extension, along with plans to fill other gaps through Venango and Clarion counties, is part of a larger goal by trail organizations in western Pennsylvania to build a hiking and biking trail network linking Erie's bayfront to Point State Park in Pittsburgh. From there, the system would connect to a trail system that extends to Washington, D.C.

The Oil City-based Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry and Tourism has set aside up to $38,000 to cover the costs of engineering a 5.3-mile extension of the Queen City Trail. Proposals are being accepted from interested firms through Tuesday afternoon, and a contract could be awarded by June, said Marilyn Black, the alliance's vice president for heritage development.

Project officials want to bring the trail north from its current northern terminus at South Martin Street to Hasbrouck Park in Hydetown. The firm hired to do the engineering will be asked to come up with several possible routes, as well as cost estimates for the work, said Kim Harris, the project manager for the Oil Region Alliance.

The extended trail section would be paved to match the approximately 60 miles of trail that now exist in the Oil Region National Heritage Area, including 9.7 miles of trail in Oil Creek State Park just south of Titusville, Black said.

That 60-mile section of trail is credited with generating more than $4 million for the local economy, according to a trail-use study the Oil Region Alliance and the Allegheny Valley Trails Association produced in 2006.

Titusville stands to benefit greatly from a trail extension by attracting more visitors not only to the trail, but also the city's other offerings, said Titusville Leisure Services Director Jamie Beechey, whose agency is working with the Oil Region Alliance on the project.

The board of directors for Titusville Leisure Services has already committed $5,000 toward the project, Beechey said.

Municipal officials in the areas along the proposed trail extension have been supportive of the idea, Black said.

Officials and residents will be asked for their input on the project through a series of public meetings that will be held once an engineer is hired, Harris said.

The Oil Region Alliance is advancing its trail plans as work progresses on the two northern trails the Queen City Trail will eventually link to.

Construction is ready to begin on a 3-mile section of the East Branch Trail in Spartansburg with $1.1 million in federal stimulus funds the project received in November. The improvements will cover a portion of the 17 miles of railroad right-of-way that the Clear Lake Authority in Spartansburg wants to develop into a trail.

In Erie County, work is about 70 percent complete on the Corry Junction Greenway Trail, a 6-mile trail from Corry to Clymer, N.Y., said Ray Schreckengost, president of the Northwest Pennsylvania Trail Association.

Trails will eventually extend through Chautauqua County, N.Y., and follow Route 5 east to Erie's bayfront under the Erie-to-Pittsburgh trail plan, Schreckengost said.

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...=2010304239882

[Erie Pa]

New business opens today in downtown Erie
Another sign of Erie's economy rebounding came this morning with the opening of a new business, located downtown, that plans, designs and furnishes state-of-the-art commercial and workplace environments.
Mazany Contract Interiors, headquartered in Jamestown, N.Y., since 1987, opened its office at 163 W. 14th St. with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Owners there hope to add between 10 and 20 local jobs to their Erie office as they expand. Those jobs will be in the areas of interior designers, customer-service representatives and a sales staff.
Ronald Mazany, the company's president, said this morning that all subcontractors, which include plumbers, electricians and construction workers, will be hired from Erie.

This is in the former Union Station, now the int'l hqt of Logistics Plus which exports to 108 countries.

[pj3000]

It would be nice to save some of the older brick industrial structures, but the site has really been a hindrance for further bayfront development around the convention center. I'm pretty sure they'll just knock everything down. rather than incorporating some the industrial structures into the new developmnet plans.





http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...09866/0/SPORTS

PUBLISHED: MAY 03. 2010 1:15AM
GAF looks at demolishing former plant on Erie's bayfront

Company makes official inquiries

By ED PALATTELLA
ed.palattella@timesnews.com

The largest undeveloped site on Erie's bayfront soon could be transformed from an empty shingle factory to a vacant lot.

Contractors with GAF Building Materials Corp. have made initial contacts with City Hall about demolishing the former plant, according to the city's Bureau of Code Enforcement as well as a local lawyer.

The city has been in negotiations with New Jersey-based GAF over buying the 12.5-acre site since shortly after GAF closed the plant in 2007. It is unclear how the prospective demolition would affect the talks with the city over the site, which is just west of the Bayfront Convention Center.

The Bureau of Code Enforcement had no demolition permit for the GAF site on file as of Friday. A backhoe was parked on the site over the weekend, but it was unclear whether contractors were preparing to raze the former factory.

A worker in the Bureau of Code Enforcement said the inquiries about the demolition came about a week ago, with the questions focusing on the cost of a demolition permit.

Roger Richards, a local lawyer working with the city on the GAF negotiations, said he had been aware that GAF has been inquiring about tearing down the buildings that make up the plant. County assessment records show one of the structures, a warehouse, was built in 1903.

The Bureau of Code Enforcement referred the contractors' inquiries to Mayor Joe Sinnott, who has personally handled the GAF project. Officials and workers in the bureau declined to comment and also referred all questions from the Erie Times-News to Sinnott, who was unavailable for comment on Friday.

Sinnott formed a committee to help negotiate with GAF. Richards, who is on the committee, said he could not provide details about the prospective demolition or any other information on the GAF site.

He said a confidentiality agreement between GAF and the city prohibits him from discussing the future of the site. A real estate official with GAF did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. GAF has not previously commented on the site, though the company in 2008 notified the state Department of Environmental Protection that it intends to monitor and clean up any environmental problems on the site.

The property remains for sale, though Sinnott, in an interview in July, said GAF had agreed to work exclusively with the city over the future of the property. Sinnott at the time said GAF had been following the agreement, which he also said is not binding. He said GAF was free to sell the site on the open market.

In another interview, in January, Sinnott said the confidentiality agreement barred him from commenting on what he characterized as the city's ongoing negotiations with GAF. Consultants working on behalf of the city have already reviewed the GAF site to determine what would be needed to develop it.

The city, Sinnott said in January, has been working with GAF to map out "the best route to get those things done, and get (the property) to whoever is going to be the ultimate developer."

Sinnott also said work on the project had "moved along considerably" in 2009.

"If the past 10 months are any indication, we should have real answers to what's going to happen to that property in the future," Sinnott said in January.

The site went up for sale after GAF closed the shingle factory in March 2007 to consolidate its Pennsylvania operations at a newer plant, near Allentown.

The closing cost the region 160 jobs, and idled the factory at a time when the bayfront had started to buzz with activity. The Convention Center opened in August 2007, and the Sheraton hotel next to the Convention Center opened in April 2008. The project represented an investment of more than $100 million in the development of the bayfront.

The next piece of development, for the Sinnott administration, is the GAF site.

"The bayfront needs a development to pull all of the individual developments together, and this is our opportunity," Sinnott said in 2008.

"I think the opportunity here is the driving force."

About the GAF site
- Location: Off the Bayfront Parkway, just west of the Bayfront Convention Center.
- History: The original plant was built in 1885. GAF bought the site in 1967, and closed the shingle factory on the site in March 2007.
- Acreage: 12.5 acres. Three parcels make up the site: 11.388 acres, 0.706 acres, 0.365 acres.
- Zoning: Waterfront commercial.
- Buildings: The site includes four structures, built in 1903, 1910, 1980 and 1990. The square footage is 30,340, 86,829, 30,000 and 2,500, respectively, for a total of 149,669.
- Value: Land assessed at $493,500, buildings assessed at $735,500. Total assessment: $ 1,229,000.
- Taxes: Total property tax bill of $40,300.21 this year. Of that, $7,053.10 goes to Erie County, $13,348.42 to the city and $19,898.69 to the Erie School District.

Source: Erie County assessment records, Erie Times-News archives

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...49904/0/SPORTS

PUBLISHED: MAY 04. 2010 3:48PM

Demolition of Erie GAF plant would take months

The demolition of the former GAF shingle factory on Erie's bayfront is expected to take all summer -- if the demolition occurs.

The state Department of Environmental Resources has received notice that the demolition could start as early as Wednesday and could last until September, a DEP spokeswoman said.

GAF Building Materials Corp., based in New Jersey, appears to have all the paperwork in order for the demolition -- except for a demolition permit from City Hall.

The city's Bureau of Code Enforcement said today it still has no permit on file for the razing of the former plant just west of the Bayfront Convention Center. Bureau workers more than a week ago received inquiries from contractors about a demolition permit, the Erie Times-News reported on Monday.

Mayor Joe Sinnott has been unavailable for comment on GAF's plans. Sinnott has been in negotiations with GAF about the city purchasing the 12.5-acre site, which GAF closed as a factory in 2007.

[Erie Pa]

Two housing projects get started in Downtowm Erie


Gannon University hopes to use a downtown convent to house both students and clergy this fall.
University officials on Tuesday will ask Erie's Zoning Hearing Board for a special exception to use the Convent of the Sisters of the Congregation of the Divine Spirit, 409 W. Sixth St., as a student dorm and as a boardinghouse for priests.
Dormitories are considered special exceptions to the city's zoning law.
The university plans to house 65 male and female freshmen in the converted dormitory, in separate wings fronting West Seventh Street.
The original part of the building, along West Sixth Street, would house five priests.
About 10 Sisters of the Divine Spirit now living in the convent will move to their main convent in Canton, Ohio, or to other locations in Erie, said Linda Wagner, Gannon vice president for finance and administration.
The university needs the space to house priests relocated by other construction projects and to accommodate a growing student enrollment, Wagner said.
"As our enrollment continues to expand, we need to make sure we have housing for all of our students," Wagner said.
The university will build a new dorm on West Fourth Street for almost 300 students. The building could open as early as fall 2011. The university plans to renovate the West Sixth Street convent this summer to accommodate student residents, Wagner said.
The $1 million project will provide additional restrooms and showers, a laundry room, new wiring, cable, fiber optics and wireless Internet.
The building already includes a dining hall and chapel.
Wagner is hopeful that the special exception for the project will be approved by the Zoning Hearing Board on Tuesday.
The property meets all but one zoning requirement for the proposed student housing, she said.
It includes only six parking spaces, and city zoning laws require 27 parking spaces, based on the proposed number of dorm and boardinghouse residents.
To add more parking and driveways, the college would have to pave lawns and remove trees, religious statues and fences, Wagner said.
"To do any of that would definitely damage the look of the property, and we never want to remove trees unless absolutely necessary," Wagner said.

http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...5069852/-1/etn

Midtown Erie-

The revitalization of Erie's midtown took a major step forward this morning with a ceremony signaling the start of construction on the Union Square project, which officials said ultimately could cost up to $50 million.
A one-hour groundbreaking ceremony held at the northeast corner of West 13th and Peach streets ended shortly before 11 a.m.
Officials with the project said construction would begin in June on seven townhouses in what organizers are calling a new 140-home downtown community. The Union Square project, which began with planning in 2007 but was delayed by funding issues and the recession, includes townhouses, retail stores and the renovation of Griswold Park, as well as the authority's multimillion dollar transformation of the Mercantile Building at East 14 and State streets.
"This is an exciting day for us in Erie, the next step for us in transforming this neighborhood," Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott said at the ceremony, which was attended by about 75 people. "Little by little, we are going to make this a new neighborhood for Erie and bring people here."

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...WS02/305079895

[Erie Pa]

follow up on the Union Square project

The $50 million Union Square development project will start construction by June 1, the first phase toward revitalizing midtown Erie and transforming the area into a contemporary urban neighborhood.......

more...

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...5079895/-1/ETN

[pj3000]

PUBLISHED: MAY 11. 2010 2:53PM
Griswold Plaza Post Office is for sale

The U.S. Postal Service plans to sell the downtown post office at Griswold Plaza and consolidate operations at the Presque Isle office and at the main postal facility on East 38th Street.

But it won't happen overnight.

Tad Kelly, a spokesman for the Postal Service, said the property at 1314 Griswold Plaza will go on the market soon and is expected to be sold within two years.

The office will remain open until a sale is finalized, he said.

Kelly said the consolidation is driven by economics as the Postal Service looks for ways to cut costs.

-- Jim Martin

For more coverage, turn to GoErie.com and Wednesday's Erie Times-News.

http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...WS02/305119909

[pj3000]

http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...WS02/305129879

PUBLISHED: MAY 12. 2010 12:58PM

Facebook campaign aims to protect coyote in Erie Cemetery

Coyote fans are using Facebook to try to protect an animal in the Erie Cemetery.

The "Save the Coyote" group on Facebook had 534 members today. Another Facebook group, "Leave the Erie Coyote ALONE," had 552.

Comments on the coyote Facebook pages included a few warnings about the dangers of such animals. But most supported allowing the coyote to remain in the cemetery at 2216 Chestnut St. or removing it without killing it. Others encouraged people to leave the animal alone.

Some posters were annoyed that interest in the coyote was disrupting visits to loved ones buried in the cemetery. Several neighbors complained of more traffic in the area since word of the coyote got out.

Cemetery officials are hoping the animal will leave on its own but also hired a trapper after some people expressed fear of the coyote.

Fans of the animal believe it will be killed and want to prevent that.

-- Staff report

See Thursday's Erie Times-News and GoErie for more coverage.

[Erie Pa]

re.. Griswold Post Office should be redone into a Pa state office bldg.
With no central bldg, state off are now scattered through out the area.
Possible Luxery codos? or a needed downtown grocery store. Maybe a high-end botique mall. A lot of possibilities, being across the street from the recently ground broke Union Sq 140 townhomes in the $170 to 260k range.

[Erie Pa]

Gannon University holds groundbreaking for !st of 3 planned $17million residence dorms...

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcsi.dll...W=900&MaxH=900

Gannon University started a $17 million project Thursday with the turn of a shovel at 147 W. Fourth St.
That site, between now and fall 2011, will be where the school builds its first new dormitory in 22 years.
Construction is expected to begin later this summer.
But before that can happen, the school will have to demolish University Apartments, which housed 80 students in its 26 units. That demolition work is expected to begin Monday.
The new dorm will be much larger -- 100,000 square feet with room for as many as 293 students on five floors.
"We did a master plan and found that one of our bigger needs concerned the residence halls," said Linda Wagner, Gannon's vice president for finance and administration. "That was our impetus for this new residence hall."
This is the first of three new planned residence halls. Upperclassmen will occupy the first two floors, with freshmen taking the upper three levels.
"Some of the 20-year-old dorms were not up to student expectations," Wagner said. "We were also running out of room to place the students."
Several Gannon students gathered to watch the groundbreaking ceremony. Students had a hand in influencing plans for the new residence hall, officials aid.
"There has been student input at every step," said Thomas Panighetti, president of Gannon's student government association. Through the ideas of the students and staff at Gannon, there are many amenities planned for the new dormitory. They include a convenience store, a fitness area, fireplaces, communal kitchens, and lounges.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10142/1060020-454.stm

State wants to study passenger rail expansion in Erie

Saturday, May 22, 2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania has applied for a $1.6 million federal grant to study possible expansion of rail service between Ohio and New York State through Erie, Gov. Ed Rendell announced Thursday.

If selected for the federal grant, PennDOT will put up $400,000 in state funds to complete the study.

"The Lake Erie Corridor has significant public support for its potential to expand rail service among Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and points beyond," Mr. Rendell said.

The corridor connects Erie with Cleveland and Buffalo and is now served by Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited service, which provides one train in each direction per day between Chicago, New York City and Boston.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10142...#ixzz0odvDrQaC

[Erie Pa]

$50 million Union Sq project in downtown underway

work begins at Union Square project in Erie's midtown
If you were part of the traffic traveling past West 12th and Peach streets today, you may have noticed an excavator, bulldozer and other construction materials covering a new demolition site.
But in six months, you will no longer see the 6-foot-high piles of dirt and rock, and the jagged slabs of concrete now layered across the area.
You will see a row of seven town houses and a coffee shop, part of a planned 140-home community that city officials and private investors hope will transform midtown Erie into a contemporary neighborhood.
The demolition work, which began Wednesday, signals the start of building the first phase of the $50 million Union Square development project.
"We're very pleased to see this new concept in downtown Erie get under way," Larry Bossolt, executive director of the Erie Redevelopment Authority, said this afternoon. "This first phase is a test for the project, and we feel it's going to be successful."

[Erie Pa]

Also nearing completion beautification project on lower State St.

Erie's $1.1 million State Street makeover ahead of schedule
By GERRY WEISS
gerry.weiss@timesnews.com
For those driving or walking past it, the beautification project along State Street from the Bayfront Parkway to Dobbins Landing doesn't look too beautiful these days.
Backhoes digging through chunks of cement. Construction and sewer laborers working near portions of closed-off sidewalk that are surrounded by caution tape and plastic orange cones.
But the $1.1 million makeover, which began at the end of April, is ahead of schedule and on target to be completed by Labor Day weekend in early September.
"Barring any obstacles or new developments, we'll probably finish a month early," Jack Laver, project manager for Mayer Bros. Construction, said Thursday.
The Erie company received the contract to handle the enhancements of the downtown face-lift.
Doug Pomorski, director of operations and harbor master for the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, said the project has "progressed extremely well." He added that an original plan to remove about 25 parking spots at the foot of State Street for a planting area has been changed, and that the area has been reduced in order to allow for continued parking at the location.
"To have those spots available will be very beneficial to the businesses down there," Pomorski said.
The stretch from the parkway north toward Presque Isle Bay will be narrowed from four lanes to two, and four pedestrian walkways will be added across State Street. Officials said Thursday that asphalt paving and resurfacing would begin in about two weeks, construction that will allow only emergency vehicles and minimal traffic in that location for about three days.
New sidewalks, handicapped ramps, and lighting, along with additional trees, flowers and shrubs, are part of the makeover's landscaping. Most of that installation has been completed on the west side of State Street, officials said, adding that similar work on the east side of State Street would begin soon.

[Erie Pa]

$9,000,000 Expansion ready.

Published: October 22. 2010 1:15AM
New-look Erie Art Museum opens this weekend
By GERRY WEISS
gerry.weiss@timesnews.com
F or the short term, John Vanco believes he has a good idea how this is going to play out.
Grand openings create buzz. Novelties attract attention. Build something cool and expensive, and people will surely come.
Tonight, the Erie Art Museum will host a gala event for more than 500 people, unveiling its long-awaited $9 million expansion project. The bash will be followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning, and free admission to the public all weekend to the sleek facility.
Vanco, the museum's director since 1968, is eager to show off the contemporary new digs, a project that has city officials and community leaders billing it as a tourism hook, a magnet to attract new business, and a destination that should become the cultural centerpiece of Erie's downtown.
But after the initial burst of excitement and anticipation, after art lovers and curious customers feast on the nearly 26,000 square feet of new and renovated space, Vanco said he hopes, even needs, that each visitor comes away with this thought: "I've got to go back there."
"The art is still a major motivator for people to come here," Vanco said during a recent tour of the facility. "But we'll expand our audience and broaden our appeal because of how impressive this complex is. That's what will keep them coming back."
The expansion, which began with an architectural study in 1985 before ramping up with public and private funding over the past five years, should finally squelch the knock that has constantly dogged the museum: too small with not enough to look at.
Gallery space in the new facility has tripled, allowing for the museum's entire collection of more than 7,000 artworks to be shown instead of much of it continuing to languish in storage.

Museum officials believe the 30,000 visitors they draw each year could soar to 50,000 in the expansion's first year and beyond. That's even with a spike to their general admission charge, up from $4 in 2009 at the prior facility, 411 State St., to $7 beginning next week.
"Still cheaper than going to the movies," Vanco said. "We tried to create a grand space and gathering place that is comfortable and friendly, one that will provide an experience that will pique the interest of art fans as well as give the average visitor something to get excited about."
When you walk through the museum's new main entrance, 20 E. Fifth St., you're greeted by tall, glass windows that allow natural light to pour inside, a cafe boasting coffee, soups and sandwiches, brick walls painted starched-shirt white, and a dozen tables paired up with orange- colored chairs.
Nearby is a sophisticated track-lighting system with sound-absorbing walls in the multipurpose performance space, its clear acoustics specially designed for concerts, weddings and parties when the room is not being used as an art gallery.
Glance one way and you'll find a folk art carousel, designed in the 1950s and equipped with giraffes, elephants and other zoo animals.
Look in another direction and you'll see 30-foot-high ceilings with three walls that pivot and move inside the main gallery.
The building, which becomes the first in the city to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design national certification, has smoothly polished concrete along its three floors of gallery space. That touch, museum staff says, pairs nicely with a new loading dock, removing the need to carry heavy crates of artwork up the steps of the old entrance.
Lee Rexrode, an Edinboro University of Pennsylvania art professor showing his first exhibit at the Erie Art Museum this weekend, said he's "elated and very flattered" to have his 40-plus piece exhibit of clay pots as part of the grand opening.
"The timing couldn't be better," said Rexrode, who completed most of the pieces in his show when he was on academic sabbatical during the 2009-10 academic year. "To be part of this beautiful new place showcasing fine art in this community is extremely special."
Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott, who is scheduled to be at tonight's gala event and Saturday's ribbon-cutting ceremony, said the new-look museum will "uplift the entire downtown, making it more vibrant and exciting."
"The museum already has a strong following, but hopefully this brings people who haven't frequented it in the past. And hopefully it brings them there more than once," Sinnott said. "Now, if we can get more businesses to open around (the museum), it would only encourage people to utilize our downtown, giving it the growth it needs."
The museum's expansion also could give a steady bounce to the region's tourism industry. John Oliver, president of VisitErie, Erie County's primary tourism agency, said his office has been marketing the expanded museum for the past year to bus tours that visit or stop here from Chicago, parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and throughout Canada.
Oliver said a similar tourism bump has been seen in the region from motorcycle enthusiasts nationwide who ride here for Roar on the Shore rallies, and families who vacation at Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park, and could develop from art aficionados who travel to Erie from Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and elsewhere.
"The museum can be an anchor for all of our cultural offerings," Oliver said. "We can invite and hook visitors year-round that might not have had a reason to come to Erie before. Once they're here, they'll stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, and take in similar arts, like the Philharmonic or Playhouse. We can now give visitors an experience that is up at a whole other level."


GERRY WEISS can be reached at 870-1884 or by e-mail.

[pj3000]

photo credit: ETN

[pj3000]

Here comes the neighborhood...

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...WS02/311089900

Coffee shop coming to Erie's Union Square development

Rejoice, Java junkies: Coffee is coming to Union Square.

Crazy Mocha Coffee, a privately owned coffee chain based in Pittsburgh, has signed on as the first retail partner for the $50 million Union Square development in Erie's midtown.

The coffee shop will open in the spring on the first floor of a planned new building on 13th and Peach streets, said Mark Schneider, managing partner of Fourth River Development LLC, the Pittsburgh-based group that is the co-master developer of the midtown area.

Schneider said securing a retailer was an important piece of the Union Square project, which also includes the renovation of Griswold Park, the Erie Redevelopment Authority's multimillion-dollar transformation of the Mercantile Building at East 14th and State streets, and the construction of town houses.

Three of the two-and-one-half-story town houses will be built on top of the 1,300-square-foot coffee shop.

"You're trying to create a place where not only people are going to live, but work and play," Schneider said. "It builds on the investment of the park, which I think is outstanding. It's all coming together."

[pj3000]

Bid packages to go out soon for Tullio Arena project

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...WS02/311189829

Construction bid packages for local construction firms and contractors interested in working on the $42 million renovation of Tullio Arena should be available to those firms within the next two weeks.

Casey Wells, the Erie County Convention Center Authority's executive director, said today that the packages are printed and "ready to go," but the authority is awaiting final project management paperwork from the Pennsylvania Department of General Services before they can be distributed.

DGS oversees nonhighway capital projects involving state money. Wells said the department is allowing the Convention Center Authority to manage the Tullio project, in part because "we have a track record with managing projects like the Bayfront Convention Center and (Sheraton) hotel ... in this case they are delegating management of the project to us."

Wells said that once bid packages are distributed, a mandatory pre-bid meeting with Pittsburgh-based Turner Construction, the Tullio project's construction manager, will be held in mid-December with firms interested in the project.

Wells said he hopes that a public bid opening will be scheduled for late December, and the renovations should begin sometime in January.

The state is providing $32 million for the project, which will create a multiuse entertainment complex, expand and improve interior space and create a parklike atmosphere outside. Another $10 million in project funding comes from Erie County government.

The Tullio project should be finished sometime in 2012.

[pj3000]

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...WS02/301129893


Bid packages for $42 million Tullio Arena project available

Construction-bid packages for local construction firms and contractors interested in working on the $42 million renovation of Tullio Arena are ready to be distributed -- a key step in moving the project forward.

Casey Wells, the Erie County Convention Center Authority's executive director, said that the Pennsylvania Department of General Services signed off on final project management paperwork late last week.

"It's a significant step. We're ready to go now," Wells said.

Wells said the bid packages can be picked up at several locations, including Copy King, 1162 W. Eighth St., and will be available at www.planroomdirect.com.

Bids packages must be submitted by Feb. 7 and 8, when the authority plans to open sealed project bids at the Tullio Arena, Wells said.

Mandatory pre-bid meetings with potential bidders will be held Jan. 25 and 26 at the Bayfront Convention Center.

Representatives from Pittsburgh-based Turner Construction, the Tullio project's construction manager, will be there, Wells said.

The state is providing $32 million for the project, which will create a multiuse entertainment complex, expand and improve interior space and create a parklike atmosphere outside. Another $10 million in project funding comes from Erie County government.

The Tullio project should be finished sometime in 2012.

[Erie Pa]

Web Cam on Gannon University's new dorm in
downtown Erie. This view is from the interior courtyard.
On w 4th street there is only about a 15ft setback from
the curb so its a nice in fill removing an old parking lot.

http://www.gannon.edu/newreshall/

projected to peak out at 70 ft.