Imagine fishing from a piece of deck that was once part of an old mill coal loader. Or gazing out over the Mon from the top of a large mooring cell once used to tether barges. Or perhaps paddling to a small floating island for an afternoon picnic.
They’re all part of the vision for 1.3 miles of Monongahela riverfront once claimed by the former LTV Coke Works in Hazelwood and largely left for dead for decades.
After six months of study, including ideas and feedback from neighborhood residents, Pittsburgh-based Environmental Planning & Design has crafted a plan that turns the rusting industrial relics that mar the water’s edge into modern-day recreational amenities aimed at enhancing it.
“It’s genuine Pittsburgh,” Andrew J.G. Schwartz, studio director of Environmental Planning & Design, said in an interview.
Just as important, the plan links the neighborhood to the riverfront through connections from Blair Street and Hazelwood Avenue, the Hot Metal Bridge and a new flyover from Mill 19, an old coke works structure being repurposed by the Regional Industrial Development Corp.
EPD will present the updated vision for the riverfront master plan during a Zoom meeting Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Zoom registration link can be found at https://www.hazelwoodgreen.com/riverfront.
The entire 178-acre site, now known as Hazelwood Green, is being targeted for redevelopment by its owner Almono LP, made up of The Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
Click here to read the full article by Mark Belko at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.