Full disclosure, I don’t live in the Pittsburgh suburb of Churchill, I am about 1.5 miles away however I pass the former George Westinghouse Industrial Park about 4 times a week. Before I retired (day job) it was every day. There has been a lot of chatter about Amazon moving into the space that has been vacant for a very long time. It used to be the home of the Westinghouse Research and Development Center. The center housed the Westinghouse Research Laboratories, which employed approximately 1500 professional scientists, engineers, technicians, and support personnel. The company’s manufacturing planning and controls laboratories, as well as the patent department, were also located at the Churchill facility. A lot of those employees lived in beautiful homes very close to the research center.
For many years, Westinghouse was the largest taxpayer in Churchill, and at its peak in the 1980s, the site had a dozen buildings and was valued at $40 million. The property is along the Parkway East outbound with access from Greensburg Pike and Beulah Road.
From an article written about five years ago, it was reported that Pittsburgh Studios, a movie production facility that has worked on films including “Concussion” and “Love the Coopers,” is on part of the property. The rest of the site is vacant, and the property was then valued at $943,000.
After Westinghouse abandoned the site, there were great expectations for the redevelopment of the sprawling property in Churchill. But nothing seemed to stick. In comes Amazon with hopes of using the land for a distribution center, a lot of Churchill residents are not happy. Just like the residents in Lawrenceville were up in arms when Amazon selected the former Sears outlet for a distribution space. Both neighborhoods claim traffic and noise are their major complaints.
Reportedly a plan was presented that was a little smaller than expected to have a little less impact to earn Churchill Borough’s approval for what’s still expected to be a transformational redevelopment of the former George Westinghouse Research Park along the Parkway East.
“Those jobs at Westinghouse are gone, times have changed. We all want to “make it like it was.” I too like to see things remain the same in some respects. I dislike passing the former Churchill Country club and seeing the decayed bridge once used by the golfers and remembering the fun times I had at the country club once blacks were allowed to come inside. That was the location for my high school after prom and I never expected it to be torn down.” The property is now known as the Churchill Valley Greenway. It will have walking and biking trails and space for bird watching and other activities.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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