When the Board voted to close Schenley in June 2008, it was on the condition that a community committee be formed to advise on reuse of the building. Over the next three years repeated requests were made to form the committee but all were ignored.
Now we are told that a sale is suddenly on the fast track, no community input needed. The Board (all but one of them) went along. Tribune article on this topic:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_760840.html
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If you want to buy Schenley or Reizenstein, or any other PPS building with a swim pool, call me. I can turn that swim pool into an asset. Serious.
412 298 3432.
Heather Arnet assured us that the public would be involved. Patrick Dowd assured us that all of the high schools would be open to all Pittsburgh students.
A committee and/or other potential buyers should be able to at least hear out how the pool-related proposal would work at Schenley. The building went from not for sale to practically sold in no time at all.
Mark, give it up already. Sheesh.
Schenley will be sold to UPMC, Reizenstein to an East End developer.
Was there ever any doubt?
It is actually Pitt that has always been interested in Schenley not UPMC.
And Schenley has been available since it was closed. Several different developers have passed on it over the three plus years. Remember, MR always said it was for sale from the moment it closed.
Problem is, it's a school. It's not easily adaptable to other uses -- thus Pitt as the only one likely to be interested.
Reizenstein hasn't been available until now.
Schenley was not listed on the website as available for sale until recently. MR may have said privately that it was available, but there does not seem to have been any sort of public announcement or marketing. Probably because then he would have had to form the committee.
MR was repeatedly reminded of the obligation to form the committee and refused to do so.
The comments in the article about not having a buyer lined up are comical, and very deceitful.
We should fully expect a bid by PMC Property.
After all, they have been meeting and speaking with Solicitor Weiss and Budget Director Camarda about buying Schenley for months.
At one point the attorneys even discussed a negotiated sale using the school code language of doing so using multiple appraisals as the basis to justify the price.
It's one thing to need to move on closed school buildings, it's another to lie to the community and taxpayers.
Shame, shame, shame.
From the time that said discussions began there was plenty of time to engage a Schenley committee, as we were promised.
Give what up?
If Pitt nor UMPC buys Schenley, or if the Bakery Square buys R, they still have swim pools. When Pitt got the JCC, the old JCC, they kept the swim pool functional and it is still to this day. There is a high demand for swimming on Pitt's campus. Alumni, spouses and others don't get into Trees Hall like in the past.
And, what need to happen next with those pools is unlike what has been offered in the past. I'd like to talk to folks who have those facilities to insure they are viable facilities in the years to come -- as swim pools.
So, even though doubt was never present, the use of the swim pools into the future does present questions with the new owners.
Before Reizenstein was reopened as a school, community members, along with ELDI, held vision meetings to brainstorm best uses for the property. Mixed use housing was at the top of the list. The building will most likely not exist anymore, because, even though it has a swimming pool, it is a poorly designed, poorly built building.
Looks like Bulldog 10/12 called the Schenley shot right.
It used to be, that schools were placed in well-designed buildings in prime locations. Now it's the opposite. The great building (Schenley) and locations (Schenley, Reizenstein) go to developers and the kids are sent to the places no one else wants.
There's a lot of talk about how important our schools are, but actions speak louder than words.
Angry taxpayer how did Bulldog forever call it right? What do you mean?
Tribune article:
Per B Isler, "Developers may not be wanting to rush into these kinds of developments," he said.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_762346.html
So uh, why are we rushing into a sale at this particular point in time?
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