{"id":33207,"date":"2025-11-13T17:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T17:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/33207\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T17:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T17:18:10","slug":"western-state-penitentiarys-demolition-looms-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/33207\/","title":{"rendered":"Western State Penitentiary’s demolition looms close"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the final article in a series about Western Penitentiary\u2019s history and impending demolition. Read the previous installments here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Few Pittsburgh landmarks have as storied a history as Western State Penitentiary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The North Side location\u2019s 1827 opening was essentially an immediate failure<\/a>. The prison would learn from its mistakes, become a global role model and move into \u201cthe most expensive and pretentious building\u201d in America by the 1900s before entering a period of steady decline and inhumanity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amid it all, Pittsburghers called for the prison\u2019s demolition. Their collective wish is set to be fulfilled by 2027.<\/p>\n

In June 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of General Services (DGS) enlisted construction engineering company Michael Baker International to determine future uses for the site on Beaver Avenue in Woods Run.<\/p>\n

A 2023 Land Use Feasibility Study<\/a>, produced as part of the project, identified three potential site outcomes: keep the property as is, conduct a partial demolition to preserve key sites or fully demolish it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on their analysis, full demolition was recommended as the most viable approach to maximize the property\u2019s development potential, marketability and value,\u201d DGS spokesperson L. Paul Vezzetti writes in an email to NEXTpittsburgh. \u201cThis recommendation also reflected community feedback, which strongly favored removing all prison structures to enable a fresh start for redevelopment and job growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of the Land Use study, Michael Baker collected feedback from local public and private sector leaders and community members. In one report, leaders of the Marshall-Shadeland Civic Group suggested the site should be razed since it is a traumatic symbol for many Black Pittsburghers. The group did not respond to multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Demolition is estimated to cost $43 million, Vezzetti writes. The 2023 Michael Baker study put it at nearly $50 million. According to the study, the annual cost for the property\u2019s security is between $800,000 and $1 million.<\/p>\n

The site\u2019s imminent demolition is what spurred Doug MacGregor to write \u201cWestern State Penitentiary\/SCI Pittsburgh: A History,\u201d released in August.<\/p>\n

MacGregor doesn\u2019t like the idea of wiping the site clean; many other decommissioned prisons have been put to other uses, Philadelphia\u2019s Eastern State Penitentiary<\/a> among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve used that as a center for criminology studies, using it as a platform to promote human rights in prisons, as a forum for discussion about people and to talk about these kinds of things,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than being a symbol of pain and a horrible past, use it as a tool for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"The interior of a modern portion of Western Pen seen through a glass door. This portion of the building was built throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and was abandoned in 2017. Photo by Roman Hladio.<\/p>\n

Robert Faruq Wideman, who spent nearly 40 years in the stone prison blocks before his 2019 commutation, has previously spoken about its treacherous conditions.<\/a><\/p>\n

He says it would be nice if it were a national landmark of sorts, but adds that it\u2019s an odd question to ponder. In a few months, he\u2019ll turn 75; he has never lived \u2014 nor will ever live \u2014 anywhere as long as he lived in Western Pen.<\/p>\n

Realistically, it doesn\u2019t make a difference to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been expecting them to tear it down, but they haven\u2019t done it yet,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

While demolition has been on the table since 2023, the one thing currently holding it back is the film industry. Since Western Pen closed for the last time in 2017, it\u2019s been used in various films and TV shows.<\/p>\n

Chief among them is Paramount\u2019s \u201cMayor of Kingstown.\u201d Paramount has the site on lease through Dec. 31, 2025, according to DGS, meaning \u201cThe Wall\u201d will stand for at least another month.<\/p>\n

Show co-creator Hugh Dillon is a native of Kingstown, Ontario \u2014 a town with nine prisons \u2014 where the show\u2019s first season was shot.<\/p>\n

Several sites were considered when \u201cKingstown\u201d left Kingstown, but after seeing Western Pen, the production team stopped looking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe architecture was stunning,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s so incredibly ominous. The structure of it was different than the ones that we had used for season one, and it was just \u200abigger and meaner and darker and it had a great location by the water and the railway tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paramount re-upping its contract would literally give the prison a new lease on life. Dillon wouldn\u2019t give a firm answer one way or the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always upgrade the leases just depending on shooting and that\u2019s just business, but right now, we have it, and that\u2019s all that interests me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings changed for us in Kingstown, and so we moved, and this institution is just exceptional for us. If things change, things change. You just pivot. That\u2019s the nature of the business. But right now, everything\u2019s rocking and I hope that it continues that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other local parties have more drastic reuse plans for the site.<\/p>\n

Real estate developer Tom Tripoli envisions part of the restored penitentiary becoming a hotel, with space for an art gallery and museum. Then, by demolishing some of the newer structures in the middle of the property, he\u2019d create Castle Courtyard RV Park \u2014 an amenity that currently can\u2019t be found within city limits.<\/p>\n

The 76-year-old South Side resident calls this plan \u201cSave the Castle!<\/a>\u201d named for the castle-esque appearance of the penitentiary\u2019s front house.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Tom Tripoli\u2019s proposed plan for the Western State Penitentiary site would see many structures in the middle of the property demolished to make room for the Castle Courtyard RV Park. Image courtesy of Tom Tripoli via savethecastlepgh.org.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main mission was to save the property and have it redeveloped into something useful for the community,\u201d Tripoli says. \u201cI would be willing to do that, or if somebody else is willing to do it and has even a better plan, I would support that, but what\u2019s hard to support is not getting any attention or consideration for a good plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tripoli is the force behind Angel\u2019s Arms Condominiums \u2014 a project that turned the former St. Michael the Archangel Church into unique condos. He\u2019s also a prominent property owner. Local institution The Beehive<\/a> was in one of his storefronts.<\/p>\n

To him, Western Pen\u2019s rehabilitation would be a culmination of his life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Tripoli has sent five certified letters to Gov. Josh Shapiro, but none garnered a response. The governor\u2019s press office says Shapiro \u201chas been in contact with [Tripoli],\u201d but deferred to DGS\u2019 emails to NEXTpittsburgh for additional details.<\/p>\n

He also says he\u2019s spoken to current Mayor Ed Gainey, Mayor-Elect Corey O\u2019Connor and state Sen. Wayne Fontana and Jay Costa about his plan, but none have provided letters of support.<\/p>\n

Fontana was the only one to respond to multiple requests for comment. He\u2019s in favor of the site sale as-is, since it would relieve the state of its annual operating costs and the demolition\u2019s associated expenses.<\/p>\n

Plus, even if the site were razed, its processing and sale would not occur quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be years down the road before anything happens there, and in the meantime, you spend all this money there, where these folks are going in and probably within a year to two years will have something going there,\u201d Fontana says.<\/p>\n

But Fontana says Tripoli\u2019s proposal sought some state assistance for the project \u2014 something DGS has made clear they will not provide. Tripoli tells NEXTpittsburgh his project would be entirely privately funded.<\/p>\n

The property has also drawn the attention of Anthony Jordan, the vice president of Morgantown-based demolition and asbestos abatement company SafeCo.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has ever come up with a plan that creates jobs and creates their own revenue without any state assistance besides [the Jordan family],\u201d he says. \u201cAnd not only did I create a plan to do so, I already have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jordans are the force behind the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia. They purchased the former psychiatric hospital in 2010 and have since turned it into \u201ca historical and paranormal attraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

His current site plans are to save The Wall, the warden\u2019s house and the main gate. He envisions parts of these spaces open to public and student tours if or when they\u2019re restored. The fate of other buildings on the property is up in the air.<\/p>\n

Fontana adds that Jordan\u2019s connection to an asbestos removal company is, on paper, a leg up.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s concern, Fontana speculates, is that a buyer would claim they\u2019d remediate the site, but then would fail to do so, and the responsibility \u2014 and cost \u2014 would fall back on the state. To ensure that doesn\u2019t happen, he thinks a buyer would have to indemnify the state should losses occur after the sale.<\/p>\n

Any sale hinges on legislation that would approve the property transfer, within which all those details would be finalized, Fontana says.<\/p>\n

Still, the Jordan family\u2019s future at Western Pen remains uncertain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need the state to allow me to purchase the property,\u201d he says. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s marked for demolition. We need to get out of that. If I can \u2026 put a proposal together \u2014 which is what we\u2019re drafting now \u2014 then I just need them to accept it and not tear it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"A row of cells inside Western State Penitentiary after its permanent closure. Photo by Doug MacGregor.<\/p>\n

DGS spokesperson Vezzetti writes that DGS is \u201caware of general interest in the property,\u201d but that it will be sold through a competitive bidding process once demolition is complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile other reuse proposals have been suggested, the Land Use Study and the General Assembly\u2019s legislation establish that demolition and competitive sale provide the most feasible path forward,\u201d Vezzetti writes.<\/p>\n

Tripoli says that demolition would leave it to languish like any other unused brownfield site, of which Allegheny County has 276, according to reporting by Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really have no idea why they wouldn\u2019t consider a valid restoration of the property that would provide all these benefits,\u201d Tripoli says. \u201cThey\u2019re going to spend $40 [million] to $50 million demolishing a building that, even if they sell the lot, what\u2019re they going to get? One million dollars back? That\u2019s wasted money.\u201d<\/p>\n

While historians, photographers<\/a> and urban explorers<\/a> have been allowed into Western Pen in the past, DGS did not permit a visit for NEXTpittsburgh. Tripoli says DGS gave him and Jordan a tour at the beginning of October.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been about 50 years since Wideman first set foot in Western Pen. Through those years, he tried escaping, started taking drugs, went clean, got his GED, made friends and lost others.<\/p>\n

That building is full of memories. Good and bad. Inseparable. Every day, he woke up with hope that he\u2019d get out.<\/p>\n

But if Western Pen reopened somehow, would he go visit?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see it?\u201d Wideman says after a long pause. \u201cI guess so. I have no clue what it must look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have some fond memories, but whether they keep the building? It ain\u2019t the building that I have those hopes in, it\u2019s those experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

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