Bids to demolish Jeannette's Fort Pitt Brewery range from $335K to $1.4M

It will cost less than expected to raze the former Fort Pitt Brewery complex in Jeannette.

Proposals from 10 demolition companies were opened Friday for the job that when completed will remove the industrial complex that has been a presence in the city for more than a century.

Bids for the demolition ranged from $335,000 to more than $1.4 million.

Westmoreland County’s Redevelopment Authority solicitor Tim Andrews said the bids will be reviewed and a demolition contract could be awarded at the board’s next public meeting on June 25.

Senior project manager Hallie Chatfield said the officials budgeted $750,000 to demolish the vacant brewery.

“We anticipate this will be completed by the end of the year,” Chatfield said.

Officials announced the demolition will be paid for as part of a $10.4 million project to remove blight throughout Westmoreland County. Commissioners allocated money from the county’s $105 million in funds received through the American Rescue Plan.

The Westmoreland County Land Bank purchased multi-story dilapidated red brick building on Penn Avenue and Clay Avenue Extension for $1,876 at a judicial sale in 2022. The property was more than $330,000 in arrears since since 2005.

The site previously was home to Victor Brewing Co., which formed in 1907. Fort Pitt Brewing bought the property in 1941, according to news accounts.

In the mid-1950s, the property was repurposed after it was acquired by Papercraft Corp. to expand its gift wrap manufacturing operations. The plant went dormant in the mid-1970s and was later purchased by Laurel Mould, which produced plastic food containers.

The property was then purchased at a sheriff’s sale by the Rufus Corp. in 2002.

Officials said once torn down, city and county leaders will rehabilitate the property to prepare it for purchase and reuse.