Grass is just starting to sprout in thin turfs across Olmsted Commons, a half-acre plot in the heart of Vandergrift with winding sidewalks and carefully contoured soil.
Calling it a park at this stage would be an overstatement.
North Huntingdon-based contractor 3DMurin Construction finished pouring concrete, paving an event area and landscaping last year, using all of $151,000 given to the borough by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The borough will put up a roughly equal match in land, cash, professional service donations and other contributions.
All the other accoutrements of a park, like benches, sycamore trees and a mural wall meant to cover up a blighted row house next door, are expected to be funded by donations and installed by volunteers before the end of the year.
“There’s a lot of needs yet to make this complete,” said Lucien Bove, the borough’s engineer.
The punch list also includes trash cans, educational signs, “living” walls and lighting.
A stainless steel “V” monument built by Eugene Hepler of EHI-FireFab in Washington Township will be added, too.
While there’s much work ahead, the site at 144 Washington Ave. has come a long way since a fire there destroyed multiple mixed-use buildings in 2015. That started a chain of events that led the borough to buy the land off the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank.
After demolition, the parcel became nothing more than an unsightly patch of weeds, so the borough started plotting the future of this land with the county’s assistance about five years ago.
It dubbed the project Olmsted Commons, a tribute to Frederick Law Olmsted, the architect of New York City’s Central Park, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and other famous sites.
Around town, he’s best known for designing Vandergrift from what was just several hundreds acres of farmland.
Hallie Chatfield, senior project manager with the county redevelopment authority and land bank, previously told TribLive the curved walkways play off Olmsted’s use of curves in designing Vandergrift’s distinctive streets.
Work on the honorary park was interrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. Crews finally broke ground in October.
In the view of Councilwoman Marilee Kessler, Olmsted Commons will serve as a connector between the Grant Avenue business corridor and other parts of the borough’s core, such as the McMurtry Towers senior high-rises.
To travel between the business district and the park, pedestrians can take McKinley Avenue, which will also see some improvements in the coming months.
The nonprofit Vandergrift Improvement Program recently received a $30,000 grant through the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County to spruce up the alley with lighting and art installations.
“It’s kind of all interconnected,” Kessler said.