Now that demolition at the former SCI Greensburg prison is getting underway, Hempfield officials are ready to look at the property’s future.
Township supervisors could begin discussions this summer on how to reuse the 96-acre site off Route 119 between Greensburg and Youngwood.
“We need to start that,” said Supervisor Tom Logan.
The township in mid-2023 bought the former state prison, which closed in 2013, for $3.5 million with the intention of redeveloping the land. Hempfield is partnering with Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. on the project. The township was awarded a $2 million state grant for the work.
The demolition contract was awarded last month to Ritenour and Sons Construction Co. for $732,000. They’ve gotten started on asbestos abatement and heavy machinery has been mobilized at the site, said township manager Aaron Siko. The work is expected to be finished in spring 2026.
Crews will use the machinery to tear the buildings apart. They will salvage metal on the property and use the crushed building material as fill, said Supervisor Doug Weimer.
He was adamant that the township does not want to hold onto the property.
“We’re not looking to use it for government use,” he said. “We want it back on the tax rolls.”
But what that will look like remains to be seen. Siko said the property is zoned for commercial use.
“This is an opportune time to look at surrounding zone and what we may want to do … to make sure we’re priming that property for the best reuse,” he said.
Siko said discussions about the future could begin in a couple months.
“I think in that time, certainly, (I’d) challenge each board member to start thinking about what you would like to see with the property, what kind of reuse you’d like to see with it,” he said.
The medium-security prison was built to hold 900 inmates and employed 360 people. It closed in June 2013, with state officials citing maintenance costs and a declining inmate population. It has been vacant since.
It was sold at auction in 2015 for $950,000 to Carlisle businessman David Goldsmith, who later titled it to Verdant Holdings LLC. Goldsmith announced a plan to build a veteran rehabilitation center there, a project that never materialized.
The property was foreclosed upon in 2018 and later sold at a sheriff’s sale for close to $147,000 to Midwest Bank of Detroit Lakes, Minn.