This article in yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discusses the redevelopment of the Carrie Furnace site – “an expanse of blast furnaces that once produced as much as 1,200 tons of iron per day for the former Homestead Works of U.S. Steel.”

The 168-acre parcel is now owned by the county and is close to being ready for development, the article states, in the final stages of environmental cleanup.

What will replace the furnaces, which operated for 102 years?

“County officials envision a mix of riverfront housing, light industrial manufacturing and office space at the site,” the Post-Gazette states. “They also hope to establish a steel heritage museum to showcase the existing furnaces on a 25-acre section that the federal government has already declared a historical site.”

Two other former mill sites in the region have been redeveloped, as the story points out: The Waterfront shopping area on the site of the old Homestead Works, and The SouthSide Works, an old LTV site. The SouthSide Works “features the UPMC Sports Performance Complex and offices for the Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh football teams. The region’s FBI headquarters is also there, which has a 34-acre retail and entertainment district developed by the Soffer Organization, as well as office buildings and residential units.”

Near where I used to live in Cleveland, there was a similar site, Steelyard Commons, part of a former LTV site and now mostly retail.

What other old mill and industrial sites that I don’t know about have been turned into malls?

How else could these kinds of sites be redeveloped? Do we need more retail?

-KG