Shaler Township acquires Jeffery Primary School building and grounds

Shaler Township has completed the purchase of the now-closed Jeffery Primary School, located on Wetzel Road attached to Kiwanis Park.

The township closed on the purchase in August and paid $120,000 for the building and the 6.15 acres it sits on, according to the Allegheny County Real Estate Portal website.

Plans are already in place for the building, with the township hiring company HHSDR Architects and Engineers to develop designs for the building before bringing those plans to the public.

“HHSDR is charging $25,000 to do a complete mark-up,” said Tim Rogers, township manager. “We are doing asbestos testing and ground investigations, trying to locate utilities and things like that.”

HHSDR, located in Pittsburgh, was hired in part because they are already familiar with the building. Because the company already had done an assessment of the building, that didn’t need to be repeated and the township could begin getting plans to move the Parks and Recreation department into the former school.

“They are the architect that the school district uses, and they have a lot of knowledge about the building, which is why we were able to get a really good arrangement with them,” Rogers said.

In addition to updating the building to house Parks and Recreation, the project will also include removing the existing pavilion at Kiwanis and replacing it with a larger one, similar to the Shaler Park deck at the pool.

The pavilion will be in approximately the same place but will be moved back further away from the backstop to put some space between the two.

Once the basics of the plan have been evaluated, the township will present it to the board of commissioners for their approval.