NEW CASTLE Penn Power looks for buyer for old building

The New Castle City Rescue Mission is interested in relocating to the building.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- It's unclear what will happen to a Penn Power maintenance building on South Jefferson Street when the company moves to an outlying township.
"We've had an interest from a variety of people, both public and private entities. At this point we need to make that determination," said Jeff Elser, regional vice president for First Energy, the holding company for Penn Power.
Elser said they expect to make a decision about the building's fate in the next two to three months.
Penn Power expects to move its meter and line departments to a new 13,700-square-foot building being built on McCracken Lane in Union Township. The new building will better suit the company's space needs, which are shrinking because of new technology, than the current 40,000-square-foot building, Elser said.
Rescue mission: The New Castle City Rescue Mission, which includes housing for homeless men, a food bank and other programs for the needy, has shown interest in relocating to Penn Power's building.
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum stopped in here last fall in an effort to facilitate any talks between Penn Power and the charitable social service agency.
Kevin Green, City Rescue Mission director, has said that he has been contacted by developers working on a project downtown who want to buy the mission on Croton Avenue and fill it with retail shops.
Downtown mall: Developers Tom George, Bob Bruce and their families are working on a Warner Bros.-theme mall in three downtown buildings.
The Neisner-Centennial Building on Mill and East Washington streets and the Troutman building on East Washington Street are the first part of the development and will have retail shops, restaurants and a nickelodeon theater, developers have said.
The City Rescue Mission would be in a second phase of the project because it is near the other buildings along Neshannock Creek, Green said.
The City Rescue Mission director said this morning his organization is still very interested in the Penn Power building, but hasn't yet spoken to the company about buying the building.
"We've been waiting for them to make an announcement [about moving] before trying to get everyone to the table," Green said.
The mission, however, doesn't have to move if things don't work out at the new site, he said.
"We don't have to move. We own this building and yet we don't want to stand in the way of the downtown renovation project," Green said. "I just want to make sure we explore options as they are made available to us."