PWSA reaches agreement with Iron City
Written on June 13, 2010
After years of squabbling over unpaid bills, the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority today announced it had reached a settlement with Lawrenceville-based Iron City Brewing LLC.
The total value of the settlement is $750,000, above the $400,000 figure the authority originally agreed to, but below the $1 million sought by city councilman Patrick Dowd, a member of the PWSA board, whose district includes the now mostly vacated 148-year-old brewery in Lawrenceville now proposed for redevelopment.
According a formal announcement by the PWSA, the agreement calls for:
• Iron City Brewery to pay PWSA $450,000 on September 18, 2010;
• Iron City Brewery to pay PWSA $200,000 by a deadline of December 31, 2010, with the money coming from the salvage value of two buildings to be demolished at the brewery in exchange for the authority’s approval to do so;
• Iron City to release any claims to recoup fees valued at about $65,000 on water lines that have been unused at the brewery after it moved its beer production to Latrobe;
• Iron City to contribute $35,000 to the master planning for the 3340 Liberty Ave. site, a sprawling property in which Iron City Brewing still maintains its administrative headquarters as it considers plans to redevelop the plant.
The agreement is the latest compromise between the PWSA and Iron City beer company, whose predecessor firm, The Pittsburgh Brewing Co cash till payday advance., at one point owed more than $2.6 million in unpaid water, sewage and interest bills. The Pittsburgh Brewing Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005.
After Iron City Brewing LLC bought the brewery out of bankruptcy in 2007, the PWSA struck an agreement for the brewery to pay off $450,000 of the original debt, assuming the company would continue to operate out of the Lawrenceville plant.
Last year, the PWSA sought to hold Iron City Brewing to more of the old debt when it moved beer production to Latrobe.
The PWSA hopes the agreement will help promote a “productive reuse of the brewery site.”
In a prepared statement, Terry Doloughty, president of the Polish Hill Civic Association, believes the new agreement will prove a helpful step in revitalizing the brewery property that neighbors his community.
“I think that this is a great step in the right direction that will allow Polish Hill, Lawrenceville, Strip District, Iron City Brewing and the City of Pittsburgh to work together as a team to find the best possible use for the site,” he said.