After four long years of standing empty, a former business- incubator building along the Donohoe Road in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, is again becoming a vital part of the community as its first new tenants – the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development organization – settle in.

The occupancy is a major accomplishment in a two-year-long effort by a group of nonprofit partners to transform this nondescript 1980s-era cinderblock structure into distinctive, contemporary office space and a model of green-building rehabilitation.

They’ve given the building a striking new roof line featuring a two-story glass arch entryway, a coat of lively yellow paint, and host of conservation materials, and a new name -- GreenForge -- to reflect its dual goal of being a home for nonprofit agencies dedicated to conservation and rural development.

U.S.D.A. Rural Development’s second-floor, 1,900-square-foot office in GreenForge increases the agency’s previous space by more than one-third, giving it much-needed room to better manage its growing number of programs, which range from helping communities create jobs to extending utility infrastructure.

It also allows the organization to be just steps away from its “sister” agencies – USDA’s Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service – in the adjacent Donohoe Center building.

“The GreenForge location also gives us a new working advantage – the opportunity to have daily interaction with some new agencies and organizations,” explained Rural Development Manager Sandra Ridenour. Other tenants scheduled to move into the building over the next two months include: the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, a group of that works to clean up land and water damaged by past coal-mining practices in 24 counties in western Pennsylvania; and Outside In, an organization that helps troubled teenagers acquire new skills and positive attitudes so they can live life to the fullest.

“This location is emerging as a ‘conservation campus,’” explained Greg Phillips, district manager/CEO of the Westmoreland Conservation District, whose organization is a lead partner in the GreenForge project along with the Westmoreland Industrial Development Corporation Inc., and the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation.

“In 1994, the county built Donohoe Center here to serve the public as a one-stop agriculture and conservation center…in 2002, the Westmoreland Conservation District raised more than $1.5 million in pubic and private funds to move a local barn behind Donohoe Center and adapt it for reuse as a conservation education center…and now, in 2006, we are adding a GreenForge – the first green rehabilitation of a commercial building in Westmoreland County – to the mix.”

The Westmoreland County Parks Building and the 65-acre Ann Rudd Saxman Nature Park also are nearby.

GreenForge includes a number of conservation features, such as: a 9,000-square-foot green roof (a roof planted with vegetation to absorb rainwater, reduce pollution, and help insulate the building from summer sun), a geothermal heating and cooling system (an environmentally friendly, low-impact and low-cost way to use the earth’s energy to provide comfort instead of using non-renewable fossil fuels), naturally lit and naturally ventilated space (including new, energy-efficient windows), and native landscaping.

Overall, GreenForge’s commitment to conservation will create more comfortable space for its tenants and have the potential to save them money by moderating the building’s use of energy, which means more stable heating, cooling, and electric costs.

“We will be tracking the effectiveness of the various systems,” Phillips said. The Conservation District plans to use the data it gathers and the building’s conservation features as demonstrations in its community education program. “Our goal is to help people learn more about how to save energy and create more sustainable buildings.”

USDA’s Rural Development agency will retain its current telephone numbers and email addresses in its new GreenForge location.

Links: Westmoreland Plants First Green Roof

Ribbon Cut on Westmoreland’s First Green Building

Westmoreland Campus Expanding to Include GreenForge

12/15/2006