Mike Swisher welcomes the heat.
âThe streets are filling with people, restaurant tables are full inside and out, new businesses are opening, and outdoor events have returned,â said Swisher, principal at Horizon Properties Group LLC, a real estate development company and developer of the 813-acre mixed-use park.
Life in the sprawling park has not returned to its semi-frenetic, pre-pandemic pace â yet. But the Cecil Township location is not the eerie ghost town it had largely been for nearly a year. Workers are returning to their places of employment, businesses have moved in and events are scheduled.
Two new tenants are on board: Davidâs Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Center, at 1800 Main St., Suite 114; and Doodlebugs! Childrenâs Learning Academy, at 501 Consol Energy Drive.
It turns out there s $285,000 at the end of a yellow brick road.
Students in the Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy gained a new appreciation for historic brick streets after taking a project course designed to provide a local municipality with data relevant to the upkeep of its infrastructure.
From left to right: Rachel Bukowitz, Erick Shiring, Yunxi Luna Hu and Shunyu Charlotte Rao studied the costs and benefits associated with preserving brick streets in Mt. Lebanon.
Mt. Lebanon, located about 10 miles southwest of CMU s Pittsburgh campus, has about one quarter of its streets paved with bricks, 76 in total. While anecdotal evidence showed that residents find the streets charming, the municipality didn t have hard data to show it was economical to continue to maintain the streets. Enter CMU students.