Penn McKee Hotel to play vital role in city’s future

By Jim BUSCH

For the Mon Valley Independent

Most of the programs at the McKeesport History and Heritage Center highlight the city’s past. 

A recent program titled “The Past, Present and Future of the Penn McKee Hotel,” had much more to do about Tube City’s future. 

Dave Moore, the center’s museum manager, welcomed guests and invited them to some of the group’s upcoming programs. He then introduced Jason Toyger, President of Tube City Media, who in turn introduced the other panelists: Matthew Craig, executive director of the Young Preservationists of Pittsburgh, McKeesport Mayor Mike Cherepko and Michele Matuch, President of McKees Point Development Group.

Craig opened the program by holding up a large bound volume and telling the audience that it was the report on the Penn McKee Hotel that his organization had prepared for the mayor’s office. He said that when he took on the assignment that it was just another job, but the passion everyone in the mayor’s office had for the project won him over. Craig said saving the Penn McKee has become a personal quest. 

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