Demolition begins on Monessen’s old Fifth Street Hotel

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
Monessen’s mayor is pretty sure he’s lost a bet, but he couldn’t be happier about it.
Mayor Ron Mozer made a bet last month with Brian Lawrence, executive director of the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank, to see whether the city or the county could be the fastest to demolish buildings they were responsible for — and dinner for two at Lucchesi’s Restaurant was on the line.
The county is responsible for bringing down the Fifth Street Hotel — which crews started working on Wednesday morning and had leveled by 2:30 p.m. — and the building at 123-129 Sixth St., the site of a former Valley Independent office. The county has told Mozer the crew intends to begin work on the old newspaper building this morning.
“This one came down in one day,” Mozer said. “They did a pretty fantastic job.”

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