Want to Live in Conn Area?

Oh, yes, you do!

The recently sold Conn Area building is being turned into apartments. This is pretty much the only thing that would get me to move back to the Nam, except for the fact that some shady, shady characters are in that area. Other than that, I'd move in in a hot minute.

It actually sounds like this dude's got a pretty good plan for some pretty nice apartments, though. The building was in well enough condition for new owner Gary Colatch to do some renovations--unlike, as he points out, practically the rest of Connellsville. In fact, he was offered one of those buildings for a dollar, but it's beyond repair.

The classrooms, he says, are big enough to become two-bedroom apartments. I don't remember them being that big, but then again, they were often cluttered. What will become of the coat rooms, I wonder? They were our trusty hiding places for "creeper on the premises" drills. All the renovations are expected to start in the winter.

This is a pretty neat idea not just to provide nice apartments for the area but also as nostalgia factor. Plus it's a good solution for an old building, and as we've seen, old buildings in Connellsville don't do so well. If they don't deteriorate, they're torn down to make room for parking lots. And some of Connellsville's old buildings are gorgeous. Added bonus: the building was a designated fallout shelter. That makes for a pretty solid home, I think.

Colatch expects some negativity, but how can someone be against this? This has some much potential and could be such a good thing. The only argument against it I could see is saying that the space should be sued to create jobs. The problem with that is Fayette County actually has decent job openings, but rumor has it few people pass the drug tests to get them. That's another discussion and problem for another day.

Dude's got big plans for the place and he's excited, which is awesome. You don't see that too often around here. He says it best himself--"We need to get off our butts. We need to fix what's fixable and tear down what can't be fixed within a decent time frame."