Carrie Furnace Redevelopment Site Built in 1881 and later acquired by Andrew Carnegie, the Carrie Blast Furnace site totals 168 acres and produced molten iron-ore that would be used in the production and manufacturing of the Pittsburgh region’s most widely recognized good, steel. The site operated continuously until 1978 when USX Corporation shuttered the plant in hopes of streamlining production and lowering costs. USX later sold the site to the Park Corporation in 1988, which began dismantling the remaining blast furnaces on the site to make way for future redevelopment effort. In 2005, RAAC purchased the site and in 2006, received National Historic Landmark Designation from the Department of Interior for the remaining blast furnaces, the Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge, and the adjacently located Pump House (site of the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892).

As the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County continues to redevelop the Carrie Furnace site, its most recent accomplishments have been the completion of a flyover bridge which provides safe access to the site without the need to cross the three sets of railroad tracks that run parallel to the property on its northern edge.

As for the importation of fill material, RAAC has completed two and a half full pads, with approximately 50 shovel-ready acres available for development opportunities. In the winter of 2016-17 RAAC will go out to bid for the final pad leading to the furnaces giving the site approximately 60 acres ready for development. RAAC is also actively pursuing funding opportunities to remediate and convert the existing hot-metal bridge into an additional point of access for vehicles, pedestrians, and bikers, creating a connection to the system of trails throughout our region.

Previous work included a boring linking the site to the existing ALCOSAN infrastructure located along CSX’s railroad tracks adjacent to the site, demolition of the existing Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge ramps, and extension of electrical utilities.

RAAC is looking forward to marketing the site in the spring of 2017 in hopes of attracting light industrial manufacturing to the site in an effort to generate job growth and economic development in the region.