the almanac N O V E M B E R 24, 2024
SOUTH HILLS COMMUNITY NEWS
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Among the best Area schools get high marks in media company’s Pa. rankings By Karen Mansfield Staff writer
kmansfield@observer-reporter.com
PHOTOS: JON ANDREASSI/OBSERVER-REPORTER
A premier location WVU Medicine has signed a lease for all four stories of The Fountainhead building in Southpointe.
WVU Medicine expanding operations to Southpointe By Rick Shrum
For the Observer-Reporter rshrum@observer-reporter.com
WVU Medicine is coming to The Fountainhead building in Southpointe. Known formally as West Virginia University Health System, the Morgantown-based health-care provider has signed a lease for all four stories of the structure. The Fountainhead sits at the entrance to the mixed-use park, at 555 Southpointe Blvd. Jim Scalo, CEO of NAI Burns Scalo, the Green Tree-based real estate company that owns the building and brokered the deal, said WVU Medicine will have a first-floor clinic. He said he is unaware of the system’s plans throughout the remainder of the building. “They’re really growing,” Scalo said of the health system, adding that visibility, access and the ability to effectively post signage from that location appealed to the new tenant, West Virginia’s largest health system and the state’s largest employer.
“The sign is important,” Scalo said. “They didn’t want to go elsewhere in the park.” Scalo declined to disclose the length of the lease due to confidentiality, saying only that it was “very long-term.” Space is another attribute at The Fountainhead – 90,250 square feet of it. This structure was one of the first built in Southpointe, in 1995. The mixed-use park is located on 610 acres in Cecil Township, visible to motorists along Interstate 79 in Washington County. In a prepared statement, NAI Burns Scalo referred to the transaction as “one of the largest lease agreements in the Pittsburgh metropolitan region this year, taking a notable space off the market, and marking a significant net gain for Southpointe as a whole.” The company said the lease “marks a significant step forward for the Southpointe market,” where occupancy has been lagging. “This
WVU Medicine will operate a clinic on the first floor of The FountainSEE WVU PAGE A2 head building in Southpointe.
Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Peters Township School District earned the top ranking in the recently released list of 2024 Best Elementary Schools and Best Middle Schools in Pennsylvania by U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report – which traditionally releases a list of the best high schools and colleges in the country – began publishing elementary and middle school rankings in 2021. While Peters Township’s Pleasant Valley Elementary led the rankings, Bower Hill Elementary ranked seventh and McMurray Elementary was 74th among Pennsylvania’s 1,860 elementary schools. The media company’s researchers base their rankings on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education. Elementary schools are considered K-6 in the analysis. “This is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and passion of our students, staff, and families,” said Dr. Greg Marquis, principal of Pleasant Valley. “Every day our team works hard to foster a nurturing and inspiring environment where every child can thrive academically, socially and emotionally.” Dr. Michael Fisher, assistant superintendent who oversees curriculum for grades K-5 in the district, said the district’s goal is to “put students first, and this recognition is a result of our entire staff working together to provide a positive learning environment focused on the social and academic development of our students.” In Upper St. Clair School District in Allegheny County, Baker, Eisenhower and Streams elementary schools ranked 23rd, 24th and 31st, respectively, while Boyce Middle School ranked second. Other schools in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties also rated in the top 50%. SEE SCHOOLS PAGE A2
Myron Cope recalled in new biography co-written by Mt. Lebanon native By Brad Hundt Staff writer
bhundt@observer-reporter.com
By any reasonable measure, Myron Cope should not have been allowed anywhere near a radio microphone. Far from the soothing, modulated tones of announcers and disc jockeys that have populated the airwaves almost since radio’s inception, Cope’s voice was less the equivalent of a sweetly tuned violin than a busted muffler dragging on the concrete. Perhaps reflecting his four-pack-aday cigarette habit, Cope’s voice was a nasally, high-pitched instrument, with a Pittsburgh accent as thick as a bowlful of pierogies. To top it off,
Author Dan Joseph with his book, “Behind the Yoi,” a biography of Pittsburgh Steelers sportscaster Myron Cope, he co-wrote with Elizabeth Cope, Cope’s daughter.
“(MYRON COPE’S) WAS NOT A TYPICAL BROADCAST VOICE. AND IT WAS INCREDIBLY UNIQUE BECAUSE IT DIDN’T SOUND LIKE ANYBODY’S VOICE. THERE’S NOTHING LIKE IT.” DAN JOSEPH, MT. LEBANON NATIVE AND CO-AUTHOR OF “BEHIND THE YOI” Cope was given to flights of excited chatter that made it sound like he had mixed his nicotine regimen with equally high doses of caffeine. Any strangers to the Pittsburgh region flipping around on the radio dial and hearing Cope’s voice could well have thought, “Who is that guy?!”
MT. LEBANON Left-behind water bottles on display at public library PAGE A3 What’s happening, B3
“It was not a typical broadcast voice,” said Dan Joseph, a Mt. Lebanon native who co-wrote the recently published biography of Cope, “Behind the Yoi,” along with Cope’s daughter, Elizabeth Cope. “And it
COURTESY OF DAN JOSEPH
SEE COPE PAGE A2
SPORTS Triathlon a tool for South Fayette native’s philanthropy PAGE B1 Real estate transactions, A6
SIGHTS & SOUNDS Von Maur opens in South Hills Village PAGE B3 Classifieds, B4-6