Trolley bus to be used to enhance downtown Sharon
Jun. 24—SHARON — A Sharon business has purchased the Mercer County Regional Council of Governments trolley bus and plans to use it as part of a project to enhance the downtown.
"The trolley may be used as a dining car or bridal car to where it sits on the far end of the patio," said John Bianco, owner of The Corinthian banquet center.
The trolley, which Bianco purchased from COG for $8,000, holds sentimental value for him. He and his wife used it for their wedding day 20 years ago.
"I'd like to get it and take brides and grooms back and forth," Bianco said.
The trolley is a 2001 bus tricked out to look like an antique streetcar with its exterior look and interior wood and brass seating. It often was used in parades and at local events. Sometimes COG rented or loaned it out for certain activities, such as when a group of city employees went caroling at retirement homes in Hermitage, said Michael Nashtock, transit director for COG.
The vehicle had reached the end of its useful life due to its age. The Federal Transit Administration also had a regulation that would have made it difficult for COG to lend the vehicle for private events, so they put the trolley up for bids.
The trolley would be parked on the courtyard in the Central Way alley, and could also be used as a dining car, Bianco said.
The Corinthian is an imposing, three-story brick building at Vine Avenue and Pitt Street that was built in 1909 as the Masonic lodge.
Bianco bought the small, concrete-block building on Central Way behind the Corinthian three years ago for $15,000 with the intention of tearing it down to make it into an outdoor courtyard. The courtyard would have multiple entrances back into the Corinthian.
Bianco has talked to artists and plans to make an artist's alley that would be visible from the downtown park that the city plans to build nearby in place of the Huntington Bank building.
Bianco plans to make the courtyard pet-friendly, and he wants to work with local businesses such as the Penn-Ohio Cigar Company, at 91 E. State St., to have customers enjoy cigars outside or use Thyme in Your Kitchen, 79 E. State St., for outdoor grilling.
Bianco has hurdles to jump before all that can happen. The vacant building cannot be torn down because it shares a wall with the adjacent law office building on Shenango Avenue on the other side of it, so a retaining wall must be built.
Demolition plus further construction will cost Bianco about $80,000. To build a courtyard, Bianco has sought a grant from the city.
Technical issues such as insurance, registering with PennDOT, and getting a driver with a commercial driver's license would have to be in place to transport wedding parties in the trolley bus.
"We need to have the right things in place," Bianco said, adding that he hopes to have the building down in the fall. "I'm just waiting and pushing buttons, trying to get things done."
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
