North Side Park to be Restored

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh hopes to revitalize the plaza between the museum and Allegheny Center Mall.

Children’s Museum Deputy Director Chris Siefert says the museum hopes to reopen the disused Allegheny Public Square to the community.

“The way it’s currently designed, it sort of feels private. It feels like it belongs to Allegheny Center Mall, but it’s really a public city park and we hope that by this revitalization it will recapture that feeling of a town green.”

The plaza’s concrete floor will be removed in favor of more than 70 trees and a space for a large tent. Siefert says the museum may move its Wednesday concert series to the park, in addition to whatever public or private events might take place there.

The Children’s Museum has a little more than $4 million of its $6 million goal for the project. Siefert says work will begin next spring, and the park is slated for rededication in 2012.