Non-profit looks to turn old Canonsburg Middle School into community hub

CANONSBURG, Pa. — Walk the empty halls of the former Canon-McMillan Middle School, it’s hard to imagine students inside.

“I was the first class that came to this building when it built, I’d walk two and a half blocks to come here everyday,” Tony Colaizzo, who’s the Board Director of Canonsburg Educational and Cultural Institute.

For decades, it served as a school until 18 months ago. Now Colaizzo and a group of other natives have a vision.

“We want to collaborate with everyone, we want people to come up with great ideas. We want to fill needs that haven’t been met, we want teachers to be happy, administrators happy, students, we want the community to come here for more than one activity,” Colaizzo said.

That’s the goal as they created the non-profit Canonsburg Educational and Cultural Institute or CECI. The group is in the process of completing the purchase of this building in the coming months then work starts to create a space for a preschool and daycare.

Then they will transform the auditorium into a theatre space, open food services like a cafe and a recreation center and that’s just to start.

“There have been inquires already about robotics institutes, beer making, tailor who can teach tailoring, girl scouts, huge interest from McMurray Art and just lots of interests with artists,” Colaizzo said.

The first phase will cost about $8 million including adding parking for the building. The whole project is ballparked around $20 million. It’s an asset this team believes will launch Canonsburg forward while creating a hub for community collaboration.

“One of our mission statements is to make it available to everyone, we know some folks have trouble being engaged in things like this from a financial point and want everyone who’s going to be part of CECI to commit to giving back in some fashion,” Colaizzo said.

The hope is to take ownership of the building this summer and have the first phase up and operational by 2025.

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