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Editorial: Help preserve memories of soon-to-be-demolished buildings

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Campbell Place, July 31

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Campbell Place, July 31

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Campbell Place, July 31

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Campbell Place, July 31

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Campbell Place, July 31

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Campbell Place, July 31

Now you see it. Now you don’t.

That’s been a theme along Route 19 in recent years, as once-familiar buildings fade into memory with their demolition and eventual replacement.

The latest victim, so to speak, is Campbell Place in Upper St. Clair, the small shopping complex once called Crossgates Plaza that shared a parking lot with Norman Centre I.

The former home of the likes of Model Cleaners, Einstein Brothers Bagels and Club Cappella Personalized Training is making way for a new CVS. It seems that the store has outgrown its current location cater-cornered to Campbell Place, and a fresh start will allow the retail chain to keep up with the Rite Aids and Walgreens of this part of the world.

The Almanac each week publishes “Looking Back” photograph, which resonates with readers who remember what the South Hills looked like back in the day, so to speak.

That type of nostalgia already applies to a good deal of the Route 19 corridor, which has undergone a substantial change in the past several years. In anticipation of “Looking Back,” an astute photographer could have captured images of many buildings before they were relegated to oblivion, including:

• Consol’s onetime headquarters across from South Hills Village, now the site of a seemingly perpetually under-construction Whole Foods and what will become Siena at St. Clair

• The former Babe Charapp Ford, transformed into Giant Eagle’s Market District Express

• The longtime Sears Outlet, replaced by a vehicle dealership

• Pro Adjusters, now the new Eat’n Park

• The old Eat’n Park, under construction for a new restaurant

• The former flower shop at the corner of Route 19 and Valley Brook Road, now part of the reconfigured intersection

• The Donaldson homestead, cater-cornered from the shopping center that bears the family name, which has become home to an expanded PNC branch, Chipotle Mexican Grill and MedExpress

The list goes on as the transformation continues, without signs of letting up any time soon.

So if you see a business that has closed, with heavy equipment starting to gather around the building, you might want to pull out your smartphone and take a photo while you still are able.

One of these days, you could be “Looking Back” at that image.

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