Money makes this carousel go ' round

Planned Oakland merry-go-round animals bringing in the big corporate bucks

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is selling the rights to a musical carousel that it's building near Forbes Avenue to raise enough money to keep it running after it opens in the spring.

James Rohr of PNC Financial Services Group had to have the horse.

Ed Dunlap of Centimark Roofing Systems and the LeMont restaurant wanted the eagle, while George Greer of the Eden Hall Foundation sought out the dolphin. The price paid by each executive was $20,000.

They are not opening a zoo, though.

Instead, the executives bought animals on what might be Pittsburgh's most expensive merry-go-round. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is building a musical carousel in Oakland, near Forbes Avenue, and selling rights to the 14 animals, trying to raise enough money to keep the whirligig spinning after it opens to the public in the spring.

The 28-foot-wide mechanical menagerie is part of a $10 million renovation of a parking lot between the Hillman and Carnegie libraries -- a three-acre project called Schenley Plaza that also will feature 500 chairs, 125 tables, wireless Internet access, four food stands and a brick walkway paid for by $250-a-brick donations to the conservancy (people also may buy the chairs for $175 apiece).

The new carousel is a throwback to an old Schenley Park merry-go-round that once occupied a spot at Greenfield Road and Panther Hollow Drive in the early 1900s.

Still for sale are a camel, an elephant, a giraffe, an ostrich, a rabbit, a sea horse, a seal, a triceratops and a Nittany Lion and a Pitt Panther. Penn State and Pitt grads are being approached about the lion and the panther, while natural history devotees are being pitched on the dinosaur.

A personal story explains almost every animal purchase so far.

"Most people are definitely trying to do this in a way that honors people in their family," said Meg Cheever, president of the nonprofit Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

Robert Randall, chief executive officer of Traco, the Cranberry-based door and window manufacturer, paid for a sea dragon through the Charity Randall Foundation, housed at Traco's headquarters and dedicated to his late sister, Charity, who died at age 32 in an automobile accident. Her pet name for all of Mr. Randall's children, then toddlers, was "my little dragon."

"It kind of stuck with the family over the years," Mr. Randall said.

Mr. Randall does not have grandchildren yet ("my wife is very itchy," he said), but he likes knowing that he will be able to take them to Schenley Plaza and point out the dragon and its importance to the Randall family.

Mr. Greer, chairman and president of the Downtown-based Eden Hall Foundation, also looked to his family for guidance with the animal purchase. In fact, he left the decision to his two grandchildren, 5 and 9 years old, both of whom live in Boston and chose the dolphin.

"They voted on it," Mr. Greer said. "It wasn't the one I would have picked. I like the sea horse."

Mr. Rohr, chief executive officer of the region's largest bank, PNC, also appears to have a personal connection to the animal he selected.

Mr. Rohr is co-chair of the conservancy's capital campaign and PNC Foundation gave the conservancy $750,000 this year, some of which is paying for the carousel's construction.

Several people, including Mr. Greer, noted that Mr. Rohr wanted a horse from the very beginning. PNC declined comment on the reason for Mr. Rohr's selection, but several people close to the project hinted that Mr. Rohr's daughter had something to do with it.

"If he wants to have a horse like his daughter's, I think that's cool," Ms. Cheever said.

Mr. Dunlap's decision to buy the eagle for $20,000 had less to do with family. "We felt it was the strongest, most patriotic animal available," he said.

Mr. Dunlap, who owns the LeMont and several other restaurants in the area, also will operate two food stands at the new Schenley Plaza, one called Dog House and the other called Schenley Pizza. Mr. Dunlap will sell tokens for the carousel at his food stands.

Luckily, the cost of riding the animals does not compare with the cost of buying them. The price of admission will be no more than $1.

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