Excitement is building as Steel City Rowing Club moves closer to bringing a flourish of new life and visitors to the community as part of the Verona riverfront project.

The $1.6 million project will include a new boathouse, public restrooms and an extension of the Friends of the Riverfront trail.

The rowing club has raised $1.3 million in the past year and a half through state Sen. Jay Costa, state Rep. Frank Dermody, state Rep. Tony Deluca, Allegheny County, Friends of the Riverfront and other local foundations.

The board is waiting on another $200,000 it expects to come in. Board members said they hope construction will begin this fall.

The nonprofit club currently rents the boat house on Arch Street in Verona, and club members have big plans for the new three-story structure.

The first level will be for boat storage. The second story will include locker rooms and offices, as well as a community room, conference room and classroom.

The top floor will be devoted to rowing machines and exercise equipment. An apartment is also slated to be built so an employee can be present at all times.

The building will be green-friendly, using skylights and rain collection cisterns. Also, bioswales will remove pollution from runoff water.

Plans are not limited to the new boathouse. The club's board is making an effort to bring more visitors to Verona by developing the river front.

The riverbank will include a picnic and recreational area, along with organic farming plots.

Steel City Rowing is working with the Friends of the Riverfront project, which is responsible for developing the Heritage Trail.

The 37-mile trail loops around both sides of the Allegheny, Monoghahela and Ohio rivers.

Verona is one of the missing links in the trail, and plans are in the works to extend the trail through the Twin Boros with bike racks, benches and restrooms.

The trail on the east bank of the Allegheny reaches a dead end in Lawrenceville, but developers will make all riverfront communities accessible to cyclists, runners, walkers and rollerbladers.

Verona and Oakmont could eventually link up to Washington, D.C., upon completion of the trail as part of the Friends of the Riverfront's Allegheny Trail Alliance.

The alliance, a group of rails-to-trails organizations, finished construction last year on a 152-mile trail from Cumberland, Md. to Pittsburgh that will connect with the Heritage Trail.

The Great Allegheny Passage trail connects with the C & O Canal Towpath in Cumberland, which continues to Washington, D.C.

The rowing club completed a public boat dock in October 2005, giving river access to the Twin Boros community.

Since then, the club has added a fishing dock with benches and boat racks.

"We've seen anywhere from 10 to 60 people per day at the docks on the weekends," said Dori Tompa, SCRC executive director.

Club board members predict development along the river will bring tax money to the community.

The rowing club has already made a splash in Verona by drawing residents to the area, said Chad Stacy, a new Verona resident.

Stacy, a member of Steel City Rowing, moved to Verona from Squirrel Hill with his three children for the rowing club and Riverview School District.

He expects a surge of real estate when the project is completed.

"I'm glad to be one of the early folks," he said, "But I can't wait to see what's to follow."