The redevelopment project at the site of the former Koehler Brewery seems to be hanging by a thread, especially with today's announcement that Urbaniak Bros Quality Meats has apparently pulled out of the deal.

Urbaniak's has been a fixture for five decades at 310 E. 24th Street in Erie, and grocery store owners Andy and Gerry Urbaniak said they would rather remain in the neighborhood their store has anchored all these years, through thick and thin.

I've been a longtime Urbaniak's shopper, mostly because I learned at an early age what a good place it is. My family lived just three blocks away, and two of our best friends grew up across the street from the store.

Urbaniak's has come full circle from the days when it opened in the "New Central Market," which is what the family calls its 24th Street location. The neighborhood around the store crumbled for many years, but is now staging something of a comeback. In fact, old neighbors and friends who live in that part of town say they're convinced the neighborhood has bottomed out and is on its way back.

These are stories we cover in the Erie Times-News -- recovery pieces about dilapidated old homes giving way to new homes being built by Erie's redevelopment authority. It's an exciting story about new hopes and dreams, and the dozens of new and rehabilitated homes give promise of new neighborhoods.

What's ironic is that developers once had the same hopes for the Koehler project, though financing problems have plagued the project practically from the day Gov. Ed Rendell announced that the state would invest $5 million.

The fate of the project will be a headline story in the Times-News for many days to come. It's certainly a mess, but at least Urbaniak's will remain a fixture in its neighborhood several blocks east of the old brewery.

-- Kevin Cuneo