James E. Winner Jr. said Thursday he was pulling out of attempts in trying to get a $7 million state grant for developing the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. plant in Sharon, but said he would forge ahead with plans for turning it into a multi-tennant industrial complex.

Winner's decision wasn't seen as a surprise as local development agencies said his company, Winner Development LLC, hasn't supplied any requested information. The data, which included things such as engineering drawings and proof of financing for the proposed $77 million project, was needed to complete an application for the grant.

"It's just a decision that I've made,'' Winner said of not going for the grant.

Over the past year Winner and the Mercer County Industrial Development Authority have squabbled over the state grant. MCIDA has insisted that the terms of the $7 million grant were generated by the state and Winner was required to meet those terms. Winner has responded the local agency has stymied the project.

But on Thursday Winner held his tongue by saying he had no comment about MCIDA's handling of the project.

Charles Bestwick, chairman of MCIDA, said the final decision whether to proceed or halt the project was up to Winner.

"We did everything we could to keep the project alive,'' Bestwick said. "Mr. Winner made the decision not to go forward with it. It was his decision and we kept it alive to the very end.''

However, Winner said he would continue the environmental cleanup at the abandoned plant which has been halted now due to weather.

"I expect to resume that work in May and it could be completed by mid-summer,'' Winner said.

He added the cleanup will have a total price tag of $6.5 million, with about $3.5 million yet to spent on the work. Winner said he will seek state aid to finish the cleanup.

Used as an industrial site under various owners starting shortly after the turn of the 20th century, Westinghouse operated the 50-acre plant from 1922 until closing it in 1985. In 1990 the plant was placed on the federal Superfund list due to chemicals, mostly polychlorinated biphenyl's, being found in various buildings and in the ground. Winner bought much of the site in 1999 for a little under $1 million.

The lion's share of the $77 million was earmarked for an expansion at Winner Steel, a steel processing operation also owned by Winner. The project called for adding a third production line at Winner Steel.

Winner said he opted not to expand the company but would continue in his efforts to create an industrial park in the sprawling complex along Sharpsville Avenue in Sharon. With about 850,000 square feet of industrial and office space under roof, the project was the largest development site in the Mercer County.

"I hope we can negotiate with tenants so primarily they would pick up the tab for development,'' Winner said of his plans. "I want to create the opportunity for employment which was my initial concept.

Overall, Winner said he believed his decision wasn't bad news.

"The only negative here is we're not going to expand the steel operation,'' he said.

The decision to nix the expansion wasn't due to declining economic factors at his other companies, Winner said. Last month Winner acknowledged he had to streamline operations at some of his businesses, including Winner International which markets The Club, an automotive anti-theft device.

He also said he would work to see the $7 million state grant, which was awarded in May 2000, would remain in the area for other development projects. Bestwick also agreed he would to keep that money in local hands.

"It's a lot of money and there were a lot of other projects that were turned down in favor of this one,'' Bestwick said. "We want to do what we can to save as much of that money as we can for this area.''

In addition to this project, Greenville's troubled recreation and revitalization project was awarded a grant under the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital program. The program is better known as the Stadium Fund because a large portion of the funds were earmarked for stadiums in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

The Greenville project -- including construction of a new fire station and the planned development of a 42-acre sports complex, downtown streetscaping and a trail system -- has foundered. While the fire station is complete, the sports complex is more than a year behind schedule and at least $200,000 over budget and officials currently do not know if they have enough money to finish the trails or tackle the downtown project.