Wilkinsburg CDC gets $10,000 grant for property inventory

Wilkinsburg CDC gets $10,000 grant for property inventory

Thursday, April 22, 2010

By Deborah M. Todd, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation took significant steps toward kicking off downtown revitalization efforts with a $10,000 grant from the PNC Foundation last week.

The development group will match the grant, which will go toward evaluation of properties along the Penn Avenue and Wood Street corridor, through funds provided by Tri-State Capital Bank and the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

Jim Butler, WCDC interim executive director, said the ultimate goal of the project is to create an inventory of vacant commercial properties to match with potential buyers.

"We've had different companies approach us to say, 'What do you have in Wilkinsburg?' And we lack an up-to-date inventory of what's available, space and potential uses," he said.

"As we began to address downtown businesses, we realized we really needed to get and maintain an inventory on what's available."

Councilwoman Pamela Macklin, chairwoman of the WCDC economic restructuring committee, said: "A lot of properties are vacant or they have business spaces in them but aren't tenant-ready.

"Normally, the shell is ready and can be built out to a prospective tenant's requests. What this program is doing is identifying vacant properties, what needs to be done to them and working with property owners to bring them in line."

Mr. Butler said the program will help vacant commercial property owners market and sell their spaces by linking them to WCDC resources.

WCDC is offering facade-improvement matching grants to business owners in the corridor.

The corporation also has collaborated with the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence to provide free consultation to business owners.

WCDC has hired consultant Mark Smith to conduct the inventory and to reach out to owners along with the corporation's new executive director, once one is hired. Mr. Butler said the corporation should make a final decision in a few weeks.

"Our outreach will be really personal and face to face," he said. "Our new executive director will really get to know the business owners, and the business owners will get to know us."

The WCDC plans several approaches to reach prospective buyers, including an online database of business district properties for rent or purchase.

One approach meant to raise awareness and present improvements in the corridor is the creation of the new WCDC headquarters Penn Avenue and Wood Street. The corporation is renovating the existing space and will move into the building within a few months.

Ms. Macklin said improvements in the Penn Avenue and Wood Street corridor can help boost Penn Avenue redevelopment efforts, which extend from the Wilkinsburg-Pittsburgh border at Braddock Avenue and Swissvale Avenue.

"As you look at what's happening in the East End ... ," she said. "We should be able to, as a community, benefit from that."





Good for Wilkinsburg. The Penn Hills CDC can look at this and see that it is worth the effort.

I emailed the planning department with this same Idea of having an inventory on the available space in all the commercial buildings in Penn Hills on the website. They said they used to do this by sending out cards to the businesses and compiling it a binder. Another idea to pursue.

They said they used to do this by sending out cards to the businesses and compiling it a binder

Did I miss something? If the storefront is empty, who did they mail the cards to, and who responded?

Did I miss something? If the storefront is empty, who did they mail the cards to, and who responded?

Good point perhaps that's why they have not kept up with this practice. I guess if we want to do this in Penn Hills we would physically check out each building and compile as much information as possible. Then this information would be placed in an online database.