Category Archive: Main & Elm Street Programs
-
Brighter days ahead for Wilkinsburg
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 17, 2008Following a blueprint he used to help create Station Square and improve the North Side, philanthropist Dick Scaife pledged $500,000 Wednesday to restore old homes and revitalize Wilkinsburg.”We hope to show that Wilkinsburg is a good place to live, attractive to a variety of people,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “And we want to demonstrate that there are properties available, and they can be beautifully restored and make very good homes.”Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation will get the money from the Allegheny Foundation, officials from both organizations said.
The gift is Allegheny Foundation’s biggest grant in recent memory, said Executive Director Matthew Groll. The Downtown-based foundation is chaired by Scaife, owner of the Tribune-Review.
The Allegheny Foundation helped finance restoration of Station Square, the Mexican War Streets and Manchester, Groll said, and Scaife was inspired during a drive through Wilkinsburg several months ago to continue restoration efforts there.”People see a little spark happening down the street,” Groll said. “Hopefully, the enthusiasm spreads and the community as a whole will rise up to meet the new enthusiasm.”
About two years ago, Ziegler’s group started a program to restore four houses in Wilkinsburg’s Hamnett Place neighborhood. The Sarah Scaife Foundation and Allegheny County each granted $500,000 to pay for that project.
History & Landmarks acquires the homes, oversees renovation and offers the homes for sale. The Hamnett Place houses have been sold. Renovations are under way and should be finished in six to eight weeks.
Walter and Rachel Lamory of Regent Square bought a turreted duplex on Jeanette Street for $95,000, one of the four buildings renovated.
“I know the perceived drawbacks of the area, said Rachel Lamory, 24, who attended nearby St. James School. “But I always saw the potential there. When I heard we had a chance to save these beautiful old homes I always admired, I felt we had to be part of it.”
Jack Schmitt and his wife Erin Cunningham paid $70,000 for a Queen Anne-style house that received $195,000 worth of renovations during the project’s first phase. The house has a scalloped dormer and gingerbread trim on the front porch.
“We spent a lot of time driving around, paying attention to the neighborhood,” he said. “We didn’t feel any hesitation whatsoever.”
The couple plans to buy the lot behind their home and the house next to it. They would raze the adjacent house and plant a vegetable garden. They want to set up a food stand and sell their food with a neighbor.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, praised Scaife’s gift as a boost to the community’s morale.
“It’s exciting when you see this kind of financial commitment,” Ferlo said. “It builds credibility for the economic restructuring and activities within Wilkinsburg that are aimed at revitalizing the core of the community.”
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.
-
South Vo-Tech sold to become housing
Old South High site closed in 2004
Friday, February 29, 2008
By Eleanor Chute
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe now-empty South Vo-Tech High School, built in 1897, will have a new life as an upscale residence.
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board Wednesday approved selling the high school building, originally known as South High School, to lone bidder Gregory Development for $1.1 million. The district had set a minimum bid of $500,000.
The sale includes the original building and addition, which are bounded by Carson, 10th, Sarah and Ninth streets, but it does not include the annex located across 10th street, behind a gas station. The school has been closed since 2004, but the annex is in use.
Gregory Coyle, president of Gregory Development & Management Inc., said, “It’s going to be a high-end residential project. It will be probably 75 units, in that range.”
Whether it will be condominiums or rental units will depend on the market down the road, he said.
“I’m very excited about the prospect of developing it. I think the historical aspect is something we’re going to work very hard to maintain,” he said.
Kevin Hanley, manager of real estate and housing programs for the nonprofit South Side Local Development Co., which is not involved in the project, called the building “a gateway to the neighborhood.”
“It’s a key parcel, based on historical and architectural significance and location,” he said.
Mr. Hanley said Gregory Development previously has done some “solid work” on the South Side.
Mr. Coyle said the approval process could take up to 12 months, and construction could take another 12 months.
Mr. Coyle, who lives on the South Side, said the project is not intended for student housing, which some South Side residents had opposed.
The building was purchased as is, so the developer has to pay for the necessary environmental remediation, estimated at $700,000.
Other Gregory developments on the South Side include 1205-1213 E. Carson St. and 2026 E. Carson St.
Mr. Coyle also is a partner in ASC Development, which has been involved in projects such as a Wal-Mart-anchored shopping centers in Ebensburg, Edinboro, Bradford, Delmont and Shippensburg as well as one in Kilbuck, which was canceled after the planned site was plagued by landslides.
The school board also approved a resolution authorizing the chief operations officer and the solicitor to “expeditiously move forward with the disposal” of 20 closed buildings, for which the ongoing maintenance costs exceed a total of $1 million.
If a building fails to sell “in their initial attempt,” then the two are authorized to find a “responsible entity, within the immediate community of the school,” which could receive the building at a nominal cost.
The 20 buildings are Beltzhoover, Boggs, Burgwin, Chatham, Columbus, Connelley, East Hills, Gladstone, Knoxville, Lemington, Letsche, Madison, Mann, Miller, Morningside, Prospect, Rogers (in 2009), Vann, Washington and West Side.
Education writer Eleanor Chute can be reached at echute@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1955.
First published on February 29, 2008 at 12:00 am -
Vandergrift’s Grant Avenue dusts off charm
By Francine Garrone
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Saturday, February 16, 2008Once dotted with awnings and marquee store signs, Grant Avenue in Vandergrift proved to be the place to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Today, it’s turn-of-the-20th-century charm and historic facades have fallen victim to perhaps-misguided modernization. Vacant storefronts leave many buildings vulnerable to water damage or even cave-ins.
But through the efforts of the Vandergrift Improvement Program and state grants, Grant Avenue is beginning to return to the look it had during the time of soda fountains and 75 cent movies.
VIP has applied to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for a third year of funding for its Main Street Program.
If the non-profit, grassroots organization is seeking a $45,000 state grant.
“The Main Street Program is a tremendous help and enabled the VIP to begin,” said VIP Main Street manager Shaun Yurcaba. “It has given us the foundation to start down the road to rebirth.”
In 2006, VIP received its first $5,000 from the Main Street Program.
Yurcaba said the money was used to set up an office on Grant Avenue.
Last year, VIP received another $50,000. That paid for operational expenses such as rent, insurance, utilities, and Yurcaba’s hiring. The rest went to programs such as meetings and the real estate breakfast.
“There was not much left over,” Yurcaba said.
If VIP continues to apply for funding beyond this year, it will be eligible to receive $40,000 in 2009 and $35,000 in 2010.
However, there are annual requirements that the organization has to meet in order to receive the state grants, including raising some of its own money.
In order to get the $45,000 from the state this year, VIP had to raise $15,000, she said, which it has done.
In fact, VIP has raised more than $17,000. The remaining $2,000 will go toward next year.
“We did a pledge drive initially and had commitments from the community in various pledge amounts,” she said. “The community has been really supportive in following up with pledges.”
The Main Street Program grant has pushed VIP to reach out further for additional funding in bettering the community.
VIP received a $120,000 Facade Improvement Grant that allows $30,000 in state funding over a four-year period. The grant enables business owners to make improvements to their facades by being awarded half of the cost of the improvement up to $10,000. Anything above that cost would come out of pocket.
“We want to work with them in the projects they are doing,” Yurcaba said. “The money can be used for anything dealing with preserving history to enhancing and restoring the downtown business district, which is also a historic district.”
Vandergrift is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the architect of New York’s Central Park and the grounds of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Vandergrift was a planned community founded by George G. McMurtry, president of the Apollo Iron and Steel Co., Apollo. It was named after Capt. J.J. Vandergrift, a director of the steel mill.
At the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Vandergrift won two gold medals for best town design.
Yurcaba said the Vandergrift Improvement Program has established a name that they hope will continue to provide revitalization efforts to the community.
“The goal is, through the years, to become more and more self-sustaining as an organization,” she said. “But that will only happen through public and private funding and volunteer assistance.”
Francine Garrone can be reached at fgarrone@tribweb.com or 724-226-4701.
-
A future built on Tarentum’s past
By Tom Yerace,
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Thursday, January 10, 2008Holding on to some of the borough’s past to help it move into the future will be the subject of a public workshop on Jan. 16.The Key Issue Workshop concerning architecture and design in the business district, including the preservation of historic buildings, will be discussed.
It is the first of three workshops held in conjunction with the Allegheny Together program established by Allegheny County.
“This is for the Allegheny Together program, which is basically focused on revitalizing the downtown business district, but they want the whole community’s input on what it would like to see,” said Tarentum Manager Bill Rossey. “They just want some feedback here.”
The program — in which Tarentum is one of only four pilot communities — complements a broader revitalization effort that the borough has started.
Rossey said this workshop should be of particular interest to residents who believe in preserving the borough’s history through its buildings.
“We’ve lost too many valuable buildings already that can’t be replaced, and I wouldn’t want to lose any more,” Rossey said.
The workshop will be conducted by Town Center Associates, a consulting firm working through a contract with the county, and the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
“This program is focused purely on central business district revitalization,” said Mark Peluso, Town Center’s executive director. “Any planning activities that are going on related to the downtown come into play.”
Peluso said this workshop and two more that will follow, are designed to encourage input about how the community feels on key issues related to the downtown business district. He said the program is basically meant to provide a long-term commitment and a long-term strategy in reviving such districts.
“This is a very difficult issue for our communities that have experienced an economic downturn in downtown business districts,” Peluso said. “It’s really a pretty exciting opportunity for Tarentum to be connected to this.
“It’s a really rare opportunity. Most towns have to wrestle around for years to get the kind of support needed to get this kind of effort under way.”
Part of that support is input from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
“We are putting a lot of time and effort into Tarentum, and the reason is simple: we think there is a solid foundation already in place,” said Ethan Raup, a foundation representative. “The historic fabric is strong.”
“The connection to the river and the riverfront park is strong. These are things that a lot of towns would love to have.”
He said Tarentum seems to have people in the business community and local government who are committed to making an investment in the revitalization effort.
Raup estimates that Tarentum has 20 to 25 buildings in the business district that display historic architecture that should be preserved. He said it is an important aspect in keeping the downtown districts economically viable now and into the future.
“The way these older downtowns compete is to offer quality services, small mom-and-pop stores that care about details and offer an overall experience such that you want to be there,” he said. “The quality of the architecture is as important as anything to that whole overall experience.”
“I think that differentiates from going to Pittsburgh Mills for example,” Raup added. “The architecture is part of the experience. The people living in the upper floors bring a vitality to the town that you won’t find in business parks.”
Rossey said he hopes that residents demonstrate their commitment to the county, by turning out in force to participate in the workshop.
-
Wilkinsburg restoration crosses threshold
By Christina Praskovich
POINT PARK NEWS SERVICE
Wednesday, November 7, 2007After two years of searching, Jack Schmitt and his wife were about to give up looking for a house to buy when they stumbled upon a turn-of-the-century, stick-style house being restored by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
It’s one of several homes the group wants to bring back to life in Wilkinsburg.“It had a ton of character,” said Schmitt, 38. “We liked it as soon as we walked in. We held out for two years, and it was to our benefit.”
The house is one of several buildings being restored in Wilkinsburg. During the past few years, Wilkinsburg has taken steps to restore its historic homes and once-booming business district, something under way in other communities around Pittsburgh, as well.
“Every community is unique, and part of what creates that uniqueness is how the community looks,” said Bill Callahan, the Western Pennsylvania community preservation coordinator for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. “Historic preservation helps to maintain a sense of place.”
Although renovating historic homes and buildings, instead of tearing them down, is not new, Callahan said preservation has accelerated within the past 5 to 10 years. More people are seeing the social and environmental value of “recycling” older buildings and are appreciating the architecture and significance of these structures, he said.
In Wilkinsburg, Mayor John Thompson said, “We want to rebuild the community. We want to attract people to come and stay in the community. That’s the purpose of doing the revitalization, as well as building a revenue base. There’s room for us to come back.”
Wilkinsburg once had more than 31,000 residents and a thriving business district. But since the 1960s, many buildings have become vacant, homes have been neglected and crime has increased.
Although a 2004 inventory found that 38 percent of Wilkinsburg’s buildings were vacant, nearly half were historically significant and two-thirds of those historic buildings could be restored.
Tom Keffer, property and construction manager at the History & Landmarks Foundation, said the foundation found particularly strong potential for restoration in the Hamnett Place district, at Jeanette and Holland avenues.
After receiving two grants of $500,000 each from the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development and the Sarah Scaife Foundation, History & Landmarks hired Eagle Construction & Remediation to restore the houses.
At 524 Jeanette St. — a three-story, late-Victorian/Queen Anne house with a classic turret, arched windows and mansard roof — the company restored architectural features while rebuilding and updating the interior.
The Schmitts’ house at 811 Holland Ave. includes original wooden pocket doors, clapboard siding and intricate woodwork on the front porch.
“You couldn’t replicate these houses today,” said Dwight Quarles Sr., president of Eagle Construction. “They’re very excellent structures. There’s a warm personality to them, and a lot of solid woodwork.”
Keffer, 52, of Brighton Heights said he hopes the work done on the homes, priced between $75,000 and $95,000, will encourage others to maintain properties.
“It opens the community’s eye to what can be done,” Keffer said.
-
Vandergrift makes a comeback
By Kate Luce Angell
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteLike many once-thriving Pennsylvania steel towns, Vandergrift, about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh on the Kiskiminetas River, is pretty quiet nowadays.
Last Saturday, it was the occasional car that passed through the business district, where several storefronts sat vacant. Under the shade of the century-old plane trees, the broad porches of the Victorian houses were empty.
But there were signs of life. A group at the Presbyterian Church was preparing a spaghetti dinner. The Vandergrift Historical Society was open to visitors.
And nearly 50 people were walking the streets for the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation’s tour of the town once known as “the workingman’s paradise” that is now struggling to preserve a rich heritage and make a fresh start.
Built in 1895 as the new home of the Apollo Iron and Steel Co., Vandergrift once had a population of 10,000 and the largest rolled steel mill in the world, employing more than 5,000 workers. Today the mill, now owned by Allegheny Ludlum, employs 265, and the town’s population is around 5,000.
But while Vandergrift’s economic woes are common, the town, as the foundation’s tour revealed, is anything but.
George McMurtry, the owner of Apollo Iron and Steel, founded Vandergrift in the belief that workers would be more productive living in pleasant surroundings, with modern conveniences. He hired the firm of Frederick Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park, to plan a worker-owned industrial community that would be “the best of the best,” in Mr. McMurtry’s words.
Mr. Olmsted’s firm produced a town that even today preserves a parklike atmosphere. With no corners, wide boulevards lined with trees curve into a business district accented by rounded brick facades.
For his part, Mr. McMurtry sold lots only to businesses and his own workers and offered free land, matching construction funds and a free organ to churches. He also donated land and funds for the Casino Theater, schools, the library and many other public projects.
Like other industrialists of his age, Mr. McMurtry’s philanthropic impulses went along with a strong profit motive: His lots for homes were expensive, and he owned the bank that offered the mortgages. One of the reasons he founded Vandergrift was to keep his mill nonunion, and he succeeded until the 1930s.
But Vandergrift became famous as a town where workers and their families could live the American dream, and the streets, lined with yellow brick, must have seemed paved with gold to some of the thousands of immigrant families who made their homes in the growing community.
As Vandergrift historian and tour leader Ken Blose pointed out, much of that brick now lies buried under crumbling asphalt. But a partnership of nonprofit groups is trying, with the help of local residents and business owners, to make Vandergrift golden again.
The Vandergrift Improvement Program, located in a small storefront on downtown Grant Street, is the local level of the national Main Street program, which works to revitalize traditional business districts by organizing local efforts, promotion of local businesses and attractions and economic restructuring.
Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation serves as VIP’s area coordinator. The program’s board includes local business owners and Vandergrift’s mayor, Lou Purificato.
Shaun Yurcaba, the local Main Street coordinator, said that even though VIP organized in January 2004, the groundwork laid by the program is just beginning to pay off.
“It takes a while to get started,” she explained. “We’ve been gathering information, coordinating volunteers and groups. We’re just beginning to work on business recruitment and retention.”
Already, VIP has sponsored events to help local businesses compete with “big box” stores and helped to secure funding for the refurbishment of the business district’s store facades, as well as holding community events like a recent Arts Festival.
In February, 200 Westmoreland County students will present their design ideas for turning Vandergrift’s abandoned J.C. Penney building into a new community arts center as part of the PHLF’s annual architectural design challenge. “Revitalization is a marathon,” said Mrs. Yurcaba, “not a race.”
As Mr. Blose pointed out, even before VIP, Vandergrift had residents concerned with preserving its past for a better future. “In the ’80s, they were about ready to tear the Casino Theater down. The roof was leaking, plaster falling off the walls. The Historical Society fought to save it.”
Today the Casino Theater is the oldest operating theater in southwestern Pennsylvania, and the refurbished three-story building, adorned with Greek-style columns, again hosts music and theater performances. It was recently designated the National Museum of Vaudeville in recognition of the venue’s importance during the heyday of vaudeville performance.
As Mr. Blose prepared to lead the Foundation tour group across Columbia Avenue, a group of young girls gathered on a nearby porch, curious about the crowd. “We’re on a tour,” he called out, inviting them to join in and “learn something about the town you live in.”
When the tour group moved on, PHLF executive director Louise Sturgess looked back at the girls and observed that helping a community recognize its own value was a big part of both the Foundation’s and VIP’s mission. “If they realize how special their town is, they’ll fight harder to save it.”
First published on October 18, 2007 at 6:27 am
Kate Luce Angell is a freelance writer. -
Pittsburgh development CEO debuts
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 17, 2007On Monday, Howard B. Slaughter Jr. officially started his job as CEO of Landmarks Community Capital Inc., a new nonprofit corporation formed by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Slaughter didn’t wait to begin his quest to raise the $10 million to $15 million he hopes to secure for the new corporation to invest in community development and revitalization projects in Western Pennsylvania and in the neighboring states of West Virginia and Ohio.
“We’ve already been talking to some companies that have social investment programs,” said Slaughter, whose appointment was announced last month. “We also are going to be talking to some local foundations to discuss our new company and the opportunities we see.”
Slaughter, 49, can draw on his considerable credentials in urban housing and home financing as he pitches funders on behalf of the new corporation.
In essence, he is back home at Pittsburgh History & Landmarks, where he headed neighborhood programs as director of preservation services from 1995 to 1999.
That was before he left to serve an eight-year stint as director of Fannie Mae’s Pittsburgh Community Business Center, which has been a major source of home financing in this region.
Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest home funding company, decided to close the center along with similar offices in more than 40 cities, citing realignment of goals and the need to cut costs. Pittsburgh’s center helped 24,000 families in the region become homeowners at projects that include Summerset at Frick Park, and Bedford Hope VI and the Oak Hill housing complex, both in the Hill District.
Slaughter previously served as vice president of Dollar Bank’s Community Development group.
“Howard brings the vision and the working knowledge for the new nonprofit corporation,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and president of Landmarks Community Capital.
“We think he is just the person to expand the assistance we hope to render to Western Pennsylvania in revitalizing historic rural areas, towns and urban areas, particularly in Pittsburgh,” Ziegler said.
Efforts might include helping the Hill District community fulfill a long-standing need to bring a grocery store to the neighborhood, said Slaughter.
Hill District community leaders want a commitment for a new supermarket to be part of a “community benefits agreement” with the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for their support for the hockey team’s new $290 million arena. Slaughter said he’s with Penguins President David Morehouse to discuss how the corporation’s participation may help make that happen.
Improving neighborhood housing also is a target as is helping preserve some of the historic farms in the region that the South Side-based Landmarks Foundation has identified as worth saving in a recent survey.
“In the first year, we would like to provide funding for at least four of five different projects ranging from $25,000 to $1 million,” Slaughter said. “We have a wide range of funding options because the multiplicity of opportunities for investment are wide.”
The first investments could come by the first quarter of 2008, he said.
The idea of the new corporation is to raise funds through grants, loans and investments. Roles it can play include as developer, co-developer, or a lender to community development corporations and others that undertake such work.
Slaughter uses the accounting term “FIFO” in describing the corporation’s investment strategy. The idea is to be “first in” with its funds to help jump-start projects in early stages, and then be “first out” with those funds when more permanent financing is secured from others to carry development forward.
“We certainly want to focus on urban areas in the Pittsburgh and Allegheny County region,” said Slaughter.
Another target area is likely to be Wilkinsburg, where Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has worked with two $500,000 grants secured from the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development to acquire and restore four century-old structures for new housing.
“We also would like to do some work on the North Side and where we have several county Main Street programs. We have pilot areas in Tarentum, Swissvale, Elizabeth Township and Stowe,” he said.
Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato is “very excited” about the new corporation and its potential, said spokesman Kevin Evanto.
Slaughter and Ziegler met with Onorato several weeks ago to outline their plans.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907
-
Vandergrift Main Street Community Receives Award for Retail Promotion
September 24, 2007
The Vandergrift Improvement Program, Inc. (V.I.P.) received a “Townie Award” for the “Vandergrift Pet Photo Contest and Calendar” from Pennsylvania Downtown Center (PDC) at the PDC’s statewide annual conference in Bethlehem, PA, which was June 3-5, 2007.
The “Townie Awards” is an annual awards ceremony facilitated by PDC, which works with over 300 member communities from across the state, 77 of which are currently in the Main Street program. The “Townie Awards” is an opportunity for Main Street programs to submit their most successful revitalization projects implemented in their community.
The Vandergrift Pet Photo Contest and Calendar won “Best Retail Promotion” for that category competing against 77 other communities from across the Commonwealth. This is the 17th year that the “Townie Awards” have been implemented.
“The Townie Awards are very competitive”, says Suzanne Gagliardo, Western Coordinator for PDC, “I’m surprised and impressed that such a young Main Street community like Vandergrift and the V.I.P. won best out of the retail promotion category. They were up against many terrific retail promotions from other more established PA communities.”
The Vandergrift Pet Contest and Calendar was selected for the “Townie Award” as “Best Retail Promotion” for its creativity and successful implementation that brought over 4000 people into the commercial district over the course of two months to submit their pet photos and then to cast their vote for their favorite pet photo. This effort brought people into participating downtown businesses and helped to build awareness about the historic downtown. Sherry Jenks, who serves on the VIP Board and on the Promotions Committee, conceived the idea for this contest.
Shaun Yurcaba, the Vandergrift Main Street Manager from Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) realized that this retail promotion would be successful when “…people were coming into downtown that hadn’t been to Vandergrift in months or even years. We were pleased about the participation from the community and the amount of increased foot traffic into the downtown businesses.”
The V.I.P. will be facilitating the second annual Vandergrift Pet Contest and Calendar 2008 starting on Sept. 24. Submit your favorite pet photo to the V.I.P. office between Sept. 24-Oct. 5. Place your vote at participating businesses between Oct. 15-31. Winners and calendars will be announced at Light Up Night on November 23, 2007.
The V.I.P. organizes several events and retail promotions a year in an effort to bring people into the downtown and to help the area become more aware of what is offered by the local businesses. The V.I.P. President, David Truffa, is also a downtown Vandergrift business owner and one of many business owners who’s involved with the V.I.P., “We are an organization committed to revitalizing Vandergrift, and it’s events like this that do encourage people to visit downtown Vandergrift.”
Founded in 1987, the mission of Pennsylvania Downtown Center is to advance the sense of place, quality of life and economic vitality of Pennsylvania’s downtowns, traditional neighborhood business districts and nearby residential areas.
The Vandergrift Improvement Program, Inc. is a non-profit organization composed of local residents, businesses, local and state government officials. The V.I.P. is a designated Main Street community funded in part by the Department of Economic Development (DCED).
The V.I.P. on site Main Street Manager is Mrs. Shaun Yurcaba, of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF). The V.I.P. has selected PHLF to manage the main street revitalization efforts, working closely with the PHLF staff, specifically with Arthur Ziegler, President, and Eugene Matta.
The V.I.P. is dedicated to the protection, preservation and restoration of Vandergrift by using a four-point approach that focuses on organization, economic restructuring, promotion, and design of the central business corridor as well as the residential areas of Vandergrift.