Vandergrift Gift to Make History

In 2004, a group of concerned citizens came together to form the Vandergrift Improvement Program (VIP) with the goal of revitalizing the town’s business district.

Last June, the VIP asked Landmarks Development Corporation, a wholly owned Landmarks subsidiary, to manage Vandergrift’s Main Street Program. Preservationists learned in the 1960s that preservation-sensitive development works, but demands a broad-based neighborhood approach to be successful. Signs of residential enthusiasm are now afoot in Vandergrift.

Recently, a resident of this Frederick Law Olmsted community and owner of the J. C. Penny Building met with the VIP and Landmarks to discuss donating the building to fund a charitable gift annuity. Such a gift would result in lifetime income and income tax benefits for the donor and would allow the VIP to acquire a key building that could stimulate similar gifts to help develop the central business district. In addition, a Named Fund would be created at Landmarks to support preservation projects in Vandergrift.

In early March, Landmarks’ Planned Giving Office was notified that the building owner has contracted with a qualified appraiser to determine the value of the building and is proceeding with the gift. We plan to feature more information about this gift and its impact on Vandergrift in the next issue of Landmark Legacies.

For now, anyone interested in exploring a gift of real property in the Vandergrift area is asked to contact Shaun Yurcaba, Main Street Manager at 724-567-5286.