Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

A Performing Arts Center Comes to Downtown Greensburg Greensburg Third Class City | Westmoreland County | County Seat | Mayor: Part Time Greensburg By the Numbers Population (2000): 15,889 Population change in the 1990s: -2.6% Racial Composition: 93% White Non-Hispanic; 4% African American Median Household Income: $30,324 Housing Stock Mix: 52% Owner Occupied; 48% rental Median Value of Owner-Occupied Housing Units: $83,500 Percent of housing built before 1960: 65% Industries: Educational, health and social services (25.3%), retail trade (11.9%), arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services (10.7%), manufacturing (10.5%) Commuters: Daytime population change due to commuting: +15,181 (+95.5%) Workers who live and work in this city: 2,819 (40.2%) Background History – Retreat of Retail. Greengate Mall opened just west of Greensburg in 1965. It replaced Greensburg’s main street as the most popular shopping destination for Westmoreland County and the surrounding areas. Seton Hill University, located on a hill just above Greensburg’s Main Street, provided its students with a free bus to the mall to go shopping. 65 In 1976, Westmoreland Mall opened on a formerly rural site to the east of Greensburg. 66 Greensburg was surrounded. Major stores closed in downtown throughout the 1980’s and it was clear that Greensburg was no longer a shopping destination. 67 Retailers left behind a dozen vacant buildings. The question that faced Mayor Karl Eisaman when he came into ofﬁce in 1996 was how to ﬁll them. Downtown Needs New Draw. Under Mayor Eisaman’s predecessor, Greensburg had completed a strategic planning process. Greensburg had a strong cultural base and the strategic plan recommended that the city expand its cultural offerings. The geography chosen was the downtown corridor that extended from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art to the Palace Theater and then on to the city’s newly renovated historic train station. This would leverage recent restoration of the theater and the train station by the Westmoreland Trust and connect them with the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, with its well-respected American and Pennsylvania art collections. 68 Mayor Eisaman embraced the plan’s ﬁnding. He and the Greensburg City Council recognized that they had to create another reason for people to come into Greensburg and that if visitors were attending a concert or art exhibit, they would be likely to eat and shop as part of their visit. The city’s strategic plan never mentioned Seton Hill University. As a ﬁrst step, in 1999, the city built an outdoor amphitheater in St. Clair Park for summer concerts. Free summer concerts offered from the end of May to September on Friday nights and Sundays now attract an average of 1500 people per concert. “ We owe all the good work Seton Hill and the City of Greensburg are doing together to a building that fell down. That was the catalyst!” – President Joanne Boyle, Seton Hill University University Asked To Help Revitalize Downtown. In 2004, a state legislator was looking out his ofﬁce window at a historic building that had been vacant for many years and he picked up the phone. Representative Thomas Tangretti called Joanne Boyle, President of Seton Hill University, and asked whether the college could move something into that building. Boyle’s response was “maybe.” She agreed to explore uses for the building. This was the ﬁrst time anyone had made a speciﬁc request of Seton Hill to make a contribution to the revitalization of the town of Greensburg. During the weeks when President Boyle was discussing how they could use the building, the roof and two structural walls collapsed. Discussions ended. Prior to that date, Seton Hill had been a benign neighbor to downtown Greensburg. The University had generously hosted events for Greensburg’s Bicentennial, but little else. President Boyle, President for 18 years, admits that she inherited a viewpoint that was common Revitalizing Downtown Geographic Focus of Projects for Impact: Downtown Strategic Plan: Expand cultural destinations High Impact Project: $23 Million Downtown University Performing Arts Center Project Funders: Seton Hill University, Greensburg Redevelopment Authority, and State of Pennsylvania Timeline: Land acquisition complete November 2006; Broke ground March 2007 Other Projects Proposed or Completed in Close Proximity to Leverage High Impact Project: New State Labor and Industry Building; New State Dept. of Health building, Economic Growth Connection’s new addition to the Westmoreland County Courthouse Assets Leveraged: Cultural destinations (museum, theatre, renovated train station) and university 55 GOAL FOUR: APPLY STRATEGIES THAT WORK Greensburg

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

PA Community Revitalization Desktop Guide Table of Contents How To Attract High Impact Investment to Core Communities Goal One: Choose One Asset-Rich Redevelopment Area Interviews with Pennsylvania Mayors Goal Two: Prepare Redevelopment Area for Market Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Three: Welcome Investment Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Four: Apply Strategies That Work Conclusion

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