Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

in education circles - that town and gown should stay separate. “We never thought of the synergies that could be created if we started to talk” said Boyle. Mayor Eisaman suggested that the University look at other sites. Again, President Boyle said there was no harm in looking but that she wanted a space contiguous to the campus. Mayor Finds a location for Seton Hill In the next few months the President rejected two existing buildings but the Mayor kept on looking. He had an idea. The property at the bottom of the half-mile hill up to Seton Hill was a large city-owned parking lot. The lot was in the very corridor where city leaders wanted to expand Greensburg’s cultural offerings. If Seton Hill was willing to construct its building on this lot, then it would inject new construction into the city and bring students back into the town. The concern that the city would lose tax dollars by selling or donating that land to a nonprofit institution that did not pay taxes was shortlived. Eisaman recognized that the revenue the new facility would bring in from sales taxes and increased surrounding property values far outweighed the small amount of tax revenue to be lost. An added insight was that there was a 400+ space parking garage across from the land. While County Courthouse employees and visitors used the lot and the garage during the day, by 4pm they were empty. If the newly constructed building could meet the needs for evening parking that the new Seton Hill building would create, the garage would be much better used. After talking to City Council and other respected leaders, Mayor Eisaman broached the idea to President Boyle, who returned to campus and started chewing it over. Although Seton Hill had been thinking of a small entrepreneurial clinic or funky theatre space for the historic building, new construction and ample land meant they could start to explore other larger-scale opportunities. Given that there were no large developable lots left on campus (unless the University started bulldozing attractive campus green spaces) the city property offered a unique opportunity for the school to expand. Seton Hill Contemplates a Lower Campus Downtown. Boyle spoke to her Board and faculty. They began to discuss the idea of building a new performing arts center on the land the Mayor had identified. Seton Hill has well-respected music and theatre programs but these programs suffered from a lack of space on campus. In addition, the campus theatres and studio space were too old to offer students the modern professional theater environment they sought. Then Seton Hill began to think even bigger. What if music and theater programs moved down to the new downtown space along with a performing arts center? Seton Hill could double enrollment in those two departments. Also, they could attract larger audiences for student performances and move 200 or more weekly music lessons taught by faculty and students off campus, freeing up even more space. The Mayor and City Council loved the idea. It would provide a new cultural venue and bring the whole corridor to life after 4pm. Sharing the Idea and Gaining Public Support With clear interest from Seton Hill, it was time to talk to local merchants and the community as a whole before the idea became public. The Mayor and President Boyle held a series of meetings. They followed these up with public hearings. The community was very positive about the Performing Arts Center being built downtown, first because the idea of a cultural corridor had been a goal shared by city leadership long before this deal was discussed, and also because everyone could see its potential impact. President Boyle and the Mayor also spoke to the merchants at their association meetings and at special meetings. Merchants had two concerns: first, that the Performing Arts Center would be busiest during nighttime hours and might not mean more business to them and second, that most retail is around the corner and would not be clearly visible from the Center. President Boyle suggested that some of the merchants might want to experiment with extending their hours and agreed to integrate into the design of the building and the streetscape a series of visual pathways and cues to guide Center users to the retail corridor around the corner. Also, President Boyle expressed her desire to ensure that the Center façade would look compatible with the historic nature of buildings in the area. From Idea to Fully Funded Project Plan With clear local support, the Mayor and President Boyle had to take several additional steps before the project could be a reality. The most pressing issue was to obtain funding to fill gaps between what the university and city could contribute and what was needed to complete the project. At this stage, the state’s Community Action Team (CAT) became involved. CAT talked to the county, the Mayor and the State legislators to make certain that there was a consensus that the Center was their highest redevelopment priority. All agreed that it was. The CAT team brought the project’s concept plan and evidence of its feasibility and high impact to the Governor. The Governor immediately recognized the potential of the project and agreed to provide a $5 million grant from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital (RACP) Westmoreland County Courthouse, Greensburg GOAL FOUR: AppLY STRATEGIES THAT WORk Greensburg 56

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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