8 Westmoreland County towns to benefit from new blight demolition fund

The first structures to be torn down in Westmoreland County using money from a newly created demolition fund will include four dilapidated homes and four former commercial buildings.

“This is needed to remove blight and create economic impact,” said Jason Rigone, director of Westmoreland County’s planning department.

Structures in Avonmore, Derry Township, Jeannette, Monessen, New Stanton, Rostraver, South Greensburg and Youngwood were selected for the first round of demolition funds that were allocated by county commissioners. The county will use about $205,000 to have those structures razed. Work will be completed over the next year.

The money will be paid to the county’s Redevelopment Authority, which will oversee and pay for the demolitions.

All eight applications submitted were selected to receive funding, officials said.

“The municipalities chose these projects, and these locations were at the top of their lists,” Commissioner Gina Cerilli said.

Demolition projects include a Jeannette commercial building adjacent to a planned brewery on Clay Avenue. Officials said the owners of Sobel’s Obscure Brewery plan to build a covered patio on the parcel.

The fund also will pay to knock down the Union Mission’s old Hope Builds Home shelter on Harrison Avenue in Derry. A new shelter was erected on the same property.

County officials said they expected Greensburg officials to seek funds to demolish a dilapidated structure next to the preferred location for a desired downtown hotel project, but that application was withdrawn.

“We were expecting a lot more to apply, and we hope in the future more will apply because this is all about removing blight,” Cerilli said.

The blight removal program was established in late 2017, when commissioners approved a $15 fee added to deeds and mortgages filed in Westmoreland County. The fee generated about $330,000 in revenue last year to create the new demolition fund.

County funds will pay all costs for some of the demolition projects, but commercial properties in Avonmore, Derry and Jeannette will require some local money from the municipalities.

County funds awarded range between a high of $75,000 for the Jeannette demolition to $8,500 to knock down a blighted residence in Rostraver.

A second round of funding could be awarded this year for additional demolition projects, Rigone said.