Wilkinsburg High School
In May 2022, we were contracted by the Wilkinsburg School District to provide technical assistance and seek proposals for the redevelopment of the former Wilkinsburg High School. Finding a development team to ensure the building lives on as a community asset will not only help the school district and community, it will complement other development projects taking place around the building.
After a process to gather community input during Summer 2022, a request for proposals was released in September 2022. The project is currently in pre-development with a local developer.
Wilkinsburg Bank Building
In December 2022, Citizens Bank donated its former Wilkinsburg bank branch building to the WCDC for redevelopment. The more than 10,000-square-foot historic building in Wilkinsburg’s central business district was purchased by Citizens in 2001 from the Mellon National Bank and Trust Co., which operated at the location for more than 50 years.
We are currently working with a project team led by two individuals with backgrounds in architecture, structural engineering, and converting commercial and industrial buildings to residential uses. The proposed plan for the building includes a phased, adaptive-reuse approach focused first on critical stabilization to ensure the safety and preservation of the building; building system upgrades; and tenant improvements for both potential retail/commercial and residential tenants. In November 2022, Senator Jay Costa announced that the project was awarded a $1 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant to support renovation work.