Swissvale Works to Turn Blighted Properties Into Progress

Fire Chief Clyde Wilhelm wants to bring back the Swissvale he grew up in – a walkable borough, a place where everyone knows each other and an area where residents are not afraid to walk around at 3 a.m.

But the number of abandoned homes and properties is the first hurdle to jump in the long run to recreate a neighborhood reminiscent to Wilhelm’s childhood Swissvale.

Building by building, Swissvale Council slowly approves demolitions and sheriff sales for blighted properties. At Wednesday’s regular meeting, council approved the demolition of the old Filmet building on Washington Street. In the past four years, Wilhelm said, the building has moved from repairable to demolition worthy.  

“It is a burdensome process for everyone involved,” Wilhelm said. “One of our goals is to stop newly vacated properties from becoming beyond repair.”

According to Wilhelm, Swissvale is home to more than 250 vacant structures and 643 vacant residential dwellings. The borough has a 12.5 percent vacancy rating with the 2000 census, counting 5,097 total residential building.

Wilhelm and Swissvale’s fire committee is working continuously to determine what buildings should be demolished and what ones are repairable. For repairable buildings, the committee tries to pull in potential business owners to invest the money and make the repairs.

But with taxes mounting up, selling the vacancies is not an easy feat.

“When you have homes with excessive tax lines, the sheriff sale can go into a year-long process,” Wilhelm said.

The borough has had success in the past to get responsible investors and business owners interested in the properties.

Six townhouses will stand on Patterson Avenue, replacing an abandoned building starting to cave in on itself. And a local landmark, Frankie’s Bar, on the corner of South Braddock Avenue and Church Street has a local business owner interested after being abandoned for almost a decade.

“It is one of the best locations in Swissvale,” said, a candidate running for a spot on Swissvale Council. “It’s got great exposure, people drive by it going in and out [of Swissvale.]”

Dilapidated buildings also aid in the deterioration of the community. Abandoned properties bring down the property values of neighboring houses, Wilhelm said. Lower property values snowballs into multiple problems, including landowners renting out properties for low rent and vacancies becoming hideouts.

The borough hopes one day for transformed abandoned buildings along the main business corridors, Monongahela Avenue and Noble Street, to revitalize the business district.

Councilwoman Sharon Hanchett, who serves as the chairman of the fire committee, knows what progress can happen in the borough.

The Kopp Glass Gateway area, which connects to the Monongahela Avenue business corridor, used to be full of plighted properties. Now, the area is home to a numberowners paying property

“My father’s family grew up in that area and it is a pure joy for me to see it coming together,” Hanchett said. “If we don’t have real estate tax money coming in, we can’t build a budget and can’t build a community.”