Hamnett Place Community Garden is a Model for Growth

The Hamnett Place Community Garden is a model for what can be accomplished on a reclaimed city lot.

It is growing in the neighborhood of Hamnett Place on the site of the once beautiful Regency Apartments building, which was demolished in 2008 after the collapsing structure and its falling bricks posed dangers to the neighborhood. Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF), which had acquired and restored properties along Jeanette, Holland and Rebecca, surveyed local residents about potential uses for the lot previously occupied by the Regency and learned that they wanted more green space. At the same time, Hamnett Place neighbors were organizing to create a community garden. Although interest was strong, the group was unable to find a suitable lot.

Creating a Garden Spot

In 2010, PHLF connected with the Hamnett Place Community Garden group, as well as biofuels nonprofit GTECH Strategies (which was working to remediate the soil), and together the two organizations applied for an Allegheny Grows Grant. A collaboration of the county, Grow Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the grant provided materials, plants and technical support for the new garden for two years. Ground was broken on the garden in the spring of 2011. Sixteen plots were leased to Hamnett Place residents. Plants were supplied by Allegheny Grows and nearby urban farm Garden Dreams. In the 2012 growing season, the garden increased in size to 20 beds and added community beds for berry bushes and herbs.

PHLF and the garden group also initiated a landscaping plan called Piano Place for the remainder of the lot. Planted with berries and fruit trees, it is a quiet place for community members to gather and for neighbors to enjoy, with the community garden at its center. There are also several spots designed especially for kids, including musical instruments and a bamboo tunnel.

A Community Comes Together

“We have a board that is very active and we have many active volunteer gardeners,” says Rachel Courtney, founding member and former president of Hamnett Place Community Garden Association.  For example, “when we had our first big build day, many, many people from the neighborhood came out to participate. Even people who weren’t gardeners and didn’t have plots to plant came because they wanted to help out. There was a huge outpouring of support and it was a really reassuring moment.”“For this neighborhood to have this kind of place has been very important,” says Courtney. “There is so much positive development in our neighborhood now. There’s a lot of diversity here – ethnically, racially and economically – and people are working together with a common goal of improving the neighborhood.”