Design contest encourages residents to reimagine Penn Hills Shopping Center

A design challenge contest is calling for Penn Hills community members to reimagine the ideal layout of the Penn Hills Shopping Center to better serve the community.

Participants are asked to create a design and upload a photo of it to Instagram, tagging @DesignPennHills. Submissions will be collected through May 16. The top three submissions with the most likes will win. Bonus points will be given to designs with a sustainability concept.

Three winners will receive a private party for four guests at Painting With A Twist in the shopping plaza.

The design challenge is a part of a bigger project being done in partnership with the Leadership Development Initiative program and the Penn Hills Community Development Corporation.

The development program helps emerging leaders hone in on developmental skills. A part of the initiative is working on a Community Impact Project, which gives members the opportunity to work with local stakeholders to revitalize the image of their community.

“This is a way for us to get youth engaged and excited about the project,” said Juanita Lomax, who works as the change management consultant at Highmark Health Inc.

Past Leadership Development projects have included a community festival in Wilkinsburg, a mass wedding vow renewal to celebrate love in the community and a 5K and community festival in Mt. Washington’s Emerald View park system.

A cohort of 50 people between the ages of 26 and 35 work together to lead the project every year. Their backgrounds include corporate and professional organizations, civic entities as well as entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals.

Lomax is one of the leads for the cohort’s steering committee. She said the group has worked since September to learn about the Penn Hills community and interview people to come up with a plan on how to enhance Penn Hills’ image.

Penn Hills CDC vice president James Beck said the organization got connected with Leadership Pittsburgh through the Allegheny Conference’s Strengthening Communities Partnership.

He said past projects for LDI involved communities that had a main or centralized location – Penn Hills does not.

The Penn Hills CDC pitched the Penn Hills Shopping Center as a location to improve.

“A lot of folks use the shopping center, but people use it to get done what they need to,” Beck said. “It [shopping center] doesn’t encourage a shopping experience.”

Lomax said during the process, stakeholders — the Penn Hills CDC, Penn Hills Library, mayor, business owners and school district officials — were interviewed to get a sense of what the community was looking to improve in the area. Some suggestions included an entertainment hub, active spaces, such as sit-down restaurants, food truck events or beautification of the area, Lomax said.

“Everybody seemed really excited to see that officials are taking a look at the shopping plaza and seeing what we can to do enhance lives in the area,” she said.

The process takes up to almost a year with everything wrapped up by May. The group will deliver a plan with the data collected to the Penn Hills CDC. The Penn Hills CDC will then take the information to see how they want to proceed forward with revitalizing the area.

“Nothing may come out of this, but the hope is we get something that will be a win for both the community and shopping center owners,” Beck said.