Efforts revving to bolster development in Brackenridge, Harrison, Tarentum and beyond

Once-thriving small towns along the Allegheny River have been disinvested for decades, and their residents are thirsty for renewal, according to Gerald Driggs and David Rankin.

Driggs and Rankin are organizers of a community development corporation meant to thrust portions of the Alle-Kiski Valley back into the limelight.

“Most people look around and figure this is the way it’s going to be,” said Rankin, executive director of the non-profit Faith Community Partners (FCP) and head of the Tarentum Night Market.

“Shame on us if we let that happen.”

Working through Faith Community Partners, Driggs and Rankin are targeting blight remediation, recreation, economic development and branding for Tarentum, Harrison, Brackenridge and beyond.

“The vision is renewal,” said Driggs, owner of Fox Chapel-based consulting firm Ground Floor Solutions.

“It makes sense for these communities to work together on a regional plan,” he said. “Effort is contagious.”

Together, the pair has worked six years to encourage investors to support area revitalization.

Now momentum is ramping up.

A 19-member task force comprising experts in education, health and business will meet Wednesday, Sept. 29. Highlands Superintendent Monique Mawhinney is a member, as is Vicenta Gaspar-Yoo, president of Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison.

The committee will consider ways to implement a “doable” 10-year comprehensive plan.

Rankin said there are ideas to connect local businesses with the school district to foster internships or develop surveys about what makes people employable. Other ideas focus on how to maximize use of the riverfront and green space.

Buildings in residential and commercial districts will be targeted for demolition or renovation.

“Some buildings will have to be torn down, but some can be repurposed, and that’s our sweet spot,” Driggs said. “We are good at finding financing to save these old buildings and give them new life.”

Driggs and Rankin started with the renovation of a 100-year-old building in the 300 block of Fifth Avenue in Tarentum.

Construction of The Depot, which will house a laundromat, co-working space and WiFi café, has grown into a $3.2 million project that will bring jobs and aesthetics to a formerly run-down building.

“It will be the prettiest site in town,” Rankin said.

As their efforts chugged along, the vision grew.

“It started with an intent to provide access to services, but then we decided that wasn’t enough,” Rankin said. “That wouldn’t change the community.”

The group plans to seek funding from the state Department of Community and Economic Development for façade improvements along the business corridor in West Tarentum.

With 40% of Tarentum’s storefronts vacant or underused, the long-term vision could be a hard sell, Driggs and Rankin said.

So far, they say that hasn’t been the case.

Highlands graduate Olivia Fertig recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio along Corbet Street.

When asked what drove her leap of faith to invest in the area, Fertig didn’t hesitate.

“Why not?” she asked. “So many people have joined on to this vision. Minds are changing.”