Compared to the first eight years of its existence, 2023 has been a veritable bonanza for the Pittsburgh Land Bank: The agency made its first sale in May, and now, less than three months later, it is closing on two others.
City Council created the land bank in 2014. It took several years to create the agency’s bylaws, its procedures, and appoint and approve the board. It’s been plagued by delays, including an alleged lack of political will, and then a global pandemic.
Land Bank Manager Sally Stadelman, who took the helm last September after nearly a decade at the city, said it can take some time to build a new system and make sure it’s right. But now that the land bank has gotten to actually clean up tangled titles and work with communities to recycle land, the agency will be able to hone its processes, Stadelman said.
“Every following sale is going to be a little bit easier,” she said. “And that means a better user experience for our buyers, whether that’s a resident, a community organization, or another responsible buyer.”
Every piece of vacant land in the city is unique, so processing property is always going to be complex and time-consuming for the land bank, Stadelman said. However, the land bank’s special power to expedite clean title, among other advantages, means it can be a targeted and effective tool in the city’s land-recycling arsenal.
“We just want to figure out how we can make it the best process that [it] can be while working closely with all of our partners,” Stadelman said.
Before council took its August recess, members greenlit an effort to streamline how the city, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the land bank move land between them. Each entity has its own process to sell land, and officials have said the land bank’s process is best-suited to smaller-scale projects that help communities realize their vision for themselves.
This week’s first closing — 243 Meadow Street in Larimer — was with Urban Academy, which plans to use the lot for the school’s green space and eventually its planned expansion. The second sale will be three lots on Flowers Avenue in Hazelwood. The Hazelwood Initiative is fully funded to build three affordable homes on the land, Stadelman said.
The larger picture for the land bank remains mixed: During the past year, the city decided to shrink the agency’s share of federal rescue plan dollars from $10 million to just $3.5 million, a decision that administration officials and a land bank board member have described as necessary to ensure the money can be spent before the federal deadline to use it expires. However, the state passed a law to allow Pittsburgh to buy properties at sheriff’s sale, which is generally a quicker process, and yields land and homes with clear title.
