Apr 24, 2017 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – The century-old Ganiear Building in downtown Waynesburg, a building that was heading toward demolition before it was partially restored last year by Greene County Redevelopment Authority, is now up for sale.

The building has been on the market for about the last five weeks and several people already have taken a look at it, said David Calvario, the authority’s executive director. The authority is now talking with one potential buyer and may be “close” to completing a sale, he said.

Before it was purchased by the authority in late 2015, the three-story building had been vacant for a number of years and was in extremely poor condition. The roof had deteriorated to a point that water had caused significant damage to the interior floors.

The authority purchased the property for $4,500 at a judicial sale and restored it to the extent at which it would be preserved and could be sold to someone who would complete the restoration work and find a use for it.

The authority first demolished the rear two sections of the building that were too deteriorated to rehabilitate. It also had to remove flooring in the section to be saved in front of High Street. During the previous winter, the second floor in that section had collapsed into the first floor.

The exterior walls of the remaining section were in excellent condition which allowed the authority to construct new floors inside of it. The authority then installed a new roof and replaced all the windows.

The building now has no interior walls or finishes, nor does it have heating or electrical systems.

“It’s just a shell,” Calvario said. “It’s all ready to be studded (for the construction of interior walls) and for the utilities to be put in,” he said. The authority doesn’t have the money to completely restore the building itself.

Though it will take a lot of money to finish the project, the building is in a good location in downtown and has parking at the rear where the two sections were removed, he said.

The authority took on the project under a program aimed at addressing blighted properties funded by grants from the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Act.

Under the program, the authority obtains dilapidated houses through donations or by purchasing them at tax or judicial sales. It demolishes houses that are beyond repair to make room for new housing and rehabilitates houses that can be rehabilitated.

Houses that are repaired are sold and the proceeds used to cover repair costs. Any profits are used to support the program and purchase and repair additional homes.

Since the program’s inception about three years ago, 27 properties have been addressed: homes or other buildings on those sites have been either demolished or rehabilitated. Eleven families have been provided with rehabilitated homes, Calvario said.

The authority has spent about $385,000 rehabilitating the Ganiear Building and will probably not make enough money selling it to cover its costs, Calvario said. But the project did address the issue of blight and saved a building in downtown Waynesburg that otherwise would have had to be demolished.

The demolition of several buildings in Waynesburg during the last five years had led to discussions in the community about the state of the downtown.

Though the authority will probably lose money on the project, Calvario said, “We were able to save another blighted structure that was becoming a liability.”