PITTSBURGH — The city of Pittsburgh has announced it is expanding its demolition blitz and will begin moving into the western part of the city.
The announcement comes as the city continues dealing with issues stemming from condemned and dangerous buildings in the city. Just last week, firefighters fought a 3-alarm fire in the Allentown neighborhood that spread to another home and displaced 13 people.
Mayor Corey O’Connor and the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections first announced the demolition blitz in February when it started demolishing vacant buildings in Arlington, Beltzhoover, Knoxville and St. Clair. Monday, the city announced that the demolitions of all 23 of those properties were nearly complete and would wrap up this week.
Now the city is turning its attention to 10 buildings in Elliot and Sheraden, all of which are considered “imminently dangerous” or a public safety hazard.
“We are committed to investing in clean, safe and vibrant neighborhoods across Pittsburgh,” Mayor O’Connor said. “Abandoned properties have been sitting and deteriorating, sometimes for years, and causing blight in our neighborhoods. We will continue to invest in demolitions throughout the City so that every Pittsburgher can take pride in their neighborhood.”
11 Investigates has found thousands of condemned buildings in the city since we launched our investigation in 2024. Many of the buildings are not only dilapidated and a nuisance for neighbors. They are unsafe.
11 Investigates has uncovered dangerous collapses and suspicious fires at properties in neighborhoods like Manchester, Homewood, Troy Hill and Downtown. We have also uncovered emails with PLI supervisors, acknowledging the collapse of a large building that was “progressing rapidly,” yet failing to take action and stating there were “plenty of mature trees to catch the collapse.”
Our reporting uncovered that city-funded demolitions significantly slowed down in 2024 and 2025, despite there being millions of dollars of unused funding in place.
11 Investigates reporter Jatara McGee shared some of those findings with O’Connor one month before he took office. He vowed to do something to address the issue. The blitz was announced one month after he took office.
The city said residents who are concerned about properties in their neighborhood should report the address to 311.
If there’s a condemned building in your neighborhood that you want 11 Investigates to know about, you can contact 11investigates@wpxi.com.
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