A Greensburg resident is set to take the reins of the Greensburg Community Development Corp. as the nonprofit takes key steps in its efforts to revitalize the city.
The organization’s board recently selected Alec Italiano as its new executive director.
He will succeed John Stafford, 23, who is set to depart in early August to attend law school.
“It’s a tough job, but I’m really glad I did it,” Stafford said. “The things I’ve learned in this position are going to help me for the rest of my life.”
Italiano, 32, has worked for a number of local human services and government agencies. He’ll be leaving his latest position with Westmoreland Community Action, where he served as economic development coordinator, working on housing projects and assisting with programming in New Kensington.
He’s also worked for the Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette, where he was Career Link supervisor; the Redevelopment Authority of Westmoreland County; and Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp.
Working for those organizations, Italiano said, “I got an understanding of economic development and how it works.”
He said he’s looking forward to applying that understanding to assist the town where he lives.
“We have an incredible amount of potential in Greensburg,” he said. “It’s already a great place to live. I want to see what we can do to make it better and attract people to live in the city and take advantage of all its amenities.”
Italiano also owns a restaurant, Cafe Italiano, in Jeannette. A Hempfield Area High School graduate, he holds a degree in business marketing from Penn State Behrend with minors in communications and management.
Stafford and his successor will work together this month as Greensburg welcomes a team of real estate experts from throughout the country to assess development possibilities for several key downtown properties.
The team from the Counselors of Real Estate Consulting Corps is scheduled to be in town next week, visiting seven targeted properties. The sites they are expected to review include the lot on South Main Street where the deteriorating former Advance Furniture building recently was razed through efforts of Westmoreland County’s Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank.
The team is expected to conduct an exit briefing before departing.
It’s a prelude to development of a downtown master plan that GCDC is pursuing in partnership with the city and various stakeholders. The Realtors Association of Westmoreland, Indiana and Mon Valley is helping to fund the planning process with a a $7,500 grant from the National Association of Realtors’ Smart Growth Program.
Stafford expressed hope that proposals from potential master plan consultants will be ready for a project steering committee to consider by the end of July. The plan could be ready for review by the end of the year.
A Greensburg native and 2018 graduate of Greensburg Salem High School, Stafford became a student planner and intern with the city while pursuing a political science degree he eventually received from Penn State.
An internship with GCDC led to the job of executive director after his predecessor in that role, Ashley Kertes, left in March 2022 for the Greensburg Salem School District. She held the position of associate administrator to the superintendent and community outreach at the district until her unexpected death in March.
Stafford said he took the job leading GCDC expecting he would fill the role for about a year before heading to Florida to pursue a law degree at Stetson University in Tampa.
“I love this community,” he said of his hometown, “but I wanted to try something really different. I wanted to go somewhere I’ve never been before.
“I know if I’m gone for three years, nothing is going to stop all the amazing things happening downtown.”
GCDC board President Elsie Lampl said Stafford has helped “reshape and reimagine the direction of GCDC as an entity that not only promotes the growth of downtown Greensburg but also an entity that serves as a conduit to unite the efforts of the city and its multi-disciplinary nonprofit entities to all move in a direction together.
“I believe Alec is the right person to take those reins to continue to move GCDC forward in a direction that will promote that growth and unification.”
Stafford and the evolving GCDC board have continued to build on many programs that were initiated during Kertes’ nearly four-year stint with the organization.
A G-Fund grant program for assisting downtown development was initiated in tandem with a tax-break incentive that was implemented in 2015 and reinvigorated in 2022.
Eligible developers who make substantial improvements to commercial or industrial properties in Greensburg can receive a 10-year property tax break on the value of the improvements. They get a 25% tax break, with 10% of what they pay going to the local taxing bodies and 65% into the G-Fund.
The fund’s initial grant of $15,000 went to City Cribs LLC for renovations to 136 S. Pennsylvania Ave., which houses Wight Elephant Boutique and apartments on upper floors.
Most recently, G-Fund grants assisted with more than $462,000 worth of renovations at two properties: the four-story Coulter office building at 231 S. Main St., and a building owned by AB Mac Properties at 124 S. Main St., occupied by Wicks and Wax Studio.
GCDC has tapped funding from the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County to assist city businesses with the cost of facade improvements, resulting in projects with a total cost of about $212,000 in the past year.
A $150,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation was used in part for a Main Street Jump-Start Program, offering help to small businesses in Greensburg that took a financial hit during the covid-19 pandemic.
Greensburg Mayor Robb Bell said Stafford stepped up to help shepherd GCDC through the fallout of the covid-19 pandemic.
“A lot of the developments stopped dead in their tracks,” Bell said, noting projects are moving forward once more.
GCDC is “part of the development arm for the city,” he said. “It’s always played a key role in our development efforts.”
President Mary Finger indicated Seton Hill University has benefited from GCDC’s work “to position the City of Greensburg and Westmoreland County as a vibrant destination.” That’s helped the university’s efforts to recruit students and staff to its Greensburg campus, she said.
GCDC also initiated a Greensburg Restaurant Week promotion and a Hometown Hero project that recognizes the military and non-military service of local citizens on banners displayed in downtown Greensburg.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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July 07, 2023 at 04:00PM
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Greensburg Community Development Corp. selects new executive director - TribLIVE
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