Petition calls for conservator to take over Oakland rowhouses
A Trafford real estate company is asking a judge to appoint a conservator to take over a dozen properties in Oakland that were once part of a controversial plan to build apartments and a hotel.
In a petition filed Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, Penn Pioneer Enterprises claimed that 11 rowhouses at 3401 to 3421 Bates St. and one at 392 Coltart Ave. have become “a public nuisance” and are in need of substantial work.
According to the petition, all of the properties are owned by
Oakland Gateway Ventures, a developer that at one time had plans to build an eight- to nine-story hotel and an apartment building in the part of the neighborhood bordered by Bates and Boulevard of the Allies.
But those plans appear to have collapsed amid community opposition.
Penn Pioneer describes itself on its website as a real estate business that buys and sells properties in the Greater Pittsburgh area, specializing in doing so for investors. It flips houses and manages about 150 properties in the county.
In its petition, it is pushing for a conservator to take control of the real estate based on the state’s Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act.
While the company is based in Trafford, it maintains it is a party of interest as defined by the act because it is a business owner whose business address of 401 Cato St. is located within 2,000 feet of the affected properties.
Aaron Chaney, co-owner of Penn Pioneer, declined comment. Wayne B. Cobb II, the company’s attorney, did not return phone calls. No Oakland Gateway Ventures officials could be reached for comment.
In its petition, Penn Pioneer is asking a judge to appoint within 30-60 days a company called Community Reinvestment Partners to serve as conservator. Mr. Chaney signed as the authorized agent for Community Reinvestment Partners as part of the petition.
According to the filing, Community Reinvestment has the financial resources and experience to “properly rehabilitate” the properties, adding that it has renovated dilapidated real estate in other parts of the neighborhood.
“The proposed conservator has a preliminary plan for rehabilitating the property to bring it into compliance with all municipal
codes and duly adopted plans for the area in which the property is located,” the petition stated.
In recent years, the state act, adopted in 2008, has been used by neighborhood groups and others to take control of problem properties. But its use also has raised concerns about due process issues and questions about fairness. Under the act, a nonprofit group or a neighbor can ask a judge to be named a conservator to a property and be granted legal powers to bring the real estate up to code.
In its petition, Penn Pioneer described a party of interest under the act as lienholders, residents or business owners within 2,000 feet of a residential, commercial or industrial building.
The filing asserts that the Oakland Gateway Ventures properties haven’t been legally occupied for at least a year and are not being actively marketed or advertised for sale.
In the petition, Penn Pioneer argues that in addition to being a public nuisance, the properties are unfit for human habitation because they are dilapidated, in disrepair and have structural defects.
Furthermore, the properties have created potential health and safety hazards because of the “presence of vermin and the accumulation of debris, uncut vegetation, or physical deterioration of the structure and grounds” and are subject to unauthorized entry.
The petition also maintained that the owner “has failed to take reasonable and necessary measures to remove the hazards, refusing to clean up debris in and around the property, clear overgrowth or perform any maintenance on the property which would improve its appearance or structure.”
In addition, the dilapidated condition and appearance of the properties “negatively affects the economic well-being of residents and businesses in close proximity to the properties, including decreases in property value and loss of business,” the petition stated.
It also claimed the city, the county, the city schools, and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority have filed more than $200,000 in liens against the properties and Disam Holdings LLC has filed a mortgage lien totaling $3 million.
At one time, Oakland Gateway Ventures had big plans for the block. The properties were part of a proposed development that would have included a hotel and housing as well as possible retail space and underground parking.
However, the plan ran into trouble with some residents and Oakland Planning and Development Corp., which opposed it. Wanda Wilson, OPDC executive director, could not be reached for comment.
There has been no recent activity on the project. In October, City Council approved a city historic landmark designation for the 64-year-old Shrine of the Blessed Mother, which had been threatened by the Oakland Gateway Ventures project.
Robert E. Dauer Jr., an attorney who had represented the developer, said he was no longer doing so and that he didn’t know the status of the project.