A row house that became emblematic of Pittsburgh’s problems with abandonment and red tape is going down today as Mayor Corey O’Connor’s administration works through the backlog of South Pittsburgh homes awaiting the wrecking crew.
On Friday a one-man crew was taking down 418 Rochelle St., brick by brick, in a process expected to take around a week and leave an empty lot where a home stood since around 1900.
Owned by Nicole Green since 1997, the house long since changed from a shelter to a liability.
Contractor Logan Broerman of Cranberry, a supervisor at Five Star Construction, demolishes 418 Rochelle St., in Knoxville, brick by brick on March 6, 2026. (Video by Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh Public Source)
In 2005, as she recovered from injuries, the mortgage holder foreclosed, and Green walked away. She did not realize that the lender never finalized the foreclosure, leaving the property in limbo, and in her name, as it deteriorated. She only realized that she was still the owner last year, when the city cited her as the owner of a dangerous structure.
Green’s summary trial on that charge is set for March 19.
By the time Green learned that she still owned the house, the back taxes and repair costs had far outstripped her ability to save it, and neighbors were weary of the mess.
Last month the O’Connor administration announced plans to demolish 23 Hilltop structures across Knoxville, Beltzhoover, St. Clair and Arlington. Green’s is included.
“No Pittsburgher should have to live next to a property that’s been abandoned for years and falling down,” O’Connor said at the time, in a press release. “We are making a commitment to the Hilltop – and to all Pittsburgh neighborhoods – that we are going to invest in clean, safe and vibrant communities.”
The demolitions still leave the city with around 2,000 condemned buildings, roughly two-thirds of which are considered structurally compromised and dangerous. The city’s pace of demolitions has varied with funding, from 111 in 2023 to 29 in 2024 and 48 last year.
Demolitions cost an average of $50,000, and when the city fronts the money it attempts to recoup it from the owner. The city is expected to place a lien on Green’s property to cover the expense, which would make it even harder for her to clear the debt on it.
But the Pittsburgh Land Bank could have a solution for Green and others in her situation. The Land Bank has agreements with the local taxing bodies allowing it to wipe liens away from properties when it takes possession. Land Bank Executive Director Sally Stadelman said pending the Land Bank board’s approval, the organization could accept 418 Rochelle as a donation from Green, wipe the title clean and sell it to a neighbor.
The Land Bank has the power to take ownership of abandoned properties, return them to a useful state and sell them to new owners. So far it has not received the $1.5 million-a-year annual allocation it requested in a December task force report, instead surviving on a total of $3.5 million in investments the city made in 2021 and 2022.
Pittsburgh has more than 20,000 vacant housing units, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, about 15% of its total stock. While some can be saved, officials have said that many are either beyond repair or have “tangled titles” — ownership histories too complicated to effectively hold anyone accountable for their conditions.
Rich Lord is the managing editor of Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at rich@publicsource.org.
Charlie Wolfson contributed.
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