Pittsburgh Launches Initiative to Rebuild Larimer, One Vacant Lot at a Time

On a Monday afternoon in late June, Mayor Corey O'Connor stood alongside community leaders, city planners, and neighbors in Larimer to announce something that residents of this East End neighborhood have been working toward for more than fifteen years: a coordinated, city-backed effort to rebuild housing on the vacant and neglected lots that have quietly outnumbered occupied homes for decades.

The initiative, launched June 22, brings together the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, the Larimer Consensus Group, and Councilman Khari Mosley under a shared request for interest targeting 254 scattered-site parcels across the neighborhood. The two assemblages span 9.2 and 6.9 acres respectively, totaling more than 16 acres of development-ready land. The RFI invites developers, home builders, and community organizations to propose new high-quality housing or mixed-use residential projects for individual lots throughout the community.

"It's time to start investing and investing fast into these properties," Mayor O'Connor said at the announcement. The city has also requested $15 million in capital funds to help prepare the lots for development, clearing sites ahead of time to significantly reduce the cost burden for any builder or community organization that steps in. That funding depends on Governor Josh Shapiro's state budget, due June 30, but the mayor signaled confidence that the investment would move forward.

A Neighborhood That Never Stopped Fighting for Itself

Larimer takes its name from William Larimer, a 19th-century railroad magnate whose manor once overlooked East Liberty from what became Larimer Avenue. The neighborhood was originally settled by German and Italian immigrants, many of them steelworkers and masons who built the industrial spine of western Pennsylvania. But the same economic upheaval that transformed Pittsburgh transformed Larimer too, and decades of disinvestment, urban renewal demolitions, and concentrated poverty left the neighborhood with more empty lots than houses on many of its blocks.

The Larimer Consensus Group, a community-driven organization that has been at the center of the neighborhood's revitalization push, authored the Larimer Vision Plan in 2010, a detailed blueprint for what a rebuilt Larimer could look like. Four years later, that plan helped secure a $30 million Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, one of the most competitive federal grants available to communities pursuing comprehensive neighborhood transformation.

"The Larimer community has long awaited a concerted and coordinated effort to activate the vacant and dilapidated land in our community," said K. Chase Patterson of the Larimer Consensus Group. "We are excited for the momentum that is coming, led by Mayor O'Connor, and we look forward to working collaboratively with his administration and the URA to ensure that our Community Plan and vision for Larimer become a lived reality."

A City-Wide Momentum Behind Larimer

The Larimer initiative arrives as Pittsburgh's broader housing and neighborhood investment momentum continues to build. The URA has committed more than $32 million toward residential and mixed-use projects citywide this year alone, targeting 708 new housing units across the downtown pipeline, 477 of which are designated affordable. Just last month, the agency celebrated the groundbreaking of Smithfield Lofts, a $30 million office-to-residential conversion at 4 Smithfield Street that will bring 46 new apartments to downtown. Larimer represents the neighborhood investment counterpart to that downtown energy, extending Pittsburgh's revitalization story into communities that have been rebuilding from within.

Councilman Khari Mosley framed the moment in terms of long-term community identity: "Larimer is a community with a rich history and hopefully a brighter future. In accordance with the Larimer Vision Plan, we are at the precipice of building a healthy, diverse, vibrant community, teamed with people from all walks of life."

The RFI is open now and will remain open through August 24, 2026, with the city aiming to complete the process by October. Proposals can be submitted through IonWave Technologies, the city's procurement portal. For Pittsburgh, the implications go beyond bricks and mortar. A rebuilt Larimer, with new homes on long-dormant lots, sends a clear signal that the city's commitment to reinvestment is not confined to rivers and skylines. It reaches into the neighborhoods where Pittsburgh's working families have lived, struggled, and persisted, and where they are ready to plant something new.