Dec 25, 2021 3 min read

The Monongahela Main Street Program received a $45,000 state grant to reestablish a facade improvement program within the city’s downtown central business district.

“The money gets used to clean up whole facades,” said Terry Necciai, executive director of the Monongahela Main Street Program. “There are buildings in Monongahela that haven’t had decent paint jobs since the Depression, maybe one time.”

This is one of 34 Keystone Community Program grants totaling $6 million that have been awarded across Pennsylvania.

“The Keystone Communities Program supports towns and cities with initiatives that grow and stabilize neighborhoods and encourage partnerships between the public and private sectors,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “My administration is proud to support these projects that will build stronger communities, attract new businesses, and boost our economy.”

Necciai said the grant money will cover about eight or nine projects in the city.

“It offers $5,000 in matching funds to anyone who spends $10,000 or more and below $5,000 it offers a 50% match,” he said. “Projects should follow the secretary of the interior’s standards for rehabilitation. This is the industry’s standard for anything involving historic materials.”

Facade improvements have been a focus in Monongahela in recent years. Necciai has said in the past that upgraded facades can help grown a town.

Monongahela is a city that has many activities taking place, but unattractive buildings have served as the backdrop. People may be more inclined to go to an attractive building after one of these activities.

“It’s very lively, but in the background were rotten buildings,” Necciai said. “If we can get downtown to be what it’s supposed to be, which is a very active crossroads for everything, it begins to be the engine for the tax base. We had a lot of empty apartments. We had a lot of empty storefronts and we had a lot of bad remodeling. Now, we have the opportunity to make it all work as a place for visitors.”

One building to which Necciai refers to as an example of an attractive facade is the City Mission Thrift Shop at 211 West Main St., where a McCrory’s five and dime store once stood.

“It kind of opened everybody’s eyes, because an entire block now looks better because one building got redone,” he said. “It was hideous looking beforehand.

The Monongahela Main Street Program got its start in 2015. Its goal is to revitalize the downtown and central business district.

Many towns have struggled recently, in no small part because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Monongahela has thrived with almost 40 new businesses in the last three and a half years.

“You really appreciate it when you have a thriving downtown,” Necciai said. “We’re getting there, but the buildings have to look good. We need to dress these buildings up so that the business shows that it’s doing well, send out that signal. Right now, we’re at a point where we have maybe 2/3 of the building in good shape. Every third building badly needs something.”

This grant can be a step in helping to achieve that goal.

“For us to be one of the 34 is pretty exciting to us,” Necciai said. “There are more than 2,500 municipalities in Pennsylvania. It means a lot for us to be on the list of 34. Monongahela has become an incredible place. I’m really enthusiastic about how the town is ripening. It’s turning around.”