Greenwood Plan, a nonprofit organization named after the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma (“Black Wall Street”), is bringing Greenwood to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Last December, the organization completed the acquisition of the historic Pitt Building in downtown Pittsburgh, PA, with plans to transform it into an incubator for Black-owned businesses as well as a community and coworking space.
The Greenwood Plan’s executive director, Khamil Bailey, verified the facility’s purchase for $4 million.
“We want this to be a black business incubator… Give black businesses the opportunity to operate in downtown storefronts where they may not have otherwise been able to do so because the terms are not normally favorable. We want to do that through programming and rent subsidies, giving people the training wheels to be able to get into these spaces and get the revenue that comes with the traffic that comes with being Downtown,” Bailey said to The New Pittsburgh Courier.
According to the Pittsburg Courier, there is a scarcity of black companies downtown. Bailey stated that the Pitt Building has ten open units for businesses or organizations, three of which are occupied by Emerald City, a Cricket cell phone store, and a Traveler’s Aid of Pittsburgh nonprofit.Bailey expects to see the remaining units leased to black-owned businesses or NGOs.
“I know that back in the early 1900s, there were black businesses that operated Downtown,” Bailey told the Courier. “… We want to bring that back and remind people that we (African Americans) are a part of a thriving economy just as anybody else, not just as consumers but as wealth-builders.”
Greenwood Plan purchased the historic property after opening Emerald City, a 12,000-square-foot coworking and social space on the second level, in 2021. According to its website, the building purchase aligns with the organization’s mission of “connecting partners, resources, and initiatives to Black entrepreneurs, professionals, gig workers, and creatives.”
Bailey told the Courier that she wants businesses in The Pitt Building that can make a meaningful contribution to the community.
“If you have a business that you feel can contribute positively to the community, those are the types of businesses that we want,” Bailey said.
She also disclosed that they have earmarked a four-star restaurant to serve black cuisine because they want a black, four-star dining experience to be part of the building.
“When people come to visit the city and they ask, ‘Where should I go to get food?’ people immediately say, They have to come down to this restaurant,” Bailey said.
Bailey, an East Orange, N.J., native, came to Pittsburgh in 2005 to attend the University of Pittsburgh. The first time she arrived in Pittsburgh, Bailey said she was “culture shocked.” She felt that “there was no indication that Pittsburgh had a healthy relationship with their Black folks…And I come from a place where it is starkly different. Principals are Black, my mayor was Black, doctors were Black. I saw Black business owners. I saw Black people occupy various socio-economic statuses and education levels, so I had this very holistic view of Black people, and when I got to Pittsburgh, that just was not the case.”
Her organization’s purchase of the historic building is thus in line with its mission of “advancing economic justice for Black communities.”