PITTSBURGH — Neighbors on Moore Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood heard a loud boom overnight Thursday. They looked outside and saw that the 2nd story addition to the house next door had collapsed, partially into their yard, years after this property was condemned by the city.
From the street, you can see an overgrown yard at 218 Moore Avenue, littered with trash and debris. There’s even an old auction sign buried in the brush. For more than a decade, the property has been an eyesore for neighbors, who tell Channel 11 condemned signs have been posted on the property for years.
Now, they’re even more frustrated, many too upset to even speak on camera after part of the house crumbled. Neighbors said a building inspector with the city was on site, along with firefighters, after the addition fell off the back of the house. Neighbors said the pillars holding it up were leaning. They said they’ve called city officials several times but got nowhere.
The City of Pittsburgh sent us a statement Thursday morning:
“Permit Licensing was called out to 218 Moore Street in Knoxville early this morning due to a portion of the rear of the house collapsing. The building had already been condemned, and we currently have it flagged as a dead-end property. We will be sending an inspector to the site to document the daylight conditions. Based on the findings, we will assess whether any additional actions are necessary, including potentially directing the owner to proceed with demolition.”
According to the city’s records, there are more than 1,800 condemned properties in Pittsburgh, including nearly 300 owned by the city. 11 Investigates started looking into this months ago after two condemned buildings on Fifth Avenue came crashing down last summer. Channel 11 asked the city at the end of 2024 if they were on track to tear down their goal of between 100 and 120 houses. In mid-December, city data showed it has only torn down around two dozen of the most dangerous properties, about 25 percent of its goal.
218 Moore Avenue ranks as a level “2″ out of “4″ in Inspection Scores, classified as “structurally compromised, unsafe, and potentially dangerous.”
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