At a glance:
- Plan review in Greensburg is handled by the Code Enforcement Agency (CEA) of Jefferson Hills.
- Close to a third of the city's housing units were built in 1939 or earlier.
- Four National Register listings sit inside the city limits.
Last updated:
Greensburg, the county seat
Greensburg covers 4.05 square miles and had 14,976 residents in the 2020 census. It replaced Hannastown as county seat after a Seneca raid destroyed Hannastown in the 1780s, became a borough in 1799 and a third-class city in 1928, and takes its name from Gen. Nathanael Greene. For the townships and boroughs around the city, see our Westmoreland County page.
Building age inside the city
Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 put 7,262 housing units in Greensburg. Of those, 2,297 (31.6%) date to 1939 or earlier and 1,572 more went up between 1940 and 1959, for a median year built of 1957. Buildings that age have usually been remodeled more than once, so we scan before design starts.
Deliverables for Greensburg buildings
- A registered point cloud of a Main Street office building, for engineers checking floor plates and shafts
- CAD floor plans and elevations sized for an Academy Hill addition or a storefront renovation
- Revit models where hospital or campus systems need coordination
- A 360° virtual tour so a remote owner or lender can walk a downtown space
Need a number early? Try the as-built documentation cost calculator.
Greensburg Downtown Historic District
Listed on the National Register on July 21, 1995, the downtown district covers 21.8 acres with 62 contributing buildings from 1872 to 1930. The oldest is the 1872 Masonic Temple. Italianate, Romanesque Revival and Classical Revival fronts line its blocks, with cornices, carved stone and storefront glazing that have to be drawn accurately before any facade or storefront work. Read how we handle historic building documentation.
Westmoreland County Courthouse
The courthouse at 2 N. Main St. is the county's fourth. Architect William S. Kaufman designed it in the Beaux Arts style, it dates to 1906, and it rises 175 ft above the street. It joined the National Register in 1978. Measuring a building of that height by hand means lifts and scaffolding; scanner setups on the surrounding streets and plaza capture the exterior elevations, and interior setups add courtrooms and corridors. See government building scanning.
The courthouse garage rebuild
In 2022 the county found the two-level garage beneath the courthouse courtyard deteriorated from water leaks and chemical damage. The county's public works director said the engineering report "couldn't tell us if it would collapse or, if it would collapse, when." Demolition began May 5, 2022, Carl Walker Construction dug about 35 ft down for the $7 million rebuild, and the refurbished plaza reopened August 14, 2023, with ARPA funding.
Below-grade structures deteriorate out of sight, and a baseline scan of slabs, beams and columns gives engineers geometry to compare against later. See parking structure scanning.
Westmoreland Hospital
Westmoreland Hospital, part of Independence Health System, sits at 532 West Pittsburgh Street with 349 licensed beds. Open-heart surgery, interventional radiology and robotic surgery all run in rooms packed with medical gas, power and ceiling-mounted equipment. Hospital renovations are phased around patient care, and a scan lets the design team plan above-ceiling work before the first tile comes down. See hospital scanning.
Seton Hill University's hilltop campus
The Sisters of Charity bought 200 acres in Greensburg in 1882 and opened the school the following year. It was chartered as a college in 1918 and became a university in 2002. The Administration Building dates to 1889 (renovated 2001), and Sullivan Hall opened in 1929 in what the university calls Norman Chateau style, with the kind of roofs and stonework that are slow to measure by hand. Campus scanning can be scheduled between terms.
Westmoreland Museum of American Art
The museum at 221 N. Main St. was founded by bequest in 1949 and opened in 1959. A West Wing followed in 1968, and Ennead Architects completed a LEED-certified renovation and expansion in 2015 that brought the building to 69,300 gross sq ft. Where additions from different decades meet, floor levels and wall alignments often differ from the drawings, and a scan settles that before design. See museum scanning.
Accuracy targets for Greensburg buildings
Ornamental plaster at the 1926 Palace Theatre and the structural grid of a 1923 downtown tower call for different tolerances. We write the target for each job in USIBD Level of Accuracy terms and choose a scanner and workflow that can meet it, so the architect knows ahead of time what the data will support.
Main Street office-to-housing conversions
The Westmoreland County Housing Authority owns the First Commonwealth Bank building at 111 to 125 S. Main St., where the upper six floors are vacant, and holds a purchase option on the neighboring PNC building, empty since 2020. It sought developer proposals, due May 1, 2025, for a mixed-use conversion that includes graduate and medical student housing, and state DCED officials visited the building on March 27, 2026.
Turning offices into apartments depends on where the columns, shafts, stairs and windows actually are, and a full scan answers that before developers commit. See multifamily scanning.
Academy Hill Historic District
Academy Hill, listed on April 29, 1999, covers 63.5 acres and 252 structures, most built between 1880 and 1949. The oldest is an 1840 farmhouse at 333 Walnut Ave. Styles range from Queen Anne and Tudor Revival to Mission, Craftsman and Prairie School, and architect Paul Bartholomew designed many of the North Main Street houses. An addition or porch rebuild starts with measured floor plans and elevations of the house as it stands.
Greensburg train station
William Holmes Cookman designed the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Jacobean Revival style, with red brick in Flemish bond, stone trim and a copper ogee dome on the clock tower. It was listed on the National Register in 1977, a restaurant now occupies the building, and Amtrak's Pennsylvanian stops there daily. Accessibility design was completed in early 2025, with construction expected in 2026. Work of that kind depends on exact platform, ramp and door elevations.
Plan review through the city and CEA
Permit questions start at the City of Greensburg Planning and Development Department, City Hall, 416 S. Main Street, second floor, Room 203, (724) 838-4335. The Code Enforcement Agency (CEA) of Jefferson Hills handles plan review and specialized UCC inspections, and certified inspectors under the Planning Director handle the rest. Review targets are 15 working days for residential and 30 for commercial, and most projects need plans sealed by a Pennsylvania-registered design professional, who can draw the construction document package from our scan. Treat this as general context and confirm requirements with the city.
Code edition and appeals
Chapter 135 of the city code adopts the 2021 edition of the Uniform Construction Code, and appeals go to the Central Westmoreland Uniform Construction Code Board of Appeals. PA DLI lists Greensburg as an opt-in municipality, enforcing the UCC locally since July 1, 2004. Knowing the code edition early helps your architect decide which existing conditions to document closely, such as stair geometry and egress widths.
Downtown's larger landmarks
The downtown district's larger landmarks include:
- Penn-Albert Hotel, now Penn Towers, built in 1923 at 8 to 11 stories
- Troutman's Department Store, six stories, also 1923
- First Presbyterian Church (1917), designed by Ralph Adams Cram
- The 1926 Palace Theatre
Scanners reach upper-floor facades and rooflines from street-level setups, which cuts down on lift time. See theater scanning and church scanning.
Seton Hill's downtown arts buildings
Seton Hill also built in the center of the city: the Center for Family Therapy in 2004, the 73,000 sq ft Performing Arts Center in 2009 and the Arts Center in 2015. A scan records stage houses, rigging and acoustic ceilings along with the ductwork above. On newer buildings like these, comparing a scan against the design model shows where construction departed from the drawings.
Health Care District zoning
In April 2015 the city adopted a Health Care District zoning overlay (Ord. No. 2048), later amended in 2019 and 2021. It covers the neighborhoods around the hospital in west Greensburg and is meant to support hospital expansion and the reuse of underused buildings. Turning an older house or storefront into medical office space starts with accurate plans of what is there, especially stairs, door widths and floor-to-floor heights.
Getting a Greensburg quote
Send the street address, the building's approximate size and how it is used today. Tell us whether it sits in the downtown or Academy Hill district, what your architect or engineer needs to receive, and any timing limits, such as court schedules for county buildings or class calendars at Seton Hill. Request a quote or start with the scan-to-BIM cost calculator.
Occupancy and fire inspections every two years
Greensburg inspects businesses and rental units for occupancy and fire safety every two years. For downtown storefronts, upper-floor apartments and houses split into rentals, current floor plans showing exits, rooms and square footage make each visit easier to prepare for. One scan produces plans that stay useful through every cycle as long as the layout does not change.
Questions about scanning in Greensburg
Who reviews building plans in the City of Greensburg?
Applications go to the city's Planning and Development Department at 416 S. Main Street, and the Code Enforcement Agency (CEA) of Jefferson Hills performs plan review and specialized UCC inspections. Targets are 15 working days for residential and 30 for commercial review, and most projects need plans sealed by a Pennsylvania-registered design professional.
How far is Greensburg from CAD Construct?
The Westmoreland County Courthouse is about 24 miles from our Homestead office, roughly 47 minutes without traffic. That puts downtown, Academy Hill, Seton Hill and the hospital district within reach for a single-day capture, and a return trip for follow-up setups is simple to arrange.
Can you scan buildings in the downtown or Academy Hill historic districts?
Scanning is non-contact, so it records cornices, stonework, porches and interiors from tripod setups without touching historic surfaces. The downtown district has been on the National Register since 1995 and Academy Hill since 1999. Ask the Planning and Development Department whether your project triggers added review.
Can you scan at Westmoreland Hospital while it is open?
Hospitals are commonly scanned while patient care continues. We schedule rooms and corridors with the facilities team, follow the hospital's infection control and badge rules, and capture above-ceiling areas where facilities staff open tiles. The result supports renovation design in the Health Care District without taking whole floors out of service.
Do you scan parking garages and other below-grade structures?
We do. A scan records slab edges, beams, columns and ceiling heights in a garage like the one rebuilt under the courthouse plaza in 2022 and 2023. Engineers use that geometry as a baseline for condition assessment and repair design, and the structural evaluation stays their responsibility.
Can a scan help convert a Main Street office building to apartments?
It can. Conversion design depends on column spacing, shafts, stairs, windows and floor-to-floor heights. A full scan of a building like the one with six vacant upper floors at 111 to 125 S. Main St. gives the architect measured plans and sections for laying out units, egress and new risers.
Request a Greensburg scanning quote
CAD Construct LLC, DBE-certified through the PA UCP, provides 3D laser scanning, as-built drawings, scan-to-BIM and 360° virtual tours for buildings from the courthouse blocks to the hospital district. Call (800) 967-2627 or request a free quote online.