Restoration of abandoned Larimer School moves forward

A long-awaited restoration of the former Larimer School in Pittsburgh could start as early as next year, but some residents are disappointed that it won’t provide housing for senior citizens.

The Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority, which owns the building, is teaming with the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh to renovate the 19th-century building for 35 apartments available at market and affordable rates. The $21.5 million project would include commercial space and seven townhouses on vacant land along Winslow Street across from school building on Larimer Avenue.

Original plans long championed by neighborhood activists called for senior housing in the vacant school building, but officials said it was unlikely that a project exclusively for seniors would qualify for competitive tax credits necessary to close a funding gap.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency last month approved low-income housing tax credits worth about $1 million and earlier this month Pennsylvania authorized a $1 million grant. Construction should start early next year, according to Tom Cummings, the URA’s director of housing.

“It’s going to be general occupancy,” Cummings said. “That doesn’t mean that seniors can’t live there. It just means it won’t be offered exclusively for seniors. That was a decision that was made so the project would have the best chance to succeed. I think in the final analysis it was most important to the community for that building to be preserved and saved.”

Betty Lane, 82, who’s lived in Larimer for decades and is on the board of the Larimer Consensus Group, said the housing authority reneged on a promise to provide a building for seniors. An authority spokeswoman said no one was available this week to comment.

“It’s very frustrating to work and fight for something and people just talk out of both sides of their mouth,” Lane said. “That is the last standing historic building in the community. At least they’re going to save it.”

Transforming the building into apartments is part of the Larimer Choice Neighborhoods project, which will provide around 350 mixed-income homes in the depressed East End community. The housing authority in 2014 received a $30 million grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund choice neighborhoods.

Built in 1896, the Italian renaissance-style school building has been vacant for decades and gone through a series of owners who were unable to secure funding for renovations. It once featured an eight-story clock tower illuminated by 32 lights and served as a landmark for generations. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Donna Jackson, who chairs the Larimer Consensus Group, said the organization hopes an auditorium and gymnasium in the school can be converted for a community kitchen and year-round farmer’s market.

“Anything’s possible,” Cummings said. “We’re working with them and we’ll continue to work with them.”