URA set to invest $2.5M in affordable housing in Hazelwood, East Hills, East Liberty

Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority is poised to invest more than $2.5 million in new construction and rehabilitation of 144 affordable housing units in the city’s Hazelwood, East Hills and East Liberty neighborhoods.

The URA board is scheduled to vote Thursday to authorize using a $620,000 grant to build four new affordable homes in Hazelwood, a $1.25 million loan to renovate a 117-unit rental community in the East Hills and a $690,000 loan to renovate 23 rental units in East Liberty.

The new, single-family homes in Hazelwood will be built on Chatsworth Avenue. Each will have three bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms.

The homes will be earmarked for homebuyers making between 50% and 80% of the area median income, which is $59,400 a year. That means the people purchasing the homes would likely make between roughly $29,700 and $47,500 a year.

The URA said they anticipate the homes will be priced between $120,000 and $135,000.

The developer of the project is City of Bridges Community Land Trust and the contractor is EcoCraft Homes Inc. The project is expected to cost more than $2 million.

The investment in the East Hills will include renovating 117 units across 29 townhomes on East Hills and Welner drives. Built in 1969 as part of a larger 404-unit development, the properties were acquired by East Hills LP in 2004. They underwent a rehabilitation dubbed Second East Hills and now, 18 years later, many of the units need reinvestment and renovations.

The renovations to the units will include interior, exterior and site improvement work. The properties include 87 three-bedroom units and 30 four-bedroom units. Twenty-four of the units will be rented at or below 30% of the area median income and 93 units will be rented at or below 50% AMI.

The borrower and developer for the project is Prestigious Hills LP and the contractor is Mistick Construction. The project is expected to cost more than $24 million.

In East Liberty, Stanton Highland Apartments on Highland Avenue has three multiple-family residential buildings that originally were owned by the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary for use as market-rate graduate student housing. The seminary later sold the units to ACTION-Housing, under the condition that they be transformed into affordable housing.

ACTION-Housing plans to use its loan to renovate the 23-unit Hawthorn Building, with construction of several additional components such as a new community room in the interior courtyard, a new elevator tower and an accessible building entrance. Ten units will be modified to make them accessible for tenants with disabilities.

AHI Stanton Highland Apartments is the borrower and developer on the project. The contractor is Nelcon Inc. The project is expected to cost about $4.8 million.

The URA board is poised to offer final approval of the investments at its meeting Thursday afternoon.