Affordable housing proposal on hold at former Apollo High School

The Apollo Zoning Hearing Board has postponed a decision on whether to permit a 45-unit, $18 million affordable housing development on the site of the former Apollo High School.

Developer Pivotal Housing Partners is seeking variances to, among other aspects of the project, the minimum lot area per-unit, maximum building height and where it can build an auxiliary parking lot.

The plan is to raze the existing building at 400 North Second St. after environmental remediation is complete and erect a complex that has two floors in some parts and three in others. That’s a product of the sloped lot.

Parking was the board’s main hang-up at a meeting Thursday that lasted more than two hours, according to Bill Kerr, vice chairman of the Armstrong County Industrial Development Council. Right now, the plan calls for around 55 parking spots.

In 2023, the council purchased the 93-year-old building and an adjacent lot where a middle school once stood for $135,000. It plans to sell the land to Pivotal once the developer secures funding, including low-income housing tax credits through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

“I’m optimistic,” Kerr said about the proposal’s chances. “We just need a little more time to have the zoning hearing board consider all the facts, all the evidence has been presented.”

The zoning hearing board will reconvene within 45 days.

Pivotal, an Ohio-based firm specializing in multifamily and senior housing communities, has several ongoing or completed projects in Western Pennsylvania.

In East Vandergrift, work on the Morning Sun Senior Lofts project is expected to wrap up by the end of the year or early January. This residential complex for seniors will offer 41 units in the extensively remodeled former East Vandergrift Elementary School.

Allegheny Pointe in Allegheny Township, another Pivotal venture, was built more than a decade ago and also targets adults 55 and older. The company’s other communities — all of which it manages itself — are in Greensburg, Canonsburg and North Strabane. Work on its Monaca Lofts projects should be completed early next year.

Altogether, Pivotal owns about 10,000 units across 17 states.

Trey Barbour, senior vice president of development for the firm, gave a detailed explanation of the Apollo proposal, which includes one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments that will be open to all ages.

Tenants must make 60% or less of the area median income — a maximum of about $33,000 for an individual in Armstrong County and $48,000 for a family of four.

Rents would range from about $300 to $1,000 a month, depending on income.

Barbour stressed this is not public housing, but like any landlord, Pivotal will be required to follow fair housing laws when vetting applicants, including those with Section 8 vouchers. This program covers some portion of rent, with the rest paid by the tenant.

The complex would include a playground, community room, space for onsite management, a fitness facility and outdoor seating.

“This will stand up against any market-rate development that’s going up,” Barbour said.

Barbour hopes to start construction in late 2026 and open the building within a year or so.

Apollo Mayor Karen Kenzevich said she was supportive of the project.