Ceremonial groundbreaking set for New Kensington apartment project

A ceremonial groundbreaking has been scheduled for the Pioneer Apartments project already under construction in New Kensington.

The event for the Wesley Family Services project is set for 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, at the site at 319 10th St.

The $18.2 million, four-story, 36-unit building will provide affordable housing and behavioral health services. Work started in June.

The ceremony is being held after construction got underway, instead of the other way around, because Wesley didn’t want to delay its start, company spokeswoman Casey Nowicki said.

“We just wanted to make sure the people who really were a part of helping us to get this initiative started were able to attend,” she said.

Mayor Tom Guzzo and Stephen Christian-Michaels, chief strategic officer for Wesley Family Services, are expected to be among the speakers.

“We’re excited that another organization is showing so much interest in our downtown economic development,” Guzzo said .

The city is looking forward to the foot traffic the office and apartment complex will generate in the city, he said.

“We’re really excited about the whole project,” Guzzo said.

Construction is expected to take 14 to 18 months, with the building being ready for occupancy by late spring or early summer 2020, Nowicki said.

The building is being built mostly atop a former parking lot between 10th and 11th Streets, and between Fourth Avenue and Cherry Alley. A building containing an old thrift shop was demolished in the second week of work.

The project remains on schedule despite the frequent and heavy rain this year, she said.

“There ended up being an old basement under the parking lot and we discovered silt in the dirt that had to be hauled out and replaced with dirt that can be compacted,” she said.