Community Builders JV Kicks Off Pittsburgh Adaptive Reuse
The project will transform a former school into mixed-income housing.
Juan Powell, regional vice president, The Community Builders, and Sonya Tilghman, executive director, Hazelwood Initiative, joined State Senator Jay Costa, State Rep. Aerion Abney, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor and other community partners at the ground breaking of Gladstone Residences In Pittsburgh. Image courtesy of Heather Mull
Codevelopers The Community Builders and Hazelwood Initiative Inc. have broken ground on a 51-unit mixed-income, mostly affordable community, dubbed Gladstone Residences, in Pittsburgh.
The project will transform the former Gladstone School building into a residential community including 43 units reserved for tenants earning 60 or below of the area median income. Six units will be fully ADA accessible and housing vouchers for 20 apartments will be provided by the Housing Authority City of Pittsburgh. SOTA Construction will lead construction and Rothschild Doyno Collaborative is providing design services.
Gladstone Residences will be an all-electric development certified under Enterprise Green Building Communities 2015 and will encompass two buildings with one- and two-bedroom units. Common-area amenities will include a top-floor lounge, on-site management office, health and wellness room, community room and an outdoor patio.
The community will be located at 327 Hazelwood Ave., in an Opportunity Zone, in the Hazelwood neighborhood. Gladstone Residences is near Interstate 376, close to the Hazelwood Greenway, the Monongahela river, as well as some 3 miles from the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital and UPMC Mercy are within a 3.5-mile radius.
Making affordable housing happen in Pittsburgh
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, Housing Authority City of Pittsburgh, federal and state historic tax credits administered through the National Park Service and Hazelwood Initiative are making the adaptive reuse project happen. The residential redevelopment will be financed in part by PNC Bank’s investment in a combination of federal LIHTC and federal and state historic tax credits.
The Community Builders has recently opened a 111-unit supportive housing development in Jersey City, N.J. The affordable project represents the rehabilitation and preservation of a historic, former YMCA building.
