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Penn Plaza demolition has begun on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 in East Liberty.
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East Liberty development to bring more affordable housing

Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette

East Liberty development to bring more affordable housing

A Downtown developer is ready to move forward with a much-anticipated project to bring more affordable housing to East Liberty.

At its meeting Thursday, the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority board is set to consider the sale of two parcels of land at Station Street and North Beatty Street for $600,000 to an affiliate of Trek Development Group.

Trek is proposing to build 47 units of housing — 35 apartments and 12 townhouses — at the site in the first phase of the Mellon’s Orchard South development.

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The project was born in the controversy over the displacement of more than 200 residents from the former Penn Plaza apartment complex just blocks away.

A rendering of the 47-unit Mellon's Orchard South apartment and townhouse development.
Mark Belko
Trek development to bring more affordable housing in East Liberty

Former Penn Plaza residents will be given preference in renting the units being developed by Trek, said Tom Cummings, the URA director of housing.

“I think it’s especially critical in the East End with this project having an approximate linkage to Penn Plaza,” he said of the new development. “It’s certainly very important to the city.”

Thirty-seven of the 47 units being constructed by Trek will be affordable to low-income residents and 10 will be market rate.

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Of the affordable ones, four will be reserved for households with incomes at 20 percent of the area median income. For a family of two, that’s $12,160.

Another 20 will be available to households with incomes at 50 percent of the area median income, and 13 to those at 60 percent, or $36,480 for a family of two.

The apartment projects will include 25 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom units. All of the townhouses will be one bedroom, with live-work layouts and a large flexible first floor space “with transparency at the ground level to promote pedestrian traffic and potential for sales or gallery space,” according to a report accompanying the URA agenda.

Amenities will include a community room and parking for 33 vehicles.

Sale of the land is the next to last step Trek must complete with the URA before construction can begin. Mr. Cummings expects the last approvals to come in February or March, with work to start right after that. The first units should be available by mid-2020, he said.

The $13.5 million project is funded in part through an allocation of 9 percent low-income housing tax credits.

Trek also has plans for a 45-unit second phase as part of the Mellon’s Orchard South development. It is waiting to hear if it is awarded low-income tax credits for that phase before starting. It should have an answer from the state by the spring, Mr. Cummings said.

The Mellon’s Orchard development will add to a growing number of affordable housing units being built in the East End in recent years.

Another 164 are being completed as part of the $30 million Choice Neighborhoods development in Larimer and East Liberty. There are also 39 affordable units being developed in Morningside, 19 in Garfield, and 36 in Homewood.

Also Thursday, the URA board will consider approving $420,000 in loans, including one for $240,000 from the Housing Opportunity Fund, to the Observatory Hill Development Corp. to redevelop three vacant and abandoned buildings on Perrysville Avenue.

The OHDC plans to rehab the buildings with six upper floor apartments and ground floor commercial space. Of the apartments, two will be rented to households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area median income and four to households at or below 50 percent.

Rents are expected to range from $428 to $855 a month for the units, five of which will be two-bedroom and the other one-bedroom.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

First Published: January 9, 2019, 12:30 p.m.
Updated: January 9, 2019, 12:36 p.m.

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Penn Plaza demolition has begun on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 in East Liberty.  (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette)
Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette
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