A New York affordable housing developer has taken over the 18-story Midtown Towers apartment building in Downtown with plans to optimize operations and add to the services offered to residents.
Without fanfare, an affiliate of Tredway Management LLC purchased the 95-unit building at 643 Liberty Ave. from Beacon Communities, which had owned the property since the middle of 2017. According to Beacon, the purchase price was $14 million.
Beacon had assumed ownership and management of the building after a fire on May 15, 2017, killed a 75-year-old woman and displaced other residents. It spent $16 million overhauling the structure.
The work included installing a full sprinkler system and new fire alarms and renovating all of the units, which received new cabinets and appliances and higher ceilings. Residents returned to the building in 2020.
Since taking over the complex in August, Tredway stated that it has employed a full-time staff “to optimize operations and address residents’ needs and concerns.”
It also has added a resident service coordinator and is partnering with local businesses and nonprofits to “provide enhanced resident programming in the form of wellness services, food delivery, and cultural and art initiatives” in a building that houses many seniors.
Tredway also has “invested significantly in security to ensure residents’ safety and have reimagined the common area spaces to improve residents’ experience.”
“The investments we are making will preserve Midtown Towers as a resource for this community, especially seniors, and bring the experience for residents up to a higher standard," Tredway CEO and founder Will Blodgett said in a statement.
Midtown Towers, opened in 1907 and known for its distinctive red dome, is Tredway’s first acquisition in Pittsburgh. But the company said it is looking to expand its footprint both in the city and region, either through acquisitions or new developments.
"There has been a lot of activity on the market-rate side in Pittsburgh, which is great to see, but our focus is on meeting the need for affordable apartments here, both by delivering more units and breathing new life in existing rent-regulated buildings, like Midtown Towers,” Mr. Blodgett said.
The acquisition comes at a time when there is an emphasis on converting older office buildings to residential in Downtown Pittsburgh, with the city offering incentives to developers to include affordable housing in such transformations.
Tredway described Pittsburgh as a “prime example of a high opportunity market in need of affordable housing.”
It said it was drawn here by the city’s diversified economy and growth areas like technology, health care, and finance; accessibility; quality of life; and education and research institutions like the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
Midtown Towers has been one of the few affordable apartment buildings in Downtown. Under Beacon, two-thirds of the apartments were affordable to lower-income residents and the rest were market rate.
According to Tredway, the majority of the market-rate units are occupied by housing voucher holders whose rents are subsidized.
Founded in 2021, Tredway acquires, revitalizes and preserves affordable, workforce and mixed-income housing. On its website, it describes itself as an “innovator in affordable housing development.”
The company owns 2,700 units in New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio. Among its other acquisitions last year were 816 affordable units in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. It also acquired an adjacent site where it is planning up to 300 affordable units for seniors.
While Beacon has sold Midtown Towers, it remains active in Downtown.
In November, it received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to make improvements to the 88-unit May Building at 111 Fifth Ave. That work is expected to start early next year.
It is currently considering residential conversions to the 11-story First and Market Building at 100 First Ave., where it is planning 93 units, and the Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal complex at 120 Cecil Place and Fort Duquesne Boulevard, where it is proposing 79 units.
It is seeking 4% low-income tax credits for both of those projects.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com
First Published: January 31, 2024, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: February 1, 2024, 8:35 p.m.
