Bethlehem Haven, a nonprofit that provides housing and other wraparound services, received approval Tuesday from the Pittsburgh Planning Commission to renovate its existing Fifth Avenue site and add affordable housing.

The nonprofit plans to upgrade its Uptown facility, where it offers supportive housing to 26 women with disabilities or chronic mental health issues.

The nonprofit also plans to tear down buildings on an adjacent site to build its new Uptown Flats development, an affordable housing complex with 34 apartments and office space for Bethlehem Haven administrators.

Renovations to the existing building will include work on the roof and the electric and HVAC systems, as well as new windows and single-occupancy rooms for all occupants. Some women are now in two-person, dorm-style rooms.

Residents will temporarily be moved to Shadyside during the renovations, according to Annette Fetchko, Bethlehem Haven’s executive director.

“The facility is in dire need of renovations,” she said, explaining that the heating system broke down during the winter. “It is a therapeutic environment we would like to create for the women who call Bethlehem Haven home.”

The neighboring Uptown Flats building is slated to be a four-story site with just under 34,000 square feet, according to plans presented to the Planning Commission.

It will include affordable housing for people making no more than 30% of the area median income. It also will have a private courtyard that will be open to residents of both Bethlehem Haven buildings.

Planning Commissioner Becky Mingo said she felt tearing down the existing buildings to make way for the new Uptown Flats structure “doesn’t seem to be fitting in” with the goals of retaining and reusing existing structures.

“There’s a strong emphasis on preserving and maintaining buildings,” she said, adding that she felt the structures there are “still quite beautiful.”

Fetchko said renovating the existing buildings wasn’t feasible for the nonprofit’s budget, particularly as the project contends with increasing construction costs.

Officials did not offer a total project budget during the Planning Commission discussion.

Gerard Schmidt, senior project manager with Pittsburgh-based LGA Partners, said officials explored ways to potentially use the existing structures on the planned Uptown Flats site, but found too many challenges in terms of cost and incorporating what was already there with Bethlehem Haven’s needs.

The Planning Commission approved the proposal, with Commissioner Sabina Dietrick the lone dissenting vote. Commissioners Jennifer Askey, Fred Brown and Rachel O’Neill were not present for the vote.

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