Bethlehem Haven looks to renovate, add housing in Pittsburgh's Uptown

A proposal before Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission would improve supportive housing and add new affordable units in the city’s Uptown area.

Bethlehem Haven, a local nonprofit that provides housing and various wraparound services, is looking to upgrade an existing Fifth Avenue site where it offers supportive housing to 26 women with challenging disabilities or chronic mental health issues.

The group also wants to tear down buildings on an adjacent site and build a new structure that would house what it’s calling Uptown Flats, an affordable housing development with 34 rental apartments.

Annette Fetchko, Bethlehem Haven’s executive director, said the proposed renovations to the existing building that houses women with disabilities or mental health issues would be expansive. They are slated to include work on the roof and electric and HVAC systems, as well as new windows.

Some rooms now house two women, she said. When the proposed upgrades are completed, she said, everyone would have their own single room.

Residents would be temporarily moved to Shadyside during the work, Fetchko said.

She said the updates would provide “a more therapeutic environment” and improve a building she described as “old” and “tired.”

The proposed addition next door to the existing facility would be a four-story building with just under 34,000 square feet, said Gerard Schmidt of LGA Partners, a Pittsburgh-based architectural firm working on the project.

The new building would include affordable housing for people making no more than 30% of the area median income, as well as new administrative office space for Bethlehem Haven staff and a private courtyard for residents of both buildings.

The Planning Commission is expected to vote on the proposals at its next meeting in two weeks.