Planning Commission to consider plans for 1st phase of Bedford Dwellings project

Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission is considering plans for the first phase of the Bedford Dwellings redevelopment project, which is expected to include 123 housing units.

“It’s part of a much larger redevelopment effort in the Hill District,” said Joe Hackett with Pittsburgh-based LBA Landscape Architecture, which is working on the project.

The first phase is expected to cost about $62.5 million, officials with the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority have said.

The initiative is spearheaded by the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh-based Trek Development Group.

This is the first phase of a years-long project that is seeking a $50 million federal HUD grant and could grow to include more than 800 housing units if federal funding is secured.

The first phase, which is before the Planning Commission now, will move ahead regardless of whether the city can bring in additional federal dollars. It includes three buildings and will use Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has pledged $350,000 through its Avenues of Hope Commercial Real Estate Program and $400,000 in Pittsburgh Business Fund financing, contingent on the city receiving the additional federal funding.

Already, the authority has sold several properties to advance the project.

It includes 90 affordable housing units to replace units at the Somers Drive site at the current Bedford Dwellings. Those units are available for households making between 30% and 60% of the area median income.

The area median income in the region ranges from $66,400 for an individual to more than $125,000 for a family of eight.

The first phase of development, located on Colwell Street, also includes 24 new market-rate units and nine additional affordable housing units, Hackett said. Sixteen units will be fully ADA accessible, he said.

“It brings those residents closer to the future grocery store,” which is set to open on Centre Avenue by late fall, said City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, who also sits on the URA Board.

The new site also is closer to other businesses and amenities on the Centre Avenue corridor, he said.

Plans for the site include public green space, a community room, offices and 76 parking spaces, he said.

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

Lavelle said the ultimate plan is to tear down the existing Bedford Dwellings development and build new housing there. If the city is able to secure federal funding to advance further stages of the project, he said, they ultimately will end up with about 800 more housing units than the existing Bedford Dwellings site has now.

He estimated the full scope of the project would be completed over about six years.