PITTSBURGH, PA (May 7, 2019) East Liberty’s Mellon’s Orchard South development is set for 37 new affordable rental units, while another 17 rehabilitated for-sale units for low-income homebuyers are on the way for other parts of East Liberty, Larimer and Garfield.
Both projects will be presented to the board of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh on Thursday.
In the Mellon’s Orchard South development at Station and N. Beatty streets, Trek Development is planning a 47-unit mixed-income multi-family development including 37 affordable units and 10 market rate units. Affordable units are supported with low interest loans from the URA and URA’s Housing Opportunity Fund (HOF). The project was also supported by an allocation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA).
Former residents of the Penn Plaza development will be given priority for occupancy at the Mellon’s Orchard South site.
The project will include 35 apartment units and 12 townhouses. The apartments include 25 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom units in a three-story walk-up building. The apartment building will also include a community room that will be available to all residents of the development. Six units will be accessible to individuals with mobility and sensory impairments and a seventh unit will be accessible to individuals with sensory impairments. Parking will be available for 33 vehicles.
Last week the HOF Advisory Board passed a motion to award Mellon’s Orchard Housing LLC a Housing Opportunity Fund Rental Gap Program Loan (HOF RGP) in the amount of $690,000, in conjunction with the Coalition of Organized Residents of East Liberty (COR), a 501c(3) working with the developer.
The HOF Funding will support 20 units at or below 50% area median income (AMI) and four units at or below 30% AMI.
Of the 37 affordable units, four will be rented to households with incomes at or below 20% AMI, 20 units will be rented to households at or below 50% AMI, and 13 units will be rented to households with incomes at or below 60% AMI. The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) will provide Project Based Vouchers to subsidize eight of the units.
The overall development cost is $13.6 million.
Nearby in other parts of East Liberty, Larimer and Garfield, East Liberty Development Inc. (ELDI) is planning to construct six new homes and rehabilitate 20 homes. Of the 26 total homes, 17 will be sold to low-income families.
ELDI will be working with several small but high-quality contractors from around the area to perform the work.
The board is set to approve a $1.5 million construction loan for the project, which has an overall budget of $8 million. Additionally, second mortgage funding in the amount of $340,000 is being requested to make the units more affordable to the target population. This project has also received a $7.0 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) from the Pittsburgh Urban Initiatives (PUI) which is the NMTC affiliate of the URA.
The new and rehabilitated homes will be on: N. Euclid Avenue (2 homes); N. St. Clair Street (4 homes); Auburn Street; Chislett Street; Rippey Street; Rural Street (2 homes); N. Fairmont Street (4 homes); Enright Court (8 homes); Mayflower Street; Shetland Street; and N. Aiken Avenue.
