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Grants for two historic buildings will bring more modern housing options to Downtown.
The May Building on Fifth Avenue near the intersection of Liberty Avenue secured a $5 million grant through the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program. The renovation is led by real estate firm and building owner Beacon Communities, which announced the funding on Nov. 6.
The program — funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Inflation Reduction Act — fronts up to $60,000 per unit for renovations that improve energy efficiency, implement zero-emissions electricity generation, achieve national green building standards and a host of other sustainability-related goals, says Michael Polite, Beacon Pittsburgh’s president of development.
“[Green and Resilient Retrofit Program] money is meant to provide the owner with the opportunity to take an improvement from a good improvement to one that can accomplish certain overall goals,” Polite says. “That means the windows that we’ll select will be able to perform at a certain level. We can plan our improvements so that we will hit that level of performance.”
Host to 88 mixed-income studio and one-bedroom units, the over-100-year-old May Building was last updated in the 1970s, Polite says.
The total construction cost is expected to be approximately $18.5 million, from new windows and insulation to roof work and the work on the lobby’s historic facade.
Polite says residents will be in an essentially brand-new unit.
“New flooring, new windows, new kitchens, new bathrooms,” he says.
Of the 88 units, 46 will be funded by a Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance contract, which designates those units for families and individuals up to 50% Area Median Income. Rent in those units is capped at 30% of the resident’s income. Polite expects that another eight to 10 units will also be low-income housing tax credit compliant.
The remaining unsubsidized units will have some rent increase limitations due to the Project-Based Rental Assistance support at the site.
Polite expects construction to begin around the second quarter of 2025 and take 14 to 18 months.
More market-rate housing is being added Downtown about two blocks east of the May Building at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Wood Street. The former GNC Headquarters will soon host 253 residential units.
The Strategic Investment Fund, a local real estate gap financier, loaned New York-Based developer Victrix $6 million for the project on Oct. 10.
Construction is already underway, with no target completion date announced.
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