The Urban Redevelopment Authority Board has voted to purchase 69 city-owned properties in the Hill District for $1 each and convey them to the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh as part of the second phase of it Addison Terrace redevelopment.
The original housing development, sitting atop one of the highest parts of the Hill was razed as part of a $160 million Housing and Urban Development-funded rebuild into a lower density, mixed-income community.
But beyond reclaiming the original development footprint with its $28 million first phase, the HACP seeks to reconnect the isolated site to broader community by stepping additional rental and for-sale units downhill toward Centre Avenue and the redevelopment efforts underway there. These 69 properties are to be part of that second phase.
Though the board agreed to move forward with this initiative, the conveyance of a further 19 properties to be rebuilt as for-sale housing, raised objections from board members Hill House President and CEO Cheryl Hall-Russell and state Sen. Jim Ferlo.
For Ferlo, the issue is continuity. Many of these properties will be in-fill units built blocks away, some on the opposite side of Hill closer to Bedford and Webster Avenues.
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