City and housing authority officials gathered Monday at the active construction site in Northview Heights to celebrate progress on a long-planned midrise that will replace the neighborhood’s aging senior high-rise. The event doubled as a construction update for residents and partners and a bit of pageantry, complete with a time capsule sealing to mark the moment for future tenants.
Mayor Corey O’Connor and Housing Authority Executive Director Caster D. Binion headlined the ceremony as residents and stakeholders looked on. The Housing Authority says the four-story Northview Midrise at 246 Penfort St. will include 43 units, made up of seven two-bedroom and 36 one-bedroom apartments, plus a community room, computer room, bike storage, and about 4,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The authority pegs the project cost at $22.6 million and is aiming to wrap up construction in October 2027. According to the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, the program also featured a “Sealing History — Remember the Time” time-capsule ceremony to honor the neighborhood’s past as the new building rises.
Long road to replacement
The midrise has been years in the making as the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh worked to line up financing and approvals to replace a building that residents and officials describe as outdated and in disrepair. Federal filings show the authority pursued low-income housing tax credits and other funding sources and ran into permitting and infrastructure delays before the current design finally moved forward. HUD places the midrise within a broader effort to modernize the city’s public-housing portfolio.
Funding and partners
According to the Housing Authority, Allies & Ross Management and Development Corporation is serving as the developer, with Citi as the construction lender and Fukui Architects and The Richman Group among the project partners. TREK Development Group is set to manage the property once the building opens. The authority has shifted Moving-to-Work gap-financing and other internal dollars into mixed-finance projects like this one to plug funding shortfalls over the course of construction. HACP
Relocation and timeline
Project materials from the Housing Authority say residents will be offered relocation options and that the authority will help cover moving costs for eligible households as the redevelopment moves ahead. Federal rules also require public housing agencies to estimate and pay relocation and related expenses when demolitions or dispositions are approved under 24 CFR Part 970. CFR
Officials said the existing high-rise will come down after residents are relocated and the new mid-rise is occupied, and they added that the Housing Authority will keep tenants and neighbors updated as work proceeds toward the October 2027 completion target. With construction in full swing, the site remains off-limits to casual visitors, and the authority asked anyone who does enter the area to follow standard safety precautions while crews are on the job.
