Pittsburgh officials and private developers are pouring new money into East Ohio Street's storefronts even as business owners along the historic North Side corridor say panhandling, open drug sales and prostitution are still scaring away customers. The city, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Mayor Corey O'Connor are now trying to tackle both sides of that equation at once, with a facade grant program on one hand and a plan to relocate a nearby homeless outreach center on the other.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority announced a $600,000 Main and Main partnership for East Ohio Street on August 31, made up of a $100,000 URA grant funded through the Henry L. Hillman Foundation and $500,000 in private funding from East Ohio Capital LLC, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh. The money is earmarked to rehabilitate eight commercial building facades, and the URA says the goal is to attract more small businesses to the strip. As reported by CBS Pittsburgh, reporter Andy Sheehan found that East Ohio Street still includes a block of vacant, blighted buildings alongside upscale restaurants, a floral shop and a bakery.
East Ohio Capital is led by Bahamas-based investor Matt Hicks, a resident of nearby Tripoli Street who has invested more than $10 million in East Ohio Street real estate since 2010 in an effort to turn the block into what's been dubbed Restaurant Row. Three new dining establishments and a bakery have committed to new storefront leases in 2026, per the same URA announcement. Foundations have also funded refurbishment work along the corridor totaling in the millions of dollars, per CBS Pittsburgh's report.
Merchants Say Outreach Center Became a Magnet for Dealers
The friction between investment and street conditions isn't new. In July 2025, East Ohio Street business owners petitioned city officials to relocate the street outreach center, saying open drug sales, discarded syringes and theft near the facility were creating unsafe conditions and driving away customers, according to CBS News. Merchants told CBS Pittsburgh the outreach center became a draw for drug dealers who prey on the people who use it, and an East Ohio Street business group has cited panhandling, street drug use and sales, and prostitution as ongoing barriers to redevelopment.
The business group also pointed to a nearby encampment and the neighborhood's homeless population as challenges to overcome. Bob Baumbach, speaking for the merchants, called for what he described as a compassionate solution alongside businesses that can prosper, according to CBS Pittsburgh's report. Business owners say they want a compassionate approach for homeless people while also curbing panhandling, drug activity and prostitution on the block.
City Moves to Close and Relocate the Outreach Site
The City of Pittsburgh is now closing and relocating the East Ohio Street outreach center, per CBS Pittsburgh's reporting. Mayor Corey O'Connor walked East Ohio Street with merchants this month and offered continued city help with the revitalization effort, telling the outlet that his administration is using all available resources to help homeless individuals. O'Connor said the region needs hundreds more housing units and that his administration inherited longstanding problems tied to homelessness, poverty, drug addiction and mental illness.
Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Chief Jason Lando, who was sworn in on February 13 after previously serving as a Pittsburgh officer and police chief in Frederick, Maryland, according to TribLIVE, said officers are making arrests along the corridor. But Lando acknowledged that arrested offenders soon return to the street, underscoring why city leaders are pairing enforcement with outreach and housing strategies rather than relying on policing alone.
Housing Capacity Remains the Open Question
The City of Pittsburgh is working with the Allegheny County Department of Human Services to move people from the street into housing and to provide more shelter beds and spaces, per CBS Pittsburgh. That partnership follows an earlier push: in late 2024, the city and county expanded transitional housing by converting former institutional sites, including the McNaugher School in the North Side's Perry South neighborhood and a former Stanton Heights facility, into dedicated shelter beds, according to WPXI.
Countywide, Allegheny County's Department of Human Services conducted its Community Counts Point-in-Time census on February 3, estimating 1,108 people experiencing homelessness across the county on that single night, including 930 in emergency or transitional shelters and 178 living unsheltered, per the count reported by TribLIVE. Mental health issues and drug addiction contribute to homelessness in the region, according to CBS Pittsburgh's report, a systemic backdrop that helps explain why business owners' complaints haven't been resolved by arrests alone.
Pittsburgh's Reaching Out On The Streets program, which operates under the city's Office of Community Health and Safety, has faced its own operational strain, including the abrupt closure of its East Liberty storefront in April 2025 and continued scrutiny over unspent federal pandemic relief funds, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Those difficulties illustrate the broader challenge facing city officials as they try to relocate the East Ohio Street outreach hub without losing the ability to connect people with services.
A Corridor Still Defined by Its German Roots
East Ohio Street remains the main commercial spine of Deutschtown, also known as East Allegheny, a historic North Side neighborhood settled by 19th-century German immigrants that was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907 from the former municipality of Allegheny City, according to TribLIVE. The century-old commercial buildings along the strip have prompted efforts to preserve historical facade aesthetics even as new tenants move in.
The East Ohio Street grants are part of a larger citywide expansion of the Main and Main Commercial Facade Grant Program, which in August awarded $1.13 million in matching grants to 77 small business storefronts across Pittsburgh, per the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Recent additions to the East Ohio Street corridor include The Eastman, chef Chris Acosta's bar and restaurant concept at 520 East Ohio Street, and an Italian-style gelato shop under construction in Deutschtown, both detailed in earlier Hoodline coverage.
For now, city officials describe the East Ohio Street revitalization as a work in progress. The facade grants and Restaurant Row buildout are moving forward on a fixed timeline, while the relocation of the outreach center and the expansion of county shelter capacity remain unfinished business that merchants and city leaders alike are still watching closely.
