A seven-story office building at 100 Ross Street in Downtown Pittsburgh is headed for a major transformation, as the Urban Redevelopment Authority has signed off on $4.85 million in loans to help convert the property into 46 apartments. The project, known as Ross Lofts, marks the second major downtown office-to-residential conversion for Columbus-based affordable housing developer Woda Cooper Cos. Inc., which is already building a similar redevelopment a few blocks away.
The URA-approved funding package, as reported by WPXI, totals $4.85 million. The project is also detailed in Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh board agenda materials from September 2026. The funding is one piece of what the developer describes as a 10-layer capital stack needed to make the numbers work.
Deep Affordability and Accessibility Built In
### Deep Affordability and Accessibility Built In Of the 46 total apartments planned for the building, seven will rent at market rate while 39 are expected to meet affordability standards, per the same agenda materials cited by WPXI. The same board documents show that 39 units are expected to meet affordability standards. The building will also include 12 units designed for tenants with hearing or vision impairments.
Woda Cooper applied for a 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit in March 2025 to help finance the deal, according to WPXI's reporting. That application paid off: an October 2025 press release from the Office of State Senator Wayne Fontana announced that the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency awarded $1,628,804 in annual 9% tax credits to the Ross Lofts development. The building itself has history behind it — commercial real estate records on Showcase.com include a listing for 100 Ross Street.
Second Downtown Bet for an Experienced Developer
Woda Cooper had hoped to start the office-building conversion buildout in the summer, per the WPXI report, though the outlet's reporting does not specify whether that timeline held. The developer, which operates in 18 states and has developed 350 affordable housing projects overall, is no stranger to the LIHTC process.
Ross Lofts is not Woda Cooper's first swing at Downtown Pittsburgh. Construction is already underway on the developer's Smithfield Lofts project at 4 Smithfield Street, a $30 million conversion that broke ground in May, according to a project announcement from the URA. That project will turn a 12-story office building — which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Woda Cooper acquired for $3.9 million, or $59 per square foot, from JD&D Enterprises — into 46 apartments across floors four through 12, while preserving commercial office space on floors two and three. Two of those affordable apartments were specifically set aside for Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato's “500 in 500” homelessness initiative, the newspaper's later reporting noted.
Part of a Bigger Downtown Push
Both Ross Lofts and Smithfield Lofts fit into a much larger strategy: the URA's Pittsburgh Downtown Conversion Program supports Central Business District office-to-residential developments, per the agency's published program guidelines. A project fact sheet from the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development places both buildings within a broader $600 million public-private investment plan for Downtown Pittsburgh, with Smithfield Lofts among seven core residential conversion projects meant to add or preserve nearly 1,000 housing units in the Golden Triangle — a state commitment Hoodline detailed in coverage ahead of the NFL Draft.
That momentum comes amid the broader push to convert Downtown offices into housing. The broader effort also includes other Downtown office conversions. Whether Ross Lofts sticks to its original summer construction timeline remains unclear.
