Crews have begun tearing down the condemned Berg Place apartment complex on the 2500 block of Brownsville Road in Carrick, clearing out a seven-building, 33-unit eyesore that has sat unoccupied since April 2014. Full demolition is expected to take a few weeks, and officials gathered at the site say it marks the long-awaited start of a project nearly a decade in the making.
Berg Place was built between 1925 and 1935 as market-rate housing, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, but the seven buildings deteriorated into what Pittsburgh officials described as a safety hazard and eyesore. As reported by WPXI, the complex had rotting decks, missing smoke detectors, sewage leaks, crumbling bricks, and no water supply in many rental units before it was condemned for multiple health and safety violations. Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor said residents in Carrick had dealt with the blighted property for too many years.
A Decade-Long Path From Condemnation to Demolition
The seven buildings comprising Berg Place were condemned and secured by court order on April 27, 2014, per URA records tied to the authority’s board agenda. The URA ultimately purchased the property at a sheriff’s sale in September 2022, taking ownership after years of blight along the Brownsville Road business district. Local leaders say the project has been in the making for nearly ten years, the station’s report notes.
In 2023, the URA board moved to recommend CHN Housing Partners, working in partnership with Amani Christian Community Development Corporation, as the site’s redeveloper. The authority’s solicitation had sought a high-quality, green affordable-housing or mixed-income project that could knit together the Brownsville Road residential and commercial corridors — language that also pointed toward a strong preference for senior or assisted living use benefiting older residents.
52 Senior Apartments Planned for the Site
Where the condemned complex once stood, developers plan to build the Carrick Senior Apartments — 52 affordable units reserved for residents 62 and older. O’Connor said the blighted property is being replaced with 52 new homes for local seniors. Per a summary of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s September board meeting, the units will break down into 47 one-bedrooms and five two-bedrooms, with six units restricted to residents earning at or below 20% of area median income, 44 units at or below 50%, and two units at or below 80%, all for 40 years.
The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh is expected to attach project-based vouchers to 50 of the 52 units, according to the same board summary. Construction is expected to start by the end of this year and wrap up in early 2028. The project’s estimated cost has shifted over time: WPXI’s report on the demolition cited a project cost of around $20 million, while the URA’s 2023 agenda had pegged total development costs at $20,455,394 and the authority’s September 2026 summary put the figure closer to $25.05 million as the plan grew from an earlier concept of roughly 49 units to the current 52.
Officials Celebrate a Long-Delayed Turning Point
Councilman Anthony Coghill called the demolition day a great one for Carrick, saying the project would transform both Brownsville Road and the neighborhood’s residents. Project participants named alongside Coghill include the Urban Redevelopment Authority, CHN Housing Partners, Amani Christian CDC, state Senator Jay Costa, state Representative Jessica Benham, and the Housing Authority, the station reported. The URA board approved the Carrick Senior Apartments item unanimously by a 4–0 voice vote at its September meeting, according to the Pro-Housing Pittsburgh summary of that action.
For now, the work on Brownsville Road is about clearing the ground — removing a structure that has loomed over the business district for more than a decade. Once demolition wraps up in the coming weeks, attention will turn to construction of the senior apartments that officials hope will finally close the book on Berg Place’s long decline.
