A pair of New York-based developers want to put up to 500 apartments on 90 publicly owned parcels that have sat empty for years in Pittsburgh's Hill District, with the first two phases of the project carrying an estimated price tag of about $170 million. JK Equities and Manor Park Ventures have secured exclusive negotiation rights with the Urban Redevelopment Authority to purchase the land, which is focused on and around Herron Avenue, and they're pitching the project in part as a way to ease the region's student housing crunch near the University of Pittsburgh.
The cost estimate for the first two phases was presented to the Urban Redevelopment Authority board earlier this month, according to TribLIVE, which reported that the four-phase plan could reinvigorate a long-undeveloped stretch of the neighborhood. Roger Black, a partner at Manor Park Ventures, told the Urban Redevelopment Authority board that the developers want to provide much-needed housing in the area, calling it a pioneering opportunity to develop this part of town, per the same report.
What the First Two Phases Would Look Like
The first phase calls for a 195-unit apartment building with first-floor commercial space, broken down into 45 three-bedroom units, 20 two-bedroom units and 30 one-bedroom units, the outlet reported. The second phase would add two six-story towers, one with 60 apartments and the other with 80, both featuring commercial space on their ground floors. Details of the third and fourth phases have not yet been presented to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, per the same account.
Pittsburgh City Council President R. Daniel Lavelle, who also sits on the Urban Redevelopment Authority board, said Oakland does not have enough housing, and that shortage is putting pressure on part of the Hill District and driving out long-term occupants, according to the same reporting. Lavelle said some Hill District buildings that were once single-family homes are now being divided into units to house multiple students. He said he hopes students will move into the newly built apartments, freeing up those single-family homes for longtime residents, and that he hopes future phases of the project will also include single-family housing.
Pitt's Enrollment Squeeze Is Fueling the Push
The proposal lands as rising enrollment at the University of Pittsburgh continues to squeeze the student housing supply, according to 90.5 WESA. Pitt had to lease three buildings and reconfigure dorms to add 700 beds during the 2025-26 academic year, bringing its total beds offered to more than 8,000, the station reported. The class that started in fall 2025 was Pitt's biggest on record at 5,870 students, and the station noted that this fall could see as many as 5,200 first-year students enroll.
Pitt is separately pursuing a 400-bed dorm near its music building on Fifth Avenue that could welcome students by 2028 if it receives final approval, the station reported. That effort traces back to a request for proposals the university issued for a 400-bed project near Fifth Avenue, as reported by the Pittsburgh Business Times. Elsewhere in Oakland, Camp Eight Capital is pursuing a 155-unit student-housing project on Craig Street, part of a broader wave of residential proposals that includes nearly 600 units across three projects that advanced through the city's planning process over the summer, according to the Business Times.
Hill District Reinvestment Has Already Begun
The Herron Avenue proposal isn't the first housing push in the Hill District this year. The Urban Redevelopment Authority voted in March to approve $930,000 from the Greater Hill District Reinvestment Fund for four separate developments, according to 90.5 WESA. One of those, African Queens Apartments, is a mixed-use building planning to include 12 units marked as affordable, while another, the Herron and Wiley Project, will include office space and six affordable apartment units, the station reported. Lavelle was described in that report as vice chair of the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the City Council member representing the district at the time.
The city has also been working with the Hill District community to update its neighborhood plan ahead of adoption by the Planning Commission, according to the City of Pittsburgh. In nearby Oakland, city planning materials describe housing as unaffordable for both long-term residents and students, noting that the neighborhood has lost a significant share of its long-term residents in recent decades, particularly Black or African American residents, per Pittsburgh's Engage PGH housing page. No construction timeline, financing details or formal government approvals for the JK Equities and Manor Park Ventures project have been disclosed, and the developers have yet to present specifics on the third and fourth phases of the plan.
