Beacon Communities to add Liberty Avenue conversions to development projects downtown
Written. by Tim Schooley
Beacon Communities isn't done yet in pursuing affordable housing redevelopments downtown.
With an affordable housing renovation underway on Penn Avenue and two conversion projects on each side of the Golden Triangle, one each overlooking the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, Beacon has a fourth project in the works along Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District. Beacon is in the initial stages of a proposal to build 50 apartments out of the upper floors of 901 and 903 Liberty Avenue.
The two companion buildings, among a familiar collection of downtown structures dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, stand nine and 10 stories each at the corner of Ninth Street and Liberty Avenue, in close proximity to the August Wilson African American Cultural Center and the David L Lawrence Convention Center, as well as the restaurants and theaters of the Cultural District.
On Thursday, the board of the Housing Authority of the city of Pittsburgh approved a $2.2 million gap financing package of low-interest loans to Beacon for a 50-unit redevelopment of 901 and 903 Liberty Avenue. This comes after Beacon has already applied to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for a 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit for the project. The location at the intersection of Ninth and Liberty is perhaps best known as the former home of Sammy's Famous Corned Beef, a casual restaurant that operated on the corner for 35 years before closing in March 2022 amid the challenges of the pandemic.
Michael Polite, a senior vice president for Beacon based in Pittsburgh, emphasized the strength of the location on Liberty Avenue as one near a number of rebounding hotels, being close to major downtown financial institutions that are big Central Business District employers, as well as relative proximity to other significant job opportunities.
"We really want to connect our residents with opportunities to advance their lives," he said.
He notes the form of the two structures are also a good match, adding, "the shape and dimension of the buildings are a big deal," since they lay out well for residential.
The Liberty Avenue buildings are expected to accommodate eight two-bedroom units and 42 one-bedrooms, added Polite.
Beacon has the buildings under agreement for the conversion proposal with the expectation of being able to close on them this year.
'Those are 2025 deals," he said of the Liberty Avenue project along with Beacon's redevelopment of 120 Cecil Way, a 94-apartment conversion of the former Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal building in partnership with the nonprofit Pittsburgh Scholar House.
They're projects for which Boston-based Beacon, a national firm with considerable resources and expertise, also faces limited competition, since conversion will take both low-income housing tax credits and historic tax credits for a project within an historic district, along with the gap financing from the city's housing authority.
Not to mention the project faced limited interest from market rate developers given its modest size.
An affordable housing developer of Beacon's scale — the company's holdings total 150 residential communities including market rate and affordable in 11 states — pursuing four projects in downtown Pittsburgh at around the same time represents a curious moment.
"I think what’s unique is the circumstance of the properties being available and then there is resources being available," said Polite, of the motivation driving Beacon to take on such projects right now.
Across the Golden Triangle, Beacon's other project to come is an affordable senior housing conversion of what is now the First & Market office building overlooking the Mon.
Beacon was just able to close on buying the property in the very last moments of 2024.
Polite acknowledged the closing and expects to hold a groundbreaking event in the coming weeks to get a start on construction.
"We’re excited that it has closed and in 18 moths we’ll be able to bring 93 affordable and supported senior housing apartments to a great location downtown," he said.
It's wasn't easy to bring the sale to a last-minute closing at price of $3.7 million.
"We're just lucky we got it done because it went right down to the wire," said Ron Del Duca, a lawyer who represented the seller, First & Market Building LP.
Del Duca praised everyone involved with the deal finally coming to closure after two years, including Beacon, the representatives of the property in the Pittsburgh office of CBRE, Kyle Prawdzik and Gerry Dudley, as well as the administration of Mayor Ed Gainey among others.
