Pittsburgh Adaptive Reuse Program Accepting Applications

Pittsburgh’s adaptive reuse program is now accepting applications for the conversion of downtown office buildings to affordable housing. According to a brief by Danielle McLean in Smart Cities Dive, “Pittsburgh’s program will provide subordinate loans to downtown projects that commit to creating at least 20% of housing units that are affordable to residents earning at or below 80% of the area median income threshold. It will also prioritize projects that lease to and hire downtown workers earning 60% of AMI or lower, use the city’s Housing Choice residential assistance voucher program and maximize other public and private financing sources.”

The program is funded in part by $2.1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and enabled by zoning changes approved last year. Residential conversions are already on the rise in downtown Pittsburgh, where multiple major office buildings are already in the process of being converted to residential use. In a July press release, Mayor Ed Gainey said the program “seeks to improve the vitality of Downtown Pittsburgh by converting a portion of the vacant commercial office space into mixed-income developments that include affordable and workforce housing.”