Hill District redevelopment gets more than $7 million payment

PITTSBURGH — More than $7 million has been added to the Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund for community investments in Pittsburgh’s Middle and Upper Hill districts.

The $7,187,045 in funds come from the development partners on the Lower Hill development site and will be used to invest in development projects and other community needs in the Greater Hill District as outlined in the “Community Collaboration and Implementation Plan” between the neighborhood and the developers.

“I am grateful that we are not only seeing the development in the Lower Hill move forward to right the wrongs of the past and create opportunities in the historic Hill District, but that our development partners are demonstrating their commitment to the Hill community by providing community investment funding up front,” said Mayor William Peduto. “I’d like to thank all of the partners in this development and the Hill District community for creating a model where communities and developers can work together to help ensure the community benefits and drives investment in their neighborhood from these developments.”

The guidelines for the Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund were approved by the URA board in June. As a condition of the approval process, the developers, a joint venture comprised of the Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc (BPG), Pittsburgh Arena Real Estate Redevelopment, LP (PAR), Clay Cove Capital, LLC, and First National Bank (FNB), committed to funding their 10-years’ worth of payments all up front, so that the community could receive funding immediately rather than after construction is completed.

Some of the potential uses for the funding could include project development initiatives and counseling programs, children and youth education initiatives, rent and mortgage assistance subsidies, other wealth-building initiatives, preservation of Hill District institutions and investments that generate recurring or matching revenue for the fund.

“The money will be governed by a community-run advisory board that will help identify projects to advance community development here in the neighborhood as job placement resident assistance and helping folks stay in their homes in the neighborhood,” said deputy director of the URA Diamonte Walker.

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