Hill House Association reaches deal for funding
properties, Mr. Lavelle said.
The historic nonprofit revealed in recent months that it was on the brink of collapse because of $11.5 million in debt — much of it from real estate holdings.
In recent court documents, it said the Shop’n Save store and Crazy Mocha coffee house — tenants at its Centre-Heldman Plaza on Centre Avenue — had not paid rent for months.
Mr. Lavelle said he and Democratic state Rep. Jake Wheatley — who both represent the Hill District — have held discussions with Hill House about a possible closure of the Shop’n Save and whether another tenant could occupy the space.
Hill House was a driving force behind the grocery store locating in the Hill District in 2013. Prior to its opening, the neighborhood had not had a full-service grocery for three decades.
The store has not paid rent since spring of 2018, according to a court filing.
“We’re looking at our options … and whether the store has to close or whether there is potential for another operator to take it over,” Mr. Lavelle said.
Retaining a grocery in the space “would be one of our goals,” he said.
Ken Foltz, an attorney for store owner Jeff Ross, said Mr. Ross stopped paying rent because the plaza’s owner has not addressed issues such as parking lot maintenance.
People who are visiting other Hill House properties frequently park in the store lot leaving no space for store customers, he said, and lighting for the lot has not been maintained.
Mr. Ross has been in discussions with Hill House to renegotiate terms of the lease, said Mr. Foltz, “with an ultimate goal to keep the store operational and not go dark.”
Mr. Lavelle and Mr. Wheatley led opposition to Hill House’s plans to sell several properties to Omicelo LLP, a private real estate firm headed by developer Joshua Pollard.
The elected officials and other community leaders and residents said the developer didn’t fully disclose his plans for redeveloping the buildings, and the community was left out of Hill House’s decision to sell the properties — some of which house social services considered critical to low-income people in the neighborhood, such as health and wellness clinics and family support agencies.
“I don’t think this was an issue with Mr. Pollard at all,” Mr. Lavelle said. “I think the community wanted to be part of the process whether [the sale] is to Mr. Pollard or developer B.”
Mr. Pollard, who lives in the Hill District, has declined to comment about what he would do with the properties and the community’s opposition.
Under the agreement with the growth fund, Mr. Wheatley said, a community development review panel in the Hill District will be able to review all the proposals for the buildings.
“At the core of this is really coming to terms with what is in the best interest of the community at large and for the Hill House to move forward from real estate to the social services perspective and so the organization comes out stronger through this process,” Mr. Lavelle said.
“There’s a sense within the community that these main assets really needed to go through a communal process for the highest and best usage. Although they are owned by a private nonprofit, they are viewed as community assets. Instead of a fire sale, we want to take our time to make sure we’re getting it right.”
Hill House originally planned to sell four properties to Omicelo but revised the sale to three buildings after the community raised opposition.
The latest deal with Omicelo would have generated $3.6 million for Hill House through the sale of One Hope Square and a building that houses a Family Dollar store, both on Centre Avenue, and the Blakey Program Center on Wiley Avenue.
In December, Mr. Lavelle, Mr. Wheatley and Allegheny County Councilman DeWitt Walton filed a petition with Allegheny County Common Pleas Court asking that the sale to Omicelo be halted until it’s reviewed by the state attorney general’s office.
But since then, Mr. Lavelle and Mr. Wheatley, both nonvoting members of the growth fund, have continued to broker talks to rescue Hill House.
The growth fund, established in 2011 with money from the Rivers Casino, is a donor-advised fund established as part of the competition to award the city’s only casino license in 2006. It is housed at the Downtownbased Poise Foundation.
Past grants have gone to the Hill District Community Development Corp., Hill District Federal Credit Union and the Amani Christian Community Development Corp., with money used for operating expenses, affordable housing and entrepreneurial activity.
Mr. Wheatley described the money provided to Hill House by the growth fund as neither a grant nor a loan. It could be repaid from eventual resale of Hill House properties, he said.