Incubator for startups could open in Beechview

A startup incubator may be headed to Beechview’s Broadway Avenue business district.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s administration introduced legislation Tuesday that, if approved, would finalize a lease between the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corp. and the city, which owns the building at 1555 Broadway Ave.

Under the lease, which could last up to 29 years, the nonprofit would be permitted to use the second floor of the building as a business incubator and coworking space.

The first floor of the building currently houses the city’s Beechview Senior Community Center, remodeled in 2017, and the Muddy Cup coffee shop, which opened last month.

The Beechview-based development corporation, which aims to improve the lives of Hispanics in the region, describes the incubator as “a multicultural space where Hispanic entrepreneurs can meet with experienced staff who speak fluent Spanish, Portuguese and English, and who understand the perspective of a Hispanic in the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” according to its website.

The incubator, temporarily housed less than a block away, currently has seven startup businesses signed on, the website said.

A representative of the nonprofit could not be reached Tuesday.

Under the agreement, the nonprofit would maintain and be responsible for the operating costs of the leased space, as well as a portion of shared costs for the rest of the building.

The organization chose Beechview because of the “burgeoning immigrant business and residential population” and easy access to the Port Authority’s Red Line, the website said.

Beechview, and neighboring Brookline, have attracted immigrants from several Latin American countries.

“I am excited for the next stage of development in Beechview where we will welcome a wonderful community partner in PHDC,” city Councilman Anthony Coghill, who represents the 4th District, including Beechview, said in a news release Tuesday. “I look forward to the business district thriving and growing as we bring more businesses and nonprofits to Broadway Avenue.”

The neighborhood has struggled to recover after developer Bernardo Katz purchased approximately a dozen properties in Beechview, using more than $700,000 in Urban Redevelopment Authority loans in 2004 and 2005, and then left town.

Mr. Katz defaulted on his mortgages and loans and left the U.S. to return to his native Brazil in 2007.