New Granada Square project takes a key step forward
Hill District group, partner close on property for development’s apartments component
The Redevelopment of the Centre Avenue block housing the New Granada Theater, a onetime jazz mecca in the Hill District, has hit a high note in its evolution.
On Thursday, the Hill Community Development Corp. and Cleveland-based CHN Housing Partners finalized the purchase of 21,207 square feet of land from the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority needed for the 40-unit New Granada Square Apartments.
Marimba Milliones, Hill CDC president and CEO, confirmed Friday that it and CHN had closed on the property.
The apartment project is a key part of a broader blocklong redevelopment known as New Granada Square, anchored by the historic theater, which also is targeted for its own rehab.
“It’s a big deal. It’s a huge deal,” Ms. Milliones said of the closing.
She said the Hill CDC and CHN should be in the position to start construction soon, adding she would have more to say about the development in the days and weeks ahead.
The URA board voted in January 2020 to convey the land to the Hill CDC and CHN for $125,000 plus costs.
At the time, the two partners also were to receive a $25,000 credit at closing to reflect a URA donation/ discount made in support of their application for a 2019 Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh affordable housing grant.
Plans for the five- story
apartment complex call for 40 units, with 16 of them affordable to households at or below 80% of the area median income. Four units will be available to households at or below 20% and 20 to those at or below 50%.
Hill CDC and CHN officials have been hoping to attract artists to lease units as part of efforts to create a center of culture within the Centre Avenue corridor. The building also is to feature 4,800 square feet of first-floor retail, perhaps for a restaurant or small business.
The apartments are to be built on land adjacent to the New Granada Theater, which once drew jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald.
It’s an iconic venue that the Hill CDC has spent more than a decade trying to rehab, first by stabilizing it and then preparing for its rebirth.
The theater redevelopment is expected to include a black box theater and an event space for more than 900 people. The third floor is to be anchored by the University of Pittsburgh’s community engagement center.
Also included in the plans for the block is a 24,000square-foot office building with first-floor retail space.
The Hill CDC has applied for a $4.7 million state redevelopment assistance capital grant to help with the theater’s restoration, water and sewer tap-in fees for it and the office building, the acquisition of two parcels and site work.
In addition, the grant would help with the facade restoration, roof patching, new windows, new elevators and elevator shafts, furniture and fixtures, demolition cleanup, a new storefront, theater marquee, rooftop bar, site lighting and landscaping.