Officials in three boroughs that reap benefits of The Waterfront are trying to drum up support for projects they say will build on the success of the retail complex.
Local and state politicians and development and business representatives on Thursday held a news conference at the West Homestead Borough Building to detail plans for residences and a cultural center expansion, saying they are key to continuing the revitalization of Munhall, Homestead and West Homestead.
"We're trying to link The Waterfront and its success to the business district and the municipalities to rebuild that," said Homestead Council President Drew Borcik, who is also co-chairman of the Steel Valley Intergovernmental Initiative.
The projects would be part of what has been dubbed "The Avenues of the Steel Valley" —Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth avenues — which run through all three towns and hosted a bustling business district before the decline of the steel industry.
Groups, including the Steel Valley Enterprise Zone Corp., are working with government loan and tax credit programs to rehabilitate buildings and attract small businesses, said Chuck Starrett, Enterprise Zone coordinator for the corporation.
One of those efforts is a planned expansion of the Bulgarian-Macedonian National Educational & Cultural Center on West Eighth Avenue in West Homestead.
The 81-year-old organization has outgrown the building it has occupied since 1936 — 22,000 visitors toured the facility last year — so it plans to add a cafe, gift shop and museum space in an adjacent lot, President Patricia Penka French said.
With a $150,000 grant from Allegheny County, the cultural group this fall acquired an adjacent lot with three dilapidated buildings, Executive Director Walter Kolar said. It then used $100,000, three-fourths of which came from a Steel Valley Enterprise Zone loan, to demolish the buildings.
The project's $1.1 million cost, including a $250,000 grant match from the state, would mostly be raised from donors.
French expects ground to be broken in the spring.
North Shore-based developer a.m. Rodriguez Associates Inc. also announced plans to develop One Homestead, which would include a 30-unit apartment building with ground-floor commercial space on Eighth Avenue. The plan also includes 18 townhouses, three loft units, community space and a leasing office in the former post office on Amity Street.
The developer is purchasing the property for $68,000 from the county.
Work on the $12 million project to create the low- and moderate-rent units is contingent upon funding assistance, including $10 million in tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency by April, he said.
By Tory N. Parrish, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEWFriday, November 11, 2011
