Upcoming URA Board Action 

Special Board Meeting
May 21, 2020

The URA Board intends to vote, depending on adequate progress from the development team and comfort with public input, to accept Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc. as the redeveloper for Block G-1 and to approve its conceptual plans to build a mixed-use tower
for First National Bank headquarters on the Lower Hill site. This preliminary vote will set the stage for various neighborhood benefits.

Here's an Explanation of Neighborhood Benefits:

URA staff will also give a briefing on Lower Hill LERTA Retained Amount Guidelines and Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund (GHDRF) Guidelines.

Here's an Overview and Draft of the GHDRF Guidelines:

Public Comment

The URA accepted public comments related to the Lower Hill items being voted on through 1 p.m. on May 21. A full list can be viewed here.

View Special Board Presentation - May 21, 2020

Background

The URA's current Board is committed to ensuring equitable development in the Lower Hill and beyond. The demolishing of the Lower Hill in the 1950s displaced residents and businesses from the neighborhood to construct the former Civic Arena and other urban renewal projects. The impacts of that decision are still relevant today. The redevelopment of the Lower Hill has been a contentious and arduous process. The current proposal is a mixed-income, mixed-use development that reconnects the historic Hill District to Downtown Pittsburgh.

The Hill District community reached a benchmark Community Collaboration and Implementation Plan (CCIP) agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins, which has development rights to the Lower 28-acre site. The URA's Board wanted to see even more in the agreement directed to ensuring the work would be a development beneficial to all, and with less burden on the public. After numerous community conversations, community briefings and outreach events related to the Lower Hill, the URA heard the priorities as communicated by the Hill District to be inclusive of the following:

• Affordable housing on the site
• Investment in the Greater Hill development and connectivity to Lower Hill
• Preservation of Hill District legacy through arts and culture
• Access to well-paying jobs
• Investments in Hill District youth and families
• Wealth-creating business opportunities and MBE participation

Development

The plan involves replacing 28 acres of surface parking with 288 units of housing, office and retail space, a parking garage, and a live music venue. In accordance with community agreements, 20% of all housing units will be priced at levels affordable to households with 80% AMI. The project will also construct a terraced park on the Lower Hill site in addition to the Cap Park currently underway.

Project Timeline

Construction will occur in several phases, with the earliest phase beginning in 2020.

*These documents are projections, subject to URA Board approval, and are subject to further change.