Lower Hill LERTA & Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund

Announcements

Application Closed 

The Hill Home Repair Grant Program application is now closed.

Questions? Email hillrepair@ura.org.

About the Lower Hill LERTA

LERTA (Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance) is a tax abatement program created by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1977. The LERTA Act authorizes local taxing bodies to provide a tax abatement for 10 years on eligible construction improvements. The Lower Hill LERTA District was established in 2015. The three local taxing bodies—the City of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Public School District, and Allegheny County—named the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) as administrator of the Lower Hill LERTA.

 

The Lower Hill LERTA allows each taxing body to divert up to $250,000 in real estate tax increment, generated per parcel, on the Lower Hill redevelopment site, for a period of 10 years post development. The tax increment from the Lower Hill LERTA is to be diverted as follows:

• 50% of future real property taxes will be retained by Pittsburgh Arena Real Estate Redevelopment, LP (PAR, an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins), known also as the Retained Amount.
  
  
• 50% of future real property taxes will be placed into the Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund (GHDNRF or the Fund).

About the Greater Hill District Reinvestment Fund 

The Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund (GHDNRF) is a community-driven fund that takes diverted future tax revenues from the development activities on the Lower Hill site and provides funding for implementing the goals, objectives, strategies and processes in the Community Collaboration and Implementation Plan (CCIP), including investments in development projects and other community needs throughout the entire Greater Hill District.

The GHDNRF Guidelines created an Advisory Board, which will make recommendations to the URA regarding which projects throughout the Lower Hill LERTA District should be funded with GHDNRF dollars.

Eligible uses of the GHDNRF include:

• Administration, activities, and efforts consistent with the Community Collaboration and Implementation Plan (the CCIP)
  
  
• Activities and efforts in support of the CCIP and Greater Hill District
  • Workforce development and job placement programs
  • Minority-owned and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) development initiatives and business counseling programs
  • Mortgage and rental assistance subsidies
  • Wealth building initiatives
  • Project development
    
    
• Recurring revenue initiatives under community control
  
  
• Funding for Hill District institutional preservation
  
  
• Matching funds to leverage local, state, and federal programs

GHDNRF Advisory Board Members

The Advisory Board includes the following community stakeholders:

• Co-Chair, Council President R. Daniel Lavelle, District 6
  
  
• Co-Chair, Marimba Milliones, president and CEO of the Hill Community Development Corporation (Hill CDC)
  
  
• Richard Witherspoon, CEO of the Hill District Federal Credit Union
  
  
• Arbie Bankston, Hill District Consensus Group 
  
  
• Rev. Glenn Grayson Sr., Wesley Center AME Zion Church
  
  
• Alicia George, Schenley Heights Community Development Program, Inc.
  
  
• Dr. Kimberly C. Ellis, Historic Hill Institute
  
  
• Jamaal Craig, Officer for Rep. Aerion A. Abney, 19th Legislative District of Allegheny County 
  
  
• Dan Bish, Office of the Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato
  
  
• Lisa Frank, Officer for Mayor Ed Gainey 
  
  
• Sala Udin, Pittsburgh Public Schools
  
  
• LaKeisha Wolf, Ujamaa Collective

At the financial closing of Blocks G1 (FNB Tower) and G4 (public open space), Office Partners XXIII Block G1 LLC (the Lower Hill Site Developer or the Developer) agreed to provide up-front monetization of the LERTA funds. The Developer took out a loan with First National Bank for both the Retained Amount and the GHDNRF, which it will be responsible for paying back with the future real estate tax increment generated from their project. In mid-September, nearly $7.2M was deposited into the Fund.

While not required, the Advisory Board intends to record all of their meetings for transparency and post them for public viewing on this webpage.

Check back to this page for information on upcoming GHDNRF funding rounds.

Watch Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund Advisory Board Meetings

February 22, 2024

October 19, 2023

 

July 20, 2023

June 1, 2023

April 12, 2023

January 26, 2023

December 1, 2022

October 27, 2022

September 22, 2022

June 2, 2022

February 3, 2022

January 13, 2022

December 15, 2021

November 23, 2021