News

Woodcrest Retirement Residence

Woodcrest Rendering

On September 14, 2006 the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) Board authorized the approval for a new senior tax credit project in Moon Township, Woodcrest Retirement Residence, located just above Coraopolis, PA. It will be a 59-unit apartment building that will enable seniors to live independently. With the support of Allegheny County and the benefit of low-income housing tax credits, this residence will be affordable to people whose incomes do not exceed 60% of area median income. This new property is planned to be a Green building that will seek a LEED (leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating of Silver. Once achieved, this building will be the first LEED affordable housing in Pennsylvania. Construction on this project is planned to begin in the spring of 2007, with building completion planned for late spring of 2008.

Woodcrest Retirement Residence will be redeveloped from an existing residential four-story building (currently St. Joseph Hall) that was used to house aging nuns at the Felician Sisters Convent and School in Moon Township. This redevelopment will be skillfully executed with great pride by Sota Construction Services, Inc., who also recently redeveloped the existing Convent and School using "Green Building" techniques.

South Hills Retirement Residence

South-Hills

a.m. Rodriguez Associates has been selected by The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Pittsburgh to redevelop South Hills High School, a historic structure that was closed in the 1980s and has sat vacant and fallen into disrepair. The Mount Washington Community Development Corporation (MWCDC) also supports the redevelopment of this building, as it is now contributing to the slow, steady decline of the surrounding neighborhood.

Our development plans include 85 units for affordable senior housing and 25 market-rate loft apartments. There are commercial groups interested in using 10,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. of space for a fitness and wellness center, which would provide the community a mixed-use building. These plans also allow space for a 3-4 room daycare center and space for the SHHS alumni association for reunions and gatherings; bringing education and life back to this massive and vacant building.

As the developer, we have been involved in other projects where we have converted school buildings into housing; in Carnegie (The Carnegie Retirement Residence, 59 units) and in Duquesne (the Summit Retirement Residence, 55 units) and we have converted high-rise buildings to new commercial uses.

We will be submitting our application to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) for funding in April, 2007. If funding is awarded in September, 2007, we will begin construction in 2008, with the project ready for occupancy at the end of 2009. We want to bring this building back to life and have pledged to pursue LEED certification for green building design.