Redevelopment to close 'wound on streetscape,' Braddock mayor says
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Braddock Mayor John Fetterman calls the planned redevelopment of the former UPMC Braddock site "an engine to drive the area forward."
The $20 million project, announced at a news conference last week, is planned to include office and retail space, 24 units of rental housing, 11 single-family homes and a 20,000-square-foot community park facing Braddock Avenue.
Mr. Fetterman said the stretch of Braddock Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets, where the hospital used to stand, has been a "giant, empty, gaping wound on the streetscape" for the past two years.
He said the borough currently lacks viable spaces for businesses to move into, but the new building "will go a long way toward solving that."
Mr. Fetterman hopes that an urgent care center will move into the development "first and foremost" but said the rest of the business space is open-ended.
"I get calls all the time from new businesses, many of them serious, some of them inquiries," he said.
The new development will make it easier to establish small businesses in Braddock and allow business owners to build offices or retail outlets to their specifications, he said.
"It's basically going to be a place that will accommodate a whole host of business purposes and community service purposes," Mr. Fetterman said.
Braddock Councilwoman Tina Doose was involved in the planning process; she said about 60 community members participated in a forum about how the site would be redeveloped.
"I'm totally excited about it," she said.
Braddock resident Jim Kidd said he's optimistic about the redevelopment of the hospital site and hopes everything goes as planned. UPMC Braddock, a nonprofit, wasn't on the tax rolls, but the businesses and homes on the redeveloped site will pay property taxes.
"It's going to generate more income for the borough, which would be a good thing," he said.
Braddock Avenue is one of the main access points to the Carrie Furnace site, another important project for the region. The former blast furnace is being redeveloped under the state's brownfield development program, and Allegheny County plans to build an industrial park that could provide 1,000 permanent jobs. Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, which owns the furnaces, is trying to develop a tourist attraction at the 168-acre furnace site, which stretches across Braddock, Rankin, Swissvale and Pittsburgh.
Mr. Fetterman said plans for the park on Braddock Avenue will make the entrance to the Carrie Furnace site more attractive.
He lauded Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato for wrapping up the project before he leaves office Tuesday, calling Mr. Onorato's perseverance of the UPMC Braddock site redevelopment "egoless."
"That was his last press conference," Mr. Fetterman said of last week's event, during which Mr. Onorato announced plans for the redevelopment. "To talk about this project in the poorest community in Allegheny County ... that shows what kind of guy Dan is. He's the one who drove this project."
"I said we'd assure that something would happen before I left office," Mr. Onorato said last week.
"He did it because it's the right thing to do," Mr. Fetterman said.
Rothschild Doyno Collaborative is the architect of the project, the first phase of which, a 26,000-square-foot office building, is scheduled to begin this summer.
By next fall, work is expected to begin on 24 units of rental housing, followed by construction of 11 single-family homes in spring 2013.
Some of the housing will be geared to low-income residents, while some will be offered at market rate, Mr. Fetterman said.
UPMC has agreed to provide $3 million in matching funds that will make the project eligible for $3 million in state aid, Mr. Onorato said last week. Other major sources of funds include $8 million in low-income-housing tax credits; $5 million in federal, local and private equity money; and $1 million in private lending.
First Published December 29, 2011 12:00 am
