By Ethan Markon | Staff Writer

A proposal from Rising Tide Partners, intended to create affordable housing on the Northside, was approved by Allegheny City Central Association at their February general membership meeting. Representatives from Rising Tide Partners came with a detailed proposal about a redevelopment project that would result in new affordable housing units in the neighborhood.

Rising Tide Partners is a non-profit, which describes itself on its website as focused on “restoring communities and preventing displacement.” Community Partnerships Consultant Ivette Mongalo- Winston and Executive Director Kendall Pelling presented their plans at the meeting, proposing to buy the former Light of Life building on 10 E. North Ave. as well as an adjacent vacant lot owned by the Pittsburgh Land Bank.

Community shelter Light of Life relocated from its smaller E. North Avenue location in 2021 to a more sizable building on Voeghtly Street. The move caused the organization to put the original building up for sale. While presenting, Mongalo-Winston said that Rising Tide Partners hopes to use their redevelopment of this well-connected site to work with local stakeholders like the ACCA to cater to the community’s vision for the location.

She went on to say that the new proposal is intended to ensure the location is still being utilized in the fight against displacement and to “preserve affordable housing in the neighborhoods, particularly where we are standing today, where we see a lot of commitment work.”

At the end of the presentation, the ACCA voted in favor of the proposal including the Rising Tide’s request for a predevelopment loan from the Neighborhood Community Development Fund of $500,000, which is intended to help hold the property and cover some of the future costs. All other fundraising efforts will begin in the summer of this year and the following year will feature the pursuit of tax credit funding as well. Plans for the redevelopment put the projected construction date sometime in 2026.

Rising Tide Partners chose not to propose a site plan as a way of giving the community a say in what happens to the land. In collaboration with TREK Development, Rising Tide Partners were able to make some financial and logistical estimations about the project. The estimates put the future building’s capacity at 40 units, assuming the redevelopment has a similar design to the former Light of Life building, but accounts for the additional vacant lot space to the right of the building.

These Estimates also showed that refurbishing the old building would be just as costly as knocking it down and starting from scratch. Taking the refurbishing route would also provide for fewer units, so the current proposal is to construct an entirely new building.

Rising Tide plans to work with ACCA and a few other adjacent stakeholders on the future plans for the space and will decide what the logistics, design, and requirements will end up being for residents living in the space. Once financing is complete, Rising Tide will also go through a selection process to find a development partner that complies with the community requirements to purchase and manage the affordable housing property.