Pittsburgh, August 1, 2019 – State Sen. Wayne D. Fontana today announced a total of $15 million in state grants for 17 Pittsburgh development projects.
“These state dollars will support and speed up progress on innovative projects that will help create jobs, attract investment and strengthen our region’s growing economy,” Fontana said. “I will continue to work closely with local officials and obtain state funds for worthy projects.”
The projects include:
- $1 million for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust to redevelop the 119 Sixth Street Fitness Club into a six—theater cineplex.
- $1 million for the Brashear Hilltop Community Center to purchase and redevelop the Lifespan Building. The project will also include constructing an addition to the 320 Brownsville Road building;
- $500,000 to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Branch to renovate its first and second floors;
- $1.5 million to renovate the Centre Avenue YMCA. Renovating the historic building aligns with the Greater Hill District Master Plan;
- $1 million to the Community College of Allegheny County to renovate the school’s Faculty Innovation Center;
- $500,000 to Contemporary Craft to renovate and transform a cement industrial building into its new community arts center with a sustainable modern design;
- $500,000 to renovate and revitalize a historic and underutilized downtown/strip district industrial building. The completed building will accommodate both office and retail activity;
- $500,000 to construct a facility at 62nd Street and Butler Street in Lawrenceville, and a 400,000-square-foot facility to house Forms and Surfaces’ manufacturing and operations;
- $1 million to expand and improve parking access to Highmark Stadium in Station Square. The stadium is home to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Soccer Club;
- $1 million to the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to renovate the historic Carnegie Library to create a Museum Lab, making the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh the largest cultural campus for children in the nation;
- $1 million to the Hill Community Development Corporation to create the New Granada Theater III. Workers will restore the historic façade of the four-story Art-Deco building, which was designed by Louis Bellinger, one of the nation’s earliest African-American architects;
- $1 million to renovate the Pittsburgh Musical Theater at 327 South Main Street;
- $2 million for the Produce Terminal Redevelopment Project in the Strip District. The project will transform the languishing produce terminal into a mixed-use space featuring a food-centric market and over 1,600 square feet of office and retail space;
- $500,000 to Renewal, Inc., to purchase and renovate a building on Third Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh to provide drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services;
- $500,000 to renovate and upgrade the Roberto Clemente Museum at 3339 Penn Avenue;
- $500,000 to redevelop the Stevens Elementary School into the Special Deployment Headquarters to enhance community policing in the city’s west end; and
- $1 million to the Wigle Whiskey Distillery to redevelop and expand a pre-Prohibition brewery structure in the strip district. As part of the project, the distillery will build a Whiskey Rebellion Museum.
The Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) is used for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects. Qualifying projects have a regional or multi-jurisdictional impact, help create or maintain jobs, and generate economic activity.
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