William Moorhead Tower, a 15-story, 141-apartment affordable housing development in Pittsburgh’s North Oakland neighborhood, has been preserved as affordable housing and renovated by Pittsburgh-based Ralph A. Falbo, Inc. and Boston-based Beacon Communities LLC.
The two affordable housing development companies completed the redevelopment of this critical housing resource using a $1.25 million award of federal low income housing tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and Freddie Mac debt financing provided by Walker & Dunlop LLC. The tax credits were purchased by PNC Bank.
The building has served low-income elderly and non-elderly disabled residents since opening in 1981. The property is supported by a HUD Section 8 contract, which provides a subsidy to the property so that households pay rent equal to approximately 30 percent of their income. When Beacon first became involved with the property in 2011, the building was in desperate need of repairs and upgrades. In addition, the property’s Section 8 contract was expiring, putting the property at risk of losing its affordability.
According to Michael Polite, CEO of Ralph A. Falbo, Inc., “Pittsburgh has a shortage of quality affordable housing, especially housing with the appropriate support services to address the needs of households at risk of homelessness. Without this redevelopment transaction, William Moorhead Tower could easily have been converted to market rate housing and reduced Pittsburgh’s affordable housing stock by 141 apartments.”
Many of the building’s residents have sight impairments. One of the property’s original developers was blind, and he identified an acute need for affordable housing where people with sight impairments could live independently. With their architectural firm LGA Partners (formerly Lami Grubb Architects), Beacon and Falbo designed renovations to the building that will assist sight-impaired residents as well as residents with mobility impairments and elderly residents aging in place.
“Along with keeping the spatial layouts simple, logical and consistent throughout the building and site, we made special design considerations to add way-finding aids using higher levels of lighting, brightness of color, high contrast and variations in textures to provide visual and tactile clues to help the visually impaired navigate the spaces safely, effectively and independently,” said Jim Noe, lead architect.
After the renovations, nearly 10 percent of the building’s apartments meet full accessibility requirements, double what is required by code. Improvements included new kitchens, appliances, and bathrooms. In addition, the building now offers a fitness center, a computer learning center, and a wellness office where visiting medical professionals can see their patients who live in the building.
Construction included upgrades to the original 15th floor community room, new outdoor patio space at the first floor, and an addition to provide much-needed office space for the property management staff. All of the building’s life-safety systems were upgraded as well. Mistick Construction was the general contractor for the renovations, which totaled nearly $8.2 million.
As part of this transaction, Beacon, which manages the development, has put into place a comprehensive wellness program aimed at addressing the needs of Moorhead’s residents. Pam Goodman, Beacon’s CEO, explains, “We are committed to making sure our residents get the services they need to stay healthy, engage in their communities, and maintain a stable home life. And by connecting residents with the services they need, our wellness program will save the overall system money by reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and keeping people in their homes.”
The newly renovated spaces at Moorhead help facilitate the wellness program, which includes visits by third party service agencies to provide health and mental health services; computer learning classes, discussion groups, and other computer-based tools and programs to promote resident engagement; many different resident activities such as movie nights, book clubs, bingo, and pot lucks; and a variety of site-specific classes designed around Moorhead’s residents and the issues that are relevant to them.
Michael Polite, Falbo’s CEO, summarizes the development’s success by noting, “This redevelopment transaction accomplishes three important community development goals: first, improving a gateway to the Oakland community; second, preserving and improving a much-needed affordable housing asset for the long-term; and third, enhancing the housing and residents’ lives by providing critical supportive services.”
