UDBS Construction Tour 09.07.2018
On Friday September 7th, as refernced in Jake’s Blog Post, the UDBS had the opportunity to tour Phase 2 of the Larimer/East Liberty Choice Neighborhoods Project currently under construction. Phase 2 is comprised of 150 units which contribute to the 344 units referenced in Jake’s post. As indicated previously, the tour was led by UDBS alumnus (2011/2012) Rebecca Cole and presented the opportunity for the studio to see the construction and development of a significant housing project near the site of RE_CON 01 proposal that involves a shared partner in ELDI.
To provide some context and historic reference for the significance of this work photographed here, in 2010, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) developed a place-based housing initiative called “Choice Neighborhoods”. The HUD program aspires to help communities transform neighborhoods through locally developed strategies that focus on three main goals - 1) Housing, 2) People, and 3) Neighborhood. In 2014, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) partnered with the Larimer Consensus Group (LCG) to secure a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant which ultimately resulted in the implementation of this work. Soon, Pittsburgh will benefit from 334 new units of urban, mixed-income housing concentrated around a thoughtful public, green space.
