In 2023, NorthWood Commons was a vacant lot with a single apartment building, the remainder of a development project that was abandoned in the early 1980s.
Three years and $22.3 million later, the lot is home to a brand-new affordable housing apartment complex designated for low-income residents.
Allegheny County, in partnership with A.M. Rodriguez Associates Inc., celebrated the grand opening June 17 of the newly completed NorthWood Commons in Penn Hills. The income-restricted development is part of a county initiative to improve access to affordable housing in the region.
“Economic development cannot just be measured in the number of jobs created or the square feet that’s being built,” Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said during the event. “It has to be measured in whether people can afford to have a good life and a place to call home.”
The apartment complex already has leased every one of its 40 units, Innamorato said.
Thirty-four of these units are income-restricted, meaning they are only available to rent for households earning below 60% of the area median income. For single-member households, 60% of the AMI is a yearly income of $46,380. For two members, it’s $53,040; for three and four members, it’s $59,640 and $66,240, respectively. The complex houses residents who earn as little as 20% of the AMI.
“For decades, this land was vacant, and it was a reminder of what the community had lost,” Innamorato said, “and as of this morning, there are 40 new homes in Penn Hills.”
The project aligns with Pennsylvania’s Housing Action Plan, a study authored by Gov. Josh Shapiro that calls for the state to build 450,000 new housing units by 2035 to address Pennsylvania’s housing shortage, according to state Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills.
“You’re supposed to have 25% of your income be what you use for housing. The standard right now has been over 30%,” Costa said. “At the end of the day, it’s successful projects like this that allow us to be able to do extremely well here in Allegheny County.”
The project was funded by a mix of public and private investment, totaling $22.3 million.
Innamorato said the county has invested $5.3 million into housing development in Penn Hills, specifically toward projects that have been started and completed in the past two years. In addition to NorthWood Commons, these funds have supported the development of Penn Heights Dwellings, an affordable senior housing project, and the Penn Hills Home Buyers Assistance Program. This amount does not include government investments in the community’s infrastructure, such as community centers and roadway improvements.
Penn Hills is the largest community in Allegheny County apart from the city of Pittsburgh.
Victor Rodriguez of A.M. Rodriguez Associates Inc., the developer of NorthWood Commons, said the project likely will start its second phase in January, which will add 28 units to the complex.