Developer looks to buy former G.C. Murphy’s in Hazelwood
URA poised to accept proposal Thursday
November 11, 2014 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A former G.C. Murphy’s store in Hazelwood could become a centerpiece of efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.
The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority board is poised to accept a proposal by AHI Development Inc., a subsidiary to Action Housing Inc., at its meeting Thursday to buy the Spahr Building for $80,000 plus costs. The price includes four adjacent parcels.
“This is essentially a sales agreement,” said Robert Rubinstein, URA acting executive director.
Action Housing is working with Hazelwood’s faith-based Center of Life to convert the upper floors of the four-story, 15,960-square-foot building into space for youth arts and music programming, including music and production studios.
It also is talking to Pittsburgh Community Kitchen about leasing 4,325 square feet of the first floor for a possible commercial kitchen and other food-related uses.
The “historically sensitive” renovation of the Spahr Building would be part of a larger redevelopment planned by Action Housing in conjunction with Washington, D.C.-based Telesis Corp. that would involve 25 parcels in all — 24 on Second Avenue and one on Flowers Avenue — over 1.5 acres in the neighborhood.