Category Archive: PHLF News
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PHLF Apprentices Propose Uses for Vacant Lot in Homestead
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Community Tours with Elementary Schools
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Please Give to PHLF’s HRP Program
With all of the proposed changes to the federal tax laws for 2013, don’t miss this opportunity to make your year-end gift to support PHLF’s Historic Religious Properties (HRP) Program before January1 to assure the maximum tax advantage of that gift. The need is great and the timing couldn’t be better.
Please remember that if you are making a gift of appreciated securities, the date of your gift from a tax deduction standpoint is when it is received in PHLF’s account––not when you instruct your broker to make the transfer. More information on charitable giving, including gifts that can provide income for you and support the HRP Program, can be found at :http://plannedgifts.phlf.org/wisely.php or contact our planned giving office at plannedgiving@phlf.org or 412-471-5808, ext. 538. Other creative giving ideas can also be found at plannedgifts@phlf.org.
Your gift will help us reach our fund-raising goal––and will enable us to continue our program of grants and technical assistance to historic religious properties in Allegheny County. PHLF’s matching grant program is the only place most historic religious properties can turn to for help in making critical exterior repairs to their buildings. By encouraging careful, informed, and economical stewardship, PHLF helps ensure that these architecturally significant places of worship will be taken care of for future generations.
Whichever way you choose to support the HRP program, please remember that your gift is leveraged. “Each grant from PHLF is matched by the congregation, making donations from our members and friends even more valuable,” said George Dorman, chair of PHLF’s HRP Committee.
Whether you choose to support the HRP program or another important PHLF project or program, thank you for helping to make possible our many preservation successes.
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Downtown Retail in Historic Buildings Loan Program
Dear friends,
On October 11, we were delighted to join Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl at a press conference where he announced a $500,000 grant from the Colcom Foundation to Landmarks Community Capital Corporation, the non-profit lending subsidiary of PHLF, to assist in our Downtown restoration work.
In announcing the grant, John Rohe, vice president of Colcom, gave a thoughtful talk on how we anchor ourselves to our historic architectural fabric. He also discussed the importance of historic buildings in creating environments that are attractive to people.
With this grant, LCC President Michael Sriprasert announced the creation of the Downtown Retail in Historic Buildings Loan program.
As Michael noted, the Colcom grant fills a financing gap in the downtown restoration and retail development activity. Further, this funding can be utilized with other programs like the Paris to Pittsburgh program and the City’s Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Façade Restoration Loan program. Fund borrowers could be retailers or building owners. In addition, if borrowers agree to protect their storefronts and façades for a period of years, they can obtain loans at a reduced rate when they are not otherwise bank financeable.
Work associated with our ongoing partnership with the Mayor’s office and URA continues in Downtown Pittsburgh. Scaffolding is up on one building at the corner of Wood Street and Forbes Avenue (the ISDA Building), where our contractor has been plugging some 300 holes that were used for the bolts that anchored the yellow metal paneling into the original stone for the past quarter century.
In addition, there are three cast-iron-front buildings that we will fully restore on Wood Street across from the ISDA and Weldins buildings. We have already installed a new elevator shaft at the Thompson Building in Market Square as part of the ongoing restoration supported by an Allegheny County Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund grant.
John Valentine, executive director of the Downtown CDC, is leading the effort to identify potential women’s retailers to participate in the plan we have developed with Mayor Ravenstahl for the historic blocks of Wood Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues. We have already identified over 24 excellent candidates from far and wide.
If you find yourself Downtown, take a walk on Wood Street, down Forbes to Market Square, along Market Street to Fifth and up Fifth to Wood, and you will see an enormous amount of restoration work. They are examples of the very best our organization brings to our community and include the preservation of our historic buildings and the harmonious planning of major new construction, like the PNC tower and the Piatt family’s Gardens at Market Square.
As you can see, the Colcom grant is a huge boost for our efforts and we are grateful to all of the Foundation’s trustees who are doing so much to re-energize our downtown through historic preservation.
For ongoing updates about this and other projects, I invite you to continue following our work at www.phlf.org, on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
Arthur Ziegler
President
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation -
RSVP for Downtown Districts Public Meeting
Join PHLF for a public meeting on the 2012 Downtown Districts Project on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. The invitation is available here. RSVP now by clicking here.
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Now Accepting HRP Grant Applications
Deadline for the 2013 Cycle is Friday, November 30 Since 1997, the Historic Religious Properties Program has awarded 235 matching grants, totaling over $860,000, and 54 Technical Assistance Awards to religious congregations throughout Allegheny County. These grants have leveraged over $2.7 million in preservation and maintenance projects for historic religious structures.
Your congregation can apply if your religious property is 50 years old or more, located in Allegheny County, and in need of technical assistance or undertaking critical exterior repairs.
Grant applications are now being accepted for the 2013 grant cycle. These matching grants of up to $10,000 can be used to maintain and preserve your historic religious structure. Grant funds must be used for exterior work: roofing, gutter work, stained glass window restoration, masonry work, exterior painting, and wood restoration. If PHLF awards a grant, the congregation must have or be able to raise the matching funds.
Click here for an application form and further details.
The deadline for the 2013 grant cycle is Friday, November 30, 2012.
If you have questions about eligibility, projects that qualify for a grant, or completing the application, please contact: Carole Malakoff, hrp@phlf.org, or 412-321-3612. Thank you. Contributions from PHLF members and friends make this program possible.
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Work in Butler: Neigborhood Partnership Program
PHLF’s work in Butler, PA is entering its second year after a busy first year that saw a number of physical improvements and important planning work completed. Sidewalks have been replaced and trees planted along Main Street and Jefferson Street, increasing safety and encouraging pedestrian traffic between the residential and commercial areas.
A study was completed to determine ways to better connect the Butler-Freeport Trail with the central business district. The result of community input, the recommendations are being put into action, including increasing signage in and around the central business district, a new Butler trail head, and identifying and marking a safe route from the trail head to the central business district. For more information about the trail, click here.
PHLF’s work in Butler is made possible through the Neighborhood Partnership Program, an initiative of the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, and funded through the generosity of Armstrong and Huntington Bank.
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Landmarks Housing Resource Center Open House and Shipman Gallery Exhibit
The Landmarks Housing Resource Center (LHRC), located at 744 Rebecca Avenue, Wilkinsburg, hosted an Open House/Art Exhibit by artist James Shipman on Saturday, October 20. The event, which lasted from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., saw a total of 40 attendees from Wilkinsburg, Regent Square, Point Breeze, Highland Park, Sewickley, the West End and Oakmont.
Mr. Shipman, an artist, sculptor and ceramist, gave a presentation titled: “The Role of the Artist in Society,” in the context of community development, and in particular with regard to the ongoing and comprehensive effort of PHLF’s work in the Hamnett Place neighborhood.
After a question and answer session, the audience was invited to walk around the space, getting a chance to see Mr. Shipman’s work exhibited on the walls of the LHRC. In addition, the public was invited into Mr. Shipman’s workspace, which occupies half of the building that houses the LHRC.
The Landmarks Housing Resource Center offers workshops and seminars on home ownership, restoration, Do-It-Yourself work, cost-effective tips on green initiatives, and discussions on neighborhood and community development. For more information about the LHRC and its monthly programming, please call 412-471-5808 or visit www.landmarkshousingresource.org.
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