'Transformative senior housing development' coming to Beltzhoover

BELTZHOOVER RESIDENT MARTEL HEDGE, with 3-year-old Jabril James, during Beltzhoover Community Days, held July 12-13 at McKinley Park. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)

News comes on the heels of successful Beltzhoover Community Days

On Thursday, July 24, the historic Beltzhoover neighborhood is breaking ground on what’s being called a “transformative senior housing development,” called the Dr. Louis A. Venson Senior Lofts.

The affordable housing community for seniors 55 and up will be housed at the former site of Beltzhoover Elementary School, at Cedarhurst Street and Estella Avenue.

It’s just another way that Beltzhoover is shining, according to many of the residents the New Pittsburgh Courier spoke to during the Beltzhoover Community Days, July 12-13, at McKinley Park.

“It’s a great community, it really is a community,” voiced Blythe Stephenson, who serves as president of the Beltzhoover Consensus Group. The organization hosted the Beltzhoover Community Days, of which hundreds attended. “Some of the people have lived here all their lives and have no desire to leave; some of the people who have lived here and moved away are anxious to try to get back. We’re trying to develop more housing so we can have an opportunity for those to come back and purchase homes here.”

Beltzhoover is a majority-Black neighborhood that has the distinction of being the primary neighborhood for African Americans who lived on the South Side of Pittsburgh in the early-to-mid 1900s. Today, Beltzhoover is seeing more investment, from both the private and public sector.

“They’re making a comeback,” said Ashley Cabiness, program manager of the South Pittsburgh ACTES program. ACTES stands for Achieving Change Through Transitional Employment Services. “I think that Beltzhoover is getting a lot of buzz. I think a lot of people are listening to their needs.”

TIERRA SIMMONS, HALIL BEY, KELLI SHAKUR AND HER SON, KAMAUDE, AND LAUREN SIMMONS.

During the Beltzhoover Community Days, you could find kids playing basketball and participating in bounce houses; the adults were busy mingling and eating the food from the various vendors; some people hadn’t seen each other in a while. Martel Hedge, a Beltzhoover resident and the executive director of Daddy’s Hands, LLC, was seen playing catch with 3-year-old Jabril James.

“A lot of the community came out, and most importantly, the kids had fun,” Hedge told the Courier.

BELTZHOOVER REPRESENTIN’!

As for the senior lofts, they’re being developed in partnership with TREK Development Group, BCG and other local stakeholders, according to a news release. When it’s all said and done, there will be 39 1- and 2-bedroom modern apartments, “designed to support the well-being and dignity of older adults in a neighborhood many have long called home,” the release read.

The development honors the legacy of Dr. Louis A. Venson, a dedicated educator, advocate and lifelong public servant “whose contributions to education and equity are deeply rooted in the school’s history,” the release read.

“This initiative represents not just a housing solution, but a step forward in honoring the past while investing in the future of Beltzhoover and its residents,” the release read.

GETTING HER FACE PAINTED IS 4-YEAR-OLD BRYNLEE LEE…

For Hedge, 43, a father of five, he is dedicated to strengthening relationships between fathers and their children through his Daddy’s Hands organization. He told the Courier that Beltzhoover is one of those communities that’s filled with tradition…like the annual “Turkey Bowl,” where the younger teens play football in lower McKinley Park against the “old heads” each Thanksgiving morning.

“I started playing when I was about 12, and I played all the way until I was playing against my sons when I was 40,” Hedge said.

Hedge talked about the teamwork that the young people learn during the game, because even though the young ones are faster than the older guys, the older guys always seem to win.

Hedge told the Courier that his community, Beltzhoover, situated among the Hilltop neighborhoods next to Mt. Washington, Allentown and Knoxville, said that there’s some momentum now in the neighborhood, but still, “we got a lot to do. There’s whole blocks that people used to live on and now, there are maybe, 1 or 2 houses. There are possibilities for us to rise, with the right people in places, in turning this back into what it used to be,” which was a neighborhood “full of families, and everybody had input.”