State Awards $250,000 for Senior Housing at Former Junior High Site

Effort to redevelop the site of the former Kittanning Junior High School as a senior citizen housing complex received a $250,000 boost from the state, according to Senator Joe Pittman and Representative Jeff Pyle.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency awarded the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) funding to TREK Development Group for the new construction of 36 units of mixed-income, senior citizen housing at 210 N. McKean Street in Kittanning. Funding for PHARE is derived from three sources: Marcellus Shale Impact Fees, Realty Transfer Taxes and the National Housing Trust Fund.  

“This award by the PHFA is great news for Kittanning Borough and the greater Armstrong County community,” said Senator Pittman. “This is a fantastic use of the former Junior High School site. It follows the successful transformation of IUP’s former Kittanning campus into the Kittanning Cottages, a project that revitalized the site and brought it back onto the tax rolls. This new project takes advantage of the great location of the site while fulfilling a growing need in the community for safe and accessible housing units for senior citizens.”

“The senior citizen population of Armstrong County is continuing to grow,” said Representative Pyle. “This project will help address our older citizens housing needs, especially those who can no longer afford to maintain a home or rent in the private market.”

In 2016, the state awarded a $1.5 million grant to the Armstrong County Industrial Development Council (ACIDC) to bolster efforts to reuse three former school properties (Ford City Junior-Senior High School, the Kittanning Junior High School and the Kittanning Senior High School) that were vacated by the opening of the Armstrong Central Junior-Senior High School in Manor Township in September 2015.

Contact:           Carlton Logue             clogue@pasen.gov

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