A happy day for a historical Black church in the city of Pittsburgh. Almost 70 years since the original church was demolished to make way for development, Bethel AME has regained not just the land where the church stood, but 1.5 acres in total. To put that into perspective, the church once had 13,000 square feet, and will now have 60,000!
The backstory: Pittsburgh’s Hill District has a rich history as a center of African-American culture in Pittsburgh and beyond. From the 1930s through the 1950s, the Hill was one of the most prosperous and influential Black neighborhoods in the country and was nationally renowned for its thriving jazz scene. Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay called the Lower Hill District “the crossroads of the world”.
In the 1950s, Pittsburgh implemented plans to demolish the Lower Hill District and replace existing homes and businesses with a cultural venue for more affluent Pittsburghers. Thousands of buildings were demolished and over 8,000 residents were forced to relocate, most receiving little to no compensation for their homes. Among the properties that were taken and demolished was Bethel AME Church, the oldest Black congregation in Pittsburgh.
In 2007, the Pittsburgh Penguins were granted redevelopment rights to the Lower Hill. Today, in response to sustained public pressure to right a historic wrong, they have agreed to return some of the land that was wrongfully taken. The Penguins have agreed to transfer their development rights to 1.5 acres adjacent to Crawford Square to Bethel for a restorative redevelopment project.
Bethel-Trinity CDC, an affiliate of Bethel AME, is planning a mixed-use development on the land, one that would feature 280 to 350 apartments, with 20% of them dedicated to low-income families, as well as a daycare center. Bethel was not granted the same land exactly where the church used to be, but it is more than 4 times as much land as was taken. It is still unclear if Bethel AME leadership will rebuild a space for worship, choosing at this time to focus on housing and other uses that serve the residents of the Hill District.
The next step will be for church leadership to finalize an agreement with a developer and raise money for the project. Rev. Snyder said he will look to private, public, and philanthropic sources to help finance the project. We were honored to be a part of this historic project that secured the return of the land and assist with the development of affordable housing on the site and wish them the best as they move forward.