Downtown tower to become affordable housing

• Officials are bullish on converting those offices into housing to help refill the neighborhood.

Driving the news: Renovation began Tuesday on 4 Smithfield St. to convert the 12-story office building into 46 housing units, 39 of which will be affordable to low-income residents.

Zoom in: The top eight floors will become housing.

• There will be 25 one-bedroom units, 17 two-bedroom units, and four efficiency units.
• The building will have a community room, a children's playroom, a bike room, a fitness center and more, according to a press release from the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA).
• The second and third floors will be maintained as office space, and the bottom floor will be retail.

By the numbers: The project is being developed by Woda Cooper for $30 million.

• It received $3.25 million from the URA.

State of play: Downtown has recovered only about two-thirds of its daily activity compared with 2019, due in large part to a declining number of office workers, according to data from the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

• Yes, but: The neighborhood has added more than 1,700 residents since 2019.

What's next: The project will likely be completed by spring 2027, per Woda Cooper spokesperson Jill Fazekas.