Avenues of Hope Perrysville and Chartiers Avenues Business District Strategies

The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) requests proposals from planning, economic development, and commercial market professionals to conduct business district planning for the following Avenues of Hope corridors:

• Perrysville/Five Points,
• Perrysville/Charles,
• Chartiers Avenue 

Multiple awards may be made for this project. Respondents can choose to focus on all three corridors or may choose to focus on only one or two. This choice should be indicated at the beginning of the proposal.   

The project duration is estimated to be three to four months. Interested parties are requested to submit a detailed proposal package that clearly defines the relevant experience of the proposed staff and sub-consultant team members, proposed methods and strategy to carry out the project scope of work, as well as a fee proposal.   

The budget for this project, including all three corridors, is $50,000.

The Avenues of Hope (AOH) Initiative is a place-based, people-first approach that intervenes across all layers of successful, healthy, and sustainable Main Street development for the cities eight historic African American neighborhoods. The goal for the eight business districts is to invest in existing small businesses and residents, supporting the inclusive growth of the neighborhoods. For more information about the Avenues of Hope Initiative, visit the URA website here.  

The URA is working with the City of Pittsburgh to focus on housing investment, workforce connectivity, commercial corridor activation, façade renovations, and other impactful Minority Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) and small business support. This project will address commercial corridor activation in three of the eight AOH corridors: The Perrysville Avenue Five Points node in Perry North/Observatory Hill, the Perrysville and Charles Street intersection in Perry South/Perry Hilltop, and Chartiers Avenue in Sheraden.

This project will be focused on the development of business district strategies for the Perrysville/Five Points, Perrysville/Charles Street, and Chartiers Avenue commercial corridors, including:

• Working with URA staff and other stakeholders to collect data for the corridor, including properties, business mix, public safety statistics, and rental rates.
• Reviewing market data to determine potential business mix.
• Meeting with existing businesses and the community stakeholders to gather information, determine community preferences in terms of business mix, and development priorities and get feedback on proposed recommendations.
  • Note: Chartiers Avenue is 3 miles long, and includes multiple commercial nodes in the Elliott, Sheraden, and Chartiers City neighborhoods. The consultant will study the whole corridor, and work with the communities and URA staff to determine which nodes should receive priority focus.
• Developing recommendations for the implementation of the plan. 

Responses to the RFP will be evaluated by a selection committee. One or more proposers may be asked to meet with the selection committee in a formal interview process. Final consultant selection will be made by the URA Board, which will be informed by the recommendation of the selection committee. The URA reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to request additional information from applicants, and/or to waive any deficiencies in a proposal.  

A tentative schedule has been prepared for this selection process. Firms interested in this project must be available on the interview meeting dates. 

• Proposal Due Date:  5 PM ET, Friday, September 10, 2021
• Firms notified for interview: by end of September 2021
• Interviews: Early October, 2021  

Upon notification of selection by URA staff, the successful respondent is required to enter into a contract within four weeks of notification. If the successful respondent is unwilling or unable to execute the agreement as required by the RFP, the URA has the right to request another respondent to enter into the contract with the URA.