Rendering to inspire Strip District Riverfront Park, by Ed Dumont. Courtesy of Riverlife.

Oncologists, film lovers and train enthusiasts all have reason to celebrate.

Local resources and institutions like Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead and Allegheny General Hospital are set to receive millions of dollars in funding as part of the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

The grants, which have been awarded every year since 1986, are given to a wide variety of businesses and projects around the state. Eligibility is broadly defined as projects that “have a regional or multi-jurisdictional impact, and generate substantial increases or maintain current levels of employment, tax revenues or other measures of economic activity,” according to the state budget office.

In practical terms, this means everything from public parks to movie theaters can qualify. Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead will get $500,000 for general updates, while Allegheny General Hospital will receive $1 million to build an Academic Cancer Center. Other notable local grantees include:

  • $1 million to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust to build a movie theater on 6th Street in Downtown.
  • $1.5 million to redevelop the Wilkinsburg train station.
  • $750,000 for the installation artist James Turrell to create a “skyspace” on the roof of the Mattress Factory Museum on the North Side.
  • $2 million to rehabilitate the historic New Granada Theater in the Hill District.
  • $1 million to the Oliver Bath House in the South Side to expand and make the space handicap accessible.
  • $500,000 for improvements along the Strip District riverbank.

A full list of the winners can be found here.

Bill O'Toole was a full-time reporter for NEXTpittsburgh until October, 2019. He previously reported in Myanmar.