Latest news with #MichaelPolite
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Beacon Communities' May Building renovation back on track after federal grant approval
After a challenge by a new administration put a major downtown renovation project into doubt and delay, Beacon Communities expects now to move forward on a package of loans in order to refurbish its May Building property downtown. 'Those deals are moving ahead,' said Michael Polite, a senior vice president for Boston-based Beacon Communities. 'We are moving as fast as we can to get our deals to closing.' Beacon's on-again-off-again saga with its property at 111 Fifth Avenue in the Cultural District downtown began in late 2023 when the company was among the first awarded grant funding through the U.S, Department of Housing and Urban Development for a new program called the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program established through the Inflation Reduction Act. The development firm was awarded a $5.1 million grant to be used to help make the building more energy efficient and sustainable, a strategy expected to include new windows and building mechanicals and HVAC on a nationally registered building located within the Penn-Liberty Historic District downtown. Click here to read more from our partners at the Pittsburgh Business Times. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Affordable housing project in limbo as new administration reconsiders $1B retrofit program
Michael Polite can look back now with newly fraught nostalgia to all the rituals that came with applying for and being awarded federal grant money for an affordable housing project downtown. In this case, Polite, a senior vice president for affordable housing developer Beacon Communities, recalls the time in November 2023 when his company received a more than $5 million federal grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the first round of a new Green and Resilient Retrofit Program seeded with $1 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, legislation signed by former President Joe Biden in 2022. 'The action was already approved. The building was picked,' recalled Polite, who has applied for various subsidies of all kinds to pursue affordable housing projects in his career. 'The cardboard check had already been photographed.' Fast-forward about 16 months and with the new administration of President Donald J. Trump, working closely with Elon Musk overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, Polite has reason to wonder if the federal funding is coming. 'Now, you have the new administration that has to figure out how is it going to proceed,' he said. While there has been no direct announcement by HUD yet of any changes to the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, the Associated Press is reporting, using unnamed sources and internal documents, that DOGE and the Trump Administration are halting the $1 billion GRRP, a move that if formally decided, announced and approved will throw plenty of plans and capital stacks into a state of uncertainty. The more than $5 million award to Beacon was expected to be used for such upgrades as new windows, insulation and HVAC at the May Building, located at 111 Fifth Ave. downtown. Click here to read more from our partners at the Pittsburgh Business Times. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
