URA says the TRID can turn around an $813 million drop in Downtown property values.

Pittsburgh City Council’s July 22 committee meeting featured two hours of public comment and two and a half hours of council discussion about the proposed Downtown Pittsburgh Transit Revitalization Investment District (TRID) Implementation Plan.

Representatives from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) also made their case to council. The proposal — with an initial $50 million investment by the city — calls for 80% of the money to be directed to developers to improve their properties. The money will be paid back through their increased property taxes over 20 years. 

The URA’s Director of Government Affairs and Strategic Initiatives Catherine Murray said the urgency comes out of Downtown real estate assessments declining by $813 million since 2024, which reduced city tax revenue by $7.9 million.

Downtown property taxes account for approximately six percent of the city’s total revenue.

Council Member Deb Gross of Highland Park noted that, ultimately, this will amount to approximately $42 million of the city’s projected $700 million in revenue for 2026. Combined with an 80% occupancy rate Downtown, she said, “I’m not sure that there’s that much of a crisis.”

In contrast, Council Member Erika Strassburger of Squirrel Hill North said, “The gamble, in my mind, is not doing anything, allowing our property values to continue to decrease.” If that happens, “we have to make some very painful decisions.”

Other TRID-related properties, such as Bakery Square, have a 12-times return in assessed value, according to Susheela Nemani-Stanger, URA Executive Director.

The meeting contained little on transit development even though a transit-anchored project is the basis of a TRID.

Nemani-Stanger said the inclusion of the Strip District in the value capture area — which Gross said is against state statute — is because “it’s all one walkable community” and the state encourages walkability.

Thomas Link, the URA’s Chief Development Officer, said the TRID could yield approximately 1,000 housing units with about 30% being affordable, with the remainder at market rate. Murray said that would bring the current 18% affordable units “closer to 21%.”

The proposed implementation plan also includes 20% of funding going toward unspecified public infrastructure projects. Nemani-Stanger said the method “allows for flexibility and future-forward thinking.”

Council Member Barb Warwick of Greenfield said, “Any public benefit is murky at best.”