YOUNGSTOWN – The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. received a $600,000 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh to build two new duplexes on Glenwood Avenue as part of the organization’s ongoing effort to rehabilitate that South Side street.

“We’re improving the neighborhood and attracting quality housing to the Glenwood Avenue corridor,” said Ian Beniston, YNDC’s executive director.

The grant is through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh’s Affordable Housing Program, which provides funding to help create affordable housing.

The two duplexes in the 3000 block of Glenwood Avenue, south of Canfield Road, are at the site of former vacant homes that were demolished, he said.

The cost of the two duplexes is close to $1 million, Beniston said.

The YNDC anticipates receiving some of the city of Youngstown’s federal housing allocation under the Community Development Block Grant program and has secured financing for the remaining cost of building the four housing units through PNC Bank, Beniston said. He added the project will start next spring and should be finished by the summer.

The YNDC has concentrated efforts along the Glenwood Avenue corridor to restore it for the past few years.

That includes renovating the Glenwood Business Center, the organization’s first commercial property developed for rent; redeveloping the Glenwood Avenue Plaza; building and improving several residential properties; and purchasing the former Foster Art Theatre, a pornographic movie venue, with plans to convert it into a housing and retail building.

The $600,000 grant comes less than a month after the YNDC received $1 million in funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati’s Affordable Housing Program for emergency home roof repairs throughout the city.

The funding will pay to repair about 100 roofs in the city, Beniston said.

dskolnick@vindy.com