The Homewood North Family Investment Center (F.I.C.) is the community center for Homewood North Housing complex owned by the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh. It is located on a hill top in the Homewood section of the City of Pittsburgh.
The US Housing and Urban Development agency (HUD), mandated the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority to have F.I.C. fully Uniformed Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) compliant by November, 2009. There was a strict schedule to meet since pre-design services had not even begun in August, 2009.
Within less than three weeks, Architectural Services through Construction Documents were completed. This included the multi-level review process by HACP, HACP’s construction consultants, UFAS third party reviewers, and HUD reviewers. When bidding occurred, four prime contractor positions were available and four prime contractors performed the construction. Weekly construction meetings occurred with the on-site maintenance crew doing the construction. By mid November, the project had passed it’s UFAS compliance inspection for the site and the interior space.
By the end of November, all construction was completed. The project came in on time, under budget. It was the only project that passed its UFAS compliance review on the substantial completion phase of construction. The interior space had a new lunch room, modified restrooms, new signage, new hardware, new daycare restrooms, new thresholds throughout, accessible parking, and an accessible path of travel to the building.
