Congratulations to Tom on receiving this funding for his project!
From left, Zak Thomas, Glenn Grayson, Jr., Thomas Boyd, Sr., and Tom Hardy.
Thomas Boyd, Sr., a long-time Hill District resident, has rented the location for his barbershop – Big Tom’s – at 2042 Centre Avenue for 14 years. During that time, Mr. Boyd has dedicated himself to serving his community, providing meaningful job opportunities to those facing barriers to employment, and creating a business for local residents to enjoy and take pride in. With technical assistance from Neighborhood Allies, Mr. Boyd submitted a proposal in 2019 to purchase and relocate his business to 2178 Centre Avenue as part of the URA’s Centre Avenue Corridor Project under their Avenues of Hope initiative. His project was approved by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in March of 2021.
Today, Mr. Boyd’s development company – TomTom24 Development – was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s (PHFA) Community Revitalization Fund Program (CRFP) to assist with the purchase and rehabilitation of the space on Centre Avenue. PHFA’s Community Revitalization Fund provides funding for mixed-use development projects, aiming to increase affordable housing along commercial corridors across Pennsylvania. Goals of the CRFP include bridging the gap between traditional housing programs and commercial lending sources for mixed-use projects and fostering sustainable partnerships to leverage public and private resources.
As the previous location of the iconic Hamm’s Barbershop, the 4,200 square foot, three-story, brick building located at 2178 Centre Avenue is an important Hill District landmark for many residents. Mr. Boyd’s project breathes new life into a building that has sat vacant at the corner of Centre Avenue and Kirkpatrick Street since Mr. Hamm’s passing nearly a decade ago. Tom’s plans include a larger space out of which to operate his barbershop, a rental space for another commercial tenant, four units of affordable housing, and an outdoor lounge area for recreational use by the community and for pop-up sales by neighborhood home-based businesses.
“All of the people at Neighborhood Allies and at the URA, Zak Thomas, and the entire Hill District community have all been so invaluable to me and my quest to own a piece of the neighborhood that I was born and raised in — a neighborhood that I love,” said Mr. Boyd. “Glenn Grayson, Jr. has been helping me every step of the way through this process.”
“All of the people at Neighborhood Allies and at the URA, Zak Thomas, and the entire Hill District community have all been so invaluable to me and my quest to own a piece of the neighborhood that I was born and raised in — a neighborhood that I love.”
-Thomas Boyd, Sr.
In addition to sustained technical assistance in project ideation, strategy, scope development, and more, Neighborhood Allies also provided Tom with a $50,000 predevelopment grant, alongside a matching $50,000 grant and additional guidance from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
“We have been lucky enough to work with and support Tom in bringing his vision to life,” said Glenn Grayson, Jr., Neighborhood Allies Senior Program Manager for Neighborhood Development. “His work is paving the way for other residents and African American developers to invest in and benefit from their own neighborhoods’ revitalization. Community ownership, including ownership of important real estate by indigenous residents in majority Black neighborhoods, is vital to addressing racial inequities.”
Neighborhood Allies’ work with Tom is part of our recently launched Centralized Real Estate Accelerator (The Accelerator). The Accelerator was designed to empower early stage for-profit and non-profit developers and property owners to achieve their vision by growing technical capacity, increasing financial readiness, and building professional networks. The Accelerator focuses on community-based organizations, resident developers, and small business owners with the goal of creating more opportunities for community ownership in Black neighborhoods, as well as a pipeline of investable projects.
“The Accelerator sets out to reduce barriers, increase access to capital and technical support, and build community ownership and wealth for community-based developers, small businesses, and nonprofit partners, especially in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color,” said Presley Gillespie, President of Neighborhood Allies. “Ultimately, we want to create system-wide change in Pittsburgh’s community development system.”
