ACTION-Housing wanted to build Uptown Lofts, a project consisting of two buildings providing 47 new apartments, 23 affordable units and 24 units for young adults moving out of foster care.This project will provide more than public housing.  Each building will be three-stories and 30,000 SF but built to a different energy standard.  One building will be built to Passive House standards and one building will be built to meet the 2012 International Energy Code.   This will assist ACTION-Housing in analyzing the two energy performance standards against initial construction costs, on-going energy usage, and maintenance costs.

Uptown Lofts north building received its Passive House Certification from the Passive House Institute of the U.S., becoming the first multi-family Passive House project in Pennsylvania, and one of only a few in the country.

The Uptown Lofts project has won an Honor Award for Architecture Design from the Pittsburgh Chapter of The American Institute of Architects and was the first recipient of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, 2013 Low Income Housing Tax Credit Innovation in Design Award