Riverview Apartments

The New Riverview Apartments is a semi-independent residential facility for the elderly at 52 Garetta St. in Squirrel Hill. It is managed by the Jewish Association on Aging.

A study from the United Jewish Federation and the Jewish Home for the Aged in the late 1950s and early 1960s determined a need for semi-independent housing for the Jewish elderly in Pittsburgh. The agencies formed Senior Citizen Housing Inc. in 1961 as a new United Jewish Federation beneficiary. The Jewish Home for the Aged donated land on Garetta Street directly across from its facility off Browns Hill Road in Squirrel Hill.

The United Jewish Federation submitted an application for funding to the Federal Housing Administration in late 1962 and received a $1.3 million loan from the Federal Community Facilities Administration in early 1964. Groundbreaking for Riverview Apartments occurred in November 1964. The seven-story air-conditioned building opened in January 1966. It initially had 108 units available—mostly efficiency units—for people 62 and older. It was the first apartment project of its kind in Allegheny County that was operated by a community group rather than the government.

By September 1968, the initial Riverview Apartment building was fully occupied with 27 men, 86 women, and 15-year waiting list with 179 people, leading the United Jewish Federation to consider building a second unit. The Jewish Home for the Aged provided additional land immediately adjacent to Riverview I. The United Jewish Federation secured financing for the $2.6 million building through the relatively new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as a construction-financing loan from Century Federal Savings and Loan Association. Riverview II was developed through a turnkey contact with the local National Development Corporation and opened in April 1973. The two units subsequently became known as Riverview Towers.

Riverview Towers joined the Jewish Association on Aging in March 2018. Following a major renovation in 2019 and 2020, it became known as The New Riverview.