URA expected to approve Downtown residential complex

A new “destination” residential development is getting ready to take flight in the heart of the Downtown Cultural District.

The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority is expected to give the green light Thursday to Trek Development Group and Q Development to start work on a 136-unit residential complex to be built at the corner of Penn Avenue and Eighth Street.

Dubbed “Eighth and Penn,” the $46.2 million development involves the reuse of two vacant eight-story 19th-century office buildings as well as the construction of an 11story addition.

URA board members expect to vote Thursday on whether to approve the development’s final plans, clearing the way for construction. The agency is involved because it sold a parcel of land to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in 1994 that is to be used for the project.

Trek and Q intend to convert the 1896-built McNally Building at 711 Penn and the 1893-built Bonn Building at 713 Penn into apartments. They purchased the buildings for about $2.4 million in 2015.

In addition, they plan to use two adjacent lots they are acquiring from the Cultural Trust, including the parcel formerly owned by the URA, to build the 11-story addition as well as a smaller copper-clad building dubbed the “jewel box.”

The development also includes ground level retail, one level of underground parking, and a rooftop garden terrace at the top of the “jewel box.” Rounding out the project would be a LED light display designed to connect Eighth and Katz Plaza on Seventh Street.

With the construction and the public realm enhancements, the goal is to create a “destination type of project” in the Cultural District, said Rick Belloli, a principal in Q Development.

For the Cultural Trust, the project aligns with its plans to create a robust 700- to 800-unit residential development in the Eighth Street block on land it has been assembling for decades.

“It is certainly the first project on the block the trust is working on at the moment. It fits nicely into our overall Eighth Street block plan in that it preserves two of the older buildings and it begins the residential development,” said Kevin McMahon, Cultural Trust president and CEO.

The trust is working to finalize a deal to sell its two lots to Trek and Q, Mr. McMahon said. “This is all very tentative but certainly we’re hoping this will come about,” he said.

Trek and Q are planning to start construction in June and have the development completed by April 2019.

At the same time, the trust is working with the Pittsburgh Parking Authority on a possible joint venture to replace the parking garage at Ninth Street and Penn with a mixed-used development that could include retail at ground level and housing or office space above.

The parking authority has received six proposals for the project in response to a request issued in December. David Onorato, the authority’s executive director, declined to give details of the proposals, saying they were still being evaluated.

Also Thursday, the URA board will consider:

• A $1.5 million Pittsburgh Development Fund loan to help in the conversion of a former Heinz Co. building at 950 Progress Street on the North Side into 151 apartments, with rents ranging from $1,100 to $2,800 a month.

• A loan of up to $1.3 million for a 49-unit affordable housing development in Oakland that involves the rehab of the Allequippa Place complex and construction of a 25-unit apartment building. Rents ranging from $147 to $732 a month will be available to households with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income.