Filmmakers signs agreement to sell its Oakland building

Pittsburgh Post-Gazete

Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts signed a sales agreement this week for its Oakland building, but terms of the contract prohibit disclosing the price and the buyer’s identity.

In a letter dated Friday and addressed to friends of the nonprofit, which is $500,000 in debt, board president Yasmeen Ariff-Sayed wrote, “While the terms of the contract preclude us from releasing the identity of the buyer and other details prior to the closing, which we expect to occur by the end of the year, we want to be as transparent as possible. “

The 32,000-square-foot building at 477 Melwood Ave. has classrooms, offices, a cafe, a movie theater and a parking lot. Pittsburgh Filmmakers bought the building for $1.2 million in 1998. The asking price for the property was $3.75 million.

Pittsburgh Filmmakers will move later this year to the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts campus at Fifth and Shady avenues. A few weeks ago, board treasurer Rick Pierchalski told the seven members of the Allegheny County Regional Asset District board that PF/PCA needs $750,000 to renovate the two main structures at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, a yellow mansion and a classroom building.

PF/PCA receives annual funding from the Allegheny County Regional Asset District. The district’s seven-member board reviews grant applications and allocates funds from sales tax revenue paid by the public on transactions in Allegheny County.

Typically, the board awards more than $100 million each year in operating and capital grants.