Froggy’s widow supports building’s removal

The developer that wants to raze the old Froggy’s watering hole in Downtown to clear the path for a new office and residential tower has picked up a surprising ally in its fight — the wife of the late bar owner.

Trish Morris told city planning commission members Tuesday that her husband, Steve “Froggy” Morris, made the legendary watering hole on Market Street, not the building that housed it.

“He was a big personality. He was smart. He was engaging. And that is what made Froggy’s successful. So without him, there is no Froggy’s,” she said.

Ms. Morris said she doesn’t believe her husband, who died in 2008, would stand in the way of the demolition. He understood business, she said.

“Besides making a really good drink, he loved to make money. I know he would say this building is done. I know he would say that. He recognizes the cost to reinvent it,” she said.

After wading through a day of briefings and presentations that lasted some six hours, the commission, fearing that it was losing its quorum, continued the Troiani hearing for two weeks without taking a vote.

It has yet to hear from the public or opponents of the proposal, including local historic preservation groups who believe that the buildings themselves or the facades can be saved and incorporated into the new structure.

Some commission members also have raised objections to the proposal, urging Troiani to try harder to preserve some of the structures or at the very least incorporate elements into the new design. They noted that the buildings at 100-102 and 104106 Market that are targeted for razing are part of the Firstside Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

But over the course of more than two hours Tuesday, Troiani representatives tried to make the case the buildings were obsolete, no longer structurally sound, and that trying to reuse them as part of a broader redevelopment would be a money-losing proposition.

To boot, they have “marginal significance” in terms of historic value, said Michael Troiani, president of Troiani Group.

“It is evident that retention of these buildings or their facades is nonviable economically and nonviable structurally,” he said.

Troiani won an emergency bid before the board of appeals in the city’s Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections last week to raze the vacant sixstory building at 209 First Ave., which also is part of the proposed footprint for the new development.

While the adjacent buildings on Market are not as dire in terms of condition, they are structurally unsound and not suitable for reuse, said Chuck Cornely, a structural engineer hired by Troiani to examine the properties.

He added that much of the orange “soft” brick used in the construction no longer meets code.

While some preservation groups have suggested that shoring could be used to stabilize the facades while they are being incorporated into the new building, Mr. Cornely maintained that such a method would be expensive, complicated and might not even work.

“I just don’t think you can do it without damaging the facade you’re trying to save,” he said.

John Jackson, senior vice president of the Cushman & Wakefield/Grant Street Associates real estate firm, also testified that reusing the buildings for office and commercial purposes didn’t make sense financially.

By his calculation, a developer could lose as much as $3 million renovating the buildings and then trying to lease them out at market rates.

“I think it would be a losing proposition,” he said.

And while the buildings are listed as contributing structures to the historic district, they are not of a “high design” and are fairly common throughout the area, said Lee Riccetti, an associate with Heritage Consulting Group, hired by Troiani to assess the historic value of the structures.

Demolishing them would not have a significant impact on the district, she said.

The new tower proposed by Troiani would feature 200,000 square feet of office space, 151 residences, two stories of retail and 300 parking spaces. The developer has vowed not to use the site, if cleared, for parking before construction starts on the new building.

And although Ms. Morris understands the nostalgia some people have for Froggy’s, a favorite of celebrities and ordinary Pittsburghers alike before closing in 2003, she said the building’s time has passed.

By using brick on the new tower at street level near the Froggy’s spot. Troiani is trying “to capture a little bit of that essence and I think Froggy would love that,” she noted. She urged the developer to try to salvage some of the old brick from the building.

“I say go for it, and I think he would, too,” she said of the demolition.

However, she did have one final request.

“It would be really nice to have a nice plaque there or something to memorialize the spot for him,” she said.