Plan for Garden Theater block nears finish
Gone are smut flicks. Arriving will be studio apartments. The former Garden Theater on the North Side is nearing the completion of its long-awaited transformation. And so is the block surrounding it.
Pittsburgh Planning Commission members have cleared the way for Trek Development Group and Q Development to begin a $17 million project that includes a new five-story building, the rehab of the Morton House, and finishing touches to the old theater in the center of the block.
Also this week, West Penn Hospital officials briefed commissioners on a new 10-year master plan that includes proposals for two new buildings for patients, a new medical office building and clinic, and a new parking garage with up to 700 spaces.
Plagued by delays and litigation, the Garden Theater block project has been some six years in the making. William Gatti, Trek president and CEO, noted that the history surrounding the block’s development stretches back two decades.
“We hope we’re nearing the end of a long journey,” he said.
The linchpin of the proposed project is a new five-story, 50,526square-foot building at the corner of Federal Street and North Avenue. It will hold 56 apartments and 1,300 square feet of retail space at street level.
Trek and Q are planning to convert the adjacent 8,371-square-foot Morton House, actually two sideby-side structures, into six apartments.
At the Garden Theater, a former porn venue acquired by the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority in 2007 after a drawnout legal battle, the developers are proposing the construction of three studio apartments on the mezzanine level.
They also are hoping to fill 5,000 square feet of retail space on the first and mezzanine levels of the structure.
When all is said and done, “Completing this project will allow us to complete the block in its entirety,” Mr. Gatti said.
The new building would be constructed on vacant land that housed three Victorian-era structures that were demolished last year by the URA after being condemned by the city.
At one time, Trek and Q had proposed saving the buildings as part of a plan for an eight-story, 72unit apartment development.
But the deal collapsed when Allegheny County Common Pleas Court overturned a city Zoning Board of Adjustment ruling granting a variance that would have allowed the developers to build to eight stories.
The state’s Commonwealth Court upheld the lower court
ruling, prompting Trek and Q to revise the proposal to include the new five-story building.
During Tuesday’s hearing before the planning commission, Mr. Gatti said the developers are allowed to build five stories under city zoning law based on the height of the old Masonic Hall building in the same block. The new building will be the same height.
Zoning administrator Corey Layman said he is not aware of any variances or special exceptions needed through the zoning board to complete the project.
One of those who fought the eight-story complex was Steven Pascal, who owns property near the site.
His attorney, Pat McGrail, questioned officials Tuesday as to whether the new building would be erected within 100 yards of a residential district. The Garden Theater block itself is zoned local neighborhood commercial but is surrounded by residential.
By Ms. McGrail’s calculation, the building was within 85 feet of a residential district. But representatives for the developers said it was outside of the required 100 feet in terms of compatibility based on property-to-property measurements.
Many North Side community groups have rallied around the project.
Maggie Connor, president of the Mexican War Streets Society, told the commission the developers have “bent over backwards to improve this project” at every step.
“It’s really critical to this neighborhood,” she said.
Barring any further legal challenges, Trek and Q hope to begin construction in the first quarter of 2021.
Meanwhile, the master plan for West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield anticipates the need for 600 licensed in-patient beds over the next 10 years.
It also is projecting a 5% increase in the number of physicians and a 12% jump in the number of staff members as well as growth in outpatient same-day procedures and primary services such as obstetrics and gynecology, oncology, neurosurgery, esophageal/lung, autoimmunity and diabetes.
The master plan envisions two new hospital inpatient buildings.
One would be 450,000 square feet in size bordering South Mathilda and South Millvale streets and Liberty
Avenue. The other would be 100,000 square feet and built midblock within the confines of the existing campus.
Also planned is a 350,000square-foot medical office building and clinic along Gross Street and South Millvale.
The parking garage, at 200,000 square feet, also would be built along Gross. It could be the first project to get rolling, possibly within the next 24 to 36 months, said Allegheny Health Network spokeswoman Stephanie Waite.
No timetable has been set for any of the other projects.
Ms. Waite stressed that the master plan is the hospital’s vision for potential development over the next decade and that each project would have to be submitted to and reviewed by the city before it could proceed.
She added that West Penn is in an educational medical institution-zoned district and is required to have a master plan on file with the city.
A 25-year plan includes proposals for more hospital inpatient space and additional educational facilities.