History Center buys nearby lots for possible future plans

The Sen. John Heinz History Center has acquired another treasure in its bid to expand its Strip District footprint.

It recently paid $200,000 to secure a slender four-story building at 1211 Penn Ave. that once housed a restaurant. The property is located directly behind the history center on Smallman Street.

The property is believed to be the eighth purchased in recent years by the history center as part of a strategy to acquire real estate behind it for eventual growth.

In a statement, history center president and CEO Andrew Masich said the expansion likely will include classrooms, galleries and a visitor orientation center. The museum also has been toying with the idea of adding a hotel at some point in the future.

“The expansion will help secure long-term sustainability for our organization and further position the museum as a premier cultural attraction in Pittsburgh,” Mr. Masich said.

Over the last decade, the center has spent nearly $4 million acquiring parcels on Penn between 12th and 13th streets in the block directly behind the museum.

Those acquisitions have given the center control over the majority of the properties in the block, although others still hold the real estate at both ends.

The history center also received a $3 million state redevelopment assistance capital grant earlier this year to help with the expansion.

According to a summary accompanying the request, the project will “complete and enhance the history center’s tourism facilities by adding a firstday attraction orientation theater, new gallery spaces and expanded education resources that will connect to a new 140room history-themed hotel.”

The hotel would be built near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. However, in the past, Mr. Masich has said the expansion itself is the top priority, with the hotel to be considered once that has been completed.

In its capital grant application, the center said it would use the funds for additional property acquisitions, engineering and architectural work, demolition and site preparation, and construction.

While the museum has been systematically acquiring property over the years, there is no timetable for the start of construction, spokesman Brady Smith said.

In an interview last year, Mr. Masich said the museum was happy to “play the long game” in making acquisitions and carrying out plans for the expansion.

Like many other organizations, the history center has been hampered by the

pandemic. It reopened July 1 after shutting down on March 14, 2020, because of COVID-19. It closed again from Dec. 12, 2020, to Jan. 8. It has been operating at 50% capacity, though that will expand to 75% next week.

Nonetheless, the pandemic hasn’t deadened the museum’s appetite for expansion.

Before the pandemic hit, the center was experiencing a space crunch. Mr. Masich has said the center has been forced to turn away student groups at times in the past because of space shortages.

It also has been running out of room for exhibits. Although the center has been able to use the first floor for large exhibits, many from its permanent collection are in storage.

Any expansion would add to the historic 1898 history center building and its 2004 Smithsonian wing. Museum officials see Penn Avenue as a natural location for such a project because it sits directly behind the center.

In fact, the center has been using the nine-story Dietrich Building on Penn it acquired in 2011 for $1.35 million to house part of its collection. It is accessible to visitors via a skybridge.

Two buildings it purchased for $1.4 million in late 2019 were scheduled to be used for archival space, educational programming and other museum purposes.