PLANNING AHEAD
In its latest foray into Oakland, Walnut Capital is securing a dozen dilapidated properties that once were part of a controversial plan to build apartments and a hotel.
The Shadyside developer intends to acquire 11 rowhouses at 3401 to 3421 Bates St. and one at 392 Coltart Ave. that were under the ownership of Oakland Gateway Ventures.
Walnut Capital has no immediate plans for the properties, president Todd Reidbord said Tuesday. It intends to demolish all of them and create green space while mulling potential opportunities.
Mr. Reidbord said the rowhouses have been condemned by the city, are uninhabitable and can’t be salvaged.
“They’re not safe to occupy,” he said. “They just fell apart basically. They’re in really bad shape.”
Nonetheless, he noted that the properties are located at a prominent location near the Boulevard of the Allies and the Parkway East.
“We saw this as an opportunity,” Mr. Reidbord said. “Obviously, this is a gateway site in Oakland. When this opportunity came about, we thought we would take a chance on it.”
While Walnut Capital has no immediate plans for the properties, it probably will look at the potential for office, residential, or commercial development, depending on market trends, Mr. Reidbord noted.
The Oakland Planning and Development Corp. will host a development activities meeting on the Walnut Capital proposal via Zoom on June 24 at 6 p.m. Wanda Wilson, OPDC executive director, referred questions to Walnut Capital.
At one time, developer Oakland Gateway Ventures had big plans to turn the properties into a grand development that included an eight- to nine-story hotel and an apartment building.
But those plans fizzled out amid community opposition.
Robert O. Lampl, attorney for Oakland Gateway Ventures, said the developer got frustrated when its proposals were turned down and that it simply ran out of money.
Earlier this year, Traffordbased Penn Pioneer Enterprises filed a petition in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court seeking the appointment of a conservator to take control of the Bates Street and Coltart Avenue rowhouses based on the state’s Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act.
However, Penn Pioneer, which describes itself as a real estate company that buys and sells properties in the Greater Pittsburgh area, filed a document last month asking that the case be discontinued.
It did so after Disam Holdings LLC filed a petition to intervene, stating it had a foreclosure action pending against Oakland
Gateway Ventures for the 12 properties on Bates and Coltart.
Mr. Lampl said the various parties are now trying to work out a resolution, one that appears to involve Walnut Capital acquiring the properties.
“There’s a transaction contemplated,” he said.
Jonathan Kamin, Walnut Capital attorney, said the developer would like to take control of the properties by the end of the summer. It also is hoping to get the support of OPDC and residents for its proposal.
“Everyone in the community knows and understands that they’re an eyesore,” Mr. Reidbord said of the properties.
The acquisition would mark Walnut Capital’s latest venture in the neighborhood.
It is currently building the Innovation Research Tower on Fifth Avenue. The 280,000-square-foot building will include extensive laboratory and research space as well as 6,200 square feet of retail, a public square, and parking.
Walnut Capital is hoping to finish that development in June 2022.
It also recently completed a $25 million project to convert the historic Pittsburgh Athletic Association clubhouse into about 130,000 square feet of office space. It is believed to be talking to Apple about taking at least some of the space in the sixstory building on Fifth across from the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning.
Walnut Capital also rehabbed a former Cadillac and Yugo dealership on the Boulevard of the Allies blocks from Bates Street that is now occupied by UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.