Court rejects bid to demolish Froggy’s
Developer Troiani had sought emergency relief
A developer has been rebuffed in his latest bid to raze three Downtown buildings on Market Street, including the former Froggy’s restaurant.
In a one-sentence order issued Nov. 19, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court denied the Troiani Group’s application for immediate emergency relief as it related to those structures and another at 209 First Ave.
Troiani filed the application Nov. 1, claiming that the vacant six-story building on First Avenue was in “imminent danger of catastrophic collapse.”
But in order to demolish the structure safely, Troiani claimed that it first had to tear down the three adjacent buildings at 100-102 and 104-106 Market, including the old Froggy’s nightspot.
The developer sought the emergency relief after the city at the last minute appealed to the same court a Sept. 7 order by Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Senior Judge Joseph James that gave Troiani the go-ahead to raze the structures.
Michael Troiani, president of Troiani Group, said Tuesday that he was “clearly disappointed” in the rejection of the emergency application, while expressing frustration with the city’s appeal and the two-year battle over the buildings.
He said he had “grave concerns” about the safety within the block given the dilapidated conditions of the structures on Market and First.
“You can see the fissures in the masonry growing. It’s pulling apart,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous condition.”
Mr. Troiani took issue with Mayor Bill Peduto, claiming he ordered the appeal, and the city Law Department for taking the case to Commonwealth Court. He noted that the city, while seeking to protect the Market Street buildings in court, has also condemned them as unsafe and ordered corrective action — one of them being demolition with planning commission approval.
“I can’t make sense of it. There’s no sense to be had. It’s an unsafe condition perpetrated by the city solicitor,” he said.
Dan Gilman, Mr. Peduto’s chief of staff, said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Troiani’s battle over the properties has been back and forth within the courts for the last year.
In July, the Commonwealth Court vacated earlier rulings by Judge James and the city board of appeals within the Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections that rejected the developer’s request to raze the structures.
At the time, the court concluded that the appeals board appeared to disregard “strong critical evidence” that Troiani presented in favor of demolition.
However, with the case back
before it, the appeals board didn’t budge, again denying Troiani’s request to bring down the buildings.
Troiani again appealed to Common Pleas Court, and Judge James this time changed course, ruling in the developer’s favor rather than the city’s.
Citing the testimony of three expert witnesses, including two structural engineers, Judge James stated that Troiani had presented “strong critical evidence” that demolishing the Market Street buildings first was the only safe way to bring down the one on First.
That set up the latest appeal to Commonwealth Court, one that may take months or more to resolve now that the application for emergency relief has been denied.
The developer also has an appeal pending before the same court related to a planning commission decision last year denying his request to raze the Market Street structures.
Mr. Troiani, who uses part of the property near the First and Market buildings to park vehicles, said he has lost money because people are afraid to leave their cars there because of the conditions.
“I’ve suffered considerable damages by the city’s arrogance,” he said.
Troiani wants to remove the Market and First structures to clear the site for a proposed 30-story development that would feature 200,000 square feet of office space, 151 residences, two floors of retail, and 300 parking spaces.