RESIDENTIAL SURGE
Two big Downtown apartment projects ready to advance
A Detroit developer is wasting no time in getting started on an ambitious project to build a 300unit apartment complex at the site of the Downtown YWCA, one that would include a 20-story addition on top of the structure.
A month after buying the 60year- old building, City Club Apartments will brief the Pittsburgh Planning Commission Tuesday on its proposal to convert it to housing.
It is one of two big Downtown residential projects set to move forward this spring.
At the same meeting, Washington D.C.-based Douglas Development will brief the commission on its plan to transform a former PPG warehouse at 642 Fort Duquesne Blvd. into 142 apartments.
City Club Apartments closed on the purchase of the four-story YWCA headquarters last month, paying $4 million for the real estate at 305 Wood St.
The project has been in the works for a year.
The developer intends to reuse the existing building, converting the three upper floors into apartments and a two-floor basement into a health club featuring a basketball court, swimming pool, and lockers. The first floor will be used for lobby and retail space.
But the biggest part of the development will be the 20-story
addition on top of the YWCA. Jonathan Holtzman, City Club founder, chairman, and CEO, has said that the building was engineered to support the construction of an addition above it.
During a Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing last year, Mr. Holtzman pegged the cost of the development at $78.8 million.
The project, he said at the time, was more cost effective than two less expensive alternatives that involved demolishing or reusing the existing building but netted only 141 apartments.
Mr. Holtzman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
According to materials submitted to the planning commission, 30 of the 300 units will be reserved for households at or below 50% of the area median income. The rest will be market rate.
Beyond the health club, amenities will include a multipurpose theater, conference rooms and a business center, and a swimming pool and “skyclub” on the roof of the 20-story addition.
City Club won approval from the zoning board last year for a dimensional variance that gave it the ability to build up to 300
smaller apartments at the site rather than 141 larger ones permitted under the code.
After studying the property, the Jones Lang LaSalle real estate firm had determined the best use of the property would be residential, not offices or a hotel.
The YWCA is expected to remain in the building until at least the end of the year.
The project has the support of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Jeremy Waldrup, PDP president and CEO, said in a letter to the city’s planning department that the Golden Triangle is poised to accommodate a larger residential population.
“Attracting new residents to the urban core will help to bring back life to this block and this underutilized building. The new development will be a valuable investment in the interest of making Downtown a more attractive place to live and to do business,” he wrote.
The PDP also is supporting the Fort Duquesne Boulevard redevelopment.
Douglas Development purchased the nine-story former PPG warehouse on the Allegheny riverfront from billionaire Mark Cuban, the “Shark Tank” star and owner of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks, in March.
The 142 units is up five from the 137 Douglas originally was considering for the vacant building, which was last occupied by the Easter Seals of Pennsylvania.
Norman Jemal, Douglas Development managing principal, had predicted during an interview in March that the number of units likely would increase slightly.
Plans call for a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom loft style apartments and a few studios. Amenities will include a gym, conference space, and a golf simulator.
All rents are expected to be market rate.
According to materials submitted to the planning commission, Douglas plans to keep two existing penthouses and a large steel signage structure on the roof.
It also is proposing to add “historically appropriate replacement windows” throughout the building and clean, repair, and repoint the existing beige brick facade.
In addition, it is planning a new brick sidewalk and granite curbs in front of the building.
The two apartment projects are part of the latest surge in residential development in and near Downtown.
Earlier this week, New York-based SomeraRoad broke ground on a 247unit residential complex being built along the Monongahela riverfront at SouthSide Works.
Dubbed the Park, the development will feature a mix of “junior” one-bedroom, one-bedroom, twobedroom units and twostory townhouse” apartment homes.
The project is scheduled for completion in spring 2024.