New digs on the block
Pitt to be main tenant in office building planned for heart of Oakland
Molly Murdoch Finnell admits that the big parking lot across the street from the Arby’s restaurant on Forbes Avenue in Oakland isn’t the best use for the property. Now the family business has set out to change that.
Murland Associates Limited Partnership is proposing to build a new eightstory building featuring seven floors of offices and street-level retail in the lot at Forbes and Coltart avenues in the heart of the neighborhood.
“Basically, the property is underdeveloped. It doesn’t make sense to have a surface parking lot in such a dense area. It’s underutilized, so we were looking for the highest and best use,” said Ms. Finnell, a representative for Murland Associates.
The developer will brief the city planning commission Tuesday on the $19 million project, which would help to loosen up the Oakland office market, one of the tightest in the region.
Ms. Finnell said Murland already has lined up the University of Pittsburgh as its main tenant in the planned 98,047square-foot building. It also is planning to move the CVS store located next door into the new structure.
The Murdoch family has owned the parcel on which the complex will be built since the early 1950s. It has owned the CVS site since 1928 when it was the home
of Murdoch Chevrolet. The parcel later housed an A&P supermarket and a Giant Eagle before the CVS.
Murland has been the name of the family’s real estate business for years. The Oakland project will constitute its first office building. It decided to move in that direction because of the demand in the area.
“We looked at building a hotel, a multi-family apartment building, and decided that an office building was a good asset for us to own and there was a demand for it,” Ms. Finnell said.
Murland hopes to break ground in the early fall, with completion expected in the first quarter of 2019. Among the amenities will be a rooftop deck, 15 parking spaces in a basement garage, as well as 41 off-site spaces and 10 bicycle spaces.
The developer is planning sidewalk and landscaping improvements. Oakland Planning and Development Corp. supports the project, executive director Wanda Wilson said.
Murland has done a good job engaging the community and “people are pretty comfortable with the project,” she said.
It’s not the only new office space proposed for the neighborhood.
Walnut Capital has presented plans to convert a dilapidated two-story former Cadillac dealership at 3224 Boulevard of the Allies into 41,000 square feet of office space.
Also Tuesday, the planning commission will be briefed on $7 million in exterior improvements to be made to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh building at 420 Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown.
The owner, Chicagobased M&J Wilkow, intends to renovate the building for office use, according to documents filed with the planning commission. The Art Institute has moved its facilities to the Strip District.
Exterior improvements include the addition of a rooftop patio, masonry repairs and a ramp at the front entrance that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.