Developer gets more time on North Shore residential proposal
A revised proposal to build a residential complex on the North Shore near PNC Park will take extra innings to complete.
Pittsburgh Stadium Authority board members unanimously voted Wednesday to give Columbusbased Continental Real Estate Companies until June 25 to get started on the project.
Continental is pitching the plan as a replacement for a proposed eight-story office and residential complex that was to be built at the corner of North Shore Drive and Mazeroski Way. That development would have included four floors of office and retail space and 48 condominiums.
The developer decided to scuttle that project because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased office vacancy rates in the region as many people worked from home.
Instead, Continental is offering a new residential building that will be at least six stories and will likely involve apartments, not condos. The number of units has yet to be determined. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has been pushing Continental to do residential on the North Shore.
Stadium Authority board
Chairman Stanley Lederman said Wednesday more time is needed to “complete all of the complex negotiations”
surrounding the new endeavor.
“We’ve pretty much done that. We’re pretty much at an agreement. However, we just did that within the last day or two. We thought it prudent for both sides that we just give it one more week so that all the t’s can be crossed, all the i’s can be dotted and nothing is left out of the agreement,” he said.
The board is scheduled to reconvene June 23 to take up the proposal.
“We simply needed another couple of days to work out timing details on the next phase, including the apartments,” said Barry Ford, Continental’s president of development.
Continental, the firm chosen by the Steelers and the Pirates to develop the land between Heinz Field and PNC Park, originally had until May 31 to get started on a project in the Gold Lot 4 parking area adjacent to the Hyatt Place Hotel.
Authority board members voted last month to extend that until June 18 to give Continental more time to work on its alternative proposal.
The new building is part of a larger development to be situated between North Shore Drive, Mazeroski Way and West General Robinson Street, featuring a 440-space parking garage and a proposed entertainment plaza.
Continental hopes to complete the garage, now under construction, by the start of football season. It has until Dec. 31 to get started on the plaza, which could include a restaurant.
The development is one of the last contemplated on the North Shore, where four office buildings, Stage AE, the Hyatt Place, and bars and restaurants have been built over the past two decades.