Lofts and New Condos in Pittsburgh

Ambitious Projects Aim to Revitalize Downtown

KDKA - February 18, 2008
By Andy Sheehan

For now, much of downtown Pittsburgh is under construction.

There's the North Shore Connector project, the PNC office, hotel and retail high rise and the Piatt Place transformation of the Lazarus building into condos and shops - pricey and ambitious projects aimed at revitalizing downtown's long-decaying urban core of blight and vacant stores.

"Within the next two years this whole area will be completely remade. When you have $1 billion of investment in the pipeline within two blocks of where we're standing right now," Lucas Piatt said.

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Developer seeks $30 million in state funds for Oakland Portal

Pittsburgh Business Times - February 1, 2008
By Ben Semmes 

Project could include offices, hotel, condos, student housing

The developer of the proposed mixed-use Oakland Portal project is seeking roughly $30 million in state government assistance, according to a state legislator who recently was briefed on the plans.

Sen. Wayne Fontana, a Brookline Democrat whose district includes part of the site at the western edge of Oakland, said he plans to work with Green Tree-based FWG Real Estate Inc. to file a funding proposal early this year. Fontana and FWG will petition for the funds in the state's capital budget to support infrastructure and parking for the project.

A tentative site plan, prepared last spring by Downtown-based Perkins Eastman Architects and obtained by the Business Times, shows 700,000 square feet of office space, two new garages containing 2,100 parking spaces and a hotel and conference center, as well as an unspecified number of condominiums and student housing units. Fontana said FWG hopes to begin construction this year.

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The YMCA building and four old dilapidated townhouses in East Liberty could get a new life as condominiums with the help of $1.1 million in funding, most of it from a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle and other officials will hold a news conference this morning to acknowledge the $885,000 loan awarded by the Landmarks Community Capital Corp. to help finance the projects. The city Urban Redevelopment Authority is supplying $250,000 toward the YMCA project.

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YMCA-to-condo revamp gets boost

Pittsburgh Business Times - January 23, 2008
By Ben Semmes

Two planned East Liberty residential projects got a boost Wednesday with the announcement of a $1.135 million investment in the once struggling neighborhood.

The money, from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority and Landmarks Community Capital Corp., will go to fund the conversion of East Liberty's former YMCA into condos and the rehabilitation of two distressed homes in the 5800 block of Rippey St.

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Major development riding at Don Allen site

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - January 11, 2008
By Dan Fitzpatrick

It was early 2006 when developers Phil Hugh and John Economou first sat down with the owners of Bloomfield's Don Allen Auto City and discussed what to do with one of the most valuable plots of real estate in Pittsburgh's East End.

"They wanted to look at other options," Mr. Economou said. But, also, "they wanted to do right by the city of Pittsburgh."

The result, 19 months later, is that Mr. Hugh and Mr. Economou now have an agreement to assume majority control of the dealership's seven-acre, three-block swath at the nexus of Shadyside, Bloomfield and East Liberty. Their plan, unveiled yesterday, is to tear down the Don Allen buildings and fill the space along Baum Boulevard and Liberty Avenue with a mix of townhouses, condominiums, a 120-room hotel, and 700,000 square feet of office, medical and retail space.

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