Sota planning new apartment complex for Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood

Pittsburgh Business Times - August 12, 2011
By Tim Schooley

Ernie Sota is planning to redevelop a former office building into a 34-unit apartment project at the industrial edge of Lawrenceville, which is seeing new residential interest.

Located at the corner of 49th and Harrison streets, the Locomotive Lofts project is being pitched as a development offering market-rate apartments with an industrial look, including exposed concrete and rubber floors, solid surfaces and cast steel finishes. 

“It’s going to be a cool-looking building,” Sota said. “I’m pretty excited about it.”

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7-story Uptown apartment building proposed

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - June 30, 2011
By Mark Belko

Uptown is becoming a hotbed for residential development.

A Sewickley developer is the latest to jump into the market with a proposal to erect a new apartment building in the 1600 block of Fifth Avenue.

Castlebrook Development will go before the city's zoning board of adjustment next month to request a variance to build a seven-story apartment complex at the location. 

The zoning in the area limits the height to three stories.

The developer is planning as many as 49 market rate units at the site, which is now a parking lot, said Dave Laffey, Castlebrook's pre-construction manager.

It will be offering studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units for rent.

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Loft apartments set for Penn Ave.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Wednesday, June 1, 2011
By Mark Belko 

Pittsburgh is in the midst of an apartment boomlet.

A New York developer won approval from the city planning commission Tuesday to convert two Penn Avenue buildings into a 29-unit apartment complex.

The proposal comes just as work is starting on a $45 million project to convert the former State Office Building at Liberty Avenue and Commonwealth Place into 218 apartments. About a block away, on Stanwix Street, Philadelphia-based PMC Property Group is putting 158 apartments in the former Verizon Building.

Foris Property Group plans to start work in August transforming 10-story and eight-story buildings at 711 and 713 Penn, near the Benedum Center, into a single complex.

The renovated building will house 29 apartments, including four top-floor penthouses. The units will range in size from 700 to 1,500 square feet. The penthouses will be as large as 2,400 square feet.

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Downtown Pittsburgh offers plenty of condos, but apartments prove more popular Read more: Downtown Pittsburgh offers plenty of condos, but apartments prove more popular

Pittsburgh Business Times - May 13, 2011
By Tim Schooley

With new restaurants in the Cultural District, a revitalized Market Square and office space going fast, one thing doesn't appear to be selling quickly in Downtown Pittsburgh: condos.

Plenty are still available at properties such as the The Encore on 7th, the new Three PNC Plaza building and Gateway Towers, even as apartment properties Downtown boast waiting lists and rent levels unheard of not much more than 10 years ago.

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Rehab Planned for Penn Ave. Building

Pittsburgh Business Times - May 13, 2011
By Tim Schooley

Todd Palcic and his Penn Renaissance LP are quickly jumping into a second residential redevelopment project Downtown.

As it pushes forward to finish a six-unit residential conversion in the 800 block of Penn Avenue call L'Enfant Lofts, Penn Renaissance closed last week on its acquisition of 524 Penn Ave., a neglected eight-story building that had been forced into foreclosure.

Palcic said Penn Renaissance closed on the 24,000-square-foot building last week for $500,000.

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