Pittsburgh Commercial News | Week Ending November 17th

 
 
 
Look for the convergence of a couple of different firsts at the intersection of Waterdam and Galley Roads in Peters Township in the near future.
 
On a 12-acre site there near Route 19, Cincinnati-based Al. Neyer is approved and financed to start building its first apartment project in western Pennsylvania in what will also be the first new apartment project in Peters Township in ages, long a bedroom suburban community of single use zoning comprising of single family homes.
 
Brandon Snyder, Pittsburgh market leader for Al. Neyer, said the company closed on buying the land and on the financing for the project last week and expects to begin site work on the property soon…Read More
 
Pittsburgh’s leading space company said Tuesday it plans to move some of its operations into a $20 million office building on the North Side and more than double its workforce.
 
Astrobotic, a Manchester-­based company that builds equipment to send to the moon, said it has bought a five-story building on Reedsdale Street and will expand its offices and labs there.
 
The company’s CEO, John Thornton, said Astrobotic wants to lead the growth of a potential “space district” in the area of the Allegheny light-rail station on the North Shore…Read More
 
A Cleveland-based developer pitched a plan Thursday to replace a dilapidated housing complex in Carrick with 52 apartments for seniors, with proponents saying that the project will be a catalyst for the rebirth of the neighborhood’s commercial corridor.
 
CHN Housing Partners intends to demolish the seven buildings that make up Berg Place, a vacant multiunit housing development that was condemned in 2014 and which has been plagued by fires, criminal activity and other issues.
 
In its place, CHN is proposing the three-story, 52-unit Carrick Senior Apartments on the site at 2531 Brownsville Road at a key corner in the neighborhood’s commercial corridor…Read More
 
Carnegie Mellon University is ready to push forward with its next big campus building project and it’s bigger with a bigger budget than previously anticipated.
 
This morning, the university unveiled the design for its new Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences, a project seeded with an historic $150 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation announced in 2021 and slated for a long, undeveloped site assemblage near the corner of Forbes Avenue and Craig Street.
 
According to the announcement, the new development is now expected to total 338,900 square feet and cost $252 million to build, nearly twice as large as the project originally conceived at the time of the 2021 grant announcement…Read More
 
Pittsburgh City Council gave final approval Monday to a redevelopment plan for Allegheny General Hospital, setting up the potential for three new towers on the North Side hospital’s campus.
 
The city’s Planning Commission approved the hospital’s master plan in June, and City Council held a public hearing in September. Council’s committee on land use and economic development recommended earlier this month that the full body approve the plan, which it did unanimously on Monday.
 
Allegheny Health Network officials have said that the proposal — which includes hundreds of thousands of new square footage among the three towers, a temporary helipad relocation, and modernizing the campus and consolidating services — is only a guide for what might occur in the coming years. More specific plans involving the towers would also require city approval…Read More
 
A proposal to convert a building that housed the last Downtown McDonald’s into a bank will require a special order.
 
Huntington National Bank is scheduled to go before the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment Dec. 7 to seek the variance needed to open a branch at 500 Liberty Ave.
 
For half a century, a McDonald’s filled up the site, serving Big Macs, Quarter Pounders and Egg McMuffins to Downtown workers, students and late-night denizens. It outlasted every other McDonald’s in Downtown before closing last spring after the fast-food chain decided against exercising two five-year options in its lease. Nick Nicholas, the owner of the property, then negotiated and signed a lease with Huntington to take over the space…Read More
 
 
A Toronto developer is walking away from a controversial condominium development at the Irish Centre site in Squirrel Hill, about two weeks after the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment rejected the plan.
 
Craft Development Corporation has decided against appealing the board’s ruling to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, bringing an end to its attempt to redevelop the vacant property.
 
In an Oct. 30 decision, the three-member board rejected the variances needed for the eight-story building.
 
Craft wanted to build to nearly 88 feet in a zoning district where the maximum height permitted was 40 feet. It also sought to develop in a parks district where multi-family residential is not permitted. In each case, the board said no….Read More