A fire-damaged three-story apartment building with balconies caught Adin Hamilton’s eye when he moved to the North Side’s Mexican War Streets in 2008.
He saved up to buy it, and in 2011, when the building was on the city’s demolition list, he called the real estate department. In taking the first steps to save it, he entered a world of sleepless nights, panic and setbacks that almost overwhelmed four years of his life.
Today, Mr. Hamilton lives on the third floor of his building on North Taylor Avenue, enjoying his rooftop deck with friends and the rent of tenants who are making his investment possible.
With Pittsburgh’s star on the rise, more people are taking their first plunge into the pool of developers, scooping into savings and going for loans. But the devil is in details that can require multiple trips to the zoning office, multiple inspections, delays that cause permits to expire and contractors to walk, hearings, design do-overs, lots of waiting, and lots of fees.
Mr. Hamilton is one of several first-time developers who today share details of their adventures and advice for those who may want to follow them into the weeds.
They all say it was worth it, for their investment and for the neighborhood.
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Paul Fireman, president of Fireman Creative, a marketing and Web design firm, fell in love with Engine House No. 16 in North Point Breeze five years ago. It had been vacant for 15.
How cool, he thought: An old firehouse as Fireman Creative’s new studio. It was built at the corner of Penn and Lang avenues in 1889.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority bought it in 2010 and sold it to Mr. Fireman in June for $20,000. What may seem like a bargain for a beautiful historic building was a price critical to Mr. Fireman’s success, said Kyra Straussman, the URA’s director of real estate.
“A buyer has to overinvest in a property like that to get it up to code,” she said.
In fact, Mr. Fireman is putting $800,000 into a building appraised for less than $500,000. Getting the financing to work was his biggest headache, he said, but he finally got a Small Business Administration loan and put down 10 percent.
Mr. Fireman overcame resistance from a few residents over zoning variances, including parking, for which he worked a deal with a church across the street.
“After the zoning hearing, you wait. It seemed like forever,” he said. “Zoning was a huge frustration. I was about to quit at one point, but was encouraged to stick with it. I did because I knew I was doing something good.
“I want to make this building beautiful and show everyone what a beneficial use it will have.”
After a mammoth gutting of more than 7,000 square feet, his crews have finally begun the build-out. Mr. Fireman wants to move his staff in by December and will look for a compatible commercial tenant for the first floor.
He gives the URA high marks for its helpfulness, including a crucial facade grant. But his advice to first-timers is not to start with a URA-owned project. Its two-page checklist imposes a process of financing updates, meetings, compliance measures and review that force both deadlines and delays that test one’s mettle, he said.
Ms. Straussman acknowledged the process can be onerous, “but that level of oversight is what the URA is bound by state law to do, to ensure a developer does what he says he’s going to do.”
Zoning, permits and inspections are in place for good reasons, too, she said, but with “a lot of hiccups” for the uninitiated.
An experienced project manager is a must, she said, even if the URA is not in the picture: “Every building is a business, and there are many moving pieces and deadlines.”
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Working with the city, Mr. Hamilton had only to prove he was current on taxes and utility bills. But it got interesting from there.
After making his deposit to be a bidder, he waited 14 months for the event. He won the building for $21,500.
Then he hit a snag. The building was divided into three lot and block numbers from a previous condo association. He consolidated the lots with the county but had to refile with the city because it had not received the record.
The back end of the century-old building had been roofless for so long it was dangerous to walk through on the first city-supervised inspection.
“That night, I didn’t sleep a wink,” he said. “I thought, ‘What have I done?’ ”
He couldn’t get a construction loan to fix the roof because of the risk the building might ultimately be uninhabitable. “But I got a contractor buddy to put on a new roof before the snow flew.”
With a full-time job, he started clearing out the interior on weekends with his brother and a friend. After they had filled two Dumpsters without making a dent, he hired a professional crew that spent almost three months working full time.
The Federal Housing Administration lent him $345,000 through its 203K program. That let him finance renovation into a single mortgage with his bank, but the bank has the right to nix the contractor, which it did.
“That was a big throw-in-the-towel moment, but a friend said, ‘Adin, see it through. Five years from now, you won’t remember this.’ ”
Neighbors recommended a contractor the bank approved and who could start immediately.
Along with five trips to zoning for redesign review, he had to pass historic review, the Mexican War Streets being a protected district. As a result, all 42 new windows had to be made of wood.
Mr. Hamilton recommends getting a good contractor early, “and spend time with him. If there’s one time to step back, it’s to do that.
“The earlier you get a design on paper, the better,” he said, “and whatever time you think it’ll take, add a year and a half. It is an endurance test, and the system seems stacked [with temptations] against doing it right.”
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City zoning administrator Corey Layman said the city is “busier than ever” with zoning cases from increased interest and is working across departments to implement online permitting.
“We strive for customer service and empathy,” he said. “We spend a lot of time walking people through.”
Many derelict buildings in Pittsburgh predate zoning and most would fail current building code standards, so people should expect some complication, he said.
“Every parcel, every building is unique and can be influenced by a number of factors,” he said. “As you gain experience, we hope it becomes easier.”
Vacant land might seem to offer the easiest path for a novice developer, but Roger and Regina Humphries of the Central North Side have had setbacks assembling empty parcels on East Jefferson and Carrington streets.
They spent years with three properties idled from a previous lender’s bankruptcy, which cost them $50,000.
The couple advise finding out whether a property has liens and hiring an attorney. They had the foresight to hire a project manager to troubleshoot the process, but it still took several years until this summer, when they closed on a lot the city had taken for taxes — $45,000 worth. The URA also approved their purchase of one of its lots for $1,500. The five lots together will accommodate six modular townhouses with a view of the Downtown skyline.
Mr. Humphries said the experience is “a long, hard game you have to be prepared to play.”
“Aggravating, yes it is,” his wife said. “My hair didn’t turn gray overnight. Breaking ground will be a dream come true.”
Diana Nelson Jones: djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626.
First Published: September 6, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
