With redevelopment of the produce terminal in the Strip District finally off his plate, Mayor Bill Peduto is primed for more development -— from construction at the former Civic Arena site, to housing and a better experience near PNC Park, to more growth in the Strip District and beyond.
In a wide-ranging interview this month, Mr. Peduto also talked about sprucing up storefronts and bringing more retail to Smithfield Street, Downtown, and even trying to coax the owner of Warner Centre to bring back a movie theater to complement the new Pittsburgh Playhouse on Forbes Avenue.
After expressing some frustration in the past about the lack of redevelopment at the 28-acre former arena site in the lower Hill District, Mr. Peduto is confident that this is the year ground will be broken there.
He said construction would start by October on a first phase that would include not only housing but at least some commercial development.
Exactly what that will be has not been determined, although the Penguins, who hold the development rights, have looked at everything from restaurants to a music venue in the past.
Development there has been stalled since U.S. Steel backed out of a deal to build a new office headquarters in 2015. The Penguins have been working with Intergen Real Estate Group to construct the first 250 units of housing near Crawford Square.
Kevin Acklin, Mr. Peduto’s former chief of staff, joined the Penguins as senior vice president and general counsel last fall and is overseeing the arena redevelopment. He also helped to craft a community agreement with Hill leaders relating to the site.
“Making this development happen in the way that the Hill District has advised has proven difficult but not impossible. Having Kevin Acklin with the Penguins now has expedited the process to meet the goals, which is why I feel an announcement is imminent,” Mr. Peduto said.
The Penguins declined comment.
The Strip
Getting the arena project going has become a top priority for Mr. Peduto now that he has cleared another big headache from his agenda — the long-awaited makeover of the Strip’s iconic produce terminal.
That redevelopment has preoccupied the mayor literally since the first day he took office in 2014.
The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority board finally gave Chicago-based McCaffery Interests the go-ahead earlier this month to start construction on a $49.5 million project that includes a “food-centric” market, offices, restaurants, and other retail. Work is expected to start in March.
But that rehab is only part of Mr. Peduto’s development agenda for the Strip.
Seeking to take advantage of one of the hottest markets in the Pittsburgh region, he also would like to see the city’s old tow pound site, the city garage, and environmental services facilities on Railroad Street between 29th and 31st streets offered up for redevelopment.
“All of these parcels are adjacent and we would like to build out an area to see continued growth of housing and office space for a growing tech community,” Mr. Peduto said.
To accommodate that, the city is considering a plan to move public works operations to a city-owned tract on 62nd Street in Lawrenceville.
In the past, city Councilwoman Deborah Gross, who represents the Strip, has expressed concern about the rapid pace of development and selling the city-owned real estate.
“We will continue to work with her,” Mr. Peduto said. “However, we also have a growing economy that is being built out in the Strip and in Lawrenceville that is looking for additional space in that area.”
Ms. Gross has her own ideas. There may be opportunities to use those parcels to provide city amenities like community centers or parks rather than turning them over to private interests, she said.
“I have no doubt that a tech company or apartment builder would want those parcels,” she said. “I’m not convinced that another tech company or another office building is what the Strip needs on the publicly owned property.”
Ms. Gross favors a community process to determine the best use of the sites. “The right question is what is the public need in the Strip District?” she said.
The North Side
The mayor said he also has been talking to Buncher — in the midst of its $450 million Riverfront Landing office and residential project on the Allegheny riverfront in the Strip — about redeveloping property it owns near the former H.J. Heinz plant on the North Side.
Mr. Peduto sees those parcels as a potential gateway to extending the Strip across the river into parts of the North Side like Spring Garden.
“You can see the first signs of the early entrepreneurs like Wigle Whiskey that have moved into the neighborhood,” he said. “A lot of investment is being made by entrepreneurs and homeowners and I definitely see that connecting directly into the Strip.”
Tom Balestrieri, Buncher president and CEO, could not be reached for comment.
On the North Shore near PNC Park, Mr. Peduto’s focus is on housing — and home plate.
He has pushed Continental Real Estate Companies, which is developing the land between the ballpark and Heinz Field for the Steelers and the Pirates, to add condominiums to a proposed project adjacent to the Hyatt Place Hotel that also could include offices and retail.
But the mayor doesn’t want to stop with that. He said he has been talking to the developer and the Pirates about making the area around the PNC Park home plate entrance “an experience.”
“Right now, home plate is just a parking lot and it’s very barren, almost desolate,” he said.
A Pirates spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Barry Ford, Continental’s president of development in Pittsburgh, said his company is working on a “very exciting plan” for the site.
“We believe there is a great opportunity to create something special at the home-plate entrance to PNC Park and are anxious to get started,” he said.
Mr. Peduto said he has made it clear to Continental that he wants to see housing on one other small lot, now used for parking, still to be developed behind the North Shore Place I and II complex, which includes Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offices.
“Right now, you’re starting to see people come to the North Shore seven days a week, walking the avenue with the different restaurants,” he said. “Our goal is to extend that area, extend that experience, create a front door to PNC Park, add additional parking, create housing, and really enliven that part of the North Shore.”
Mr. Ford said he hopes soon to have a plan ready for the site, owned by the city’s Stadium Authority.
A grand boulevard Downtown
When Mr. Peduto first took office, he envisioned making the 11-block stretch of Smithfield Street, Downtown, a grand boulevard of Pittsburgh.
While much development has occurred, particularly around Mellon Square, Mr. Peduto said that vision has been slowed by repeated delays in the redevelopment of the former Kaufmann’s/Macy’s department store, which is being converted into apartment, hotel, and retail space.
Philadelphia developer Core Realty purchased the Downtown landmark for $15 million in 2015.
“Everything that could come up has come up,” Mr. Peduto said. “We’ve had flooding and fires, workforce leaving the site, conflicts with labor, delays in opening the first business. I just want to see the project done.”
There are signs that it is moving in that direction. The 160-room Even Hotel is expected to open in the spring. Mr. Peduto sees the project as the linchpin of efforts to connect Market Square to Mellon Square to the former Civic Arena site and into the Hill.
Beyond that, Mr. Peduto would like to bring new vibrancy to the city-owned retail spaces on east side of Smithfield directly below Mellon Square.
He believes they would be a great spot for the expansion of a business like Zeke’s Coffee or the return of Conflict Kitchen — or even to bring back old Kaufmann’s icons the Tic Toc restaurant and Arcade Bakery. The city holds the rights to both of those names.
In keeping with his vision for Smithfield, Mr. Peduto also would like to see more interactive experiences, such as those in the Apple stores, and more local or regional retailers in the corridor.
“Our goal is to provide that type of excitement while at the same time not allowing Downtown to become Anywhere USA. We want to find local flavor to spice it up in a Pittsburgh way and looking for Pittsburgh businesses.”
Over the next few years, Mr. Peduto is hoping to secure a state redevelopment assistance capital grant to spruce up facades along Smithfield.
He has reached out to the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, which has restored facades on Wood and Market streets and Fifth Avenue.
“The benefit of what PHLF did was they didn’t only improve the facades of the buildings, they put businesses inside of them and we would want to be able to partner with them to see that happen again,” he said.
Arthur Ziegler, PHLF president, said he is eager to get started.
“It worked very well at Forbes Fifth,” he said referring to that corridor, “and it would be a big boost on Smithfield. We would be looking at the entire street.”
And in what may be his biggest reach, Mr. Peduto would love to see a movie theater return to Warner Centre, which has entrances on both Fifth and Forbes, 36 years after the last one closed. He sees it complementing the new Playhouse across Forbes and helping to make Downtown an 18-hour destination.
“If you look at everything that’s happening around it, you can see the potential for a top-end attraction is present today,” he said.
Mr. Peduto said he has not reached out to the owner, New York-based J. J. Operating Corp. “I’ve talked to other developers about talking to them but as of yet nobody has decided to bite on that hook.”
A representative for J. J. Operating declined comment.
As far as other development-related activities:
• He expects all 660 acres of the Hays Woods park to remain just that, pending a task force’s recommendation. He does not believe a small portion of the site will be used for residential, as the city originally had envisioned. “At this point, it’s not certain that it would generate enough revenue to pursue it.”
• The Parking Authority’s Ninth Street and Penn Avenue garage will be demolished and a new one built while talks continue over a broader development at the location. The authority, Mr. Peduto said, is still working with The Davis Companies of Boston, Oxford Development Co., and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust about the potential for offices and residential.
• The city at one point had talked to the foundations and Kimbal Musk, owner of The Kitchen, a trendy restaurant chain that emphasizes community and locally sourced ingredients, about creating a “food centric farm-to-table employment center” at the produce terminal but couldn’t pull together the financing to make it work.
• The mayor wants to maintain the character of the Strip in light of all of the development taking place there. How? “First off, you don’t do a thing different on Penn. You let Penn be Penn in all of its eclectic, sometimes crazy beauty. Second is you follow up and provide a slightly different characteristic to Smallman [Street] that is respectful of Penn and then you provide better opportunities for mobility along the riverfront and along Liberty [Avenue].”
• Getting the proposed ice rink development done at Shadyside’s Hunt Armory is a must. “It is a travesty we don’t have an indoor sheet of ice for kids to play in the city and we believe that if the Hunt Armory were used, we could extend the experience of hockey for kids from Homewood to Beechview.
“It is my goal not only to get that rink built but in my retirement to become the assistant hockey coach for Westinghouse. I’m very serious about this.”
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: February 24, 2019, 4:50 a.m.
