Developer Walnut Capital is proposing the construction of a 426-unit apartment building and grocery at the former Quality Inn site in Oakland to kick off a controversial redevelopment.
The project represents the first phase of a broader Oakland Crossings plan that involves 13 acres along Halket Street, the Boulevard of the Allies, and the historic Isaly’s site on the boulevard.
Walnut Capital is moving ahead with the first phase three months after the Pittsburgh Planning Commission recommended a revised zoning proposal to City Council negotiated by Mayor Ed Gainey and the developer.
The proposed 12-story apartment complex and grocery will cover the entire Quality Inn site and extend about halfway up Halket to Louisa Street.
It will include a 438-space parking garage, 8,000 square feet of retail, and a 33,000-square-foot full-service grocery, an amenity Oakland residents have sought for some time.
Of the 426 apartments — a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom units — 10% will be affordable to households at or below 50% of the area median income for at least years 35 years under the agreement reached between Mr. Gainey and Walnut Capital.
Todd Reidbord, Walnut Capital president, said the building, being developed in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh, is designed “for people who want to live and work in Oakland,” not the transient student population.
“What Oakland needs is density. We need a more diverse population of all income levels, all types of jobs. Right now, it’s dominated so much by students that it’s not really a thriving community,” he said.
With bonus points, Walnut Capital can build as high as 185 feet along Halket south of Louisa under the new zoning, which will go before City Council for approval next week.
Mr. Reidbord said the new building will be “well within the ordinance” in terms of height and won’t be “substantially” taller than the former Quality Inn. But the overall footprint will be much larger because it extends up Halket.
In recommending the zoning change to council, the planning commission asked members to take a closer look at the heights on Halket and at the Isaly’s site in response to concerns from residents in that section of the neighborhood.
Elena Zaitsoff, vice president of the Oakcliffe Community Organization, has said that the proposed heights aren’t compatible with the current zoning and “will wall in the neighborhood.”
She could not be reached for comment Monday.
However, Mr. Reidbord said he believes the new apartment building has the “type of scale that’s appropriate” for that section of Oakland.
“We think this is where it is appropriate to have height and scale,” he said. “We feel this is a landmark building” that will serve as a beacon for the neighborhood.
The development, Mr. Reidbord said, also includes public realm improvements like wider sidewalks along Halket, where Walnut Capital has agreements to buy many of the houses, and the creation of a parklet at the corner of Halket and Louisa.
“With this development, it will create significant improvements for the public,” he said.
The project will be the subject of a development activities meeting that will take place on June 23 before the Oakland Planning and Development Corp.
Walnut Capital will have to go before the planning commission to get approval for the proposal.
If all goes according to plan, the developer would like to start construction by year’s end or early next year, Mr. Reidbord said. He estimated the project would take three years to complete.
The proposed zoning, which would create a new urban center mixed-use zoning classification, resulted from the controversy over Walnut Capital’s initial plan, which was advanced by former Mayor Bill Peduto, and stretched over 18 acres in Central and South Oakland.
The scaled-down version worked out between the developer and Mr. Gainey, eliminated McKee Place, Louisa, and Zulema Park from the plan and did away with a proposal to add a new subdistrict to the five existing public realm districts in Oakland.
Mr. Reidbord said as many as 2,000 apartments could conceivably be developed in future phases, although he hesitated to commit to any number at this point.
“It’s hard to tell how many there will be in the future. We’re going to learn from this and what the market demands are,” he said.
At one time, the developer had proposed half a dozen apartment buildings in Central and South Oakland but that was before reaching the deal with the mayor on the scaled-down plan.
What happens at the Isaly’s site, Mr. Reidbord noted, partially depends on the desires of UPMC, which owns the property. Walnut Capital has been considering an apartment building on part of the site.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: June 14, 2022, 12:21 a.m.