Developers of the Garden Theater block in Central Northside have asked the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a special exception for off-site parking.
Trek Development Group and Q Development are partners in proposing new construction and the rehabs of two existing buildings in the block at Federal Street and North Avenue.
Attorney Kevin McKeegan, representing them, told the board Thursday that 100 parking spaces had been negotiated for the block’s tenants in a garage across an alley behind the site. The garage serves patients and clients of Federal Street North, an office building of the Allegheny Health Network.
Of 500 parking spaces, 350 are set aside for visitors to that building.
William Gatti, CEO and president of Trek, said he worked out a lease of 62 spaces for Garden block residents, with the right to increase the number to 100. Any tenant of the new development — residents and employees of ground floor businesses — could use those 100 spaces, he said. The lease is included in rents to assure that tenants use the garage instead of parking on the street.
Redevelopment of the Garden Theater block has been fraught with delays and setbacks for more than a decade. The Urban Redevelopment Authority bought the theater in 2007 after years of legal wrangling.
The theater was recently built out for a restaurant. Earlier this year, three adjacent buildings were razed to make room for a five-story building beside the former theater. The new building would house 47 apartments and street retail.
Two existing buildings on Federal would accommodate nine apartments and storefront retail.
A protest appeal was made for a continuance before the hearing started.
Attorney Weston Pesillo filed the appeal on behalf of his client, Stephen Pascal, challenging the zoning administrator’s review of the site plan, claiming that a five-story height would need a variance. Mr. Pascal co-owns a property on nearby Boyle Street.
“None of the details except parking are relevant to today’s hearing,” Mr. McKeegan told Mr. Pesillo.
The board chairwoman, Alice Mitinger, accepted the protest document without entering it into evidence. Planning and zoning bodies have yet to consider the particulars of the redevelopment proposal.
Four years ago, Mr. Paschal appealed a zoning board approval of a variance for an eight-story building, which is higher than the code allows. The case was appealed to Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, which upheld Mr. Paschal’s position.
Trek and Q revised their plan to five stories instead.
The zoning board’s decision on the special exception for off-street parking is expected in 30 to 45 days.
First Published: November 24, 2019, 10:45 p.m.