Proposed apartment complex on vacant Irish Center Site evokes community frustration

When Pittsburgh resident Vicki Yann walks through the Frick Park trails, she said she feels the city “doesn’t exist.” 

“I would say that the park is my backyard, so I use it daily,” Yann said. “We take our dog down there and we walk through the park and we often just sit in the backyard and do bird watching. So that’s one of our favorite hobbies. If I’m not walking in the park, definitely enjoying it from my backyard.”

Yann said that the proposed apartment building that would be built on the site of the former Irish Center in Squirrel Hill on Forward Avenue, causing controversy and backlash from Pittsburgh residents, would affect the aesthetics, traffic and environment of Frick Park. 

“Our biggest concerns are one of safety for people who use that roadway to commute to and from work,” Yann said. “Our concerns are also if the building were to be built for the safety of the residents there. And we’re also concerned about the safety of our [the park] users.” 

Community organizations such as UpstreamPgh and Frick Park Friends have been vocal with their opposition of this project. The Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition (SHUC) had a more mixed view of the project.

“The Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition hosted community meetings about the proposed Irish Centre project to capture the viewpoint of the community and allowed public comments during the June SHUC Board meeting where residents spoke about the variance requests both, pro and con. The SHUC Board vote regarding the variances did support allowing the multiunit residential building in the parks district and another variance related to the height of a retaining wall. With a close vote, the Coalition board voted to oppose the variance to allow for the nearly 88-foot building height and a bigger floor area,” Maria Cohen, executive director of SHUC said in a statement.

Yann is a part of Frick Park Friends and feels the environmental concerns and concerns over variances are intertwined.

“They also want to build a retaining wall over 10 feet tall,” Yann said. “Those four zoning laws are in that area for a reason, because the land there is not very stable. We’ve had issues with landslides and the susceptible slopes there. We also have concerns about stormwater mitigation going as well as they claim to say that they’ll mitigate the stormwater because that Nine Mile Run watershed is there.”

Canadian developers Craft Development are working with local architects Indovina Associates to build an apartment complex with 162 units and various amenities within Frick Park. 

Larry Regan, Vice President of CRAFT General Pittsburgh, describes the apartment complex as ‘unique,’ but feels the community misinterprets the developer’s plans. 

“The building is 2, 4 and 6-stories with 2 levels of underground parking,” Regan said. “Not an 8-story tower as being portrayed by the community. Case in point, we are barely 3 stories above the road at Forward Ave and lower than the surrounding treetops. The building structure would essentially create a retaining wall for the steep slope, improve stormwater and we would work with the City of Pittsburgh to ensure access to Frick Park and to our residence was safe.”

According to the agenda submitted to the Pittsburgh Zoning Board, the developers are requesting four variances — to allow multi-unit residences in the parks district, a height variance, to change the allowed floor area ratio and a retaining wall greater than 10 feet. 

Yann feels that asking for variances in park zones sets a “dangerous precedent” for the future of other green spaces in the city. 

“I don’t know what the best solution is,” Yann said. “I just do know that asking for variances in a park zone would set a dangerous precedent for development in and around any parks in the city. I think that if something could go there, it just needs to meet the current zoning requirements.”

Ryan Indovina, the architect working with Craft Development, took inspiration from the unique location of Frick Park for the design of this building. 

“The design of the building is intended to relate directly to the unique location along a steep slope facing into the lower portion of Frick Park, taking advantage of the amazing sweeping views across the park valley,” Indovina said. “Rather than use the more traditional architectural expression of building like those in Summerset, the building takes cues from the exposed rock on the opposite side of the valley by utilizing light colored masonry for the majority of the façade.” 

Even though Craft development is a Canadian company, their team is based in Pittsburgh and Regan sees Pittsburgh as a market with potential for development. 

“Pittsburgh is a growing market with a strong base of employment, education, and entertainment for a ‘smaller’ city,” Regan said. “And we have worked in many cities in Canada that need a fresh look on development. We have been successful with initial development and want to bring this to Pittsburgh.”

Indovina says the proposed development is legally obligated by the City and State of Pennsylvania to retain stormwater on site in a controlled manner.

“This will be achieved with a combination of below grade stormwater control vaults and above grade green roof assemblies on the main building roofs,” Indovina said. “In both cases, this will drastically improve environmental controls and essentially create an island of stormwater control within the site that eliminates negative impact on adjacent properties and most importantly, the stream to the south.” 

Yann said she feels that Frick Park Friends has been successful with their efforts so far. 

“It’s not just Swisshelm Park and Frick Park Friends who are against this development,” Yann said. “We’re coming up on close to 2000 signatures. We don’t have a final count, but we were definitely at least 1800 signatures asking the zoning board to not grant variances.”

Yann believes it’s important to be good stewards of the land and to take a stand when they believe something is wrong.

“This is the first time I’ve done something like this,” Yann said. “And I can tell you, it’s exhausting. But I feel strongly that having developers come in from Canada to tell us how to use our properties here in the city is frustrating, and I don’t know that they really understand what Pittsburgh is about.” 

Editor’s Note: This article originally stated the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition fully opposed the proposed development project. This article has been updated to better reflect the view of the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition. The Pitt News regrets this error.