Redeveloped property holds promise for Oakland

After helping to construct the parking garage for Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Gary Wilson will tackle a new multi-million-dollar project in Oakland.

Wilson, an urban planner and realtor representing a development team working as MWK Forbes LLC, recently pulled the trigger on a proposal that began in 2009. The team will work this summer to demolish the vacated 48,000-square-foot Allegheny County Health Department building, as well as an adjacent boarded-up house on Forbes Avenue in Oakland. The team will build an apartment building and an office building in the cleared space.

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, the Allegheny County Council voted unanimously to approve the project.

The sale of the property, which will close on Feb. 28, cost Wilson and his team $4.9 million, and the team will use cash and loans to fund the project.

The total cost of the redevelopment project is expected to be “in excess of $30 million,” according to Wilson, who also said construction should begin by the end of the year.

According to Wilson, his team won the bid for the project in May 2009, but the team could not finalize the contract to start building until last year because of the bad economy.

Wilson, whose father and grandfather attended Pitt, previously worked for National Development Corporation, a real estate development business based in Pittsburgh. During his time with the National Development Corporation, Wilson did land assemblage work, which ensures the availability of energy sources for different properties. 

He did land assemblage for the construction of several buildings in Oakland, including a 50,000-square-foot office building for the Regional Industrial Development Corporation on Craft Avenue, housing facilites primarily occupied by Carnegie Mellon University students on Fifth Avenue and Neville Street and Oakland’s Hampton Inn. 

Although Wilson was not involved, the National Development Corporation was also responsible for the construction of the parking garage underneath Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum.

The bidding process was certainly a competitive one, but Wilson said his team had the winning proposal because of its experience in complicated urban land development.

“We were competitive because we’re not simply buying the property and putting just one use on it,” Wilson said. “We’re putting multiple uses on it: an apartment building and an office building.”

Wilson said he was optimistic about finding tenants for the 120,000-square-foot office building coming to Forbes Avenue across from Magee-Womens Hospital because of Oakland’s historically low vacancy rates for office space.

The 120,000-square-foot apartment building, which will include between 120 and 160 housing units and studio living spaces, will provide housing for students and long-term residents.

But according to Wilson, an apartment building wasn’t in the initial plans.

“It was supposed to be a hotel. Because of the demand we’re seeing, the demand for higher-end, newer apartments in Oakland, it seems that we’re putting the space to a more in-demand use,” Wilson said.

He is not worried about the demolition and construction process affecting Pitt students in their commutes to and from class each day.

“We’ll eventually have construction materials entering the project on Forbes, but that won’t happen until the end of 2014,” he said. “The roads are wide enough on Forbes that construction materials will be able to move in and out of the site pretty easily.”

Wilson added that the top floors of the new apartment building will have river views.

“It’ll be exciting, because there will be new places for students to live if they want,” he said.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said he believes the new apartment complex will benefit the student body.

“Any efforts to revitalize areas in Oakland can enhance Pitt students’ overall living experience,” he said in an email.

Current landlords will also have added competition with the additional housing.

“Adding new housing to the area will have the effect of putting pressure on current local landlords to maintain their properties — so this, too, should be a positive for Oakland residents,” Fedele said. 

Fedele said if Wilson’s team abides by traffic laws, the construction would not negatively affect the student body or commuters. 

“Any construction along the Forbes- or Fifth-Avenue corridors is likely to impact commuters who use those routes and adjacent routes to some extent, but the city requires developers to adhere to traffic control and truck route plans, which the city must approve,” he said.

GaryWilson’s plans, according to Wanda Wilson, director of the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation, are consistent with her organization’s long-term plans for the Oakland community.

These plans, part of the Oakland 2025 project, involve a “vision for how housing, transportation, public safety and other developments in open space can come together to make Oakland a better place,” Wanda Wilson said.

She reinforced that the project puts an increased focus on housing options for students in Oakland, as well as long-term residents.

“[Oakland 2025] suggests that there is opportunity for additional apartment units and even recommends that the additional apartment units be built in the core of the neighborhood,” WandaWilson said. “We want to see that the apartments are in the core of Oakland.”

According to Wanda Wilson, this core, or the center of the community, is close to transportation and other services, which will make life easier for the residents living there.

“It sets a focus and priority on maintaining the integrity of traditional housing on the outskirts of the community. That’s not where we want to see an apartment being developed,” she said.

Wanda Wilson said she doesn’t believe the location of the project will disturb local families, either. 

“In this case, the apartment [building] is in the core of the commercial district. It’s not disrupting traditional single-family life,” she said.

She also expressed that she expects to see more of these types of developments sprouting up around the Oakland community in the near future.

“A lot of developers are interested. It’s another reason why the neighborhood has a master plan to put forth a vision for the community,” she said. “In a proactive way, we’re putting ourselves in a good position because we already have it in place. We can have conversations with developers to see whether or not they are in line with the vision, as well.”

Wanda Wilson said the project is a great step to continue building the local economy.

“This is the diversity we like to see. More people living near the retail district and additional people from a wide variety of income levels will help spark the market for maybe some additional businesses to consider Oakland,” she said.