Squirrel Hill community group may rethink contentious Irish Centre development

A proposal to build housing at the Irish Centre site near Pittsburgh’s Frick Park that received immediate outrage from community groups may be getting a second chance.

Toronto-based Craft General proposed a 162-unit apartment complex in May at the former Irish Centre site in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The proposal received pushback over environmental and traffic concerns from some local groups, including a vote from the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition to not support the development.

But last week, the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition met to review additional information from Craft and the group decided to reconsider their prior vote on the development, according to a press release. A Monday special meeting will be held where the coalition’s Built Committee will reconsider its initial vote to oppose the development.

The full Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition board will then provide a letter to the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment to explain the board’s position.

The Craft development will be discussed at the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s meeting on Aug. 3.

Ryan Indovina, the project’s architect, told the coalition in a June presentation that the apartment units would be condominiums for sale, and that many of them would be pre-sold prior to construction, according to a release.

Ray Baum, a lawyer representing Craft, said the development will not start construction until a certain percentage of the condos were sold.

The coalition said that Indovina also explained that the 162 units were necessary to achieve financial feasibility and obtain financing. Indovina explained the development would likely earn a 12.5% profit, and said that is within the typical range for developments.

Baum said that he has communicated with community groups like Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition, Friends of Frick Park, and Upstream since the development was first proposed.

He said some misconceptions about the proposal have spread as local opposition has grown against the development. Groups have argued the development will worsen flooding in the area, and it will also increase traffic congestion and crashes.

Baum said the site is very expensive to develop, which will include improving stormwater runoff conditions on the site. He said road design improvements would also likely follow.

“Nothing on the site now would meet today’s standard,” said Baum. “This development would be upgrading things like stormwater infrastructure.”

He said there is no current stormwater mitigation on the Irish Centre site, and that gravel is often swept away by stormwater in the road. He said the Craft development would include green roofs, landscaping, and groundwater storage tanks to soak up stormwater.

Baum acknowledged the development would add more vehicles to the Commercial Street/Forward Avenue corridor, but said Craft has consulted with traffic engineers who said it will not add any congestion to the corridor.

Additionally, Baum said that traffic calming and pedestrian improvements will likely follow the development. He said developers have been discussing a sidewalk to connect Nine Mile Run trail across Commercial Street with city and PennDOT officials.

There have also been concerns about parking. Baum said Craft is proposing 184 parking spaces and many bike-parking spaces, which is more parking than is required by zoning.

Baum said discussing these changes is helping to change some minds about the development.

However, Vicki Yann of the Frick Park Friends community group said Baum’s additional information has not swayed the group. Frick Park Friends is still opposed to the Irish Centre development, she said.

She said Baum’s claim about traffic infrastructure improvements is speculative and there is no guarantee those plans will be approved.

The group is also skeptical that the development will improve stormwater problems in the run.

Yann said the group believes that 184 parking spaces is not sufficient and it will lead to many vehicles being parked along Commercial Street. She said deliveries and visitors will add to parking problems.

“We estimate that they need 200-220 parking spots,” she said. “Where is all the overflow parking going to go?”

Yann said since the initial meeting about the site, Frick Park Friends has only received one phone call from the developers, and the group is unmoved in its opposition.

The group doesn’t support any zoning variance on the site, she said. The site is currently zoned under parks, which allows for open space, cemeteries, and some small pockets of single family homes.

“The only way that Frick Park Friends could support any development there, would be if it adhered to the zoning ordinances that are currently in place now,” said Yann.