You Can’t Build That Here - Carson Towers
For our seventh entry in our “You Can’t Build That Here!” series, we take the incline down from Mt Washington and head down Carson Street into the South Side Flats.
Each entry in this series highlights a currently existing building that would be illegal to build under the existing zoning code. The purpose is to highlight how flawed our zoning code is.
Today, we’re looking at 2117 E Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 - the former St. Joseph’s Hospital turned into a senior living apartment building named Carson Towers.
The historical record isn’t quite clear if this building was built in 1907 or 1911.
For example, this article says the hospital was founded in 1902, the new building was constructed in 1907, and that it’s 6 stories tall. But this article says it was founded in 1904, built in 1911, and that it’s 5 stories tall. Looking at it from the street, I count 6 and a half stories, including the half basement and the attic. Certainly by 1910, St. Joseph’s Hospital existed on the city maps, but we don’t see the current footprint of the building until the next set of maps in 1923.
From the 1910 map. A St. Joseph’s Hospital exists in the current site of Carson Towers, but it’s not the same footprint as the current building. That might just be an error by the map creator, though.
From the 1923 map of Pittsburgh. Notice the trolley lines in both this map and the 1910 map - density is a prerequisite for supporting a good mass transit system.
Carson Towers is a former hospital complex. The lot it sits on is made of two parcels, 12-F-372 and 12-F-365 (you can see on the Zoning map below how that works), a total of 42,240 square feet. The initial St. Joseph’s Hospital building, the central structure that you can see in the facade today, is shown on the 1923 map as being on a lot that is 80 ft by 120 ft - 9,600 square feet, and almost completely fills the lot - no front or rear setbacks, and minimal side setbacks (though with some inner courtyard space carved out on the sides for ventilation purposes).
Zoning Map showing the location of Carson Towers.
The Zoning district is LNC (Local Neighborhood Commercial). Under the current zoning code, LNC districts limit the Floor Area ratio to a maximum of 2:1.
At the time it was built, St. Joseph’s Hospital covered nearly its entire lot, and that for 5 or 6 stories, easily surpassing a 4:1 Floor Area Ratio - more than double the current maximum.
LNC also requires a height maximum of 45 feet or 3 and a half stories. Since this building is 5 or 6 stories, it clearly exceeds that maximum as well.
Further, any building built in LNC requires a Site Plan Review, courtesy of Section 922.04.E of the Zoning Code. This is a process that adds additional friction to the construction timeline, including: a $750 fee for the Site Plan Review and a $50 fee for filing the Site Plan Review, as well as an up to 30 day delay while a staff member issues initial comments on the plan.
This site plan review also imposes vague and arbitrary aesthetic requirements on the building, as seen in subsection 922.04.E.d:
“d. Building Design
Varied building designs that avoid long, flat facades are required. Buildings must consider the project's siting, massing, proportions, scale, facade treatment and materials in relationship to the surrounding architectural context. Continuous linear strip development is discouraged except in highway locations.”
… Frankly, from that description, I have no idea whether a modern attempt to construct a building with the facade of Carson Towers (St. Joseph’s Hospital) would be acceptable or not. That uncertainty - the unknown chance that your design might be rejected for aesthetic reasons - adds another level of friction to the process. All of these frictions make it most costly to build, and thus further constrain the housing supply.
Finally, this building would also run afoul of the Residential Compability Standards found in Section 916.02.B.1 of the zoning code. Since the former St. Joseph’s Hospital/current Carson Towers is less than 50 feet away from a R1A zone (just north across Wrights Way on the zoning map above, parcel 12-F-330 is the closest R1A zoned lot to the building), the height of a new building on Carson Towers’ lot is capped at 40 feet or 3 stories.
If we want to solve the housing crisis in Pittsburgh, we need to make a number of reforms to our zoning policy. Just to build a new Carson Towers, we need to:
Abolish the Floor Area Ratio maximum in LNC
Abolish the height restriction in LNC
Abolish the current Site Plan Review system with its arbitrary aesthetic requirements.
Abolish or significantly reform Residential Compability Standards
Until we do so, we are saying to any would-be developer “You can’t build that here!”
By Jack Billings with contributions by John Akey, Chris Beam, and Clayton Manley
