You Can’t Build That Here - Park View Three

For our ninth entry in our “You Can’t Build That Here!” series, we walk a few blocks west, past the Northeast Fountain and baseball field of Allegheny Commons Park to Allegheny Center.

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 7 N Commons, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 - an 11 story apartment building built in the 1960s called “Park View Three” as part of an urban renewal project that also saw the construction of three other apartment buildings (Park View One, Two, and Four; all basically identical - this blogpost equally applies to all of them), an indoor shopping mall, three office buildings, and two parking garages. Most of this was designed by local architecture firm Deeter Rippey Sippel.  Lost, however, was the historic 36 block Allegheny Center - originally laid out by John Redick in 1783.

Park View Three is 11 stories tall, approximately 190,000 square feet, and has ~210 units, including studios, 1 bedrooms, and 2 bedrooms, ranging in rent from $885 a month (lowest price for a 415 square foot studio) to $2665 a month (highest price for 1330 square foot 2 bd/2ba unit).  It’s worth noting that these rents are significantly higher than they were a few years ago, when a 2 bed/1 bath could be found on Pitt’s off campus housing website for $1270 a month.

History of Allegheny Center

Allegheny Center was planned out in 1783 by founder John Redick as 36 blocks of land on an ample grid pattern, surrounded by common park, with the center set aside for public purposes - the Pennsylvania legislature initially intended for Allegheny City to be the county seat of Allegheny.  In 1907, Allegheny City was merged into Pittsburgh.

We can see from this map from 1923 of the location of Park View Three the dense urban fabric of Allegheny Center at the time.

As the mid-20th century flight from the city emptied out neighborhoods, Allegheny Center started to struggle. The Boggs & Buhl Department store, once considered the finest in the country, began losing money starting in 1931 and closed in 1958  By the 1950s, the Allegheny Center was targeted for urban renewal.

Stil, the community was vibrant. As recounted by late Steelers owner Dan Rooney in his 2014 book on Allegheny Center:

“The 1960 Pittsburgh directory shows that the 36 city blocks around the historic Allegheny Diamond included approximately 15 churches, eight barbershops, seven pharmacies, two print shops, six hotels, two dry cleaners, two bookstores, five furniture stores, two automobile dealerships, 11 beauty shops, four jewelers, five cigar stores, and 22 restaurants, among scores of other buildings.”

This aerial photo overlooking the site from the North in 1953 gives a sense of that urban fabric.

In the 1960s, most of those blocks were seized by eminent domain, and ALCOA Properties began redeveloping.

In this photo from the late 60s, we can see the new shopping mall and Park View One and Park View Two completed. Park View Three will eventually be built behind the Carnegie Library, in the center left of the photograph.

The urban renewal project was neither a colossal failure nor a glorious success. The mall eventually failed, but was purchased by Faros Properties (along with the Park View Apartments), and the former mall has now been turned into a tech campus called Nova Place.

It's now a walkable neighborhood, with restaurants, parks, nearby schools, and a short walk to the stadiums and downtown.

Zoning

The lot Park View Three sits on, 23-R-30, is 2 acres or roughly 87,000 square feet, and is zoned UNC  (Urban Neighborhood Commercial) - one of the city’s most permissive zoning designations.

So - the obvious question - here is a relatively modern building, built on a site specifically cleared just for its construction, in the midst of an extremely walkable neighborhood  - could it be built today under the current zoning code?

Or could an identical building be built on the giant parking lot next door to it that has the same zoning, in a neighborhood where rents are currently skyrocketing?

Because this blog series is called “You Can’t Build That Here!”, the answer is “Of course not!”

Park View Three is 11 stories (or approximately 110 feet) tall. UNC limits heights to 3 stories (not to exceed 45 feet), unless within 1,500 feet of a “Major transit facility” (which it’s not, see map below), in which case it can be 4 stories (not to exceed 60 feet), or if a Special Exception is granted, when it can be 8 stories (not to exceed 85 feet). 

From the zoning overlay for the 1500’ buffer around Mass Transit Facilities. Notice that most of Allegheny Center, including Park View Three, lies outside it.

Further, the Floor Area Ratio is limited to 3:1 or 4:1 within 1,500 feet of a Major transit facility. While the 190,000 square foot Park View Three on its 87,000 square foot lot meets that limit, if we took the 42,000 square foot parking lot next door and tried to build an identical building on it, we would fail.

Finally, parking minimums require 1 spot for every unit.  Right now, with some 110,000 square feet dedicated to parking, and with a parking garage occupying the entire first floor of the 17,000 square foot footprint of Park View Three, it barely meets that requirement. (By my count, I could have missed a few spots, there were approximately 230 spots for a 210 unit building).  If you took away half of those spots and built another 210 unit building, you’d be left with 115 spots for 420 units - nowhere near enough to satisfy the zoning code.

“Now wait!” you might say, “I’ve walked around Allegheny Center when I went to the Aviary - there’s so much parking - too much parking. It feels empty and devoid of people!” You would be completely right. It is a remarkably dead, empty space. We could build so much more housing there - and shops, and cafes - rebuild the dense, lively neighorbhood that used to be there prior to urban renewal.

But our city’s absurd combination of zoning restrictions and parking minimums means that even in a location with sky-high rents, and a “Walker’s Paradise” by Zillow’s rating, we can’t build more housing.

Once again, the city looks at a place that’s just begging to have more housing built, and sneers at us all:

“You can’t build that here!”

By Jack Billings with contributions by Connor Dickey.