The Squirrel Hill Theater on Forward Avenue stood vacant for ten years. A defunct steam plant next door was destabilizing the street. Seeing significant potential in a city block in a transit-accessible location, ACTION-Housing, Inc. tackled the challenging logistics of this site in order to create a mixed-use development that includes both affordable housing and commercial space in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. Despite many difficult and unique challenges in the predevelopment stages, Flats on Forward has moved forward to the construction stage.
RHLS Staff Attorney, Brandon McFarlane, and now Executive Director, Dina Schlossberg, provided legal assistance to navigate some unique and complex challenges unique to Flats on Forward. Ownership of the steam plant was undetermined, ACTION-Housing had to acquire funding to stabilize the street as well as do environmental abatement on the building. The project itself was so large, it had to be handled using several smaller contracts to include the demolition and the administrative construction issues relating to an easement.
The proposed design will include ground-level retail and 43 affordable homes across three floors, with 10,000 sq. ft. of office space on the two top floors. The affordable homes will be rented with a preference for people with disabilities. The new building will be within a half-mile of Pittsburgh’s commercial districts, as well as to parks, schools, and grocery stores. It is on many major transit lines that go to downtown and nearby Oakland. This project will be complete the redevelopment of the commercial corridor on an entire city block.
Both removing the abandoned buildings and filling in the Vault steam plant will allow the community to make use of valuable space. The significant infrastructure work inherent to this project required significant and complex funding sources. Additional members of the project team included the architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, PJ Dick, Iams Consulting, Morris Knowles, developer John Katz of the Brandywine Agency as well as state and local government agencies.
Flast on Forward is also one of the final projects that RHLS Staff Attorney Brandon McFarlane will provide services on in his position at RHLS. We wish Brandon all the best in his next endeavors and appreciate his commitment to bringing affordable, healthy homes to all Pennsylvanians.