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Lofts planned at old YMCA
A partnership headed by Mark Meiser, owner of Meiz Development Co. in Denver, recently entered an agreement to purchase the five-story former YMCA building at 120 S. Whitfield St. and a neighboring two-story structure on Penn Avenue that once housed a truck dealership.
Meiser and a partner, Denver businessman Michael Zeitlin, have hired Semple Brown Design P.C., (SBDesign), a national architecture and design firm with offices in Pittsburgh and Denver, to design the still-unnamed project.
The development, which could cost between $15 million and $20 million based on preliminary estimates, is envisioned as part of a wider development plan for a four-block area surrounding the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, dubbed East Liberty Town Square.
"We are thrilled to be able to work with Mark here in Pittsburgh," said Andrew Moss, SBDesign vice president. "We're even more pleased that our collaboration will help advance East Liberty's revitalization."
Moss' company, based in East Liberty, last year completed a master plan for the Town Square area, working at the request of East Liberty Development Inc., a community organization.
"I couldn't be happier they are getting involved in this project," said Rob Stephany, director of real estate development for East Liberty Development. "They have done excellent work in regard to the compassionate reuse of excellent buildings and turning them into housing that really complements neighborhoods."
The former YMCA is a historically significant, 50,000-square-foot building, Meiser said.
It currently houses the Renaissance Academy of Pittsburgh Alternative of Hope, a charter school, which has lease options extending until 2008. However, Meiser said he hopes the school will be able to find a new home before that time so the project can move forward sooner.
The second building currently is partially occupied by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and several retail/commercial tenants. UPMC will be asked to remain a tenant, as may some of the retailers.
Plans call for the first two levels of the Y building to be dedicated to retail or community uses, with the upper three floors, and a new sixth floor to be added, providing space for 30 to 35 loft condo units.
Meiser also hopes to add a third-floor penthouse to the Penn Avenue building to house 10 additional residential units. If UPMC decides to move its offices, another 10 units would be added in that space.
Also planned are 60 to 80 spaces of underground parking, with access to the two buildings linked underneath a private alley that runs between them.
Meiser's project is yet another sign of the ongoing resurgence of East Liberty, which started with the opening of such stores as the Home Depot and Whole Foods Market in the neighborhood, according to Stephany.
It now includes the East Liberty Town Square plan, which he describes as a "public realm district" to ring the East Liberty Presbyterian Church on South Highland with a mix of housing, a community theater, an updated public library and other uses.
"It's already starting to fill in," he said, noting a plan by Terminus Real Estate, of Knoxville, Tenn., to convert the 13-story, century-old Highland Building on South Highland Avenue into 84 condominiums and to build a seven-story, 150-room hotel adjacent to it.
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