A developer is scaling back a proposed apartment development at 525 S. Aiken Ave. in Shadyside after being rebuffed by the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment earlier this year.
Mozart Management is proposing to reduce the number of above-ground floors from 12 to 10 and to cut the overall height of the building from 132 feet to 108 feet.
It also is planning to decrease the number of apartments from 131 to 117.
Mozart and partner Camp Eight Capital presented the revised plan last week during a Shadyside Action Coalition meeting, where it received support from about a dozen people who spoke.
The new proposal is being advanced after the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment in August rejected a slew of variances and special exceptions related to height, setbacks and parking requested by the developer.
In denying the relief, the zoning board cited residential compatibility standards under which the height of new construction can be restricted depending on the building’s proximity to nearby properties.
At the time, about a dozen people testified against the 131-unit plan, arguing that it was not in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood and would set a bad precedent for future development.
Mozart and Camp Eight Capital are hoping the revised proposal will mollify such concerns.
During the Shadyside Action Coalition meeting, David Gefsky, Camp Eight founder, said that the scaled-back structure will be the same size as the Arlington apartment building next to it and several others in the vicinity.
“The building in our initial proposal was simply too high,” he said.
In addition to removing two of the above-ground floors, Mozart and Camp Eight also have eliminated one floor of parking and cut the number of parking spaces from 101 to 82.
“The result is a significantly smaller building by volume and lower by the height of 25 feet,” Gefsky said.
As part of the plan, the development team is setting aside 10% of the units for households earning 80% of the area median income, or about $67,850 for a family of four.
In deciding to revamp the proposal rather than to drop it altogether, Gefsky said what the developers “heard was an overarching concern about the state of housing in Pittsburgh and the desire for us to continue to move forward with a plan for this site.”
Some of those who spoke at the Shadyside Action Coalition meeting cited the need for more affordable housing and more housing in general as the reasons for their support.
One was David Vatz, chapter lead of Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that pushes for abundant and affordable housing in the region.
“Pittsburgh desperately needs more housing for current and future residents. For decades we have not built enough housing to support residents,” he said. “The result of this is predictable — rising rents, rundown old buildings and minimal incentives for landlords to improve.”
Likewise, Nicholas Smyth, a Shadyside resident, backed the revised proposal.
“We need more housing here. It’s too expensive. The rents are too high,” he said.
But Janine McVay, a Shadyside resident who opposed the project earlier this year, wasn’t impressed with the revisions.
She said the building will still tower over adjacent residential areas on Claybourne and South Graham streets. She also questioned how much impact the affordable component would have.
“It’s 11 units. I’m not sure how 11 units is going to make a dent in it,” she said. “They’re still asking for a significant reduction in the unit size with variances. The parking is still problematic.”
The proposed new rents will start at roughly $1,500 for a studio apartment, $1,700 for a one-bedroom and in the “high $2,000s” for a two-bedroom, Gefsky said.
Affordable units, at 80% of the area median income, will start at $1,100 for one person.
Mozart and Camp Eight are set to go before the zoning board again Nov. 17 for two dimensional variances and two special exceptions mostly related to height and unit size. The relief is needed to move ahead with the project.
