New planning commission presentation. Five new items this week, but relatively small ones.
1. Historic nomination of 111-A Woodland Road - the Abrams House - in Squirrel Hill. This house is architecturally significant because it was designed by Robert Venturi.
It is currently under threat of demolition, with this nomination a last-ditch effort to save the structure. The house is on the rear of a parcel shared by another home, and the owners wish to demolish the Venturi house to expand their backyard. The home warrants preservation, but I'm not sure if it might be too recent (from the early 1980s) to fall under historic preservation guidelines.
2. Historic nomination for the Westinghouse Memorial in Schenley Park. Not as much to say here, because the memorial is in no danger. There's a bevy of historic detail attached however.
3. A plan to expand the LNC-zoned portion of Larimer to include significant amounts of parcels along Winslow Street now zoned R1-A. This is related to the new phase of Larimer construction which will also involve conversion of the old Larimer School into apartments. By zoning LNC multifamily will be allowed by right. I'm not sure why they didn't just zone it for multifamily, but this is better because it allows for greater future flexibility. It looks like the plan will involve two phases. Phase 1 will be all new construction and involve a 37-unit apartment building and 5 townhouses. Unfortunately, it looks like it will involve Larimer losing
some of the last historic commercial buildings (though two new commercial space will be added). Phase 2 will involve the already known conversion of the school into 35 apartments, plus another 3 townhouses and 4 "garden apartments." The former auditorium of the school will also be converted into some sort of "public amenity."
4. New sign permit for Heinz Hall, replacing the six existing poster cases with digital displays.
5. A partial conversion of
625 Stanwix Street. Currently above the garage but below the tower there are two "long floors" of offices. The property owner wants to convert these into residential like the upper floors which will add 48 additional residential units to downtown. From the outside there will be little change save swapping out some windows on the lower floor.