Pittsburgh Planning Commission OKs 6-story apartment building in Bluff with murals on facade

Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved plans for a new apartment building that will prominently display 10 large panels of artwork on its facade.

Pittsburgh-based GSX Ventures intends to construct a six-story, 211-unit apartment building, dubbed Phoenix on Forbes, on a 1.4-acre site in the city’s Bluff neighborhood. The new building will take up nearly an entire city block bounded by Forbes Avenue and Watson, Marion and Van Braam streets.

When designing the building, the goal was to create something unique that could “evolve over time,” said Bill Kolano of Pittsburgh-based Kolano Design.

The plan, he said, is to choose new artwork every five years or so to be displayed on the facade. The artwork will be printed on “museum-quality” banners, he said, which will clip “seamlessly” into frames on the building.

“The concept of the building was really grown out of the fact that many of the buildings popping up around Pittsburgh and around the country are all starting to look the same,” Kolano said, explaining that the large-scale art display on the building would make it stand out.

The commission on Tuesday included a contingency that requires the developer to get approval from the city’s Public Art and Civic Design Commission for each art installation. This comes after some commissioners last week voiced concerns about approving a development with such prominent artwork without oversight.

The development team has said they will select local artists for the banners, and they’ll gather public feedback before the art is installed.

Phoenix on Forbes is slated to include 72 valet parking spaces and 74 bicycle parking spaces, according to information presented to the Planning Commission. It will sit along the Bus Rapid Transit line for access to public transportation.

Ten percent of the apartments will be designated as affordable housing for individuals making no more than $42,180 and a family of eight earning no more than $79,560.

Affordable units will be mixed among studio, one- and two-bedroom units, according to GSX President Jon Grant. All of the apartments will be designed so they could be converted for handicap accessibility, he said.

The building also will include a 2,000-square-foot fitness center, community gathering space, office spaces for residents to use, an elevated outdoor courtyard and a pool, Grant said. Plans call for solar panels and outdoor green space on the roof, and areas for people to wash their dogs and their bikes.

A ground-floor retail space could house a food service business or small grocery store, Grant said.

Shawn Gallagher, an attorney representing the development team, touted the proximity to PPG Paints Arena, Duquesne University and UPMC Mercy Hospital.

Brittany McDonald, executive director of Uptown Partners, said the community organization supports the development. She praised its various attributes such as public art, reduction of on-street parking and alternative energy. She also said it “strategically addresses the housing needs of the Uptown neighborhood…”

Uptown Partners is collaborating with Boston-based Beacon Communities to bring an additional 51 mixed-income apartments to the neighborhood with the Standard on Fifth development, which earned Planning Commission approval last summer.

The Planning Commission also considered a proposal thatwouldbring a new Huntington National Bank location to the Stanwix Street site that formerly housed Downtown Pittsburgh’s last McDonald’s. The commission is expected to vote on that proposal at its next meeting in two weeks.