For nearly a decade, Heinz Lofts, the conversion of the old Heinz food processing plant on the North Side into a 287-unit upscale apartment complex, has served as perhaps the signature project for the Ferchill Group in Pittsburgh.

Now the Cleveland developer is back with plans to expand the development by more than 50 percent.

Ferchill is looking to add another 158 units in an adjacent building it purchased from the Buncher Co. for about $1.3 million last year. It would be the first expansion of the complex since it opened in 2005.

“We wanted to do this building for a while,” said Melissa Ferchill, CEO of MCM Company Inc., co-developer with the Ferchill Group. “Part of it was trying to figure out how to make it work and then we needed to acquire it, too.”

The long red brick building known as the service building still bears the Heinz name above its main entrance. For years, the giant ketchup bottle now at the Heinz History Center was mounted on one side. Currently vacant, the structure at one time contained testing labs, offices and an auditorium.

Ms. Ferchill said the building will be gutted and rehabbed as part of the $35 million project. When finished, it will feature a mix of micro (one-bedroom apartments with less than 500 square feet of space) and one- and two-bedroom units.

All of the apartments will have high ceilings, lots of windows and high-end cabinets, finishes and fixtures.

Despite all of the residential construction in and near Downtown in recent years, Ms. Ferchill still sees a strong market for the type of product Ferchill is developing.

“We still think there’s an opportunity in Pittsburgh. The units that we’ll be offering will be different than anything else we have at Heinz. So it will be another product to add to the Heinz complex,” she said.

Heinz Lofts, which is 96 percent occupied, consists of five historic buildings dating from 1912 and 1913 that once stored commodities like meat, beans and cereal. Ferchill purchased the buildings, four of which are used for apartments and one for parking, in 2001.

The Cleveland firm also has developed two office buildings — Bridgeside Point I and Bridgeside Point II — at Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland and Building 4 for Westinghouse Electric Co. in Cranberry.

Ferchill was an unsuccessful bidder to redevelop the Strip District produce terminal.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

First Published: November 7, 2014, 5:00 a.m.