City of Asylum Pittsburgh has won approval by the Zoning Board of Adjustment for its proposed cultural center, Alphabet City, on Monterey Street in the Central Northside.

The organization, which harbors threatened writers and promotes literature through readings and performances, faced a few zoning hurdles in proposing a three-story building on three vacant lots in the Mexican War Streets section of the neighborhood.

The most notable was that it provided for no off-street parking. Zoning requirements for the integrated uses -- a cafe, bookstore and two apartments -- required eight spaces.

But the board was satisfied with the results of a traffic and parking study by Trans Associates that showed sufficient on-street parking even during peak activity at the center.