Lawrenceville development ideas swirl around statue
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A Pittsburgh City Council vote Wednesday to sell property to a councilman's wife and a community conclave set for Monday may be pivotal moments in a debate on development surrounding Lawrenceville's Doughboy statue.
The result could be a $25 million development breakthrough, neighborhood trench warfare -- or perhaps talks over the future of the gateway into one of the city's hot neighborhoods. But first, the city's development arm may be asked to prove that it has done all it should to pick, and then vet, the right development team.
"We feel like there could be something good happening at the Doughboy," said Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Rob Stephany, calling it "a chance for the city of Pittsburgh to see a highly traveled boulevard become a public realm." His agency is tentatively behind a development team involving Alfred DePasquale, son of a late councilman, and a family with a stake in the Steelers.
That team hasn't yet won over everyone in the area, or Councilman Patrick Dowd, who represents Lawrenceville. He would vote on an involved swap of properties in the statue's shadow between the URA and Councilman Ricky Burgess' wife.
"We are a long way from consensus at this point," Mr. Dowd said. The URA must "let developers know that this is an area that has to get developed, and there's no exclusive relationship in the Doughboy."
The URA has been acquiring property around the Doughboy, where Butler Street splits from Penn Avenue, for more than 20 years. In 2005 it invited developers to submit proposals to revitalize it. None responded.
Architect Felix Fukui then entered into talks with the URA regarding its properties on Butler's 3400 block. But he couldn't seal a deal with that block's other major property owner, the family of Carlotta Burgess, the councilman's wife.
Next, community groups the Lawrenceville Corp. and Lawrenceville United approached developers with experience in the neighborhood. After several declined, they got to Mr. DePasquale.
First Published May 31, 2010 12:00 am
