A former whiskey distillery on the Monongahela riverfront could be the latest piece of redevelopment sweeping across a massive stretch of the South Side, from Station Square to the former River Walk Corporate Centre beyond the Liberty Bridge.
Developers Cedarcove Capital Ventures and Mazzarini Real Estate Group have plans to convert the seven-story building at 129 McKean St. into an artisan market, along with a riverfront craft whiskey distillery and a rooftop restaurant and entertainment venue.
The Distillery at South Shore, as the project is called, would serve as a bridge connecting two other large-scale redevelopments taking place on a riverfront stretch that always has been seen as a prime piece of real estate, yet has been slow to attract investment.
Until now, that is.
On the east side of Station Square, High Street Residential, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Co., has started construction of Glasshouse, a 319-unit apartment complex totaling more than $70 million with street level restaurant space and indoor parking.
The Glasshouse is part of a broader redevelopment estimated at more than $200 million planned for the east side of Station Square that could include more residential and office space.
Trammell Crow also is considering construction of a hotel on that side of the property near the Port Authority bridge that carries the T across the river.
With the success of the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel on the west side of Station Square, “We think there’s room for another one over there,” said James Murray-Coleman, Trammell Crow senior vice president.
“It’s something we’re pursuing, but we’re also in the process of marketing the site to office users as well,” he noted. “We’ll be taking anyone who comes along first.”
At Station Square itself, owner Forest City Realty Trust is preparing for a major overhaul of the Freight House Shops, with the possible addition of UPMC as a tenant and as many as six new restaurants as well as other amenities.
Just beyond the Distillery at South Shore to the east, developer McKnight Realty Partners is in the midst of a $110 million rehab of the former River Walk Corporate Centre, a historic former cargo warehouse it has rechristened as the Highline.
As part of the redevelopment, McKnight plans to rip up Terminal Way, which runs through the complex, and replace it with a park featuring LED lighting, benches, and other amenities.
It intends to convert vacant floors in the 868,000-square-foot complex that once was considered the largest cargo warehouse between New York City and Chicago into creative office space and add a 1,000-space parking garage.
In all, nearly half a billion dollars worth of redevelopment is in the works along the mile-long stretch between Station Square and the Highline.
South Shore development
“This is the next natural space for Downtown to extend to. This is the next Downtown fringe,” said Izzy Rudolph, McKnight’s vice president of development.
With all of the development taking place, Mr. Murray-Coleman sees the section in question finally moving toward its potential.
“We’re very familiar with the other projects. We think this area has been underdeveloped for a long period of time. Combining all of them together will start to create a new neighborhood for Pittsburgh,” he said.
Eric Kraemer, president of Cedarcove Capital, said he and partners Tony Mazzarini and Bill Stolze bought the old distillery last April “with the idea of transitioning the South Shore into a destination,” by complementing the Trammell Crow and McKnight redevelopments.
“We thought that this would be a good opportunity to be in between those two projects right along the riverfront,” he said.
Mr. Kraemer estimated the cost of the rehab at up to $6 million.
The developers are planning to remove every other floor of the seven-story building to bring it to four floors with 15-foot ceilings. They intend to add a fifth level with floor-to-ceiling glass on the roof for a restaurant or entertainment venue.
They also are in talks with a group about transforming an attached two-story structure on the riverfront into a craft whiskey distillery — an appropriate tribute to the history of the building, believed to be last pre-prohibition distillery in Pittsburgh, Mr. Kraemer said.
The first floor will be a restaurant or perhaps the entrance to an artisan market the developers are planning for part of the building. They are hoping to divide the space into individual artisan bays, with common walkways, seating areas, and possible riverfront decks.
Mr. Kraemer said his group is compiling a list of local retailers for products such as coffee, a bakery, breads, cheeses, deli, oil, spices, artists, a cigar humidor and other vendors. The goal is to provide “a market place with hand-crafted food, spirits and wares.”
“We want to try to put a local spin on it, kind of a mini-Strip District on the South Shore,” he said.
With the new apartments being built, the rehab of the Freight House Shops, and the Highline project, Mr. Kraemer believes there will be demand for such a market.
“It truly can become a destination spot,” he said.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: January 9, 2018, 10:41 a.m.