PITTSBURGH, PA - Given this property’s tortured history, it might be best to consider it cursed and avoid it. But with its prominent Mt. Washington, location and the spectacular view it provides, people still see potential on what some might view as a poisoned piece of real estate.
The parcel sits next to the Monongahela Incline on Grandview Avenue. It once housed the Edge restaurant, which closed in 1979 and triggered what has become a nearly four-decade, thus-far futile attempt to repurpose the property.
The first movement toward that effort in three years occurred recently when a long-dormant hotel proposal was revived with a $1 million state redevelopment assistance capital improvement grant to Grandview Realty LLC. Can that money prove to be a catalyst toward something finally being built on the site?
History suggests no. But Sandra Fundy, who owns a number of properties on nearby Wyoming Street and once spearheaded opposition to an alternative development plan, thinks this time might be different.
“This is a very exciting time for Mt. Washington,” she said. “This plan is befitting of the iconic location of Grandview Avenue and the entire Mt. Washington community. It will be a must-see destination for visitors and locals alike.”
Ideas have been floated for the site almost since the day the Edge was shuttered. In the 1980s, a hotel, restaurant and jazz club was proposed. In the mid-1990s, a 350-room Ritz-Carlton Hotel and a 1,000-seat ballroom was going to be built. A religious center featuring a statue of Jesus overlooking the city was proposed, as was a condominium development.
For various reasons, those ideas never advanced.
In 2008, Chicago-based developer Steven Beemsterboer purchased the property and announced plans for a $100 million, 115-room luxury hotel and 50 condominium units. But the country had a more difficult time recovering from the Great Recession that most anticipated and financing for the project dried up.
Beemsterboer held onto the site and 2013 proposed a much less ambitious apartment complex. That project met with stiff resistance from Fundy and others who thought it unworthy of such a prime piece of real estate.
Beemsterboer went back to the drawing board and in January 2015 unveiled plans for a $100 million development that included a hotel, apartments, townhouses, a parking garage, retail and a public plaza. That August, he acknowledged he didn’t have the $100 million and said he was putting the 4-acre parcel up for sale.
What happened since then is unclear. Beau Beemsterboer of Grandview Realty and Steven Beemsterboer’s son, declined comment when contacted by Patch.
In a tweet announcing the million-dollar grant to Grandview Realty, the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority referenced details of the project provided in documents by Desmone, the Lawrenceville architectural firm that has been involved with the project over the years.
They describe a 110-room hotel, condominium, spa and fitness center, meeting rooms, and fine-dining restaurant. The project also would include a “grand public terrace” that would extend the Grandview promenade.
Whether the reported $95 million project comes to fruition or again falls by the wayside remains to be seen. But Mt. Washington residents and business owners appear excited by the revived hotel plan.
Tracy Molyneaux is a partner in Coughlin’s Law, a much anticipated bar-restaurant opening next month a block from the proposed development.
Acknowledging the hotel’s potential benefits to her fledgling business, she said of the proposal: “I’m a big fan of new development. I’m for anything that can make Pittsburgh more competitive with other cities.”
Howard Todd is a Mt. Washington resident who owns two Shiloh Street businesses a block from the proposed hotel site, DiFiore's Ice Cream Delite and the Grand Brew coffee shop.
Acknowledging the potential traffic and parking issues that might arise, he believes the hotel could be a bonanza for the mount’s Shiloh Street business district.
“This is a `Field of Dreams’ situation - if you build it, they will come,” he said. “To me, this is an awe-inspiring project.”
Rendering: Desmone via Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority.
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