Developer Renewing Attempts To Raze Old Froggy's Tavern

PITTSBURGH, PA - The owner of the Downtown Pittsburgh building that once housed the old Froggy's tavern has renewed plans to demolish it and several other structures to build a new office tower on the site.

Michael Troiani next week is expected to brief the Pittsburgh Planning Commission on how the buildings will be razed to make way for the new Boulevard And Market Tower bounded by the Boulevard of the Allies, First Avenue and Market Street.

"The vacant, narrow and separated buildings of varying heights are inefficient and obsolete
requiring redundant systems and ineffective ratios of costs to usable square footage," previous documents filed with the planning commission state. "Reusing out-of-date and physically disconnected buildings is not the highest and best use for a larger consolidated site in this prominent location."

For a quarter of a century beginning in 1978, the gravelly voiced Steve "Froggy" Morris held court in his Market Square bar and restaurant where celebrities flocked when they were in town.

Despite its reputation as one of Downtown's go-to destinations, Morris eventually encountered
financial difficulties and Froggy's closed in 2003. Morris died five years later; the bar space currently is vacant and dilapidated.

The pending demolition is opposed by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation and the Young Preservationist Association of Pittsburgh, which previously posted this tribute to the building on its website:

"Anchoring its corner on Market Street and First Avenue since 1960 in Pittsburgh's historic Firstside District, the buildings at 100-102 Market Street took its place in local lore from its time as a popular nightspot frequented by celebrities and athletes such as Jack Nicholson and Mario Lemieux until closing in 1983.

"Its listing on the National Register of Historic Places does not protect it from being demolished, however. Young Preservationist Association joins our friends at the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in strongly supporting a meaningful reuse of the structures to maintain the historic integrity of the block, a remarkable collection of early Pittsburgh commercial buildings."

The office tower that Troiani plans would have lower height and massing along Market and First and higher height along the Boulevard of the Allies. Bricks from the demolished Froggy's and the other buildings would be integrated into the facade of the lower-height portion of the tower.

It's not clear when construction would start on the tower if the planning commission approves the demolition plans.