Why We Should Build Housing at the Former Irish Centre

A new residential development is being proposed at the former Irish Centre of Pittsburgh, which is located on Forward Avenue/Commercial Street by Frich Park and Nine Mile Run. The proposed building would be an 8-story, 162 unit apartment building. News articles here and here describe the proposal in more detail.

This stretch of Forward Avenue does not have a sidewalk, and there is no access to transit. Residents of the new development would have direct pedestrian access to Frick Park, and they could walk a mile through Frick Park to access the Regent Square business district. 

The site does have good bike access to a number of destinations, with potential for improvement (see BikePGH’s map). The Tranquil Trail through Frick park provides a connection to the Frick Museum. Several routes from there provide good bike access to East Liberty and Bakery Square. The Nine Mile Run Trail connects to the Duck Hollow Trail. There is a small gap in the trail network between this and the Hazelwood Trail. If this gap is completed, there would be easy trail access to the new development in Hazelwood Green as well as to downtown. A $6 million project to build a dedicated bike trail over the Rankin Bridge, scheduled for completion in 2024, will provide access to the waterfront as well.

The bike rail at 9 mile run. This trail passes by the Irish Centre.

Even with this bike potential, without transportation system improvements new residents would be more dependent on car transportation than would be the case for residential developments built elsewhere in the city. While upzoning near transit is important, Pittsburgh shouldn’t limit new housing only to locations with transit access.

Why Urban Housing is Still Good, Even without Transit Connections

The many benefits of new multifamily housing massively outweigh any traffic drawbacks.

1. New housing improves Pittsburgh’s tax base. The Irish Centre is a non-profit that currently does not pay property taxes. The nearby Walnut Towers apartment building pays approximately $134,000 per year in combined city, school board and county property taxes. Additionally, new residents will pay income taxes to both the city and the county.
2. Pittsburgh has expensive legacy water infrastructure from when our city had a larger population, and for years we have underinvested in maintaining it. As a result, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority is requesting large future rate increases. Allowing the cost of maintaining our water infrastructure to be spread over more residents will reduce the burden on existing residents.
3. New residents will provide customers for the Squirrel Hill and Regent Square business districts, allowing for an improved diversity of businesses to serve existing residents.
4. New housing improves affordability, allowing our neighbors to meet a basic human need. Cheaper housing strengthens the local economy and reduces problems associated with homelessness.
5. Multifamily housing is better for the environment than single family homes, taking less energy to heat and cool. Therefore this building will improve local air quality. Multifamily homes are also safer. They generally have sprinklers and other features that reduce fire risk. By allowing residents to avoid stairs they provide a safer living space for older residents.

Furthermore, it is easier to expand transit access to new locations in the city than to new residential developments in the suburbs. Higher residential densities will make transit expansions easier. Additionally, since it is closer to destinations, city development also results in comparatively fewer new vehicle miles traveled. This is good for traffic and air quality.

How to Improve the Transportation around the Irish Centre

Adding a sidewalk to Forward Avenue would give residents pedestrian access to the Squirrel Hill business district, and allow students at Colefax, Alderdice and the Community Day School to walk to school. It would also provide existing residents at Walnut Towers and Summerset on the Frick improved pedestrian access to Frick park. The topography of the hill on this part of Walnut Avenue may make the addition of a sidewalk cost prohibitive though.

There are also ways that nearby bus routes could be adjusted to provide transit service to the new development. One potential method would be to extend the 65 bus to this development and possibly beyond it to Swissvale. This would have the additional benefit of providing existing residents at Walnut Towers and Summerset on the Frick with transit service¹This could potentially be done at no cost by having the 65 end at Oakland with riders who continue downtown making a transfer. The low service frequency of the 65 could be increased by getting rid of the barely ridden 71 bus and applying the service hours to the 65 route..

It would be ideal if there was a way for developers to buy transit passes for residents of new development in exchange for expanded transit service. For example, one annual pass for a specified period (say three years) would be built into the rent/condo sale price of the apartment units. In exchange, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) would guarantee extended bus service or increased service frequency for that same duration. If meaningful ridership results, PRT would continue the service even after the passes are no longer bundled with resident’s housing.

This housing development would benefit our community even if these improvements are not made. If they are implemented, redeveloping the Irish Centre would improve the local transportation system in addition to the larger benefits of housing development.