Downtown’s new arts-themed outdoor space took its latest step Tuesday when the proposal was approved by the City of Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission.
The commission voted 5-0 to allow the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust to create Arts Landing, which would transform the block along 8th Street between Penn Avenue and Fort Duquesne Boulevard and a portion of the adjoining block between 7th and 8th streets.
Arts Landing will feature a band shell overlooking a one-acre lawn plus playgrounds, public art, pickle ball courts, flex recreational space and native plantings including about 100 new trees. It would also be the new home of the Three Rivers Arts Festival.
The commission offered only positive comments about the $31 million plan.
Commissioner Philip Wu praised the park’s addition of green space to Downtown and singled out the playground as well. “It’s important to promote families living Downtown,” Wu said.
Commission chair LaShawn Burton-Faulk said the design, by acclaimed New York-based firm Field Operations, successfully bridged the gap between very different uses and design elements in its corner of Downtown.
“This is like what I would consider a perfect dynamic of blended parks and green space, [the] river right there at you, skyscrapers, the traffic chaos,” she said. “It should serve the city well.”
The four-acre Trust-owned site is currently occupied by the group’s Backyard space, which hosts recreational amenities and pop-up arts events, and a Goodyear auto service center, which will be demolished.
Arts Landing is one component of the planned $600 million redevelopment of Downtown in preparation for the city hosting the NFL Draft in May 2026.
Arts Landing is scheduled to break ground this April and be completed by early 2026.
In introducing Field Operation’s presentation Tuesday, Cultural Trust executive director and CEO Kendra Whitlock-Ingram noted that the project has been in the works for years.
“We are now on the cusp truly of one of the most transformational projects of the Cultural District in the last 25 years, since we built Theater Square,” she said, referring to the complex a few blocks away including the O’Reilly Theater, Greer Cabaret Theater, a restaurant, a multi-story parking garage, and a small park.
“Our goal is to help extend people’s time in Downtown and we’re really hoping this space is going to do that,” she said.
