Pittsburgh-based Echo Realty presented its plans for the former ShurSave site in Bloomfield at a community meeting Tuesday night. Company officials envision a new grocery store that is slightly smaller than the existing one — but one that is flanked by additional retail space and a public plaza, with 248 apartments above.
Company officials told a packed community meeting that they had taken to heart a set of neighborhood guidelines — which included an emphasis on non-car travel, green space, and unique architecture — crafted several years ago.
“We would be stupid if we didn’t recognize … the work you put into this,” said Echo vice president Philip Bishop.
That vision took root after 2018, when Indianapolis-based developer Milhaus proposed 237 apartments for the site. The plan met with significant opposition from community members who saw a lack of care about affordability, neighborhood character, and the importance of having a local grocery store. Ultimately, Milhaus walked away from the deal.
Residents completed a community-planning process in 2019 to help guide future development in the Bloomfield gateway, where several large parcels went up for sale.
Echo bought the site in 2020, and communicated with Bloomfield Development Corporation about the community’s goals for the site. The company committed to operating a grocery store, Community Market, as the company advanced larger development plans.
Housing, and particularly affordable housing, was a key neighborhood need identified by Bloomfield residents in 2019. And it was a focus of questions Tuesday night.
Bloomfield is subject — willingly — to the city’s inclusionary zoning policy. That requires a percentage of units in buildings over a certain size be affordable to people who make less than the area median income. Under that regulation, 25 of Echo’s proposed apartments would be affordable at roughly half of the going rate.
Dave Breignan, the executive director of Lawrenceville United, asked Bishop to commit to accepting housing choice vouchers on the site, which would make the building further accessible to people with lower incomes.
Bishop said Echo will hire a company to operate the housing portion of the development, and so couldn’t speak for that future company.
But “when speaking with those prospective operators, I will encourage them to accept those vouchers.”
Bishop noted that sometimes developers will fulfill the letter of the law but not the spirit by using all studio apartments to meet the threshold. By contrast, he said, in the new development, 10 percent of each type of apartment will be affordable: six studio apartments, 13 one-bedroom apartments, and six two-bedroom apartments.
Meeting attendees also asked questions about building design, traffic flow, transit and bike access, street trees, and whether the grocery had to be run by Giant Eagle. One speaker noted it’s not particularly affordable. Bishop said they do not have a contract with Giant Eagle, but the company has committed to the site.
The plan requires a few key zoning variances. Among the most crucial: Echo Realty wants to build six stories in an area where zoning rules permit only three. An attorney for the company, Kevin McKeegan, told residents that the tradeoff is worth it.
“Pittsburgh needs housing. Pittsburgh needs to become a denser city,” he said. “You don’t get density without bigger buildings.”
The development plan goes before the city’s zoning board of adjustment on August 10. If the ZBA grants the needed variances, the project would next move to the Planning Commission. If the approval processes clip along, demolition of the old site could begin in 2024.
