Major investments and developments coming to downtown Pittsburgh after pandemic challenges

PITTSBURGH — City of Pittsburgh residents and developers are seeing the possibilities and making major investments in downtown following a challenging two plus years of living through the pandemic.

“The city’s been dead. It’s really been dead. Not a lot going on. Not a lot to do,” said Mick Walsh, a Point Park University student.

When Walsh walks around downtown, he can’t help but notice vacant and empty buildings with signs offering available leasing space.

However, a shift is underway.

“It’s been a really exciting change to see it kind of grow back into what it once was,” said Bennett Speith, Pittsburgh.

Developers are looking to transform the former GNC headquarters along Wood Street into new apartments.

The City Planning Commission advanced a proposal for 250 apartments there.

“You really gotta invest in downtown Pittsburgh. I mean there’s no other city like it,” said Walsh.

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership reports there has been a noticeable change, and the numbers speak for themselves:

• 822 units are in the pipeline, the projects below are contributing greatly to this pipeline and they have all been recently announced within the past year, signaling that the market is strong for future residential growth.
• Easter Seals Building on Ft Duq. Boulevard - 140.
• GNC Conversion - 250 units.
• City Club apartments YWCA reuse/new construction - 300 units.

Once the units in the pipeline are built and have stabilized, The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership expects that in 2025 the projected population will be 7,870, more than 20% more units than are there today.

Since the start of 2022, office building occupancy has increased by about 5%. The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership estimates that current overall office occupancy for downtown is about 20% of pre-covid levels.

More employers are bringing their workers back to the office. Some of the companies that have recently done so include BNY Mellon, Federated Hermes, Buchannan Ingersoll and Rooney, Reed Smith, Dollar Bank, Highmark, and many others. The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership expects to see more companies bring their workers back in April and in the coming months.

When looking back at 2020, The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership saw the lowest levels of office occupancy in December 2020 at just 8%, and they are currently at about 20% occupancy.

The current occupancy rate for residential units in the Central Business District is at 92% and has completely rebounded from the impacts of the pandemic. The market dipped to 82% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

There are more people living in downtown now compared to pre-covid in 2019 because they have added more housing units since then, and the occupancy rates of the properties have continued to remain high. Since 2019, they have added about 1,000 residents to the Golden Triangle.

This all coincides with crews actively working to convert the iconic Kauffman’s building into a Target and Burlington Coat Factory located at Smithfield and Forbes Avenues.

“I love it. I personally live there. I love it… we’ve been there since August and I’ve had nothing but good things to say about it,” said Hayden Maltby, Point Park University student.

Maltby says the retail space and more downtown living options are essential in enticing and retaining downtown residents.

“I think it’s pretty important to reinvest to give the people of Pittsburgh something else to do or something new to explore.”

Target is expected to open downtown sometime this year.

The Wood Street apartments are slated to be completed in the fall of 2023.

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