Strip District development with nearly 300 apartments, dozens of townhouses earns approval

Plans for a Strip District development with nearly 300 apartments and dozens of townhouses are moving forward.

Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission approved plans Tuesday for The Brickworks Residential Development. It includes eight buildings on a 3.45-acre lot at 2121 Smallman St.

Plans call for two six-story apartment buildings with 114 rental units each, as well as 60 townhouses.

The development site is now being used as a parking lot with space for about 400 cars.

The residential development will include 186 parking spots and 166 bicycle parking spots, according to a presentation given to the Planning Commission.

Plans also include a swimming pool and outdoor garden space at each building, according to Washington, D.C.-based Antunovich Associates, one of the architects and planners working on the project. Stormwater will be held on site for use as irrigation for landscaping.

The developer plans to sell and rent all the units at market-rate cost, which is expected to range from about $900,000 to $1.5 million per townhouse.

Commissioner Sabina Deitrick questioned whether a development that will have no affordable units would be funded with any public dollars. Developers told her that the project was not currently being funded with any public money, but they could not say whether that might change in the future.

Deitrick also voiced concerns about the proposed building lengths, but no renderings were available to showcase her concerns.

She was the lone dissenting vote on the development Tuesday.

The commission in November approved plans for two other apartment buildings in the Strip District.