Near-century old Aspinwall building getting new look

A landmark building in Aspinwall will look a bit different in coming months.

Jim Mitnick, owner of the former PNC branch at 101 Brilliant Ave., received the green light from council to remodel the nearly 100-year-old building.

Council approved the conditional use for office space in a third-floor addition to the stately building that spans the corner of Brilliant Avenue and First Street.

“The architectural drawings are done, and we’re ready to start working,” said Mitnick, who purchased the building about seven years ago. The bank space, most recently used by First National, was closed in 2013.

Soon after, Mitnick welcomed retail spaces to the first floor, including Beautiful Boutique on Brilliant, which remains a tenant.

The second floor of the 7,500-square-foot site is used for office space.

As proposed, the third floor will not be quite as large as the bottom two. It will be about 3,000-square-feet, Mitnick said.

An original plan for a skylight was nixed, he added, and the roof will be flat.

Mitnick said he currently rents office space at 105 Brilliant Ave., and he plans to transfer that work to the new addition when that lease expires next year.

There will be no additional employees who need parking spaces, he said.

Aspinwall Solicitor Steve Korbel said the borough’s zoning ordinance requires businesses to offer one off-street parking space for every 300 feet of building space. Mitnick’s addition would require him to have 10 additional spaces available, whether he has employees/visitors that would use them or not.

“I plan on staying here,” Mitnick said. “But I’m designing it so that in the event I had to move, I could easily rent out the second and third floor independently.

“It’s a nice space now but when we get done with the third floor it will be spectacular.”