Revised plans for building at former Wholey's warehouse approved by Pittsburgh Planning Commission

Plans for a new tower on Penn Avenue at the former Wholey’s cold storage warehouse between Pittsburgh’s Strip District and Downtown areas were given approval this week by the Pittsburgh Planning Commission.

New York-based JMC Holdings is developing the site at 1501 Penn Ave., which it bought in 2018 for $8.1 million. It’s the building that Pittsburghers and those driving across the Veterans Bridge know for displaying a neon sign of “Wholey” surrounded by a smiling fish.

The developers didn’t say what will become of the sign when they made a revised pitch to the planning commission on Tuesday, but have previously indicated that they are open to preserving it in some fashion.

The initial plans for a 21-story $245 million tower were panned by Mayor Bill Peduto and rejected by the planning commission.

Architect Brandon Haw reworked the plans to reduce the mass of the building, creating a design that makes a transition from the Downtown skyline to the lower-slung buildings in the Strip.

Instead of one large bulky tower in the space, there’s now a pinwheel of four towers that range between 14 and 10 stories tall. The shorter ones are nearer the Strip and the tallest tower is on the Downtown side, creating a “step down” effect, Haw said.

The plans call for green roofs. In the design renderings, the roofs are shown full of plantings, the green standing out amid the concrete and glass of the other buildings that make up the city’s skyline.

It ended up being a “much better building for everybody,” Haw said.

Most of the building will be used for office space, but there will also be retail and storefront space, along with parking and public space along Smallman Street.

The planning commission approved the plans and Chairwoman Christine Mondor said she appreciated the changes that were made.

“It shows you were listening to our concerns,” Mondor said.

Haw and the design team “made lemonade” out of what some might have considered a lemon when the commission rejected the initial plans, Mondor said.

“The net result for us is a better building. We really appreciate it,” JMC partner Matt Cassin told the commissioners. “We are very interested in Pittsburgh as a market.”

JMC also owns The Pennsylvanian, the former Union Station that was converted to luxury apartments in the late 1980s and also serves as a wedding reception venue.