Volume 27 No. 10 October 2011
Garden Theater Block seeks historical status By Kelsey Shea
Photo by Kelsey Shea The Garden Theater Block currently sits vacant on W. North Avenue near Allegheny General Hospital.
Saint Nicholas Church will remain standing for now By Kelsey Shea For the time being, the empty and historic Saint Nicholas church building in Troy Hill will remain standing along Route 28. Last month, the Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission denied current building owners St. Nicholas Parish, now located in Millvale, a demolition permit to tear down their old building in Troy Hill due to the church’s historic status. The decision will next go to the city planning commission and then to city council. The parish is now looking at other options for the site, which include appealing the commission’s decision or selling the old church to The Northside Leadership Conference, who would turn the
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building into an immigrant museum. “We’ve had an initial chat, and we covered a wide range of issues. We’re in agreement on many of them,” said NSLC Executive Director Mark Fatla. “There’s a whole plan for the redevelopment of the property as an immigrant museum.” The plans for the museum can be found on the NSLC’s website. “I believe that the best thing we could do right now, would be to demolish it. But I’m not against selling it either,” said Rev. Dan Whalen, of St. Nicholas Church, who noted that the empty building is a financial drain on the church each
See Saint Nicholas, page 10
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Garden Theater Block owners, The Urban Redevelopment Authority, and developers, Zukin Realty, are applying to have the prominent Northside block included in the Mexican War Streets Historical District. Zukin applied to the National Parks Service to include the West North Avenue block in the historic district. The expansion of the district would make a significant tax credit available to Zukin. Zukin’s registration form states “As the buildings overwhelmingly had the same use from the time that they were designed to the time that they were vacated, the overall defining forms and architectural characteristics remain intact through the boundary increase.” If Zukin receives the nomination for historical status, it will require specific materials be used and the character of the interior and exterior of the building to be preserved throughout the renovation. However, if a building is included in the Mexican War Streets’ Historic District, the developer can take advantage of a 20 percent federal historic tax credit. Sarah Quinn, the preservation planner with the City of Pittsburgh’s Historic Review Commission, said that applying for historical status is a fairly common practice in the city of Pittsburgh because many of the buildings are
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older, and the tax credit is beneficial. “A national historic nomination is only as good as the person who writes it,” said Quinn, who noted that companies like Zukin hire consultants with a lot of experience to write the nominations. Logan Ferguson, the senior associate at Powers & Co., who prepared Zukin’s application, said that the process of applying for the nomination from start to finish can take up to a year. The Mexican War Streets Historic District boundary increase registration form was prepared by the Philadelphia-based consulting firm, Powers & Co. , in June. Zukin has already filed the registration form, which is in a 60day review period. It will go to a national board for approval on October 4. If approved, the development company must then apply for the tax credit, which Quinn said is an entirely separate process. Though they are making the initial steps, Zukin said they cannot file for the tax credit until they have specific building and renovation plans for the tenants. He was unable to say how many tenants he has secured. Vice president of The Mexican War Streets Society, Dave McMunn, said that when the society initially planned the historic expansion in 1972, it included the Garden Theater Block. At the time, McMunn said
See Garden Theater, page 10
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