Developer wants to donate historic Tito House to Uptown Partners nonprofit

A developer plans to donate the Tito House to an Uptown nonprofit, but it wants to demolish the historic garage on the property to make way for a project that would bring more than 250 apartments to the site.

Dallas-based Fountain Residential Partners is acquiring the property in Pittsburgh’s Uptown.

City Council last summer granted historic designation to the Tito House on Fifth Avenue and the associated garage, located behind the house on Colwell Street.

Built in 1884, the home was owned by Joe Tito, a prominent Prohibition-era bootlegger who later became the owner of Latrobe Brewing Co. The garage became the brewing company’s first Pittsburgh beer distributor and was the first known place where Rolling Rock beer was sold, starting in 1935.

The nonprofit Uptown Partners nominated the site for historic designation.

There was debate over whether the site met the standards for historic designation. The city’s Historic Review Commission voted not to recommend it for the designation, and some in the community argued that Tito shouldn’t be celebrated because his business practices allegedly included violence and intimidation. Others argued the building was a blight on the community.

Fountain Residential Partners is buying the building for $500,000, President and CEO Brent Little said. It will donate the house to Uptown Partners for preservation.

Uptown Partners Executive Director Brittany McDonald declined to discuss the nonprofit’s plans for preserving the site until the transaction was completed.

“We’re very happy with the ability to save the Tito House,” Little said.

The developer reworked its development plans so it wouldn’t need to tear down the historic Tito House, but it is now seeking approval from the Historic Review Commission to tear down the garage to clear the way for its development.

“We redesigned the buildings themselves to accommodate the preservation of the Tito House,” said Michael Takacs of Pittsburgh-based Bohler Engineering.

Plans call for more than 250 apartments, over 150 parking spaces, bike storage and public art. The developer has committed to earmarking 5% of the units as affordable housing for people making no more than 80% of the area median income.

Related:

• Pittsburgh council grants Tito House historic designation

• Developer looks to build at Pittsburgh site housing property up for historic designation

• Pittsburgh council hears debate on possible historic designation of Tito House

The development team told commissioners it would be impossible to include parking without demolishing the garage. Off-street parking was a major priority for residents and other Uptown stakeholders who didn’t want to see the new development adding new parking pressures in an area already stretched thin on parking availability, the development team said.

Members of the Historic Review Commission were divided on whether they felt the garage should be torn down.

“I love the design. I realize the garage is necessary to be demolished in order to make the project happen,” Commissioner Richard Snipe said during last week’s meeting. “I like the spirit in which they’re preserving the front house and donating it back to the community. I like what I see.”

Commission Chair Lucia Aguirre said she preferred “to steer away from demolitions.”

“The building has integrity. It’s not falling down,” she said, adding that she felt the garage and the house “tell a story together.”

Karen Abrams, director of City Planning, said Tito House would be preserved even if the garage would be demolished.

“This is actually a unique situation where you’ve got a developer trying to salvage at least part of the historic structure” and build more housing in a “neighborhood that needs a lot of housing.”

Historic preservation sometimes “deters development in areas that need development,” she said, adding that the developer’s proposed compromise could represent a blend of “the old and the new.”

“I think there is a compromise in the fact that they want to preserve something but they understand the need for something in its place that’s happening right now,” she said.

Commissioners put the decision on hold for 30 days and will consider it at their next meeting.