Developers to break ground on $740M Esplanade project on Pittsburgh’s North Side

Developers plan to break ground next week on a $740 million project that aims to turn a North Side brownfield into a bustling entertainment district.

Officials said they plan to put the ceremonial shovel in the ground on the Esplanade development at 1 p.m. Monday at a vacant parking lot in the city’s Chateau neighborhood. The groundbreaking ceremony is set to run until 3 p.m.

The lot at 929 Beaver Ave., book-ended by an electronics manufacturer and an office building, appears dormant. But developers say the project will reimagine the former industrial site “as a future-forward promenade of culture, commerce and community that lays the foundation for a bold new era in the city’s evolution.”

Developer Piatt Companies’ plans for Esplanade include a massive Ferris wheel, restaurants, retailers, riverfront recreation, entertainment areas, public restrooms, a grocery store and an incubator for local entrepreneurs. The development also will include a 126-unit condo complex, a 13-story hotel and a mixed-income apartment tower.

Piatt Companies’ effort to revitalize part of the northern shore of the Ohio River is no stranger to opposition.

A community group in August raised environmental concerns about the Esplanade development — specifically, the environmental impact of building on a 15-acre brownfield property.

“When you examine this, it’s a thing of all that glitters is not gold,” Stanley Lowe, founder of the resident group Manchester Neighbors, said at a summer news conference at the site.

Lowe contended that the Cecil-based developer withheld information about hazardous materials on the property.

Piatt spokeswoman Molly Onufer said the project has received necessary approvals from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and engaged an environmental consultant to study the site.

Despite concerns from Manchester Neighbors, Esplanade has largely earned widespread support. The city, county and school district signed off on a tax diversion to support the project. No residents live on the site, so no one will be displaced by the development.

With a new marina, a winter garden and green spaces, the developer hopes Esplanade will become a key first-day attraction for the city.

The development will be built on underutilized riverfront land largely cut off from Manchester by Route 65.

The proposed Esplanade site sits on the Ohio River, just north of Rivers Casino, the entertainment hub built on a 17-acre former industrial site.

The casino opened in August 2009. Developers opened a hotel next door in 2022.

Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. with a video premiere and remarks by the project’s key partners, Piatt Companies said in a news release. Developers then will shovel the first dirt of the project.