Pittsburgh debates parking lot on property donated 144 years ago

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater is seeking to renew a lease on Strip District property dubbed Denny Park that was donated to Pittsburgh nearly 150 years ago to create a public square.

City Council and the Mayor’s Office are now wrangling over the lease, which expires in 2025 and could be renewed for another 29 years.

Complicating things is the fact that the property had been donated to the city by a daughter-in-law of the city’s first mayor, Ebenezer Denny.

Denny Park runs along Liberty Avenue between 29th and 30th streets and consists of some grass, a piece of playground equipment, a small basketball court, trees planted along the street and a parking lot. The theater has been leasing the land since 1995.

“For at least the past 30 years, it has been minimally maintained,” Mayor Bill Peduto said. “It’s not even a dog park. We’ve challenged the ballet theater to come up with a way that they would be able to utilize part of the park for parking, but enhancing the entire area into a real park for people to use.”

Theater spokeswoman Katie Drozynski said she was unaware of any plans to enhance the park, but the theater is working with the city on a $4.9 million traffic improvement project along Liberty Avenue.

“The only thing we have going on right now are the pedestrian safety improvements as part of that project,” she said.

Councilwoman Deb Gross, who represents the neighborhood, last week delayed a vote on the theater’s request, noting the Strip is changing drastically with an influx of new residential and commercial development and would likely need additional green space because of the population growth.

Gross said she wants to update a Strip District master plan and flesh out the neighborhood’s future needs.

“The Strip District is changing every day. I want to be sure that we’re considering all of the needs,” Gross said.

A proposed council resolution would require the theater to renovate and maintain the park in exchange for the lot. Dan Gilman, Peduto’s chief of staff, said the city is legally permitted to lease the property for a public lot.

“Lawyers worked on it for months and months to make sure that it was consistent with the public use requirements of the deed,” he said.

A public space in that location was being planned in 1836, according to Allegheny County property records. The property had been part of a farm dubbed Springfield Plantation owned by James O’Hara, one of the city’s first industrialists and the father of Elizabeth Denny. Elizabeth was married to the former mayor’s son, Harmar, and inherited 319 acres of the farm after her dad died in 1819.

The property was then in Northern Liberties Borough, which Pittsburgh annexed in 1837.

Commissioners appointed by Allegheny County Court in 1836 to lay out what was known as the City District Plan reserved one block of property along Liberty for a public space to be named Snyder Square, according to Allegheny County real estate records. Elizabeth Denny agreed that the land should be for public use and “for no other purpose,” according to a deed transferring the property to Pittsburgh.

By 1874, the city had not taken ownership and Denny had paid $14,693.45 in taxes on the property. She wanted a refund.

Denny signed over the property on June 22, 1874, but stipulated that the city repay her the tax money and within 10 years “cause the said public square to be enclosed and prepared for the use and enjoyment of the citizens of Pittsburgh and others as a public square.”

The deed also stipulated that the property would revert to Denny or her heirs should the city use it for any other purpose.

Pittsburgh paid Denny the $14,693.45, according to the deed.