Pittsburgh police to lease former Steamfitters building in Duquesne Heights

Pittsburgh will lease a former Steamfitters Local Union 449 building in the city’s Duquesne Heights neighborhood to consolidate police operations, allowing the city to redevelop other sites that police are currently using.

City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation allowing the city to lease 1517 Woodruff St. The city will use that space for operations now based at several locations, including a former school in Elliott and former fire stations in Troy Hill and the Hill District.

The site would also be used for storage, replacing the need for a warehouse in the North Side, where the city’s lease is expiring.

Officials said that housing these operations in one location would cut costs and improve efficiency, while also paving the way for the city to find new uses for other spaces the police had been using.

Plans include redeveloping Thaddeus Stevens School in Elliott into a community recreation center and collaborating with residents of Troy Hill to determine how they could use the former fire station in their business district.

The plan allows local officials to “create an opportunity for our communities to reclaim and redevelop city-owned buildings in our neighborhoods to meet the needs of the residents,” Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said.

The lease will cost the city just over $3 million, excluding utilities. It includes about 32,000 square feet of warehouse space, which the city will lease for 64 months beginning in December, and about 17,400 square feet of administrative space, which will be leased for 60 months, beginning on April 1, 2022.