Strip District housing, grocery store project wins planning approval

A proposal to bring hundreds of housing units and a grocery store to Pittsburgh’s Strip District earned approval Tuesday from the city’s Planning Commission.

Six commissioners voted in favor of New York City-based Midwood Investment and Development replacing a produce warehouse at the corner of 21st and Railroad streets with a mixed-use complex.

A seventh, Vice Chair Rachel O’Neill, recused herself.

Midwood did not immediately return questions about its construction timeline. The start of work is likely several months away, though, as city planning staff must still look over final blueprints before the project can go ahead.

Consumer Fresh Produce, which is vacating the premises where Midwood plans to build, doesn’t plan to move out of the Strip District warehouse until the spring.

The 73-year-old fruit and vegetable wholesaler is relocating to Lawrenceville, leaving Sunfresh Food Service on 23rd Street as the only remnant of the Strip District’s legacy wholesale produce industry.

Midwood, which owns the property, plans to tear down the J-shaped warehouse once Consumer Fresh Produce leaves.

The yet-to-be-named complex will span two buildings and include 441 apartments, 23 town homes, 37,000 square feet of retail space and 344 parking spots.

A narrow, eight-story tower will be mostly filled with housing and parking. A wider, six-story building will also contain housing and parking as well as the bulk of the retail space. Midwood is eyeing a grocery store.

“We’ve been in conversations with several different grocers, so there is definitely high interest, but we have no signed commitments as of today,” Midwood Senior Vice President Scott Hayner told the commission.

A public path will divide the buildings and connect Railroad Street to an existing riverfront trail, which will be cleaned up and widened, according to Ryan Indovina, a principal architect with Pittsburgh’s Indovina Associates Architects.

He also noted a marina next to the trail is not owned by Midwood and will continue to operate.

The Strip District has experienced a housing boom over the last decade, swelling to about 3,200 residents from 700, according to community group Strip District Neighbors.

Midwood’s site lies between two recently built residential complexes, Helm on Allegheny and Edge 1909.

It’s also across from a proposed housing development on the other side of Railroad Street, farther from the river.