The Bakery Square logo in Pittsburgh’s East End looks over a parking lot that Walnut Capital wants to redevelop. (Photo by Eric Jankiewicz/PublicSource)
An agreement between Walnut Capital and Larimer and East Liberty community groups could bring a next phase in Bakery Square’s development, but city support remains uncertain.
A recent agreement between two East End community groups and developer Walnut Capital that includes 100 “affordable” for-sale houses has yet to satisfy Mayor Ed Gainey’s expectations, stalling a potential expansion of Bakery Square.
In September, the Pittsburgh-based company reached a Community Benefits Agreement [CBA] with two neighborhood organizations, the Larimer Consensus Group and the Village Collaborative, to fund new housing construction with an affordability component as part of a larger effort to expand Bakery Square.
The company bought the former Nabisco bakery in 2007, redeveloping the site into retail, office and hotel space. Walnut Capital now seeks to expand the Bakery Square footprint 14 acres west along Penn Avenue at the site of a Trader Joe’s grocery store and surrounding retail cluster.
The expansion would require approval from city panels appointed by Mayor Ed Gainey.
With the CBA signed, City Councilor Ricky Burgess in September formally notified the city’s departments about the agreement. The Zoning Board of Adjustment, though, hasn’t taken up the issue for consideration. In an effort to advance the project, Burgess proposed a Specially Planned District that would allow Walnut Capital to begin their planned expansion. He said the zoning legislation is being reviewed by the Department of City Planning but he didn’t know when the City Planning Commission plans to vote on it.
Asked about the development during an October interview with PublicSource, Gainey said his administration isn’t treating the Bakery Square expansion differently from any other proposal.
“I’m not asking Walnut Capital to do anything different than any other developer has done throughout time. Period,” Gainey said. “We know that if we want to stabilize these neighborhoods we need affordable housing. I’m not slowing [down] development. If you want something from me you should understand that I’m going to want something in return.”
CBA aims at affordable housing, ‘brighter day’
Walnut Capital’s expansion plan calls for the complete redevelopment of the site with a new and enlarged Trader Joe’s on the former Club One site occupying the ground floor of a building with apartments on top. According to Walnut Capital, the grocery store would only move from its current building into the new one once it’s complete so that the store’s services would not be interrupted.
A map of the proposed expansion of Bakery Square (Courtesy of Walnut Capital)
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