Four years after the Wholey building was torn down, only a potential parking lot has been built
For years, it was a landmark in the Strip District, the Wholey building with the smiling fish. When the building came down in 2021, developers said that big plans were in the works.
That included new buildings to lure new business to the Strip, but now, the plan is simply...a parking lot.
The city was promised a state-of-the-art office complex in the Strip District, most recently branded "1520 Smallman," four separate office towers, research space for robotics, and street-level retail.
Four years later, the project still hasn't moved forward and all there is to show is a sprawling, empty lot, which the developer now wants to use for surface parking.
"I don't like it," said Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson. "I want to see more development, I don't think this is the best use of this space."
You'll remember how the developer, now called The Acram Group of Greenwich, Connecticut, purchased the old storage building with the Wholey fish logo on the side. They then reaped $2 million in state funding to tear it down.
Acram did not respond to emails but its leasing agency, CBRE, confirmed it has not been able to attract the major tenants to move the project forward.
Now, it's made the application to the city to turn the space into a surface parking lot to accommodate 184 vehicles, a disappointment to the district's city council representative, Wilson.
"Public funds were used, state funds were used, and we want to keep going with this project, we don't want it to be a parking lot," he said. "We want to see something enhancing the vibrancy of the Strip District and grow the Strip District."
CBRE also did not comment except to say that Acram continues to look for tenants in anticipation of eventually building the buildings and the parking lot will only be for interim use.
Given the glut of empty office space downtown, high interest rates, and the shortage of available financing, local real estate experts said towers will never be built here. Wilson and the Gainey Administration would like Acram to build apartments or sell the lot to a developer who will.
"The Strip District was building on converting vacant lots to residential and retail space for people to see a very vibrant, new neighborhood and this isn't going to add to that neighborhood," Wilson said.
While this lot could easily be filled up with cars, that is not what the state and city had in mind when they began funding the project four years ago.
It remains to be seen if they will demand a better use.
