Lawrenceville's Doughboy Square has a new resident.
Bike Pittsburgh has relocated its offices from a shared space on the South Side to a two-story art-deco building at 3410 Penn Ave.
The lease started on February 1, and Bike Pittsburgh is now about 85 percent finished with the relocation, says Executive Director Scott Bricker.
The nonprofit is excited to be in not just a larger office, but also in an office that is more easily bikeable and walkable for many of its 1,100 members. The 1,300-square-foot building is located at the gateway to Lawrenceville, with easy access to the Strip District, Downtown, Lawrenceville and Bloomfield.
The building is recognizable as the former iconic Turner Detective Agency--the sign of which now resides upstairs at Bike Pittsburgh's office. Before housing the Turner Detective Agency, the building was occupied by the Junction Coal and Coke Company.
Bike Pittsburgh, which has been around for about eight years, operated for the previous five years out of the River Walk Corporate Centre on the South Side, in a 1,000-square-foot space shared with two other nonprofits (Friends of the Riverfront and Allegheny CleanWays).
"We were limited in what we could do with that space," says Bricker. "We simply outgrew it."
The new office will enable Bike Pittsburgh to host events like movie screenings, speakers and gatherings, and to better accommodate volunteer nights and large meetings.
Upcoming Bike Pittsburgh happenings include a public hearing on the City's proposed bike parking ordinance on March 9, and participating in the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. on March 9-11.
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Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Scott Bricker, executive director, Bike Pittsburgh
Photograph courtesy of Bike Pittsburgh