True Northside

It’s been a long time comin’.  I knew we arrived when I recently told someone that I’m a Northside girl.  Bracing myself for the customary, “Meet any crack dealers, lately?” instead heard: “Wow, I hear it’s really nice over there.”  

Really nice over there.  I remained on the phone in stunned silence, not sure how to respond – was this irony?  After the awkward shock, I simply agreed.  Specifically thinking of Federal North, Northside is about to reach new levels of “real nice” - Pittsburghese for something terrific.  

Federal North, a blighted hub connecting Northside neighborhoods, is finally emerging as the long-awaited phoenix.  Standing in seedy spoil while citizens heard decades of vague promises, the Federal Street and North Avenue corridor received its initial blow in the 1960s when Allegheny Center Mall eclipsed the heart of the community, killing the Central Northside’s economic and social engine and sequestering the neighborhood from downtown. 

Brought to its knees, additional white flight followed with the new I-279 plowing straight through Deutschtown.  Northside eventually became noteworthy for neglect, known for violence more than vitality.

While historic North Avenue buildings stagnated in ruin, the owner of the pornographic Garden Theater remained the stalwart holdout in Federal North land acquisition.  Stubbornly ensnaring the Federal North project in protracted legal battle, the Garden finally succumbed in 2007.  That same year welcomed construction of Federal Hill - approximately 60 new, energy-efficient Federal Street townhomes that reflect the scale, rhythm and colors of the area’s existing historic district.   David McMunn, Mexican War Streets Society President and Northside preservationist enthuses, “We’re celebrating the efforts of our current Mayor to get the Federal North project finished.  30 years waiting, and we’re no longer waiting – it’s here!”

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

The Urban Redevelopment Authority, S&A Homes, and the Central Northside Neighborhood Council enacted the three-phase Federal Hill development, originally hatched in the 1990s.  During the waiting years, the neighbors remained committed to their vision.  “Central Northside is an abundance of riches – people who care deeply and passionately about making their community better and more accepting,” says architect Ken Doyno, who speaks about the Federal Hill townhome development as a sincere expression of the community process.

“I think this is going to be a transformative neighborhood development because it includes a median strip that will help mitigate the traffic, greening the area and returning it to the beautiful, residential boulevard it once was,” shares Joan Kimmel, longtime Northsider and Federal Hill committee chair, who also helped enact the Great House Sale of the 1970s, selling vacant properties for $100 each.  There are still some remaining Northsiders from that sale, proving the important role that financing strategies play in seeding transitional communities with single-family homeowership. The URA is offering Federal Hill buyers deferred mortgages for first-time homebuyers who meet income requirements, with varying houses (1430 to 2351 square feet) to attract a socio-economic mix.

Kilolo Luckett, new CNNC Executive Director, believes in the positive community development: “This development is bridging the gap between lower and higher end properties, offering affordable housing to help draw new people into the neighborhood.”   New people are indeed responding: 19 out of 23 units pre-sold.  Bob Iseman, the man who sold those homes for S&A, says, “The entire project is just fantastic – it brings affordability back into city living with high quality, energy-efficient homes.  We’re redoing the entire corridor, which is long overdue – it’s a big key in the entire Central Northside’s revitalization.”

Lee Bannister, a young executive at a downtown firm, chose Federal Hill as the next destination for him and his partner, Dan.  “Where else can you work from home and walk to all sorts of arts, destinations, sports, and my office?”  Having moved to Pittsburgh for school, Bannister eventually made the Northside his permanent home.  The Federal Hill home is his fourth Northside residence: “I keep coming back for more. The Northside is where it’s at and where I found downsized, greener living.”


Along with the first Federal Hill residents moving in this summer, the Carnegie Library, the Community House, Allegheny General Hospital and the citizens’ Parkhurst Committee have all contributed to recent area investments.  

Bob Baumbach, project architect on behalf of Landmarks Design Associates, designed the façade overhaul of the Aeberli Building, a prominent Victorian straddling North Avenue and Sandusky Street.  Owned by AGH and abandoned since the 1980s, the building’s corner location was a landmark eyesore for decades. Baumbach sees Allegheny General Hospital’s investment as a “generator for providing buyer confidence for future development.” The historic renovation won a 2009 Historic Review Commission preservation award.

With all this buzz (and construction dust) Federal North is recreating itself as a nexus of activity, poised as a potential destination spot.  Frank Butler, Federal Street’s Big Sam’s Memphis BBQ manager and a Northsider himself, speaks about the impact on his small business: “I believe that we’re going to increase our business by about 100%.  Everybody gets a little business from the construction workers, too.” Frank sees the relationship between more foot traffic and decreased crime, something that will bolster his business. The Carnegie Library architects, too, adjusted the library’s design to include the neighbors’ request for street-facing windows, keeping more “eyes on the street.”

Mary Monaghan, assistant director for Neighborhood Libraries, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, understands how businesses help each other:  “Our economic impact study with the Center for Economic Development at CMU showed that when people visit the library, they are likely to visit area businesses.  For example, In Brookline, the bakery next door has seen an increase in their business.  We see the library as connected to Federal North’s economic stability.”  Built with LEED principles in mind, the new library exemplifies energy efficiency and innovation, connecting Pittsburgh with green building, once again.  And, connecting residents to literacy services – the library is a short walk from many Northside neighborhoods and on bus routes.

“There are so many opportunities to do quality programs in reading, writing, and multimedia,” says Rev. Wayne Peck of Community House on the possibility for connections between the organizations coming to Federal North.  Rev. Peck moved his progressive urban church and the Community House Learning Center, a community literacy organization, to Parkhust Street, where the church overhauled an abandoned church and joined the Parkhurst Committee in the street’s $500,000 capital improvements. 

Parkhurst Street demonstrates how combating blight connects a community: redeveloping this short street connected AGH with the Federal Street business district.  Peck continues: “One of the most interesting things to watch is a neighborhood reconnecting within itself, again, with a number of new opportunities as institutions and new residents come in to renew a neighborhood – the possibilities abound.”

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Jen Saffron lives on the Northside.  She produces, writes about, and curates photography and video projects.  Check out her most recent curatorial project of Czech photography at SPACE Gallery (www.spacepittsbugh.org).

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Captions: Federal Hill under construction; Joan Kimmel at Federal Hill; Kilolo Luckett at the Garden Theater; Dan Sandroni and Lee Bannister; Frank Butler; Mary Monaghan at the new library construction site.

Photographs copyright Brian Cohen