It wasn’t that long ago that the building at 439 Market St., Downtown was in such a crumbling state that nearby property owners feared it could collapse at any moment.
But you wouldn’t know it some four years later.
Thanks to the intervention of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, the four-story structure is being transformed into an architectural gem.
Gone are the bowed exterior walls, the collapsed roof and the debris. In its place stands a scrubbed red brick facade with long elegant windows and refined Victorian trimming.
The foundation is spending more than $3 million to convert the historic building and two others at the corner of Market and Fifth Avenue into apartments and retail space.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will get a firsthand look at the progress today when he visits the site and another historic Market Square property, the old G.C. Murphy store, which is being converted into residential, retail and fitness space.
The three foundation buildings will house seven apartments. The agency hopes to start leasing them around May 1, said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., landmarks president.
Units will rent from $1,000 to $2,000 a month, depending on the size and the amenities, which include rooftop decks and studies. On the Graeme Street side, one of the units features a large bay window. The buildings also will qualify for a LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The buildings also will house about 4,000 square feet of retail space. The foundation hasn’t secured any tenants yet, but Mr. Ziegler said there are negotiations under way.
Part of the project also involves the former Regal Shoe Co., an Arts and Crafts-style building at the corner of Fifth and Market designed by Alden & Harlow, one of the city’s most prominent architectural firms in the early 20th century.
The facades of all three buildings have been preserved, sometimes painstakingly so. In the case of 439 Market, for example, that literally occurred brick by brick.
All of the brick on the Market Street side was removed, cleaned, and then put back up, all for the sake of preservation.
“Because we are restoring historical buildings we want to use as much of the historical material as we can,” Mr. Ziegler said.
The scaffolding came off the Market Street side just a few days ago, revealing the stunning facade, a stark contrast to what was there only a few years ago. It pleased Mr. Ziegler to see the result.
“We thought to begin with that these buildings definitely should be preserved,” he said. “We fought for their restoration and we think now that they are almost fully restored, it was really a very good thing for Downtown and Market Square that they were saved and brought back to life.”
The restoration work has spanned some 18 to 20 months.
The $40 million conversion of the Murphy’s building, meanwhile, is on schedule for completion this summer. It will include the new home of the Downtown YMCA as well as 46 apartments.
