Development Profile
Smithfield Condominiums
B ost Development is most of the way through the entitlement and design of the conversion of the properties that span 635-641 Smithfield Street from an historic office use to an unusual residential use. Thomas Bost is planning to start work late this year on a condominium that draws its inspiration as much from suburban neighborhoods as the downtown architecture. “This is a boutique development and we’re looking for anywhere from three units to 12. We are offering customizable condos. What that means is that not only are you able to select your floor plan and layout, but you will be able to do full customization as if this were a single-family home,” Bost says. “Instead of providing lots; we’re providing square footage.” Bost was interested in developing residential downtown because of what he perceived as a shortage of inventory relative to other cities. As he examined the downtown market, he saw an opportunity at the upper end of the price range, where there is a limited supply of units available for ownership, and an even more limited supply of luxury product. He looked at how the residential units at 3 PNC Plaza were sold as an indication of what kinds of buyers might look for condos downtown, and how those buyers would want to behave. “When the PNC condos were completed, they started out selling them fully finished and received a lot of pushback from buyers who were spending millions of dollars and wanted to customize them. The last units they allowed full customization, and they were able to sell them,” he says. “The more people spend on a home property, the higher the expectation level. There’s less willingness to sacrifice what they want. We’re trying to make this as flexible as possible. That eliminates excuses that people might have who want to live downtown for the experience but can’t find something similar to what they have in the suburbs.”
Rendering by Wildman Chalmers Design LLC.
Of course, the Smithfield Condominiums is not a green field suburban development. The project will transform a Frederic Osterling-designed office building built just before the turn of the 20th century and build a new single-story retail building adjacent to it. The latter part of the scope of the project also involves demolishing the iconic Smithfield Café, which closed in
2012. The condos will be in an eight-story office building that has been vacant since Pittsburgh Technical Institute last occupied it in 2000. Sitting vacant has not resulted in condition problems. “It’s a well-designed building with a lot of character. Luckily, it is steel, concrete, and masonry so it was still in very good
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