Bost Development has begun marketing the building and Bost says that the feedback from the first prospective buyers interested in the Smithfield Condos have validated the assumptions about customization. “The demographics of the people interested are all over the map, but the ones who get what we are trying to do are the people who have been through a custom home build experience,” he says. Pittsburgh Planning Commission gave the Smithfield Condominiums a green light at the end of July. Chalmers says there were no variances needed for the project and that Wildman Chalmers was completing the design and working towards getting
been too difficult. One of the reasons we chose that building was that it did not require multiple variances,” Bost says. “It is taking a while to work through the infrastructure, seeing what utilities are there and what we need to provide. It’s a little difficult to identify those things downtown because it’s so old.” Bost hopes to close on the project by the end of 2022. The financing arrangements for the $9 million conversion have been made, but the property type – a condo – requires the presale of 50 percent of the units. “We just started marketing in June,” Bost says. “We have lots of interested parties but there are a lot of questions too. There’s a lot of explaining of the process because frankly there has not been an option like this in Pittsburgh yet. Our marketing pitch is to get rid of all those excuses that people have for not living downtown. Our biggest marketing
challenge is making people aware of this opportunity to own downtown without the typical options that don’t work for them. We only need three to complete the financing.” Thomas Bost cut his teeth in the Pittsburgh residential marketplace as vice president of development for Milhaus when the Arsenal 201 project went through the planning and construction phases from 2016 through 2018. He believes that the conversion of older office buildings to better use is a trend that is nearer the beginning than the end. “The shortage in supply of residential downtown was what prompted this conversion. We believe residential will be a big wave over the next few years,” predicts Bost. “I have seen other cities and Pittsburgh is low on the density of residential to office downtown. I don’t know that we’ll ever be a 24-hour city, but I believe we can be an 18-hour city.” DP
a building permit approved. Franjo Construction has been providing preconstruction services.
“Pittsburgh Zoning Department was great to work with. The process there has not
fnb-online.com | 1-800-555-5455 Vibrant and growing communities always thrive. That’s why FNB supports the local development and construction of new business and the financing of commercial real estate. We’re doing our part to make Pittsburgh a great home.
HELPING TO A BETTER CITY AND HOME BUILD
EQUAL HOUSING LENDER, MEMBER FDIC
23
www.developingpittsburgh.com
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software