PHCA President Alexis Miller released this statement in a letter to the editor on the Post-Gazette:

Stakeholders Seek Development Option That Reflects Community Input

The Polish Hill Civic Association is dismayed at the illegal demolition of historic structures and the lack of regard for community input during the recent master planning process at the Iron City Brewery site.

We urge City Planning, the Historic Review Commission and the Bureau of Building Inspection to consider the true wishes of the community and to do everything in their power to protect this significant asset from further demolition.  We urge Collier Development and the master planning architects DLA+ to respect all community input that has been provided, and in turn, present at least one genuine development option that accurately reflects stakeholder input to preserve the brewery buildings.

Members of the PHCA and Polish Hill residents have been involved in the master planning process through the steering committee and public meetings.  The PHCA feels, however, that the community’s voice is not being accurately represented in this process.  The number one priority that has been brought up again and again is the preservation and re–‐use of the buildings that make up the former Iron City Brewery site, yet the current master plan includes demolition of more than one third of the existing buildings.  At the second public meeting on Oct. 16, approximately 30 of the 40 attendees declined to vote for any of the three development “options” presented to the community because they all included such wide–‐scale demolition of existing buildings.  An option that received seven votes is now being pushed as representative of community support.

We realize that many of the buildings are in poor condition at this site, but look no further than the Cork Factory Lofts and Bakery Square for examples of properties that were in similar and worse conditions that have been successfully preserved and repurposed at a profit.

The brewery site, which sits partly in Polish Hill, is visible from many parts of our neighborhood and is part of the fabric of this community and its history.  The development of the site, which we support, will have a huge impact on our neighborhood.  During our strategic plan process in 2011, residents overwhelmingly told us that they wanted to see the brewery site preserved, with historic buildings preserved and repurposed.  We believe this is the smartest solution, both for our community and the site owner ‐‐ to take advantage of the rich history and assets of the site.

We are asking the City to do everything they can to protect the heritage of this irreplaceable gem.  We are asking Collier Development and DLA+ for a development option that reflects community input and preserves the economic, aesthetic and social value of the historic structures.

Alexis Miller
President, PHCA Board of Directors

The letter was referred to in an article by Diana Nelson Jones in the December 7 edition of the Post-Gazette.  Additionally, Lawrenceville Stakeholders, Lawrenceville Corporation, and the Polish Hill Civic Association have signed a letter asking the City to uphold its own regulations regarding historic properties.  The letter details the missteps in the handling of the Iron City Brewery planning process.  You can read that letter here.

There is a petition circulating to protest the illegal demolitions; if you wish to help circulate that petition, email us and we’ll send you a copy.  You can sign this petition at the PHCA; there are copies circulating in Lawrenceville also.  We’ll post the link to sign the online version as soon as we get it.

(Photo of the Iron City Brewery by Mark Knobil)

There has been further demolition work on the smokestack at the Iron City Brewery (see our post from two days ago).  Now, all the patterned brickwork at the top is gone.  Observers report that the bricks are not being removed for restoration, but simply being knocked down into the stack.  Yesterday, it was reported in the Post-Gazette that the work on the smokestack was actually illegal.  The law requires that building permits must be applied for and granted before any site modifications to historic properties.  A representative from the Mayor’s office told the Post-Gazette that Collier Development has incurred another code violation with this demolition work and will be penalized.

Today, the crane is back up and the crew is at work.  Were they really granted a permit so quickly — just one day after being told they had to stop work?  Collier Development has already incurred one code violation back in August, receiving a fine of $20,000 in district court after they demolished a number of buildings on the site without a permit.  The company stated that it was necessary for safety reasons to remove the buildings, and the smokestack did have visible damage which clearly needed to be addressed.  There was certainly a case to be made that some immediate work was needed to make the site safer and halt deterioration.  Instead, work proceeded without permits.  A pattern is starting to show here, and residents are asking us, “where is the City, where is the Mayor?”

It bears repeating that Collier Development purchased Iron City Brewery fully aware that it was a designated historic site under protection by preservation laws.  The company may not have realized how important the historic character of the site was to surrounding communities, or how many organizations and individuals cared.  We hope that all concerned parties attend the final public meeting for the Iron City Brewery development planning process.  The meeting will take place on Tuesday, November 27, from 6-8 p.m. in Building T on Liberty Avenue.  For more information on the meeting and the planning process thus far, check out the update page on the Lawrenceville Corporation’s website.

(Photo by Leslie Clague for the PHCA, taken this morning )

Last night was the second public engagement session for the Iron City Brewery site planning.  At this meeting, DLA architects, the firm working with site owner Collier Development and Lawrenceville Corporation during the planning process, presented different possibilities for ways in which the site could be developed.  The meeting was attended by about 40 people, including several PHCA board members and Polish Hill residents.

The most drastic of the development options would involve demolition of 50% of the buildings on the site.  Buildings up for demolition include the very large metal-frame storage buildings from the 80’s (for instance, the tan building in the lower right in the photo below) and brick structures from the 30’s and 40’s.  Also being considered for demolition are two 1890’s structures from the main block of five connected buildings (marked in the photo below — it looks like one big structure, but it’s actually two).  These buildings are probably the most visible structures on the site as viewed from Polish Hill.   Structural engineers have told DLA that the buildings are not safe.  The architects say that the buildings can be saved, but it would be very expensive.  It has been noted that the structural problems may have been worsened by the tons of rubble piled up against the building when a structure was demolished a couple of years ago.

The Iron City Brewery site is large, extending along Sassafras Street in the valley under the Bloomfield Bridge, and it’s clear that whatever development happens here will be a big project.  The site is zoned urban industrial, which leaves a lot of room for whatever the developer wishes to do.  All of the plans presented included improved vehicle access from Liberty Avenue as well as multiple pedestrian paths.  It was also mentioned that for a development of this size, 800 – 900 parking spaces would be required, which would probably include both surface parking and in a new parking garage.  The development would include office space, possibly some apartments, possibly a hotel (the developer has already bee contacted by a national hotel chain interested in the site).  There would probably be some retail and restaurants, and possibly other amenities.

It was clear that DLA did a lot of work on the various options, presenting both detailed site maps as well as a 3-d animation so that viewers could see the proposed ideas from different angles.  A look at DLA’s portfolio shows  a lot of large public-oriented projects, but none that involved the re-use of historic sites (except for the now-underway Strip District planning project, which includes the partial demolition of the terminal building to allow access to a large residential development by the river).

Most of the attendees at the Iron City Brewery meeting indicated that they valued the historic character of the site as a whole, and many felt that preservation of all the brick structures (if not the large 80s warehouses) was of great importance.  The meeting ran over the scheduled time due to a spirited discussion, becoming heated at points, about the historic value of the site, and debates about the value of spending millions to save and re-purpose old buildings vs. replacing them with new buildings.  Some of the presenters became impatient at what they perceived as a concern with preservation over the “highest and best use” of the site.  Of course, the definition of “highest and best use” varies according to who is speaking.  The location of the site, at the border of four neighborhoods and surrounded by residential streets, and its convenient location to the busway and downtown, makes the clash of visions almost inevitable.  Lawrenceville and Polish Hill in particular are seeing property values increase partly due to the scale and historic feel of their communities, and for stakeholders from those communities, the need for a sensitive, preservationist-oriented development of the site seems clear.

A number of times in this meeting, the presenter made a point of saying that while public input can inform or influence the process, it won’t dictate what the developer ultimately will do.  But that doesn’t mean that speaking up is futile.  The developer is going through this process in order to be eligible for government money — and the officials who dole out that money do care what residents think.  We urge all Polish Hill residents to acquaint themselves with the progress of this development and weigh in with your input now.  Iron City Brewery has long been a quiet, little-noticed site down the hill, but that’s going to change in the next year or so — and what happens there will have a big impact on our neighborhood,  for better or for worse.

The development options presented at the meeting will be put up on Lawrenceville Corporation’s website soon.  We’ll link to that when it appears.  There will be one more public meeting as part of the planning process, and we’ll let you know when that is announced, too.

(Top:  Lawrenceville Corporation Executive Director Matt Galluzzo talks to meeting attendees.  Middle:  the Iron City Brewery site from the south.  Bottom:  Meeting attendees view drawings of proposed development ideas.  Photos by Leslie Clague for the PHCA)