Former Poli's restaurant in Squirrel Hill will be demolished earlier than expected
The former Poli's restaurant — a property at the heart of a pair of nonprofits' redevelopment plans in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill — must be razed sooner than expected.
The restaurant building has become the second casualty of a four-alarm fire Thursday that destroyed a vacant, two-story commercial building next door at Forward and Murray avenues. The fire spread to the roof of the closed restaurant and banquet hall, which had been vacant for more than a decade and slated for demolition this year as part of a redevelopment project proposed by Action-Housing and Jewish Residential Services.
Building inspectors Friday morning determined Poli's was too unstable as a result of the fire and would have to come down, said Maura Kennedy, director of city Permits, Licensing and Inspection.
“Any time you have 60 firefighters working to put out a fire, no one comes out ahead,” said Andrew Shull, a spokesman for Action-Housing, which develops housing for special needs populations, such as individuals with disabilities, the homeless, veterans and young adults who have aged out of foster care.
Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. Utilities in the vacant corner building where the blaze originated had been shut off for some time.
Investigators did not return requests for comment, and Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler did not respond to a request for information.
Action-Housing Inc., listed as AHI Development, acquired the building and a parking lot at a sheriff's sale in 2013 for $435,000. Action-Housing said it plans to demolish the Poli's building Friday. Working with Jewish Residential Services, it intends to construct a seven-story building with offices on the first and second floors and 32 residential units for people with special needs on the upper floors.
Jewish Residential Services will relocate from a Squirrel Hill location to the new office space. The parking lot will remain on property opposite the building at 2607 Murray Ave.
“This does not affect our plans at all,” Shull said. “We do agree that it needs to come down as soon as possible; we just don't have a timeline for when that will take place.”
He said the organization will work with the city during the weekend to take care of the building. Action-Housing will pay the cost of the demolition.
The first building at 5800-5808 Forward, where the fire started, was demolished overnight. Fire gutted the building and part of it collapsed as five dozen firefighters from 16 city stations fought the flames for several hours. The remaining structure had to be torn down immediately because it posed a public safety threat at a major city intersection.
The property, which had an assessed value of $950,000, is owned by Alderson-Forward Properties, according to Allegheny County property records. Kennedy said the property owners will pay for the demolition.
Alderson-Forward officials could not be reached for comment.
David Glickman, director of the Pittsburgh office of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, a commercial real estate firm, said a local developer is in talks to buy the corner property. He said he does not think the fire will affect those negotiations.
Megan Guza is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-8519 or mguza@tribweb.com.
