The North Side's Garden Theater appears poised to change hands again.

Downtown-based Trek Development has a sales agreement to buy the building from Allegheny City Development Group LLC and expects to close on the former porn theater within two weeks, said Trek CEO Bill Gatti.

Wayne Zukin, a Philadelphia developer who leads the Allegheny City group, declined to comment.

“The Garden Theater is a vital piece of the entire block. It's the spiritual and emotional center,” said Gatti, whose firm plans to build an eight-story apartment building east of the Garden at West North Avenue and Federal Street and redevelop the former Bradbury apartment building on Reddour Street to the west.

City of Asylum, a North Side nonprofit that offers literary and community programs, owns the only other building on the block. It reached a deal to buy the Masonic Hall at West North and Reddour from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority in January for $50,000. Offices, a bookstore, a restaurant, performance space and apartments are planned. R. Henry Reese, the nonprofit's co-founder and president, hopes to begin $10 million in improvements next month and complete the work by late spring. Various tax credit programs and foundations are covering the costs.

Gatti wouldn't disclose the pending sales price for the Garden. Allegheny City bought it for $73,757 in November 2013.

The URA tried to buy the Garden for $250,000 in 1997. After the former owners rejected the offer, the URA moved to take the building through eminent domain. A 10-year legal battle ensued. The URA acquired the Garden in 2007 for $1.1 million, then in 2011 selected Zukin's group to redevelop it and other properties on the block.

Gatti estimated that up to $400,000 in basic improvements are needed at the Garden, followed by additional work to prepare spaces for some tenants. The ground level would “most likely be a restaurant, but we haven't even really begun any outreach efforts,” Gatti said.

“Our vision at the beginning was to have a full-block development, so we're encouraged by this potential sale,” said Kyra Straussman, the URA's director of real estate, noting that Trek and City of Asylum could move simultaneously to improve their respective properties rather than further delay long-awaited redevelopment of the block.

Tom Hardy, executive director of the Allegheny City Central Association, said it makes “all the sense in the world to have the Garden Theater property integrated with the other properties in the block. If that property were not acquired, it would essentially be sitting there while construction occurred on both sides of it for the next year or year-and-a-half.”

Tom Fontaine is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7847.

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