• Construction should begin about May 15 on the $5.5 million Shoppes at Doughboy, a mixed residential-commercial development at 3345 Penn Ave., Lawrenceville. The development, by Allie DePasquale of October Development, John Elash Jr., and Kris and Bob Senko of Senko Inc., will include 11 “high-end” two-bedroom, two-bath loft apartments, about 9,400 square feet of retail space, and an integral garage with 22 spaces. An off-site parking area for 32 cars will be included. The building will have three stories plus an underground level, with completion scheduled in the fall of 2015. Funding has been provided through grants and loans from the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority and the state and with the cooperation of Lawrenceville Corp. and Lawrenceville United. The developers recently completed Shannopin Village, a two-building commercial/residential development at 3810 and 3822 Butler St., Lawrenceville.
• Under way is the first office building at Bakery Square 2.0 in the city's Larimer/East Liberty area where Google has leased 66,000 square feet in the six-story, 218,000-square-foot building. The $120 million complex, will include 425,000 square feet of office space, 350 rental apartments, to be called Bakery Living with the first 175 units opening this June, plus 52 for sale townhomes. All of the offices will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified. The development is by Walnut Capital Partners headed by Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord.
• Three Pittsburgh area real estate sites have been purchased by Richard M. Stern, trustee of the Samalex Trust, to complete a recent 1031 sale where the payment is used to acquire other properties. Stern acquired a building at 535 Liberty Ave., Downtown, which houses his Grit & Grace Restaurant, for $1.5 million from Five 535 Liberty Ave. LLC,; about a 7,700-square-foot building at 3820 William Penn Highway, Monroeville, for $2.65 million from CE Monroeville 3820 William Penn LP containing a Noodles Restaurant and Levin Mattress store; and a four-story building at 6022 Penn Ave., East Liberty, containing retail on the first level and offices above, from One 100 Sheridan Square Associates for $780,000. All will be used as investments and no changes are scheduled, he said.
• Construction could begin this spring on Morgan Properties' 240-unit Cranberry Vista apartments in Cranberry, after purchase of the property by Morgan from Glen Eden Road Partnership for $2.22 million. Ron Henshaw, Cranberry's community development director, said the number of units has been reduced from 252. Morgan's other Cranberry apartment development, Rochester Village at Park Place, has half of the 10 buildings in the complex built. The development will consist of 228 units.
• Botero Development will seek the approval Thursday of the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment to renovate an existing building at 3700 Butler St., Lawrenceville, with a fourth floor addition for use as a residential unit with 32 apartments, with the first floor to remain vacant and 23 off-site parking spaces to be located at 225 37th St. The property is owned by Joseph and Dora Damico. Also that day, Kolano Design, working for HRLP Fourth Avenue LLC, will seek approval for a 26-square-foot electronic non-advertising ground sign at One PPG Place, Downtown. The board also will review Robert Polk's request to use a 3,000-square-foot building at 6101 Broad St., East Liberty, as a club. The review was orded by the Court of Common Pleas. Mao Realty LLC is protesting the revocation of a building permit for interior renovations only, historic approval required for any exterior work and to the wording on the zoning voucher as occupancy of a three-story family dwelling with two-car detached garage at rear, at 15 Oakland Square, Oakland.
• The official opening of the 37-lot Fair Aces housing development in Upper St. Clair will be held next Sunday, May 4. Four home builders are building “spec” houses while three sales contracts have been negotiated and two deposits received, said Susan Brunko, of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the Preferred Realty, agent on the development. Prices will range from the mid-$600,000s and up and lots range in size from one-third to one-half acre. Most will accommodate first floor master bedrooms and attached garages. The site will have sidewalks and an entrance off Hays Road, next to Hays Park. Other streets are Fair Acres Drive, and Barbeery and Red Oak lanes. Three roads will end in cul de sacs. The developer is William C. McCloskey and the home builders include Cortes Builders, Eddy Homes, Londonbury Homes and Paragon Homes.
— Sam Spatter
