Amid the “food desert” and competitive housing market that characterizes Oakland, developers revealed new details about a grocery store and apartment building coming to the neighborhood.
Real estate developer Radnor Property Group plans to build an eight-story apartment building with space for a grocery store on the ground floor at the site of the former Quality Inn hotel in Oakland. At a recent Oakland Development Activities meeting, the developers laid out site plans and an approximate timeline without disclosing details about what company will fill the grocery store.
An aerial view of the subject property, outlined in red. The property is at the intersection of Halket, Zulema and the Coltart Avenue extension. The screenshot is taken from Radnor Architect Ryan Indoniva’s presentation at the Sept. 14 Development Activities Meeting.
The property at 3401 Blvd. of the Allies is close to UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital and Bates Street. The plan is to demolish the current structure and surface parking lot, according to Radnor Architect Ryan Indoniva.
Tim Gigliotti, managing director of development at Radnor, said the group is currently in active lease negotiations with several grocers, though it cannot disclose additional information or the timing of the announcement yet.
“But our goal is to have that grocer lined up as soon as possible,” Gigliotti said.
Gigliotti explained the store, slated to be 20 to 25,000 square feet, would be a “city-based grocery store” rather than a large suburban grocer.
“There’s a number of them around town in the Shadyside community. For example, the new Market District is a similar size to this,” Gigliotti said.
The planned seven-story apartment building will have 265 units including studio, one-bedroom, and two bedroom units, according to Indoniva. He said 10% of the total units would be priced for 60% of area median income.
Details about units and square footage of the redevelopment plans. Screenshot via Indoniva’s DAM meeting presentation.
The project is part of a 75-year ground lease between Pitt and Radnor. Pitt spokesperson Jared Stonesifer said that according to the lease, Radnor will assume responsibility for and manage all costs associated with the development and maintenance of the future apartment complex and grocery store.
“Beyond providing the University with revenue, Radnor Property Group’s project will transform a key gateway site in Oakland to address housing and grocery needs of the community,” Stonesifer wrote.
Pitt initially announced its intention to redevelop the site in 2021 after hearing from residents about the need for more grocery stores and housing.
Gigliotti said Radnor doesn’t have a set construction date, but that the group is targeting the first quarter of 2027 to begin demolition and site work. He added that he expects the project to take between two and two and a half years to finish.
“Toward the end of 2027, like October-November time frame, if everything holds, that’s when we would start coming up out of the ground again, and then that would put an opening into mid-2029,” Gigliotti said.
Pitt’s vice chancellor for real estate, Anish Kumar, told The Pitt News last summer that the groundbreaking on the project was slated for late summer 2026.
A site plan map representing the ground floor. The hotel is situated on the left, and the grocery store is in the right triangular section. Indoniva said the grocery store can be accessed directly from Zulema Street.
After the presentation, some attendees shared concerns about increased traffic around the planned site.
“From a South Oakland resident perspective, [traffic] is painful at best, even now,” one attendee said.
Indoniva said there is a significant amount of construction area space on the site, and that he does not envision any traffic impact on the streets during construction. He added there is no intent to close any streets surrounding the building during construction.
“The only thing we would really have is making sure that pedestrians are able to safely cross and be separated from the construction areas as best as possible during the construction process, particularly when the structure is going up,” Indoniva said.
Christian Umbach, a city planner, said Pitt will conduct a traffic impact study that will consider vehicle turns and pedestrian crossings at each of the intersections. He said the study can recommend changes and adjustments such as traffic lanes, turns, intersections and crosswalks.
“It will be pretty comprehensive and look at the network as a whole,” he said.
The project will seek approval from the City’s planning commission next, according to Umbach.