![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_5026-scaled.jpeg\")
Construction, the Mill 19 building and the University of Pittsburgh’s BioForge building on Hazelwood Green in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood, on March 21. (Photo by Rich Lord\/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)<\/p>\nDevelopers plan to build a third, mostly affordable residential building at Hazelwood Green, a specially planned district until now known largely for local universities\u2019 research facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The City Planning Commission on Tuesday heard Trek Development\u2019s plans to build a 46-unit apartment building, which will also include up to 2,600 square feet of commercial space, on the corner of Eliza Street and Blair Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trek Development will offer up to 24 project-based vouchers, provided by the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, to future tenants of the building. About half of those vouchers will be set aside for Pittsburgh Scholar House participants, according to Janelle Kemerer, a project manager at the development company. Pittsburgh Scholar House is a nonprofit organization that supports student-parents as they complete their two- or four-year degree programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of three multi-family residential projects planned for the block bordered by Blair Street, Eliza Street and Lytle Street. Collectively referred to as Woodlawn Lofts, the projects are the first residential developments to be brought to the former industrial site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, they advance a larger vision for Hazelwood Green as a welcoming, seamless extension of the greater Hazelwood community \u2014 a place where diversity is not incidental but intentional,\u201d said Austin Gelbard, the managing director for Pittsburgh of New York-based development company Tishman Speyer, which serves as the district\u2019s master developer.<\/p>\n
Construction, the Mill 19 building and the University of Pittsburgh’s BioForge building on Hazelwood Green in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood, on March 21. (Photo by Rich Lord\/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)<\/p>\n
Trek Development also plans to partner with Pittsburgh Scholar House on its other building on the block, which will be a 50-unit apartment<\/a> building facing Lytle Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between the two buildings will sit a 30-unit modular development created by Module, a Garfield-based developer that specializes in off-site construction of housing. Module\u2019s project is supposed to provide \u201cmissing middle\u201d housing for prospective tenants making 80% to 120% of the area median income, according to the developer\u2019s presentation<\/a> to the commission last September.\u00a0<\/p>\n Woodlawn Lofts comes to Hazelwood Green as a proposed zoning change that would pave the way for even more housing in Hazelwood makes its way through City Council.<\/p>\n The proposed change, which would affect portions of Hazelwood that sit between the specially planned district and the Monongahela River, would let most existing industrial uses remain \u2014 including basic processing facilities and manufacturing and assembly. But, crucially, the rezoning would remove the possibility for new \u201chazardous operations<\/a>\u201d in the area, while paving the way for a range of housing options on the stretch of land, such as community homes and multi-unit residential buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trek Development will return to the commission at a later date, when the panel will vote on the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vape shop limits proposal under review<\/p>\n The commission also heard amended plans to change where vape shops and other shops that mostly sell tobacco products can operate throughout the city. A bill aims to reduce young people\u2019s exposure to tobacco products, said Morgan Martin, a legislative aide to City Councilor Bobby Wilson.\u00a0<\/p>\n Introduced by Wilson last September, the bill originally proposed a 1,500-foot buffer between vape shops and day care facilities, other vape shops and elementary and secondary schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n The councilor\u2019s office amended the bill to reduce the buffer to 1,000 feet and exclude other vape shops and day care facilities from buffer requirements, a decision that Martin said would prevent the city from effectively creating a citywide ban on vape shops.\u00a0<\/p>\n The commission typically receives 90 days to make a recommendation to City Council, but the deadline has been extended to June 5. A positive recommendation from the commission would require only a general majority of councilors to vote in favor of the bill, while a negative recommendation would require a super majority to pass.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Townhouses slated for landslide-prone Polish Hill site<\/p>\n The commission preliminarily approved the consolidation of multiple lots in the Polish Hill neighborhood into one, ahead of the construction of townhomes on the landslide-prone land along Herron Avenue.The request came from Upper St. Clair-based developer Seminole Land Partners, which plans to transform the mostly undeveloped land \u2013 city records show about five buildings<\/a>, which Seminole plans to demolish \u2013 into what it\u2019s calling Herron Avenue Townhomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Department of City Planning reviews requests to consolidate lots, with major requests sent to the commission for a vote. A separate zoning approvals process will address the land\u2019s proneness to landslides, said Zoning Administrator Carolyn Ristau.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AJ-CityPlanningMeeting-1.jpg\")
A view of Linoleum Way from the Melwood Avenue Overlook on Feb 23 in Polish Hill. Developer Seminole Land Partners hopes to build townhomes on the site. (Photo by Alex Jurkuta\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n