Across the downtown skyline, iconic forms are adapting new functions. While they’ll never scrape steely skies or bear a corporate logo, they punctuate the landscape with personality and surprising history.
15
total units in Ivy Residences at Triangle Building
200
windows in Triangle Building
3,450
square feet in penthouse of Ivy Residences
Downtown knows a thing or two about reinvention. The city’s latest conversion? None other than the once-functionally obsolete Triangle Building. Hullett Properties, known for Strip District buildings like 2554 Smallman and Pimlico Row, has revitalized the downtown historic landmark at Liberty Avenue and Smithfield Street into 15 residences.
The Ivy Residences apartments are available for lease at ivyresidencespgh.com and have been highly anticipated across the development industry since construction began in August 2022.
“It was one of those really beautiful architectural pieces downtown that was completely underutilized,” said Brett Walsh, principal at Hullett Properties, adding that the firm purchased the property in 2019, when its upper floors were vacant.
The six-story architectural gem features amenities like low-touch, high-technology solutions for access and security, a building bike share and moped, in-suite laundry and most importantly, modern living interiors. Apartment rents start at $2,000, and reduced rents are available for household incomes of 80% Area Mean Income (AMI) or less.
With its distinct flat-iron shape and status on the National Register of Historic Places, the Triangle Building began as a tailor shop in 1885 before transforming into a hotel and restaurant through the decades. Most recently, a publishing house and day care occupied the ground floor.
That flexibility laid the groundwork for Hullett Properties to create flexible leasing arrangements for Ivy Residences. In addition to unfurnished apartments, the property offers fully furnished units for short-term and long-term stays. An upscale eatery from a New York restaurant group and an integrated flower shop will occupy the ground floor.
“In a world of hybrid workforce and people more mobile, the sort of unfurnished 12-month lease structure doesn’t always work for people,” Walsh said. “We’re trying to be responsive to that with the Triangle Building.”
Across the country, the success of office-to-residential conversion projects like the Triangle Building is important to the health of post-pandemic downtown cores, which are facing devaluations of commercial real estate as traditional office buildings empty out in favor of hybrid work schedules and Class-A amenities in adjacent neighborhoods.
While the Triangle Building is one of the first post-pandemic office-to-residential conversions ready for occupancy in downtown Pittsburgh, Hullett Properties has been working on the project for five years, a reflection of the long and arduous process that such projects face in Pittsburgh.
Walsh points to Pennsylvania building code as creating hurdles that add unnecessary expenses and delays for developers like himself to complete projects.
“A lot of outdated building code makes conversions of these types of buildings more challenging than they need to be,” Walsh said, adding that other states and Canadian provinces have removed second egress requirements for low-rise buildings while allowing scissor stairs.
Within his place on the board of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, Walsh enlisted a land-use attorney, architect and other developers to create recommendations for revamping what he sees as outdated building codes.
“Everyone talks about affordable housing, but what are you actually doing to make housing more affordable?” Walsh said, citing technology advancements such as fire suppression and sprinkler systems as opportunities to modernize the existing building code.“ There are mechanisms we’re not taking advantage of that don’t require checks from the federal government or the state.”
Blocks from the Triangle Building, several other recognizable shapes emerge to celebrate their legacy as icons of downtown. In 2024, the fountain at Point State Park marks 50 years as the centerpiece of the region’s confluence. As the tallest fountain in the United States, the landmark shapes about 6,000 gallons per minute to a spout about 150 feet high. The area’s mysterious fourth river, also known as the Wisconsin Glacier Flow, feeds the fountain from 55 feet below ground.
And during downtown’s Oktoberfest celebration, a 60-foot Ferris Wheel – product of the imagination of Pittsburgh inventor George Ferris, who developed his idea for the ride on the North Side -- made a temporary appearance atop the Clemente Bridge. Who can think of a better way to spot the jewels in downtown’s built environment than with a bird’s eye view from the Allegheny River?
For leasing details at Ivy Residences, email leasing@ivyresidencespgh.com or call 412-316-7991.
