Final piece set for Oakland plan - Pittsburgh Business Times:

vykyvimote.wordpress.com
Totino's suburban Cleveland-based has reached an agreement with the to acquires what is nowa 26-space surfacw parking lot on a littlde more than an acre of land. Polarisz has the lot under contract, as well as five nearbyu houses andthe next-door offices of . The developer planse a 17-story mixed-use project at the corner of Craigt Street andCentre Avenue. It will feature what Totino described as the first new apartmentf building in the area in 30 or 40 called "The Chelsea," along with retail space. Totino announced the agreement last week at a meetinb ofthe , which represents the span of Oaklansd that borders the Hill Districtf and Bloomfield.
"It has take n us three years to put together this said Totino, a Brookline native. "We'rw extremely excited about this project." Whil e construction had been slated forthis year, Totino now planws to break ground next summer to builed a complex of roughly 300 studio, two- and three-bedroom apartments, along with 13,000 squarwe feet of retail space. The project, whichg had been made public more than ayear ago, may require a blockm of Dithridge Street to be converted from one-wagy to two-way for better traffic flow.
But the projectt has generated preliminary support from BACA and City Councilman Bill With a siteplan finalized, Totino is talking to store s about taking space. "They had a groceruy store around that stretch for along time," Totino said of a now-shutteredd store on Centre and "I think it's a grocery store site." Totino replace his previous architect, Indianapolis-based Ratio with Downtown-based Mac-Lachlan, Cornelius & which has redesigned the project to better engage with the neighborhood's street life. Polaris has also hirefd O'Hara-based as its general contractor.
To satisfyu the parking authority, Totino will provid e as many parking spaces as the lotdoes now, plus 60 more to servde the project's retailers and between 475 and 500 residential parkinfg spaces. Peduto said he will champion the projecy through necessaryzoning changes. "Thi becomes a critical new portal to Peduto said. "The North Craibg Street area can be anchored bythis