After years of community opposition and a failed lawsuit, developers are moving forward with plans to bring a new mixed-use residential building to Shadyside. 

At a City Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, Strip District-based Indovina Associates Architects shared its plan to build a 10-story building with 117 residential units, as well as office and retail spaces, on the corner of Aiken Avenue and Claybourne Street. 

In 2021, the developer, along with the site owner Mozart Management and Camp 8 Capital, presented the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) with initial plans for 12 stories and 131 units on the site. But that met years of rejected plans, community engagement and a legal battle with a nearby resident in opposition. Now the developers are finally in a position to request the commission’s approval of its project development plan. That vote will take place in two weeks. 

“There was very constructive pieces of the community, separate from heavy-duty opposition, and we worked with those folks to get to this product today,” said Bill Sittig, counsel for the development team. 

Stuck between more housing and maintaining a neighborhood’s character

The site has been a point of debate for nearby Shadyside residents since developers announced plans to construct new housing there. 

After the ZBA denied developers’ initial plans, a revised plan was made in tandem with additional community engagement. 

But even with the changes, residents expressed opposition to the new development. In public testimony submitted during previous ZBA hearings, for instance, residents said the new building was antithetical to the neighborhood’s character, while the current structures on the lot — two Victorian-style, previously single-family homes divided into multiple units — did align with the neighborhood’s character. 

Residents also took issue with the zoning variances and special exceptions that the developers requested of the ZBA, which included exceptions for more density, a higher building and a greater floor-to-area ratio. Some residents considered the requests as proof that the new building wasn’t compatible with the area in which it would be built. Traffic was also an issue for many residents. 

The revised project, however, also drew several letters of support from local businesses and residents, who argued it would be good for Shadyside to contribute to easing the city’s overall affordable housing shortage. 

The ZBA eventually decided to approve the requested zoning variances and exceptions for the revised building plans in March 2023. A Shadyside resident appealed that decision in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, a legal battle that ended only last summer when a judge quashed the appeal. Mozart Management LLC filed a lawsuit against the resident last August, alleging that abuse of the appeal process cost the developer money. 

Mia Hollie is the economic development and housing reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at mia@publicsource.org. 

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Shadyside apartment proposal, long-stalled, heading for a vote

by Mia Hollie, Pittsburgh's Public Source
April 21, 2026

<h1>Shadyside apartment proposal, long-stalled, heading for a vote</h1> <p class="byline">by Mia Hollie, Pittsburgh's Public Source <br />April 21, 2026</p> <p>After years of community opposition and a failed lawsuit, developers are moving forward with plans to bring a new mixed-use residential building to Shadyside.&nbsp;</p> <p>At a City Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, Strip District-based Indovina Associates Architects shared its plan to build a 10-story building with 117 residential units, as well as office and retail spaces, on the corner of Aiken Avenue and Claybourne Street. </p> <p>In 2021, the developer, along with the site owner Mozart Management and Camp 8 Capital, presented the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) with initial plans for 12 stories and 131 units on the site. But that met years of rejected plans, community engagement and a legal battle with a nearby resident in opposition. Now the developers are finally in a position to request the commission’s approval of its project development plan. That vote will take place in two weeks.&nbsp;</p> <p>“There was very constructive pieces of the community, separate from heavy-duty opposition, and we worked with those folks to get to this product today,” said Bill Sittig, counsel for the development team.&nbsp;</p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stuck-between-more-housing-and-maintaining-a-neighborhood-s-character">Stuck between more housing and maintaining a neighborhood’s character</h2> <p>The site has been a point of debate for nearby Shadyside residents since developers announced plans to construct new housing there.&nbsp;</p> <p>After the ZBA denied developers’ initial plans, a revised plan was made in tandem with additional community engagement.&nbsp;</p> <p>But even with the changes, residents expressed opposition to the new development. In public testimony submitted during previous ZBA hearings, for instance, residents said the new building was antithetical to the neighborhood’s character, while the current structures on the lot — two Victorian-style, previously single-family homes divided into multiple units — did align with the neighborhood’s character.&nbsp;</p> <p>Residents also took issue with the zoning variances and special exceptions that the developers requested of the ZBA, which included exceptions for more density, a higher building and a greater floor-to-area ratio. Some residents considered the requests as proof that the new building wasn’t compatible with the area in which it would be built. Traffic was also an issue for many residents.&nbsp;</p> <p>The revised project, however, also drew several letters of support from local businesses and residents, who argued it would be good for Shadyside to contribute to easing the city’s overall affordable housing shortage.&nbsp;</p> <p>The ZBA eventually decided to approve the requested zoning variances and exceptions for the revised building plans in March 2023. A Shadyside resident appealed that decision in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, a legal battle that ended only last summer when a judge quashed the appeal. Mozart Management LLC filed a lawsuit against the resident last August, alleging that abuse of the appeal process cost the developer money. </p> <p><em>Mia Hollie is the economic development and housing reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at </em><a href="mailto:mia@publicsource.org"><em>mia@publicsource.org</em></a><em>.&nbsp;</em></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/shadyside-apartment-plan-aiken-avenue/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh&#039;s Public Source&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-ps_circle_favicon_blue.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=1331752&amp;amp;ga4=G-CCLXQK5C14&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.publicsource.org/shadyside-apartment-plan-aiken-avenue/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/publicsource.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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