Editor’s note: This story first appeared in a Public Source neighborhood zine, a print project created to highlight the people, places and stories shaping Pittsburgh communities. Find a physical copy near you or view the digital version here.
When architects constructed an addition to Larimer School in 1932, it served a different purpose than the school’s two existing buildings.
While the other buildings were mostly classrooms, the new structure featured a 400-seat auditorium for live performances and a small gymnasium. Its facade also stood out: a limestone entryway held up by two Roman-style columns.
“It was very clear what they had in mind, architecturally, was that they wanted something that was actually neighborhood-facing,” said Joe Bute, the co-founder and president of Food21, a nonprofit that works to improve local food economies. “In other words, this is a community asset.”
After years of planning and restoration, Food21 will start construction on transforming the now-defunct auditorium and gym into Celebration Hall. The project aims to return the space to community use, with event space, a food hall and a demonstration kitchen supported by local culinary entrepreneurs.
“What they want to see happen is this sort of change in the outlook that everybody has about what it’s like to be living in the Larimer community.”
Joe Bute, co-founder and president of food21
The project is one of several changes in the neighborhood since residents banded together in the 1990s to reverse Larimer’s infrastructure decay. Those efforts led to a $30 million redevelopment project funded by a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant, which brought new rental housing to the area, improvements to existing housing and new parks.
As a separate effort to bring for-sale homes online gains steam, Donna Jackson, CEO of the nonprofit Larimer Consensus Group, hopes community assets such as Celebration Hall will draw new residents.
“It’s something put in a beautiful space inside a community that I feel that has been forgotten about,” she said. “You go to the Squirrel Hills and then the Highland Parks, and they have those kinds of spaces. What’s wrong with us having it in our own communities?”
Building on Larimer’s foundations
The building was in poor shape when Bute first entered Larimer School in 2020. What he thought was carpet turned out to be moss, and the roof was gone. But Larimer Consensus Group made clear it wanted to preserve the structure, he said.
Those priorities reflect Larimer’s past: Starting in the 1950s, Italian families relocated to suburbs such as Penn Hills and Plum while urban renewal pushed Lower Hill residents into new neighborhoods including Larimer.
By the 1960s, urban renewal had made its way to East End neighborhoods. Larimer’s population declined by about 2,000 residents in a decade. The school closed in 1980.
“That’s one of the things that I’m just trying to understand,” Jackson said. “Why do you come to urban communities [and] instead of helping to revamp it, let it go down to nothing and then tear it up and then rebuild, when sometimes you have solid foundations that you could just rehab?”
Instead of tearing down the old school, Mistick Construction stabilized and renovated it, replacing floors, adding ceilings and removing a mezzanine from the auditorium.
“It’s something put in a beautiful space inside a community that I feel that has been forgotten about.”Donna Jackson, ceo of larimer consensus group
The next phase will transform the space into a food hall, based on designs by mossArchitects, with space for a demonstration kitchen, as well as a commercial kitchen for minority-owned food businesses through Catapult Greater Pittsburgh, which partners with Food21, Allegheny Health Network and Giant Eagle to run a food business accelerator.
Participants will operate out of Celebration Hall for six months to a year, Bute said, serving as “caterers-in-residence.”
Bringing families back
As Walnut Capital announced plans to expand the nearby Bakery Square complex, it committed $25 million, through a combination of its own funds and fundraising, to the rehabilitation and construction of for-sale homes in Larimer through its “Build 100” initiative.
The City of Pittsburgh and the Urban Redevelopment Authority also plan to sell about 250 vacant parcels, covering roughly 16 acres in the neighborhood, to developers interested in creating new housing.
Celebration Hall and other nearby community assets, including Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School, Steel City Squash and The Kingsley Association, complement the neighborhood’s broader goal of attracting new residents, Jackson said.
“We want to bring strong, working families back into Larimer.”
Since relocating to the former Abraxas Pittsburgh School on Turrett Street in 2016, the Urban Academy has bought roughly 40 parcels of land in Larimer, said CEO Chase Patterson. The school has already completed the redevelopment of a fraternity house on Meadow Street, which includes an administration office, lounge and demonstration kitchen. Plans also call for an early childcare center.
The full expansion also includes an apartment building with about 40 units, three single-family homes and several townhouses, he said. “The target audience for those rentals would be teachers, working professionals, essential workers …” Patterson said. Some units, he added, will be reserved for high school students, particularly those who will be first-generation college students, to help prepare them for independent living.
Dexter Hairston, the executive director of The Kingsley Association, said community-focused developments can meet broader neighborhood needs. The association houses Duolingo’s early childhood bilingual program, which brings working-class professionals in closer contact with East End neighborhoods.
“We serve over 25 different ZIP codes,” he said. “So we’re getting people from all over, and it puts us at the nexus of really understanding what people want and need.”
Steel City Squash moved to a new facility in Larimer in 2024 after operating on the University of Pittsburgh campus since 2015. The space includes an all-glass championship court and AI-responsive coaching technology, and it is one of the largest squash facilities in the country, making it a destination for players, said Executive Director Brad Young.
“It’s a way for us to really create a space for opportunity and the chance to build that social capital,” he said.
For Bute, adding Celebration Hall fits with the neighborhood’s recent investments and what comes next.
“All of that stuff is great, but now what they want to see happen is this sort of change in the outlook that everybody has about what it’s like to be living in the Larimer community.”
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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