About the URA

Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh
About the URA

Showcase Projects:
Crawford Square

Centre Avenue and Crawford Square
Pittsburgh, PA

Project Type

Crawford Square is an 18-acre residential development located on the eastern edge of downtown Pittsburgh that provides a gateway between the downtown business district and the nearby Hill District and creates a new and vital neighborhood recalling the architectural traditions of the neighborhoods to which it is connected. Crawford Square provides quality mixed-income housing in a friendly, pedestrian-oriented neighborhood to residents with a wide range of incomes. The project's street grid is an extension of the Hill District street grid, stitched into the fabric of the existing community.

Special Features

• Downtown Development
• Mixed-Income Housing
• Neotraditional/New Urbanist Design

General Description

Crawford Square includes 426 units of rental as well as for-sale housing. Approximately half of the rental units are subsidized; they are indistinguishable from the market-rate units and are periodically rotated throughout the project. The development is designed to reflect the character and scale of a traditional Pittsburgh residential neighborhood and does not include retail or other commercial development. However, the new residents have helped to attract a new supermarket to the struggling Phoenix Hill Shopping Center located adjacent to Crawford Square.

Planning/Design

The Crawford Square site is located on the eastern edge of downtown Pittsburgh in the lower part of the Hill District, a predominantly African American district of the city. Once a thriving community known for its jazz clubs and ethnic diversity, the area had begun to deteriorate by the 1950s. The community suffered great damage in the 1960s during riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Subsequent urban renewal efforts brought the wholesale removal of homes to make way for construction of the Civic Arena, displacing thousands of lower Hill District residents. The community organized against further commercial encroachment, drawing the line at Crawford Street. The site languished for several years thereafter.

By the late 1980s, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Pittsburgh acquired much of the land and issued a request for proposals to develop the site. Based on its track record of successful inner-city redevelopment, the St. Louis-based development firm of McCormack Baron Associates was selected as developer for the project. McCormack Baron then enlisted the services of Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates (UDA), an architectural firm with similar inner-city redevelopment credentials, to complete a master plan for the project.

A project committee composed of the development team and local community leaders and residents was formed, and the master-planning process was heavily influenced by public input. Through numerous meetings a plan emerged to develop a traditional Pittsburgh residential neighborhood evoking the scale, density, and architectural style of existing East End neighborhoods. UDA conducted formal surveys to determine the defining characteristics of those neighborhoods and incorporated their best aspects in its master plan. The development team sought to establish a mixed-income neighborhood that included multiple housing types-multifamily, townhomes, and single-family homes-in a wide range of prices.

The master plan creates an intimate urban pattern with tight streetscapes and narrow street widths and short 20- to 25-foot building setbacks. The plan called for housing in the Colonial Revival style common in East End neighborhoods. The homes feature tall, narrow windows, bay windows, dormers, and gable ends facing the street. The facades are constructed of brick and clapboard siding for quality and stability. All buildings-single family, multifamily, and apartments-are two to three stories in height with front and back yards and front porches. Apartment buildings and townhomes feature rear courtyards. The development avoids a cookie-cutter appearance by encouraging variation in design and mixing of building types.

The project committee wanted to ensure that Crawford Square offered the amenities of a market-rate development and was designed with the same standard of quality, avoiding the appearance of a subsidized development. Amenities include a community center and swimming pool for residents' use. To further establish and connect Crawford Square to the wider community, the land plan creates three new public parks.

New urbanist design principles were employed in both neighborhood and housing design to create a safe and stable neighborhood. Front porches and short setbacks encourage interaction among residents while allowing them to claim "ownership" of neighborhood spaces; the design of the neighborhood leaves no A"unclaimed" space. Public spaces and sidewalks are well-lighted. Despite some initial concerns, crime has been practically nonexistent; as a further deterrent, a few city police officers were encouraged to relocate to the neighborhood by an offer of reduced rents.

The modified street grid of Crawford Square seeks to reconnect the Hill District to the downtown core. "We wanted to enable the community to expand toward downtown should the possibility arise," says Barry Long, project manager with UDA. An east/west connection with downtown is largely blocked by the parking lots of the Civic Arena that border Crawford Street on the western edge of the development; the street grid therefore emphasizes a strong north/south orientation with the existing Hill District street grid. The new Protectory Place, with a wide tree-lined median, forms the north/south spine of the neighborhood. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the median also serves to calm traffic.

Crawford Square is a pedestrian-oriented development that acknowledges the reality of the automobile. Some intersections in the community are bulbed to slow traffic, and stop signs are present at all intersections. Sidewalks connect the entire development, both internally and with the surrounding community, and they feature the planting strips, brick strips, and street trees common in Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Low, decorative street lamps keep the sidewalks well-lighted at night. Residents of Crawford Square enjoy easy pedestrian access to public transportation and to the business district and downtown attractions.

The steep 15 percent slope of the site precluded the development of the alleys and rear-loaded garages found in a traditional neighborhood. Single family homes feature full basements with front-loaded garages located 12 feet beneath the front porch, hidden from the street. Apartment buildings and townhomes form a perimeter around the parking areas, hiding them from view; an electronic key card is required to enter these parking areas. Space devoted to off-street parking was kept to a minimum. The city revised its parking standards, allowing for a low 1:1 ratio of units to parking spaces. Ample on-street parking is available for visitors, which further serves to slow traffic through the neighborhood.