Operators of Bakery Square in Pittsburgh’s East End unveiled plans this week for a six-story mixed-use building on Penn Avenue during a presentation to the Pittsburgh Planning Commission.
Pittsburgh-based developer Walnut Capital, which owns and operates Bakery Square, presented the plans for the 2.36-acre site. If approved, the building would include nearly 200 residential units and 6,700 square feet of office space.
Tuesday’s meeting did not include a segment for public comment.
At least 10 of the apartments, or 5%, will be reserved as affordable for people who make between 80% and 120% of the area median income.
Jonathan Kamin, a lawyer representing Walnut Capital, presented the building’s exterior design.
“You can see it’s a combination of glazed brick, your regular red smooth brick, some cast stone, some fiber cement, which matches the brick, and then these blue accent colors that we’re talking about, which again we think is extremely attractive,” Kamin said.
The Pittsburgh Planning Commission is chaired by LaShawn Burton-Faulk. Other members include Rachel O’Neill, Bob Reppe, Justin Hunt, Gerardo Interiano, Darrin Kelly, Peter Quintanilla, David Vatz and Diamonte Walker.
Planning commission members responded favorably to the proposal.
“I think this is a great building. It really does add a lot to the personality and the place in East Liberty,” Quintanilla said.
Burton-Faulk and O’Neill, who’s vice chair, both praised the material and color palettes.
“I think blue is great … I felt like it gave a little presence to the corner, gave me a little bit of a John Wick, his hotel vibe,” Burton-Faulk said, referring to the fictional Continental luxury hotels in the John Wick action movies.
Project representatives said the landscaping plan will primarily use native plant species, subject to final staff approval. The proposed plantings were selected for durability, particularly given the site’s proximity to Penn Avenue.
Some of the native landscaping palette included feather reed grass, blue grama grass, Gardenview Scarlet beebalm, chokeberry, PowWow Wild Berry coneflower, Mount Airy dwarf fothergilla, indigo and sea oats, along with London planetrees.
The presentation also outlined the project’s transportation demand management plan. Kamin said the building will be integrated into the broader campus transportation network, with tenants receiving information about public transit, shuttle services to local universities and other multimodal travel options.
“As you know, we are right on the bus line, and we have tremendous access also to the busway,” Kamin said.
Planned improvements include upgraded bus shelters and a secure bicycle storage room. Developers said the transportation strategy is designed to reduce reliance on personal vehicles by emphasizing transit, biking and shuttle access.
Walnut Capital opened the first phase of Bakery Square in 2009.
Last year, Pittsburgh City Council passed two bills allowing Walnut Capital to expand the footprint of Bakery Square. The development now spans 20 acres in Pittsburgh’s Larimer and Shadyside neighborhoods. It started in the former Nabisco bakery property.
In September 2023, Walnut Capital Acquisitions Inc., Larimer Consensus Group and the Village Collaborative signed a community benefits agreement. Walnut Capital agreed to partner with various community groups to amplify the impact of its investment in Bakery Square in the surrounding communities.
“Over the past five years there have been more than 20 meetings to discuss the way that this development, as a whole, can contribute to the greater good of the neighborhood,” the proposal said.
The building is planned for the property where Shady and Penn avenues meet, a former site of Club One next to the Trader Joe’s grocery store. The space requires 108 parking spots, five of which will be ADA compliant. Seventy parking spaces will be provided on site, with an additional 38 spaces located elsewhere within Bakery Square.
In 2024, Walnut Capital intended to build a 10-story structure with 400 apartments on the site. In December 2025, it announced that it would scale back the project, to the six-story building. Speaking to the Pittsburgh Business Times, Walnut Capital president Todd Reidbord cited the “triple whammy of (higher) construction costs, delay and a little bit of a slow down in the general economy” for downsizing the project.