You Can’t Build that Here — Palm Garden Apartments
January 3, 2024
Our sixth entry in the You Can’t Build That Here series takes us to a 1937 apartment complex in Mt Washington .
For our sixth entry in our “You Can’t Build That Here!” series, we climb to the top of Mt Washington overlooking the Golden Triangle.
Each entry in this series highlights a currently existing building that would be illegal to build under the existing zoning code. The purpose is to highlight how flawed our zoning code is.
Today, we’re looking at 873 Boggs Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15211 - the Palm Garden Apartments. This is a collection of 3 apartment buildings built in a triangle formation.
Each building is 3.5 stories, with a total of 54 studio and 1 bedroom apartments spread among the 3 of them, renting for around $800 a month each, which is very affordable considering the average rent in Pittsburgh today is $1,512 a month.
Initially, these buildings were constructed as luxury apartments in 1937. The rent at the time was $42.50 to $47.50 a month, compared to an average home renting for $26.00 a month.
Here is a 1939 aerial shot of the apartment buildings, two years after construction.
The 2.25 acre (98,000 square feet) lot it sits on, 15-N-75, is zoned P (Parks District).
If we look at the conditional use table, we see that only Single Family Residential are permitted by right in Parks Districts. So any apartment buildings, like those at the Palm Garden Apartments, are prohibited from being built by right. They require a zoning variance. (And if anyone remembers the , a Zoning Variance in a Park district can be .)
