Officials attempt to quell fears of higher property taxes from planned development

By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor

MANCHESTER — Snowfall was heavy on Jan. 14, but that did not stop more than 50 people from gathering at Manchester Citizens Corporation to voice their concerns about the upcoming Esplanade development by Piatt Companies.

A community meeting was organized by the office of Councilman Daniel Lavelle, who counts Manchester among his constituency, to give both city officials and representatives from Piatt the chance to explain more about the development and the status of the project.

Esplanade is a development of 15 acres of property along the Ohio riverfront in Chateau, which neighbors Manchester. The planned construction includes 300 apartments, 105+ condos, a grocery store, a local business incubator, a splash park, Ferris wheel, 300,000 square feet of office space and more.

Lavelle explained that he brought the meeting together after the City Planning Commission and the Urban Redevelopment Authority gave approval to the master plan for Esplanade in November.

“Shortly thereafter, my office got lots of calls wanting to know what this was about,” he said. “Wanting to know what was happening with Esplanade development. Many individuals assumed that the approvals meant construction would begin tomorrow, that buildings would get erected. As one person said, ‘Is a Ferris wheel going up tomorrow?’” Lavelle explained the answer to that question was “no,” and that the master plan approval was the city approving of a “conceptual plan” for future buildings at the site, as well as for aspects such as infrastructure and traffic plans.

When it comes time for actual vertical construction, he said, each building will have to get approved through the Planning Commission before work can begin, allowing the public to give input on them.

However, many residents at the meeting expressed more concern about the impact of Esplanade once finished. Mainly, worries were raised that the development could increase property taxes for current residents and force them out of their homes as a result, especially for Black residents.

“How is this going to impact community housing, as far as people being able to keep their houses, as far as Blacks being able to stay in the neighborhood, as far as us not being forced out or ran out,” one woman asked. “I mean, these people didn’t want to be here when we were in the middle of a gang war, but now they want the property and we want to know what you’re going to do and how you’re going to notify us how this is going to impact our community.”

Accusations also flew from attendees over Esplanade meetings being held secretly or without sufficient public notification, though officials in attendance assured all meetings were held publicly in some way, shape or form.

One attendee asked whether a community impact study was conducted to see how Esplanade might affect the current neighborhood and its residents. Lavelle said there had not been one singular community impact study, but other related studies, such as traffic studies or environmental studies, have been conducted.

On the topic of residents being at risk of getting pushed out of their homes by increased property taxes, Lavelle said the city is working on a program to “freeze” taxes for long term homeowners so they are not affected by new developments.

Speaking to The Chronicle after the meeting, Lavelle specified that the program he was referring to is known as Longtime Owner-Occupant Tax Exemption Programs (LOOP), and is a state-level piece of legislation that has to be taken up by individual municipalities. LOOP was passed into law in July 2024.

While Pittsburgh has not yet taken up a specific LOOP program, Lavelle said he expects a bill to be introduced in the first quarter of 2025 to set one up. LOOP allows a municipality to exempt or defer increases in property taxes for residents who have lived in their homes for long periods.

Due to the large amount of concerned comments over how Esplanade would affect existing residents’ taxes, Lavelle committed to holding a second public meeting at some point solely about housing, though an exact date was not given.

Esplanade breakdown

Following initial discussions, the meeting transitioned to a breakdown and explanation of the Manchester-Chateau Transit Revitalization Investment District (TRID), a special designation for the Esplanade property and the surrounding area, given by James Reid, senior manager of development finance with the URA.

A TRID allows municipal bodies to use increased real estate tax revenue generated by a district to pay for projects associated with the development, though often also benefitting the public in the surrounding neighborhoods.

This rendering shows how Esplanade will possibly look upon completion. The development will sit along the Ohio River in the Chateau neighborhood. Rendering courtesy of Piatt Companies

According to Reid, the property on which Esplanade will eventually be located currently generates only around $84,000 in tax revenue a year. Esplanade, when completed, is projected to generate $8 million a year.

Under TRID guidelines, 75% of this revenue will go towards TRID-eligible projects. For example, a slide Reid shared stated that $25 million over the course of the TRID would go toward affordable housing projects in Manchester and Chateau, and $12 million would go towards improving public spaces and public infrastructure.

The remaining 25% of the revenue goes towards taxing bodies who would have jurisdiction over the property, such as Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The TRID would remain in effect for 20 years, after which the revenue would fully go towards the taxing bodies in charge of the area.

Reid mentioned that the URA performed numerous forms of data gathering regarding the TRID, including 45 stakeholder interviews, five public meetings and three batches of surveys, resulting in around 88% support for the TRID. However, a woman in the audience voiced concern that the URA only received responses from around 400 people and was using that to represent the roughly 3,000 people who live in Manchester.

Reid finished up by stressing the benefits Esplanade would have on the community both when under construction and when completed. According to his numbers, Esplanade will create 9,300 jobs during construction and 4,500 sustained afterwards; add more than 300 apartments with 20% being affordable; and contribute $997.5 million in economic impact annually upon completion, contributing $547.7 million to the regional economy.

Next steps

The meeting wrapped up with comments by James Holcomb, director of development for Piatt Companies, discussing the next steps for Esplanade and some of the future plans for the project.

Holcomb said Piatt hopes to commence work on the property before summer this year, though the initial stages will focus on infrastructure for Esplanade, such as erosion control, relocating utilities, installing new utilities and so on. He expects that to take around a year to complete.

During this, the company will also begin making architectural designs for Esplanade’s buildings, which will have to go through approval processes by the URA and Pittsburgh City Planning.

Highlighting some of the planned improvements that will come with Esplanade, Holcomb said Piatt wants to signalize the Juniata Street overpass and make it friendlier to pedestrians in order to “reconnect” Chateau and Manchester.

Holcomb said the TRID allows Piatt to “be better neighbors,” and pointed out that some of the properties Esplanade will sit on have been off tax rolls “since 2003.”

Reactions

LaShawn Burton-Faulk, executive director of Manchester Citizens Corporation, who helped lead the meeting, said she felt there is “misinformation” out about the Esplanade development and saw the meeting as a way to combat that and “de-mystify” the project.

However, Alethia Bush, a Manchester resident since 1983 who was in attendance at the meeting, said she did not feel entirely satisfied with the meeting and information given.

“Me, personally, I was looking for more info on how it would impact the community and homeowners,” Bush told The Chronicle.

“And I don’t feel like we got that tonight,” she added later.

Bush, however, acknowledged there would be more public meetings regarding the development, and hopes further answers will be available moving forward.