After GNC left its former headquarters at 300 Sixth Avenue in Jan. 2021, every tenant in the building left–except for KeyBank at the corner of Wood Street and Oliver Avenue. But Vestiya LLC, part of New York real estate company Victrix LLC, didn’t let the building stay vacant long before the company took interest in turning it into apartments.
LiveWell Apartments, which started life in 1904 as the The McCreery & Co department store and was Pittsburgh-based GNC’s headquarters from 1996 until 2021, holds 254 apartment units ranging in rent from $1500 to roughly $3250 a month. It joins several nearby apartment complexes, such as the Clark building on Liberty Avenue and Piatt Place on Fifth Avenue.
Anoop Dave, CEO of Victirx, said the process of turning the building into apartments wasn’t without its challenges, but is still excited to see the new use for what could have been yet another vacant office building downtown.
At a grand opening ribbon-cutting event held at the apartment complex on Feb. 13, Mayor Ed Gainey praised the development for adding more housing units Downtown.
“It’s been a lot of work and a long time coming,” Gainey said. “It doesn’t happen without everybody.”
Additionally, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamarato was present at the ribbon-cutting and noted that Downtown does not have any tent encampments populated by homeless individuals left because of an “all-of-the-above-approach” to the issue, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.
As for what to expect at LiveWell, Dave said that he hopes a variety of different types of people decide to live in the building–students at Point Park included.
“Our central location offers convenient access to universities, employment centers, cultural attractions and public transportation,” Dave said. [It’s] an ideal home for anyone seeking an urban lifestyle.”
When GNC left the building, so did almost every other tenant in the building except for KeyBank at the corner of Wood Street and Oliver Avenue. Before that, the street-level retail spaces also consisted of a convenience store, Domino’s Pizza, Oliver’s Flower Shop and almost expectedly, a GNC.
Right now, the former retail spaces now have window displays akin to what were once seen at the Kaufmann’s building–only one window of that building is used for display purposes. At LiveWell, the displays are used to showcase the history of the building as well as the block it sits on.
Despite being in use for displays right now, Dave said that he hopes to fill the spaces with retail tenants in the future.
“Our goal is to partner with businesses that will serve as amenities for both our apartment residents and the broader neighborhood,” Dave said. “Options under consideration include restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores and other establishments that will enrich and benefit Downtown Pittsburgh.”
Grant funding helped get the project off the ground, such as a “Paris to Pittsburgh Façade Grant” from the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP), which gave $20,000 towards the project to restore the façade on Wood Street that includes a glass installation from 1939 named “The Puddler.” The installation depicts a steelworker working with molten metal, according to James Van Trump, an architectural historian who co-founded the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Additional funding included $6 million from the Strategic Investment Fund in October 2023 for repurposing the building as apartments.
Dave hopes that LiveWell becomes a piece of the Downtown revitalization puzzle, along with boosting housing numbers in the city. LiveWell may be his company’s first property in Pittsburgh, but Dave says he is “looking hard” for other opportunities.
“One thing we never have enough of is housing,” Dave said, “So we believe this is an excellent place to start. We are also excited to bring more customers back to this intersection that will benefit so many local businesses.”
Although GNC’s tagline is “live well,” it is unclear if the LiveWell apartments are named after the aforementioned slogan.
