A rendering of Three Crossings, a mixed use development in the Strip District.

Oxford Development will break ground today for Three Crossings, an 11-acre mixed-use site in the Strip District. The project will increase the neighborhood’s density and further the objectives of the Allegheny Riverfront Green Boulevard vision plan, intending to reconnect neighborhoods to the riverfronts and each other.

The $130 million project stretches from Railroad Street to Smallman Street between 25th and 29th Streets, to create 10,000 square feet of retail space, 375,000 square feet of office space and 300 residential units known as The Yards at Three Crossings. The Yards will offer studio, one- and two-bedroom units. The offices were designed as flexible space that can be modified to suit tenants’ needs.

Oxford sought to create living and working spaces that were integrated into the larger Strip District community and its riverfront, says the company’s Marketing Coordinator Megan Stearman. A large central courtyard at the Yards will open to the riverfront and allow people to gather around communal fire pits, on the lawn or by the pool.

“People want to be connected. In these spaces we’re making that a possibility. We’re excited about creating that new lifestyle in Pittsburgh,” says Stearman.

Three Crossings will feature the first project of the Green Boulevard plan, a multimodal transportation center that connects downtown to the Strip District and Lawrenceville. Plans for the center include a possible trolley or passenger rail stop, 575 parking spaces, 100 bike storage stations, bike repair and kayak storage. Details were dependent on state funding, receipt of which was confirmed in late October. The state will invest $2.2 million from the Pennsylvania Multimodal Transportation Fund through Act 89, the state’s transportation plan.

WTW Architects provided design services for the project and Rycon Construction is the general contractor. The first office building is expected to be completed by fall 2015 with Rycon as one of its first tenants. The Yards is slated to open April 2016.

Three Crossings is one of 12 Oxford projects underway within city limits. Stearman says the company wants to invest in the city and its future.

“We’re a hometown company, and we’re excited to put energy and effort into developing [Pittsburgh],” she says. “The economy is right, our job growth is finally happening, and our investors see Pittsburgh as being right right now.”

Margaret J. Krauss is a writer, radio producer, and researcher. If not biking Pittsburgh's streets or swimming its rivers, she is likely geeking out about a really good story.