Tribune-Review
Walnut Capital completes purchase of Samson Funeral Home
Sam Spatter
Saturday, July 24, 2004

Walnut Capital Partners has purchased the H. Samson Funeral Home property in Oakland and plans to build "upscale luxury condominiums" on the site.

In confirming the sale yesterday, Todd Reidbord, a Walnut Capital partner, said the Shadyside-based company has hired the Astorino architectural firm, of Pittsburgh, to design the complex and the Howard Hanna Real Estate Service to market the units.

The sale price was not disclosed for the property, located at 537 N. Neville St.

The seller is the Cincinnati-based Alderwoods Group, which also owns the H.P. Brandt Funeral Home in Ross and the Burton Hirsch Funeral Home in Squirrel Hill.

Reidbord said the team of Astorino, Hanna and Walnut Capital, are conducting studies to determine the design and amenities planned for the project, which he said will be "a gracious building in a great location."

"We plan to begin demolition of the funeral home fairly soon, but no determination has yet been made on the number of units nor when construction will begin," he added.

Presale of the units is planned prior to construction.

The Samson site is the second major condominium project for Walnut Capital, which has been primarily involved in the development of mid-sized shopping centers and acquisition of apartments. The company is having success with its new 12-unit Beechwood Commons townhouse condominium complex, in Squirrel Hill, where prices start in the range of $525,000 to $595,000. Four of the units have been sold.

Howard Hanna's commercial unit handled the Samson's sale. Brokers involved were Kelly Bolen and Jay Phoebe. Also involved was Roz Neiman, a residential agent.

The Samson name will continue in the Pittsburgh region, said Pat McDermott, supervisor at Brandt Funeral Home. He said all funeral facilities of the business have been transferred to the Brandt location at 1032 Perry Highway.

"We will continue providing the Samson service to families in the region, and families interested in reaching us can use the same Samson telephone number," he said.

The name has been associated with funeral services in the Pittsburgh region for the past 145 years, since it was founded in 1859 by Hudson Samson, a Pulaski, N.Y., native and undertaker who moved here at age 19. It has been a premier funeral home in the city, serving some of the region's most prominent, historic and best-known families -- Heinz, Mellon, Scaife, Hunt and Hillman, among them.

Members of the Samson family owned the funeral home until 1995 when Elinor Samson, wife of third-generation owner Howard Samson, died. It was acquired by CMS West, owned by the Stoecklein family, which in turn sold it and five other funeral homes to Loewen Group International of Canada.

Loewen declared bankruptcy in 1999 but emerged in 2002 as the Alderwoods Group.

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