Hazelwood Green spent most of the past decade as a site you could see from Second Avenue without having much reason to walk into. That changed in 2026. U.S. Steel Community Field hosted its first public weekend in August. Woodlawn Park Plaza ran movie nights, festivals and fitness classes. A weekly food truck has been parking at Mill 19. Still, the piece that would physically tie all of it back to Second Avenue, a small park at the field entrance, was only a forecast as of mid-September. For now, the strongest link between the old neighborhood street and the new development is a calendar, and one group, Hazelwood Local, runs most of it on both sides.
The Welcome Mat Is Still on Order
Axios Pittsburgh reported on September 14 that another small park was set to open "next month" near the entrance to the football field. Tishman Speyer managing director Austin Gelbard described it as a welcome mat for Hazelwood Green that would help connect the site to Second Avenue. That puts the target in October 2026. We haven't found any confirmation that it has opened, and we haven't seen an official name for it. Treat it as coming, not here yet.
The same Axios piece explains why the developer cares about the connection. Gelbard pointed to the public plaza and park next to Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Innovation Center as the anchor for turning Lytle Street into the neighborhood's main drag, with retail and housing to follow. He also told Axios:
"We want to bring folks down to the site for something fun. There hasn't always been a reason to visit Hazelwood Green."
With no finished walking link yet, the job of giving people a reason to come down has gone to events.
Who Actually Runs the Programming
Hazelwood Green's own site describes Woodlawn Park as a two-acre public event space. It says the programming there is run by Hazelwood Local, an initiative managed by Street Plans, and is open to everyone. Hazelwood Local's calendar isn't limited to Lytle Street, though. Its biggest event this month takes place on Second Avenue.
Here's the fall schedule as posted on the Hazelwood Local calendar and the Hazelwood Green events page:
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Sept. 12 | 2nd Annual Slavic Fest, 6 to 10 p.m. | Hazelwood Green |
| Sun., Sept. 27 | Shakespeare in the Park: The Merry Wives of Windsor, 2 to 4:30 p.m. | Woodlawn Park Plaza, Lytle Street |
| Sat., Oct. 3 | Jubilee on the Green: Hazelwood Local + AWAAC Community Day, with start times that differ between the two calendars | Hazelwood Green |
| Wed., Oct. 14 | Wednesday Wellness: HipHop Dance, 6 to 7 p.m. | Woodlawn Plaza, Lytle Street |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | 5th Annual Fall MiniFest, 3:30 to 6 p.m. | Morning Star Baptist Church lot, 5524 Second Avenue |
| Wed., Oct. 28 | Wednesday Wellness: BodyCon Bootcamp | Woodlawn Plaza, Lytle Street |
The Fall MiniFest is the event that shows what Hazelwood Local is doing. It's the group's fifth year running it, and it's held in a church lot on Second Avenue, not at the new plaza. The listing promises hay rides, a petting zoo, costume activities and fall food. The organizer filling the Hazelwood Green calendar keeps a long-running event on the neighborhood's main street at the same time. That's the closest thing Hazelwood has right now to the connection Tishman Speyer says the entrance park will provide.
The summer followed the same pattern. Hazelwood Local and Row House Cinema put on free lawn movies: "Encanto Sing-Along" on June 5, "Hoppers" on July 10 and an adults-only "Clue" on August 7, with popcorn and vendors on site. Axios ran a photo of one of those nights on the hill as part of its September coverage.
The Field Runs on a Booking Sheet
U.S. Steel Community Field is the largest new public space on the site, and it works differently from the plaza. The ribbon-cutting coverage from Steelers.com dates the ceremony to April 22, 2026. That report says the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Tishman Speyer, Hazelwood Green Youth Sports Charities and Steelers Charities developed the field together, and that Sports Facilities Companies handles day-to-day operations and programming. The Hazelwood Cobras and the Central Catholic Vikings were announced as its home teams.
The ceremony came months before public use. WESA reported that the community opening weekend was August 15 and 16. JADA House International's "Back to School Blast Off" took place on the 15th, and the Cobras played their first youth games on the 16th. The first varsity game on the field's calendar was Central Catholic against Pine-Richland on September 11.
Community use is part of the operating plan, including open field time and community events. To get on the turf, you request field time through the U.S. Steel Community Field site. Nothing we found describes drop-in access. The field's public calendar was last updated in July and doesn't list anything after September 11. That gap probably means the calendar is out of date, not that the field is empty, so check with the operator before planning around it.
So the field depends on reservations, while the plaza is open to anyone. For a casual visit, the plaza events are the easier way in.
Wednesday Is When Both Ends Are Busy
Look at the posted listings by weekday and Wednesday is the one day with two things happening on the Lytle Street side. Grub @ the Green, a weekly food truck, is listed at Mill 19 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on September 30 and October 7. Wednesday Wellness meets at Woodlawn Plaza on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. It's free and open to all abilities. October 14 and October 28 are both Wellness Wednesdays.
Put that next to the Second Avenue places that are already open, and an ordinary Wednesday can cover both halves of the neighborhood:
- Start at La Gourmandine, the French bakery at 5013 Second Avenue, which sells bread, pastries and savory lunch items.
- Cross the street to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Hazelwood at 5006 Second Avenue, which has October programming posted.
- Head down to Mill 19 for the 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. food truck window, if it's running that week.
- On a second or fourth Wednesday, come back for the 6 p.m. Wellness session at Woodlawn Plaza.
A few more Second Avenue spots add to the list. Dylamato's Market at 5414 Second Avenue is an independent grocery with produce, pastries and made-to-order deli food, and a customer note on its own site mentions a reopening after renovation. Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, the culinary workforce-training nonprofit at Flowers and Second, has food events on its calendar for Thursday, October 15, and Thursday, October 29.
Each listing has its own time and place. The route between them, from Second Avenue down to Lytle Street, is the walk the entrance park is supposed to make more welcoming.
What December Is Expected to Bring
The calendar matters right now because the number of people living and working on the site is about to rise. Gelbard told Axios that about 250,000 square feet was developed at Hazelwood Green between 2010 and 2022. Since 2022, about 700,000 square feet has been developed or is under construction. That's nearly three times as much space in four years as in the twelve before them.
Several items are still on the to-do list:
- The first phase of Woodlawn Lofts, the site's first apartment building, was scheduled to open in December. Axios put the total at 160 units, though Hazelwood Green's own site gives a smaller count, and described a mix of market-rate homes, units affordable to lower-income households and units set aside for single parents working on degrees.
- Pitt's BioForge facility was expected to open this fall, next to Mill 19, where ElevateBio, Hellbender and Motional already have offices.
- Lytle Street retail is still a plan. Axios named no tenants.
- About 58 acres at the south end and room for about 1,200 apartments at the north end are still undeveloped.
Each of those dates was a forecast as of September 14. When they arrive, there will be a group of weekday residents and workers on Lytle Street that doesn't exist yet, and there are still no named shops in the buildings around them. Until retail moves in, food trucks, the plaza's Wednesday classes and Second Avenue's existing bakery, library and grocery are what's within walking distance. The Fall MiniFest on October 24 is the next date when the neighborhood's longtime organizer brings the crowd up to Second Avenue instead of down to the plaza.
If you're following how Hazelwood Green's buildout is changing the blocks around Second Avenue, Kevin Schwarz and the Black Key Partners team keep up with what opens, what slips and what each change means for nearby streets. Request a Concierge Consultation and we'll walk you through the details for the corner you care about.
