Port Authority's plan for car-free communities slow to bear fruit

By Melissa Daniels Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015, 10:40 p.m.

 

Cars fill the parking lot in front of the Castle Shannon light-rail stop on weekdays, giving more than 500 suburban commuters access to Pittsburgh without the hassle of driving and parking Downtown.

 

Port Authority of Allegheny County officials hope that, in a few years, some commuters will be able to board the train steps from their front doors.

 

The Castle Shannon T stop is one of three sites for proposed transit-oriented development, or TOD, where apartments and retail shops are built around stations.

 

Port Authority is progressing on lease agreements at Castle Shannon, South Hills Village and Dormont Junction, all of which have been in the works for years.

 

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8859937-74/lease-authority-port#ixzz3knqbcKVS

 

Finally some real plans for the old arena site.  I think that it looks great in many ways and a nice addition. My main concern would be on street level.

 

Designers, architects unveil plans for Lower Hill District redevelopment

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2015/11/18/Bjarke-Ingels-Group-designers-architects-unveil-plan-for-Pittsburgh-Lower-Hill-District-old-Civic-Arena-site/stories/201511180202

 

In the master plan for the Lower Hill District redevelopment, the Bjarke Ingels Group and its partners propose doubling the green space from the preliminary land development plan and creating eight structures of terraced housing to give residents in 1,200 units views of Pittsburgh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed.  Street level could either really work or really suck.  The renderings aren't doing it justice.

^^^This really sucks... I was in Pittsburgh on business a few years ago staying at the old Wm. Penn Hotel and, one afternoon, went over to Macy's, a block away.  It seemed a little dead, but the locals were proud to have a downtown dept store, unlike Cleveland of course... but it'll soon be history.  I guess we're moving to the point where only New York and Chicago will have major downtown department stores ... and even that's not certain.

 

Hey, don't leave out San Francisco! Union Square is kicking a$$...thanks to tourists saving money buying in America before flying home. The majority of people I see at the SF Macy's flagship and other similar flagships are from outside the country. I still support brick and mortar, and will keep shopping locally for as long as I can. I know Amazon wants to wipe out brick and mortar retail, but screw 'em and all the pointless on-demand delivery apps designed to make Americans even lazier. It will be a cold day in hell before I stop shopping at Union Square. The girls alone are worth it. :wink:

 

If your city doesn't have street-level retail, your city is going to suck. If we go to an online-only retail model, expect dead streets everywhere, even New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco.

 

I was under the impression that retail was the one area where Pittsburgh was still struggling, typical of other Rust Belt cities. As hot as Pittsburgh is right now (people in SF and Oakland are now talking about it constantly- "the next Portland"), its airport numbers suggest it's not a hotspot for jetsetters. It is really, really hard for retail to survive outside of tourist-heavy cities. Tourism is the real reason San Francisco and New York City have such vibrant retail districts. Without millions upon millions of tourists, things would be much more dire. :|

 

Pittsburgh is reaching a point where it could really steal the thunder from millennial relocation hotspots like Portland, Seattle, and Austin. When people are priced out of the Bay, they invariable move to one of those three cities. The tides are starting to turn to the Rust Belt though, with Pittsburgh and Detroit leading the tech pack.

 

We've reached a point in America where young people who aren't rich can no longer move to first tier markets like New York City, San Francisco Bay, etc. Even cities like Chicago, Boston, DC, and LA are starting to get prohibitively expensive for a young person starting out. The opening for the Rust Belt is there, and bravo to Pittsburgh for going after it. America's housing market has never been more brutal on its young college grads. The cities where they are most likely to get a job are also the ones most likely to prevent them from ever owning a house. If the Rust Belt cities can poach companies from the economically vibrant cities, the Rust Belt will boom big time...or better yet, start landing the bulk of series A venture capital.

 

Ohio cities should be looking at Pittsburgh and keeping a close eye on its demographic trends.

Chicago is still pretty affordable, the only areas getting pretty crazy are near the loop (esp. the west loop).  There are still huge swaths of the city that are pretty much like every other great lakes area rust belt city - its like if San Francisco was blended with Detroit, its really that extreme.

 

Wish Cincy would get the level of hype that Pittsburgh is getting - people down there need to try harder.

I think Pittsburgh gets so much recognition because it's one of America's comeback stories. Arguably any city in America is a comeback story to some degree, but Pittsburgh was the epitome of down and out. Same with Cleveland, and now that we're starting to really move in the right direction, we're the media darlings (Pitt more than CLE). Cincinnati never really got to the levels of the rust belt cities in decay and urban woes which is a good thing I might add. Just my observations

I think Pittsburgh gets so much recognition because it's one of America's comeback stories. Arguably any city in America is a comeback story to some degree, but Pittsburgh was the epitome of down and out. Same with Cleveland, and now that we're starting to really move in the right direction, we're the media darlings (Pitt more than CLE). Cincinnati never really got to the levels of the rust belt cities in decay and urban woes which is a good thing I might add. Just my observations

 

I agree.  Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit all hit "bottom" in the media much harder than, say, Cincinnati or a Milwaukee.  It's natural to root for the "comeback kids" that have been shown negatively in the media in the past.

I think it's more than media - it was a real bottom. Even though it was already suffering with manufacturing losses in the 70s, Pittsburgh had the steel industry essentially collapse in the 80s. It was devastating. On a small scale, Youngstown, Steubenville, and Wheeling got hit really hard too.

I don't think any city got hit harder and faster than Youngstown which was mostly a one-industry town. A high-schooler in Youngstown who started their freshman year in September 1977 did so with all six city-sized steel mills in near full operation in the Mahoning valley with more than 50,000 well-payed mill workers employed in a metro area of 500,000. By the time that student graduated in June 1981, all of the mills were shut down except one in Warren and a small part of one in Struthers. More than 40,000 workers were laid off with no notice and steel companies went bankrupt, so many workers lost their pensions too. Supportive industries -- railroads, trucking, equipment suppliers, mining, utilities, retailers, restaurants -- were slammed as well. By 1984, the unemployment rate in Greater Youngstown was 25 percent. One biz did well -- the Mafia. No one could sell their houses or businesses, so people hired the Mafia to burn them down. The mob had corrupted the fire department from the chief on down through the ranks to declare the fires as accidental. The owners could now collect the insurance money and give a share of that money to the mob. In the early 1980s there were 300 fires a year in the city of Youngstown! Since most of them were set during the spring and summer, it was common for their to be multiple structural fires each night. So Youngstown went from smoke and fire coming from its mills to the flames coming from its neighborhoods -- until the city finally went cold. I remember that era well, unfortunately. I still can't believe it happened.

 

And to bring us back to Pittsburgh....

 

Some of the Mon Valley towns like Homestead, Braddock, McKeesport, etc. as well as a few in the opposite direction along the Ohio, like McKee's Rocks and Aliquippa, suffered a fate similar to Youngstown's. But that's where Pittsburgh proper avoided the worst of the steel industry shutdown. There were few mills in the city itself and only one large one that I can think of -- Jones & Laughlin's South Side Works -- which stood on both sides of the Monongahela. It's now the site of a lifestyle center. But the nearby commercial district along East Carson Street and high-density neighborhoods that served the mill's workers since the late 1800s survived relatively unscathed and were refurbished. While some may curse the decision to build a lifestyle center next to the old East Carson district, it was certainly a better development choice than the prior one -- putting a new Pirates baseball stadium there. I shudder to think how many historic buildings would have been lost to surface parking. Now the transition from the historic East Carson district to the SouthSide Works development is near-seamless. Today, the mixed use district along East Carson is one of my most favorite urban environments anywhere. Its dense and mixed, but no tall buildings. It's got great, historic architecture using lots of brick and stone and has a nice mix of mom-n-pop shops and national chains.

^ Great post, KJP. I'm not old enough to remember the South Side works mill being open, but I do have vivid memories of going down to that area to visit Primanti Brothers with my family, as that was the closest location to my Grandma's house. The entire neighborhood and Carson St. corridor was so run down and abandoned. Other than Primantis and a couple of really seedy looking dive bars, there was really nothing there. When I see the South Side today, I honestly cannot believe it's the same place as the scary, bombed out place I saw as a child. Carson Street seems to go on for miles with bars, restaurants, and shops. South Side Works is a lifestyle center, yes, but it's pretty well designed (IMO) and has added a lot of residential, retail, and office space to the neighborhood. I think Pittsburgh's South Side is one the best urban renaissance stories in the country.

 

Had no idea about the plans to put the Pirates stadium there, though. Thank God that didn't happen. Traffic on Carson Street is pretty terrible, and there's limited access to and from the area, given the topographical situation. Getting 40,000 people in and out of there routinely would have been a nightmare. Not to mention the parking situation, which probably would have resulted in the destruction of historic building stock, as you mentioned, KJP.

 

Also heartbreaking to read about the sudden collapse of Youngstown. I honestly sometimes forget about Youngstown existing these days. Given its location between Cle and Pgh, you'd think that some sort of rebound would be possible. Let's hope. While I was in Cleveland this summer, a family friend (Cle native) said that the remote car starter was invented in Youngstown due to the amount of mob car bombings. Anyone else ever hear that?

Also heartbreaking to read about the sudden collapse of Youngstown. I honestly sometimes forget about Youngstown existing these days. Given its location between Cle and Pgh, you'd think that some sort of rebound would be possible. Let's hope. While I was in Cleveland this summer, a family friend (Cle native) said that the remote car starter was invented in Youngstown due to the amount of mob car bombings. Anyone else ever hear that?

 

A google search reveals the first remote car starter was invented by Theodore Galvani and Giuseppe Barratelli of Illinois in 1960s. However, there were a lot of car bombings in Youngstown in the 1960s and 70s as the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Mafia families vied for control of the lucrative gambling rackets in Youngstown. My aunt and uncle moved out of their south side Youngstown house for Boardman in the 1960s after a neighbor's car was blown up. Those were called "Youngstown Tune-Ups."

 

By the way, if you or anyone else wants an eye opener, go on to zillow.com and check the prices of for-sale and rental homes in Pittsburgh vs Cleveland. Most of the homes in the East Carson Street/SouthSide area are listing for $200,000 to $600,000 as are many homes in the the Oakland area of Pittsburgh and over to East Liberty, that was a blighted mess from the 1960s to the 1990s. The universities and cultural amenities of Oakland have long been one of the Burgh's great assets but now the tech companies are moving into East Liberty/Bakery Square which has lifted up the areas between that and Oakland, namely Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. It's a very large area with a dense mix of housing and shops, and the housing values have shot through the roof here.

 

Compare that to Cleveland where housing is less expensive, with the Pittsburgh-comparable prices confined to small areas downtown and very close to University Circle.

I am from the Youngstown area (Columbiana County).  I honestly feel like we don't fit in at all with the majority of Ohio.  If it wasn't for this site, I would completely forget about what is happening in places like SW Ohio because it just isn't on my radar.  My dream is for NE Ohio to break off and become its own state one day because it is quite different from Ohio's other regions, but it's just a dream  :-D.  The Youngstown-Warren metro has well over 560,000 residents and over 700,000 counting Mercer in Pennsylvania.  Both sides of my family come from Western Pennsylvania, and you will find a lot of people in this area that trace their roots back to Central and Western parts of the state.  I feel a stronger connection with Cleveland just because I prefer Cleveland's diversity and offerings over Pittsburgh's.  I feel like Clevelander's appreciate Pittsburgh far better than Pittsburgher's treat Cleveland, and you see it a lot on these urban sites.  No way in hell Pittsburgh is that much more superior like many Pittsburgh residents would have you believe, just like Pittsburgh isn't some backwater metro area of West Virginia like some Clevelanders would have you believe.

 

ohpenn put it well, not only did Pittsburgh lose its manufacturing base in the 70s, but the steel industry collapsed in the 80s.  Pittsburgh was essentially Detroit of the 80s.  I feel no two cities fell as hard as Pittsburgh and Detroit.  Pittsburgh really turned to its universities and diversifying its economy in the late 80s and early 90s.  Since then, the turnaround has been impressive, but there is still a lot of work to do in some very downtrodden river areas that are just downright depressing.  Cleveland has massive surface lots in the Warehouse District, but Pittsburgh has massive surface lots on the South Shore, Strip District, and North Shore.  Their tight little downtown where the three rivers meet isn't without its scars.  Just like Cleveland, there are plans to build on those lots, but we will see. Both cities have impressive institutions that are major drivers in their respective economies. 

 

Being from the Mahoning Valley, I saw both sides of the Cleveland/Pittsburgh rivalry and admittedly never fully understood it because I am from neither, but I feel like there are very few areas in the country that can make such a drastic comeback as this region.  Just looking at how well connected it already is (the region in night time aerials, an impressive Cleveburgh corridor exists).  We are at the border where the NE meets the Midwest, and right between New York and Chicago.  It really is in my opinion, the most underrated region of the country in terms of cost of living, quality of living, and the abundance of resources we have.

 

Pittsburgh's development is impressive, but unlike a lot of Pittsburgh posters elsewhere would ever dare to say, Cleveland's are just as equally impressive.

My dream is for NE Ohio to break off and become its own state one day because it is quite different from Ohio's other regions, but it's just a dream

 

Every region of Ohio is quite different from every other region.  Southeast Ohio and Northwest Ohio are nothing alike. 

I feel like Clevelander's appreciate Pittsburgh far better than Pittsburgher's treat Cleveland

 

 

I'm not sure about that. I mean, you have the ignorant sport fan types in Pittsburgh, just like other places that dump on a rival city in hyperbole, but

I have seen Clevelanders make silly derogatory Appalachian comments.  That said, I think Pittsburgh tends to have more of the Philly type ugliness at times.

 

I'm sure many of have seen similar Cleveland and Cincy. All are great cities with their own idiosyncrasies etc.

 

 

From a population stand point, all of the steel areas saw big population drops in the 80s (and really before and after it), but I think that the Steubenville area (where I grew up) and Wheeling metros had 2 of the 3 biggest % population losses of the 80s. No doubt that Youngstown got hit hard, but the smaller the area the more dependent it was on the industry.

I would surmise that

 

the housing values have shot through the roof here.

 

largely because of

 

a dense mix of housing and shops

 

Cleveland has done little to rekindle commerce in its blighted areas, it has allowed countless mixed-use structures to be replaced with single-use, and it has added acres and acres of new development that is residential-only.  The policies behind these trends need to change, and Pittsburgh may be a good model to consider when revising them.  Neighborhood retail is not optional and it never has been.  Cleveland should stop at nothing to bring pedestrian-friendly business back to its neighborhoods.

Real estate developers: "They see Downtown Pittsburgh, long a diamond in the rough, as a ripe place to make money" https://t.co/nDwWWntatx

Next chapter in the remarkable recovery of Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood: The trendy hotels come

By Susan Glaser, The Plain Dealer

on March 03, 2016 at 8:03 AM, updated March 04, 2016 at 11:39 AM

 

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania – In Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood, Home Depot is more than a building supply company. It's an economic development stimulus.

 

Community leaders cite the long-sought opening of Home Depot here in 1998 as the beginning of the neighborhood's long, slow comeback from decades of decay.

 

After Home Depot came Whole Foods, then Trader Joe's, then Target – all proof positive that this once downtrodden area was on the upswing.

 

Then, late last year, came a new and different kind of progress: the opening of two trendy hotels, Ace and Hotel Indigo, which elevated the area from burgeoning residential and retail center to up-and-coming tourist destination.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2016/03/the_next_chapter_in_the_recove.html

The drastic downturn in the oil and gas industry will hurt Pittsburgh more than any other northern city.  Pittsburgh is headquarters for both the Marcellus and Utica shakes, and housed large regional offices in South Point for many of these drillers.

True, but oil/gas appears to have bottomed out. So whatever harm to Pittsburgh would have already happened. Pittsburgh also has some tech offices (some in East Liberty) and PNC is strong. Plus Kennametal just moved downtown from Latrobe.

Funding finalized for plan to build park capping I-579 Downtown #Pittsburgh

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/10855193-74/grant-officials-million

 

Funding finalized for plan to build park capping I-579 Downtown #Pittsburgh https://t.co/UoxdU4vQiE @TribLIVE https://t.co/yOC1rGxoy2

 

Its crazy that Cleveland didn't try to do the same thing with the mall and the Shoreway.  80% covered by Federal funds..

Funding finalized for plan to build park capping I-579 Downtown #Pittsburgh https://t.co/UoxdU4vQiE @TribLIVE https://t.co/yOC1rGxoy2

 

Its crazy that Cleveland didn't try to do the same thing with the mall and the Shoreway.  80% covered by Federal funds..

 

Covered Shoreway and a beautiful new doorstep to the Lakefront.....now that would be transformative.

Funding finalized for plan to build park capping I-579 Downtown #Pittsburgh https://t.co/UoxdU4vQiE @TribLIVE https://t.co/yOC1rGxoy2

 

Its crazy that Cleveland didn't try to do the same thing with the mall and the Shoreway.  80% covered by Federal funds..

 

For some reason Cleveland doesn't think they can get federal funds so they often don't even try, or they settle for lesser plans and then put "phantom" local contributions as their match, like land or future revenues, not real money. Then they get denied and say "see, told ya we can't get federal funds in Cleveland."

After the apparent success of the Republican National Convention there, I'd say Cleveland has a pretty sizable amount of political capital to go big on a funding request to the Feds on a cap for the Shoreway, if not more besides. The time is ripe for them to be even more aggressive on projects that really build on all that they were able to showcase of the city that enabled them to draw and host the RNC.

 

Pittsburgh's I-579 cap looks like it's going to be nice, something that really contributes to the overall aesthetic of their downtown as the core of the city, making it an even more attractive place to visit and spend time in. Nice to see another Rust Belt city on the comeback trail.

Selfless plug, see "PARK/TERMINAL PROJECT" from 2009...

 

http://www.hortonharper.com/

Selfless Shameless plug, see "PARK/TERMINAL PROJECT" from 2009...

 

http://www.hortonharper.com/

 

Very cool concept, but fixed that for you :-)

Ha! Yes, that what I meant...

New 17-story apartment building going up near Pitt, CMU

 

 

Construction is underway on the project on Centre Avenue at North Craig Street. The building should be ready to take on tenants after its summer 2018 completion, the developers said.

 

The $106 million project is being undertaken as a joint venture by EdR and Park7 Group, which develop, own, manage and operate collegiate housing communities, officials with the firms said. The building will have 723 beds in studio, one- two- and three-bedroom accommodations.

 

The development also will include 10,000 square feet of retail space.

Pittsburgh Seems Cool, But Its Numbers Aren't So Hot: Justin Fox

 

Sep 12, 2016  Justin Fox

 

(Bloomberg View)—Pittsburgh is where it's at. Don't take it from me, take it from Jody Rosen, who wrote in a Travel & Leisure article that went online last week:

 

Increasingly ... the Carnegie Mellon and Pitt students who once hightailed it out of town after graduation have been sticking around. The city has also seen an influx of “boomerangers,” Pittsburgh natives or their kids, who have returned to their ancestral turf. And new waves of transplants are arriving, from Philadelphia, New York, and beyond, lured by a quality of life that consistently earns Pittsburgh a perch in the upper reaches of the Economist’s annual Global Liveability Ranking. The selling points are considerable: affordable housing, a robust job market anchored by a thriving tech sector, those redoubtable educational and health-care institutions, and an arts community awash in foundation money.

 

...

 

As someone who spends a lot of time looking through data on the geography of economic growth, though, I can't help wondering if all this Pittsburgh boosterism is a little, well, exaggerated. After all, the unemployment rate in metropolitan Pittsburgh was 6.3 percent in July, compared with 5.1 percent for the country (neither of those figures is seasonally adjusted). Payroll employment in metro Pittsburgh has grown 4.6 percent since bottoming out in February 2010, compared with 11.3 percent growth nationwide. Real per-capita income in metro Pittsburgh rose just 4.5 percent from 2009 through 2014, compared with 17.8 percent nationwide.  And here's the kicker: During the most recent period for which data is available, mid-2014 through mid-2015, 2,520 more people moved out of the seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area than moved in.

 

Let's call it the mystery of Pittsburgh. The city is being portrayed in the national and international media as some sort of hipster boomtown. Yet there's not much evidence of a boom in the numbers.

 

 

 

http://nreionline.com/office/pittsburgh-seems-cool-its-numbers-arent-so-hot-justin-fox?NL=NREI-21&Issue=NREI-21_20160913_NREI-21_53&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_7&utm_rid=CPG09000005785405&utm_campaign=7037&utm_medium=email&elq2=6477f986b63d4bd8bfa5ccf92f262eb2

From someone who has lived here for nine plus years...this city IS changing. It's getting younger, hipper and new jobs are coming in.

 

But it's not a boomtown. It's been a slooowww change.

Maybe there is less connection between the concepts listed in those two sections than the author assumed.  Observationally, Ohio seems to be drawing a lot of working class people from the Pittsburgh area.  That'll shift some numbers.  But Pittsburgh still does well with people who have more prospects and more choices, which is reflected in its national reputation.  We can see this trend in voting patterns as well, as Ohio becomes more red and PA more blue. 

The dynamics and changes are more complex than the author cares to get into unfortunately. When it comes to migration and population change, it's a slow go. Negative natural change still is hurting the region - a legacy from the 80s.

The Marcellus and Utica shale play work has tailed off immensely in the past year.  I was in South Point (just south of Pittsburgh) almost once a week up until about 18 months ago.  It was booming there then.  Now it's a fraction of what it was.  The most recent DUG east conference I went to this summer was a joke compared to what it was 3 and 4 years ago.  It was the place to be.  Attendance was very poor this year, as were presenters.  I truly believe that all the employment coming from that work was helping to shed a very positive light on the city. 

There's some truth to that, but a lot of the workers were temp from out of state - Texas etc and didn't "live" there. When I would visit family in nearby Ohio, I would see many out of state plates (from out west) and they were working in that industry.

Bummer, and it has a Cleveland angle to the story....

 

Oxford abandons plans to build office tower in Downtown Pittsburgh

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2017/01/18/Downtown-property-sold-where-plans-once-included-high-rise-tower/stories/201701180171

Let's see if Stark will build first in downtown Pittsburgh or Cleveland.  Hopefully Beacon/515 will break ground soon, so the answer would be the latter.

There are a bunch of new interesting development updates for Pittsburgh since I last posted

 

"Stark expects to begin work on the redevelopment in the first quarter of 2018. It is planning about 160,000 square feet of office space on the upper floors and 60,000 square feet of retail on the first two floors of the building, which takes up an entire block between Fifth and Forbes avenues."

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2017/08/21/Stark-Enterprises-Frank-Seder-department-store-Smithfield-Street-Downtown-Pittsburgh-redevelopment/stories/201708210014

Luxury condos proposed at site of Downtown parking garage

 

A worn-out parking garage built the same year the Hula Hoop was introduced could usher in the latest wave of redevelopment in Downtown Pittsburgh.

 

The Davis Companies of Boston is proposing a $175 million mixed-use development at the site at Ninth Street and Penn Avenue that would include up to 185 high-end condominiums, 30,000 square feet of street-level retail, and a new 935-space garage.

 

With 185 units, the proposed condominium project would be one of the largest ever built Downtown.

 

The luxury condos would be housed in two towers, one 20 stories high and one 15.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2017/07/20/Downtown-Pittsburgh-development-luxury-condos-parking-garage-The-Davis-Companies/stories/201707200143

Terminal Bldg converting to The Highline with bike trails and green space

 

McKnight Realty Partners has purchased the historic and massive Terminal building with plans to develop the site as “The Highline,” one of the largest riverfront development projects in Pittsburgh’s modern history.  Currently known as River Walk Corporate Centre and located at 333 East Carson Street on the South Side, the building has nearly one million square feet of office and warehouse space.

 

The name of the new development comes from the conversion of the existing roadway that transects the upper floors of the building, the former railroad spur, into a public green space concept similar to the High Line in New York City.

 

The Highline will contain 500,000 square feet of creative office space, 100,000 square feet of supporting retail and over an acre of public riverfront green space. Public space along the river will be used for events like farmer’s markets and concerts. In addition, there are plans to connect the riverfront trail and add 650 parking spaces.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/city-design/terminal-development/

Developer eyes legacy with $40 million project in Squirrel Hill

 

... a $40 million project that would feature 125 market-rate apartments, including 52 one-bedroom and 44 studio units, 13,300 square feet of retail, and about 130 parking spaces over roughly three floors.

 

Among the amenities will be a rooftop gym and garden space.

 

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2017/07/24/Herky-Pollock-CBRE-pittsburgh-Squirrel-Hill-mixed-use-development-Murray-Forward/stories/201707240018

 

New 10-story, luxury hotel in Oakland set to open in 2018

 

 

Developers unveiled more details Monday about a 10-story luxury hotel taking shape in the heart of Oakland that will include a rooftop lobby, lounge, restaurant and outdoor terrace designed to take advantage of sweeping views of the neighborhood’s historic landmarks.

 

To be called The Oaklander Hotel, the 167-room property is being built on land owned by and adjacent to the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, a project that managers of the iconic social club on Fifth Avenue have said is key to its long-term survival.

 

Scheduled to open in the fall of 2018, the hotel will be one of the Marriott brand’s “Autograph Collection” properties, a portfolio of one-of-a-kind hotels that includes The Algonquin in New York City, The Cosmopolitan on the Vegas Strip and The Mayflower in Washington, D.C.

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2017/02/21/The-Oaklander-Pittsburgh-New-luxury-hotel-in-Oakland-set-to-open-in-2018/stories/201702210043

Sustainability, innovation key to developer's plans for former Hazelwood LTV site

 

...Regional Industrial Development Corp. has already has begun laying the groundwork to turn the hulking behemoth the size of five football fields into a centerpiece for innovation and sustainability on the city’s last remaining brownfield.

 

Within the next week or so, RIDC plans to award a contract to begin the remediation of the site — the next step in plans to house three buildings geared toward technology and research within the superstructure of the old mill.

 

As part of the vision relayed to Gov. Wolf on Monday during a tour of the site, RIDC plans to install solar panels on the roof of Mill 19 — enough to generate all of the electricity for two of the three buildings.

 

All stormwater will stay on site, and big old cranes used in the mill’s heyday will remain — as observation decks as part of the new development’s many amenities.

 

The goal, said Don Smith, RIDC president, is to “create an experience for the user unlike anything else in the commonwealth.”

 

“We think it’s going to be the coolest building in Pittsburgh,” he said.

 

RIDC officials hope to have the $40 million first phase, a 95,000-square-foot building, completed in early 2019.

 

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2017/08/07/Sustainability-innovation-key-developer-s-plans-for-former-LTV-site/stories/201708070131

Cool.  Thanks for the project rundown!

Awesome stuff. I especially like the passenger train shown on the CSX freight tracks past the Terminal Building (one of my faves!), something that CSX will likely never allow...

 

Interesting... Pittsburgh's obviously on a roll much like its football rival, Cleveland... That 9th & Penn St. condo project mirrors nuCLEus architecturally, though it's not as tall or audacious. 

wow, now that is how you make use of an old steel plant!

 

it might turn out to be the coolest building anywhere, not just in pitts.

It seems like Pittsburgh is kicking all of the Ohio cities asses in terms of urban development. The intensity of development in their Uptown area (Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty) is really astounding. The only area in Ohio that is seeing development even close to that level is perhaps the Short North.

Or University Circle.

It seems like Pittsburgh is kicking all of the Ohio cities asses in terms of urban development. The intensity of development in their Uptown area (Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty) is really astounding. The only area in Ohio that is seeing development even close to that level is perhaps the Short North.

 

University District/Short North/Italian Village in Columbus can certainly equal, if not surpass, what is going on in Uptown Pittsburgh.  Almost every inch of Columbus is doing urban development (even between highway off-ramps *cough* White Castle HQ *cough* Grand Central *cough*) while Pittsburgh is more concentrated in Uptown and Downtown/Strip/North Shore.  I don't see Allentown, Manchester, nor even the Southside doing much lately versus even crazy American Addition (a neighborhood most of you haven't heard of) in Columbus is building up yuppie boxes.  Pittsburgh is doing some fantastic stuff, but overall (old) Columbus is building urban development (Downtown, Franklinton, Victorian Village, 5xNW, etc) at an exponential rate.

Or University Circle.

 

I don't think so. There's some good stuff happening in UC, but nothing approaching the level of Uptown PGH or Short North. I'd say University Circle has probably seen about the same level of investment as Uptown Cincinnati, which is certainly impressive in its own right.