[Rufus]

Well, even the Shadyside GE is what, two miles at most from downtown? And it's even right next to the east busway stop at Negley Ave if one is so inclined to ditch their car and take public transit.

Okay, it's about four miles. I checked.

[Evergrey]

well... I walked past the Highland Building in East Liberty today and wondered if we'd ever hear anything about when it's condo conversion was ever gonna get started... I guess I have my answer now

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_534436.html

Highland Building won't be converted to condos

By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 25, 2007


The 13-story, nearly century-old Highland Building in East Liberty isn't going to be converted into a condominium complex after all.
Plans are to renovate the building on South Highland Avenue into commercial office space, its former use, said its owner, developer Eugene Zambrano, of Zambrano Corp.

"We have received inquiries about using the building for office space, so we have decided to go that route," Zambrano said.

The building had been scheduled to be converted into 84 condominiums by Terminus Real Estate of Knoxville, Tenn. Terminus acquired the building for $1,000 from the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority in 2005, with plans to invest $14 million into the condo project and sell units starting at $167,000.

Under the Terminus plan, the Highland Building would share garage parking space with a new 132-room hotel to be built on the site of a neighboring Stadterman building at the corner of South Highland and Centre avenues.
Zambrano took control of the development early this year.

The hotel, to be built by Kratsa Properties of Harmar, awaits a decision on a hotel chain that will operate the facility.

Zambrano gave no indication of when work would begin on either building, both currently vacant.

The Highland Building was built in 1910 by Henry Clay Frick. Abandoned for two decades, it was sold by the city to the URA in 2004.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.

...

The Highland Building switch to office space and the permenantly-on-hold Lofts on Baum may indicate that rapidly-changing East Liberty is not yet ready for luxury condos

http://www.pbase.com/deadwing/image/74394646.jpg

[PA Pride]

^That's a great shot... East Liberty is gonna be the poor mans shadyside before long....

[tooluther]

I haven't found anything new about Vadalia. I'm disappointed that it's only to be 3,100 sq.ft. which is the size of a typical convenience store. Having a monopoly in town I imagine their prices would be very high so if you are getting a lot of groceries it pays to drive to a Giant Eagle. In an article I read, a tenant at Encore said he's now driving 6 miles for groceries.

Everything is fine...I'll post details as soon as I'm allowed

[PittPenn 03]

While I agree with the gist of your comment (downtown residents need
not to drive to Robinson Twp for groceries), I think it is fair to
point out that not all Giant Eagles are created equally! It is not
just a question of distance. For example, the Shadyside Market
District GE is FAR superior to the small, poorly staffed and dumpy
Squirrel Hill GE. (In fact, I would say Shadyside is also superior to
the GE in Robinson Twp, except that Shadyside doesn't have a GetGo for
discount gas.)

I will agree that not all GE's are created equal, but one has to wonder if there is a need to go to a top of the line GE everytime you go to the store? I go to the Lawrenceville GE/ShopnSave or the Bloomfield ShurFine for simple things depending on where I am at when I am out, but if I need a better selection I go to Market Place, the regular Shadyside GE, or the Waterworks GE, also depending on my location when I am out. Bread, milk, ketchup is the same everywhere, and something tells me there is a bit of snobbery or fear of the city in the person who drives out to Robinson. I think we are going to get a lot of people in these new condos that want the glamorous address, but never sets foot on the streets of the city.

I will admit to avoiding the GE in Squirrel Hill. I f-ing hate that location! Even when I lived in Squirrel Hill, I did my shopping almost exclusively in Greenfield. Understaffed, packed, no selection just as pointed out - my head feels like it is going to explode everytime I set foot in there.

[Brentsters]

I noticed the other day that the building next to the church on Penn in East Lib was being renovated, it said by Moss Architects I think, anybody know what that is for? It's on the opposite side of Penn from the new hotel complex so I don't think it's part of that.

Also, regarding that transportation forum thread a couple months ago about malls not allowing buses, I saw some flyers at my busway stop today organizing a protest against Simon Properties, the company that owns the malls in question. Apparently Simon does not like the image projected by transit riders waiting at the bus stop outside their malls. I didn't wanna rehash that whole thread but thought I'd mention it

[PGHzealot]

I wouldn't be so quick to sneer at folks who would like to shop in a nice grocery store. If I were in the market for a downtown condo, I'd hope that there were not good, but GREAT grocery options right nearby. After all, these folks are not going to shell out big bucks for a condo, and then want to shop at a GE like the one on the North Side. A few years back when I lived in the Mexican War Streets, we often went to McKnight Road to shop for groceries, because the GE close by was just not a very good store - bad produce offerings, high prices, awful hours, etc. Believe me, if you have to get into your car to shop for groceries, it doesn't make much sense to drive to one of the bad GE stores that are "close" to downtown.

I can only hope that a developer sees this opportunity and seizes it when and if downtown begins filling up with condo dwellers. I wonder if Whole Foods or Wegmans or Trader Joes would be interested? That kind of store can become a real attraction in many ways, as East End denizens would currently attest...

[PA Pride]

^I suppose you are right about what higher end city buyers might want; It's just that I live about 1 mile from the Aliquippa Giant Eagle where i shop, which I have heard some people say is too ghetto, but if you go right across the river to the Sewickely Giant Eagle on RT 65 which is one of the richest areas in the Pgh metro, the stores are EXACLTY the same... All the same damn food and the same prices. Just nicer cars in the Sewickley parking lot.

I'm a laid back person in general, but for some reason I am getting really upset about these talks of "good" and "bad" grocery stores.... The Captain Crunch is the same at every store!!!!


If you wanna get some shitty food, shop at Aldi's. I bought food there for a cookout and almost puked it was soo nasty!

[PittPenn 03]

Frankly, you have made my point. I suppose I have a different philosophy on this. I live in Lawrenceville, so I try to keep my money in Lawrenceville or close by businesses in hopes one day the businesses that are in need of improvement will have the money to do so. I know a lot of Northsiders flock out to the burbs to do their shopping. Perhaps if the people who did this would have supported their local businesses all along, places like the Northside GE (and the Northside in general) would not be in the shape it is. It absolutely makes sense to support your own neighborhood Giant Eagle or whatever store, regardless of its shape - particularly if you are a property owner. Look at the Shop n Save they tried to reopen in Spring Garden. Not very nice - true, but the locals continued their jaunts out to McKnight Road and the business failed within weeks. Very sad - where is our neighborhood's pride anymore? I guess since we have become a culture of 'foodie' or gourmet wannabes, no one would ever have the patience to let a place Spring Garden ShopnSave take hold. I hate to sound so snotty, but if we do not make a sacrifice here or there to show we have the willingness to support certain types of business in the city, it just makes it all the harder to sell Pittsburgh to Wholefoods etc.

I wouldn't be so quick to sneer at folks who would like to shop in a nice grocery store. If I were in the market for a downtown condo, I'd hope that there were not good, but GREAT grocery options right nearby. After all, these folks are not going to shell out big bucks for a condo, and then want to shop at a GE like the one on the North Side. A few years back when I lived in the Mexican War Streets, we often went to McKnight Road to shop for groceries, because the GE close by was just not a very good store - bad produce offerings, high prices, awful hours, etc. Believe me, if you have to get into your car to shop for groceries, it doesn't make much sense to drive to one of the bad GE stores that are "close" to downtown.

I can only hope that a developer sees this opportunity and seizes it when and if downtown begins filling up with condo dwellers. I wonder if Whole Foods or Wegmans or Trader Joes would be interested? That kind of store can become a real attraction in many ways, as East End denizens would currently attest...

[cdc]

I'm a laid back person in general, but for some reason I am getting really upset about these talks of "good" and "bad" grocery stores.... The Captain Crunch is the same at every store!!!!

Sure, the basics are going to be the same across GE stores. However,
there can be big differences in product selection, staffing, aisle
layout (e.g. cramped vs spacious), and physical facilities
(e.g. cleanliness, parking, condition of equipment like shopping
carts, registers, fridge units, etc...). Come to the city and compare
the Shadyside Market District GE to the Squirrel Hill GE.



It absolutely makes sense to support your own neighborhood Giant Eagle or whatever store, regardless of its shape - particularly if you are a property owner.

OK, but is that consistent with your earlier statement? This one:

I will admit to avoiding the GE in Squirrel Hill. I f-ing hate that location! Even when I lived in Squirrel Hill, I did my shopping almost exclusively in Greenfield. Understaffed, packed, no selection just as pointed out - my head feels like it is going to explode everytime I set foot in there.

[Evergrey]

I like the Squirrel Hill GE. It has character and it's parking lot is behind the facility.

[PA Pride]

I like the Giant Eagle in the SouthSide. Last time I was there a month or two ago, some white guy was screaming at a couple other white guys standing near the entrance that they were Al Qaeda at the top of his lungs. They looked confused... Some people may hate that stuff but I love it. I find real life with all the weirdos in it to be WAY more entertaining than TV.

[Rufus]

I like the Squirrel Hill GE. It has character and it's parking lot is behind the facility.

Me too. It's an intimate neighborhood grocery store. Not trashy nor fancy/gourmet. There aren't enough of those around anymore.

[tooluther]

The Captain Crunch is the same at every store!!!!


NO WAY! I can walk to the Shure Save in Bloomfield from my place in Lawrenceville...and I do often. But it is one of the worst stores I've ever been in. The produce bad, the meat is worse, and even things like Capin Crunch seam to have a seedy film on the box.

IMO, none of the other Lawrenceville options (Shop-n-Save or Giant Eagle) are much better, so I head out of the neighborhood for big trips...sorry L Ville

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/10/22/focus1.html?b=1193025600^1535949

Friday, October 19, 2007

A change of plans

As some residential buildings ride wave of success, other developments get reshaped -- or scrapped

Pittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley

http://cll.bizjournals.com/story_image/99943-400-0.jpg
Joe Wojcik
Holly Brubach stands in the Granite Building, which she bought last year with plans to turn it into condominiums. Unable to sell any units, she’s now offering the space as office condos for businesses.

To Rich Beynon, the 120,000-square-foot warehouse at 29th Street and Liberty Avenue in the Strip District is ripe for a condominium conversion, thanks to the large windows on each of its six floors, heavy timber ceilings and handsome red brick.

Yet a few weeks ago, a New York buyer whom Beynon declined to identify dropped its plan to buy the building and pursue a condo conversion due to a less-than-ideal business climate.

"I don't believe that they were able to secure their financing on it," said Beynon, president of Beynon & Co., a Downtown-based real estate company. "I don't think they could put it all together in a quick enough time frame."

Against a wall of marketing kitsch seeking to push a new wave of urban condo projects, the 2839 Liberty property, marked with the Gateway Industrial Exhibits signage, is one of a number of new projects that are being reconsidered, changed or dropped altogether in a residential market chastened by caution in the wake of the subprime mortgage debacle.

Beynon's firm, however, is part of the development team that successfully tackled a long-delayed residential rehab project, the 295-apartment Cork Factory in the Strip. The building reopened this spring after a $50 million renovation.

"These developments require a lot of time. They require a lot of up-front capital from the developers. They require a lot of code and building issues that have to be resolved," Beynon said. "As such, if everything isn't lined up just right, it's hard to get these things to make sense."

While the 2839 Liberty sale fell through, other projects are seeing changes in strategy.

Springdale-based R.E. Crawford Construction has informed the Bellefield Area Citizens Association that it has scaled back its plans to develop a new 17-story condominium tower on Dithridge Street in Oakland to instead pursue an 11-story project.

Downtown, Holly Brubach has decided to broaden the marketing of her seven-story Granite Building redevelopment to include office condominiums, perhaps splitting the building between residential and office condo uses.

And Art and Bonn McSorley decided earlier this year to shift their conversion of an old school building formerly known as the Pink Building in the Strip District from 14 condos to 14 apartments.

For every project that has been successful so far, there are plenty of others that are in limbo.

A vice president of construction for General Nutrition Centers Inc., Art McSorley, said the decision came easily because the project generated few interested buyers for presales. Without committed buyers, condo projects generally can't get financing.

The shift to apartments meant he could reduce his construction costs by 40 percent, reducing its $2.7 million price tag to $1.5 million by scaling back plans to add surrounding parking that buyers would expect for luxury condos.

McSorley hopes to begin construction in 60 days and have the building occupied next year. He said he wanted to capitalize on the opening of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2009 in nearby Lawrenceville, but may been marketing the condos too far in advance.

Pittsburgh might be slower than many other cities to respond to the urban condo trend, he said.

"I think until people are comfortable living in Downtown Pittsburgh, we seem to be so slow to get people to believe in that prospect," McSorley said. "I think it's just going to take Pittsburgh a longer time like it does for Pittsburgh on so many things."

A Shaler native who moved back to Pittsburgh from New York earlier this year, Brubach has faced a year without any buyers yet at the Granite Building. But as a new resident of the Cork Factory, which has begun quietly marketing its apartments as future condo sales, Brubach also can see a market of buyers.

"There's no question that it's a small market at the top. Part of the problem is there hasn't been much product at the top of the market Downtown," said Brubach, who has priced her units at $795,000 for shells and $995,000 for customized build-outs. "When you get into precedents and comparables, there really aren't many. That's been a wild card all along."

Others remain optimistic.

In an e-mail, Lucas Piatt, vice president of Millcraft Industries, said that sales at Piatt Place, the former Lazarus building Downtown, are on schedule without discounts or concessions.

"We are making great progress, and I think it would be unfair to instill undue fear in our potential buyers," wrote Piatt, who added that the city's new 10 percent tax abatement is helping entice buyers.

"We are making great progress, and I think it would be unfair to instill undue fear in our potential buyers," wrote Piatt, who added that the city's new 10 percent tax abatement is helping entice buyers.

Jack Benoff is also hopeful to begin the $10 million redevelopment of the former Otto Milk building in the Strip District into approximately 60 condos with many priced around $180,000. Separately, most of the units in Benoff's 941 Penn Avenue Downtown sold quickly.

Benoff said the lack of product at the lower end of the condo market is an advantage.

"I'm still bullish," he said. "There's mortgage money out there."

Beynon, who hopes to have a new buyer for the Liberty Avenue property soon, believes a few condo projects dropping out of the market could help the rest, leaving less competition.

"If one or two of these things don't happen, it's probably not going to be a huge detriment to our area," Beynon said. "It's probably better that it is staggered out over more time. Let the market catch up to it."

tschooley@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3826

[Evergrey]

for all you height junkies out there... I finally found some structural height numbers for recently completed and under construction towers in Pittsburgh

The media always reported the number of floors for these buildings... but I never found heights in feet or meters anywhere...

I finally noticed these numbers on this website.

This is SkyscraperPage's list of Pittsburgh skyscrapers:
http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?cityID=327&offset=0&statusID=1

Three PNC Plaza
U/C
23 floors
110 meters
360 feet

151 FirstSide
completed 2007
18 floors
61 meters
200 feet

The Encore on 7th
completed 2006
18 floors
59.4 meters
194 feet

[BMikeSci]

Rosebud

http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_299142836.html

Well, now it's December. Does anything in PGH ever open on schedule?

[BMikeSci]

Take out the papers and the trash

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07299/828619-53.stm

[PA Pride]

Wow Evergrey; Thanks for posting those heights... I didn't think PNC was gonna be quite that tall... I thought it would be lucky to crack 300'.


Stolen from the "US Cities with most highrises" thread in the Buildings & Architecture section:

Total highrises of 350ft and up list:
New York .....................552
Chicago........................243
Miami...........................77
Houston........................66
San Francisco................61
Atlanta.........................59
Los Angeles...................59
Honolulu.......................53
Las Vegas.....................50
Boston.........................40
Philadelphia...................39
Dallas...........................33
Seattle.........................32
Denver..........................31
San Diego......................25
Minneapolis....................24
Pittsburgh......................21
Jersey City.....................20
Detroit...........................19
New Orleans....................16
Baltimore........................15
Miami Beach....................15
Charlotte........................14
Cleveland.......................14
Columbus.......................13
Kansas City....................13
Cincinnati......................12
Phoenix.........................11
Atlantic City..................10
Sacramento...................10
St. Louis.......................10
Tampa..........................10


PNC3 puts us at 22. Double the amount of Phoenix.

[Evergrey]

This is from July 2007

http://www.downtownpittsburgh.com/whatsNew_detail.aspx?NewsID=213

http://www.downtownpittsburgh.com/cms/assets/pdp-111-investment_map_web.jpg

from this map... North Shore Live! has been scrapped... though the Steelers are still going ahead with an entertainment/retail complex with a new developer... ground to break next year.

We haven't heard anything about Station Square condos since Forest City lost out on the casino.

No concrete plans on Barden's part in the Lower Hill redevelopment.

[Evergrey]

I noticed the other day that the building next to the church on Penn in East Lib was being renovated, it said by Moss Architects I think, anybody know what that is for? It's on the opposite side of Penn from the new hotel complex so I don't think it's part of that.



I know this has been posted somewhere in this thread... but the thread search function isn't working properly. I know it's not part of the Indigo hotel development. I assume it's probably a renovation for speculative commercial use.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07301/829148-85.stm

New hospital for kids taking shape detail by detail

Lawrenceville site to open in spring 2009

Sunday, October 28, 2007
By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200710/20071028rd_hospital1028_bc_500.jpg
V.W.H. Campbell Jr. / Post-Gazette
Eric Hess, the Children's Hospital vice president who is overseeing the project, stands on what will be the outside healing garden for patients. The hospital is under construction at the site of the former St. Francis Hospital in Lawrenceville.Work continues apace in Lawrenceville, where the new incarnation of the expanding Children's Hospital is rising around the husk of the venerable St. Francis Hospital.

Amid the clatter of sheet-metal duct work being unloaded, the spark of grinders against steel girders and, at times, an eerie calm in rooms awaiting the family dramas that will one day be played out, hospital officials yesterday took reporters on a tour of a facility not slated to open for another 18 months.

"The reason we're building it here is we're essentially out of room in Oakland," said Children's President Roger Oxendale.

In Lawrenceville, where St. Francis once served generations of working-class families, Children's will have room, not to mention walls of natural light, and a city vista that, on some floors, takes in the skyscrapers of Downtown, the spires of Oakland, and the surrounding hills that stretch into the eastern suburbs.

"I'm sure we'll have them requesting rooms based on both view and color," said Eric Hess, the hospital vice president who is overseeing the project. Mr. Hess presided over yesterday's hour-long walk through the facility, which includes new construction that has been wrapped around and appended to the old St. Francis buildings.

Planners took note of the nearly subterranean atmosphere of most city hospitals, where windows are at a premium and fluorescent lighting has displaced the sun. Part of the advantage of the new site is that it has the space needed to factor in natural light.

In all, the new Children's will cover 10 acres, comprise five buildings and three parking garages as well as a large satellite parking lot nearly a mile away on 55th Street near the Allegheny River. The hospital bought the land for $4 million and will run shuttles from it to the hospital.

The new Children's will have 296 patient beds, employ 868 full-time staff, and is nearing completion on a 10-story, 300,000-square-foot research annex.

The campus will have wireless Internet access, permit wider use of cell phones than in most other facilities, and offer overnight in-room accommodations to parents who often move in with their children during long hospital stays. There will be a rooftop garden in which to relax, a chapel in which to pray, kitchenettes in which to cook, and a library in which to read.

With all that, Mr. Hess said, will come something else: quiet.

Rooms have been designed to allow everything from linen and food delivery through hallway-to-room closets and shelves, to nursing staff that will be hooked, wirelessly, to monitors attached to children to reduce the number of bells, alarms and buzzers typical of most health-care settings.

"There are studies out that have shown how noise pollution affects patient care. So we're doing something about that," Mr. Hess said.

One of the more striking features is a multi-story atrium area where patients and families will be invited for special events such as celebrity visits or entertainment. Mr. Hess described the massive room as "sort of a children's town square."

"We'll be able to have sort of everybody participate," he said.

Nearby, too, are playrooms where long-term patients can behave like children. At least one will run round-the-clock, accommodating youngsters whose body clocks have been reset by the disruption of hospital life.

Yesterday's tour was one of several hospital officials are considering as the new hospital rises. It won't open to patients until May 2, 2009 -- 7 a.m. to be precise.

That, Mr. Hess said, is when patients from Children's will be moved, en masse, in a maneuver worthy of military precision. Officials have already conducted computer simulations of the huge transfer, which they plan to carry off in a matter of one business day. "There's not a patient that cannot be moved safely," Mr. Hess promised.

When they arrive, they'll have windows, sunlight, and playrooms. The rest will be up to doctors and nurses.

First published on October 28, 2007 at 12:00 am
Dennis Roddy can be reached at droddy@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1965,.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_535009.html

Pittsburgh casino license process cloaked in secrecy

By Brad Bumsted, Andrew Conte
and Richard Byrne Reilly
Sunday, October 28, 2007


Meeting secretly in December before awarding casino licenses, state gambling regulators took up Pittsburgh first and agreed on Don Barden with almost no discussion.
"He was the first one, and it was seven to zero," said Sanford Rivers of Churchill, one of seven state Gaming Control Board members.

The public vote for Barden's PITG Gaming the next day surprised many, including agency employees who knew an internal document called one of Barden's gambling companies "very high risk" and who felt Barden hadn't been fully vetted.

"No one thought he would get the license," one employee said.

Barden's transformation from the "darkest of dark horses," in Rivers' words, to the board's first-ballot choice took place almost entirely behind closed doors. A three-month investigation by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review shows a board cloaked in secrecy, where employees rushed to analyze applicants by a board-imposed deadline and where at least some employees lost confidence in the process.
The Trib based its findings on Gaming Control Board documents, information provided by Barden's companies, state Supreme Court records, federal regulatory filings and interviews with more than 35 sources.

The newspaper talked with board members, agency employees, former employees and officials with the losing bidders. Many sources asked not to be identified by name because of rules prohibiting insiders from talking about the board's secret dealings or the Supreme Court appeals process.

Board Chairman Mary DiGiacomo Colins and other board members said Barden won, in part, on the strength of his casino location on the North Shore and because he had $495 million in financing to build the casino.

All of the applicants had a degree of financial risk, board members said, but they liked PITG's site best.

"We knew all of that," said board member Kenneth McCabe of Cranberry. "We took the totality of everything into our decision, not just the finances."

Barden, of Detroit, declined to comment for this story. He expects to open his casino in 2009, within 16 months of breaking ground. He's seeking some city permits and the resolution of appeals filed by the Steelers and Pirates over traffic concerns.

"No one has lost a dime in him yet," said Gregg Klein, a gambling industry analyst at BNP Paribas bank in New York. Finance "is a weak part of their story, but it's not weak enough to deny them a gaming license or for them to not finish the Pittsburgh project."

Based on sources and documents, the Trib found:

• Board investigators reported that their only area of concern with Barden was his personal gambling losses. (See related story, "Barden's gambling losses don't concern board," on A7)

Barden told investigators he lost $11.1 million over the previous five years.

Barden did not wager in any of his casinos, and none of the jurisdictions where he operates prohibits gambling by casino owners in other facilities. In the interview, Barden told investigators he stopped gambling with high-rollers.

• Confidential board documents said all three Pittsburgh applicants operated with debt levels that made them at least "high risk," and that Barden's Majestic Star was "very high risk." (See related story, "Casino hopefuls all had financial risks, documents show," on A7)

The report also said Barden's gambling company "demonstrated weak financial performance," compared to a "strong" assessment for St. Louis-based Isle of Capri Casinos and a "solid" one for Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises.

Because PITG is a new Barden company, the board looked at his Majestic Star, which owns casinos in Indiana, Mississippi and Colorado. Barden owns a 100 percent stake in PITG, although a local investor group has options to purchase a 12.75 percent stake.

• No matter who won the license, an internal board assessment showed a Pittsburgh casino would make $482.8 million a year, and 96 percent of the money would come from local residents. That projection is based on 5,000 slot machines, about 1,800 more than at Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort in Chester, W.Va.

About a quarter of the 2.58 million people who live in the region are projected to be casino customers, averaging 10 visits a year and losing an average of $66 each time.

Just 2.3 percent of the region's overnight visitors would visit the casino, although that percentage could grow as the casino becomes more of a destination, the report says.

• Internal task force reports on each of the three Pittsburgh applicants did not include detailed individual financial analyses for any of the key players or investors.

Although Barden owns PITG, the board's internal report said there were no "significant financial contributors" to the project because all of the money was to be borrowed.

A quarter of Forest City's proposed Station Square Casino would have been owned by individual investors. Although four of the investors planned to put their own money into the project, the board's task force reported, yet again, that it had not found any "significant" contributors.

A public company, Isle of Capri did not have any individual contributors so the board did not have any potential investors to analyze.

• A loophole in the board rules allowed option holders in Barden's Pittsburgh casino to donate to political campaigns during the selection process, and two did.

Board rules prohibit license applicants from making state campaign contributions, but option holders in the Pittsburgh casino did not apply for licenses until last summer -- after the slots selection process started.

Philadelphia businessmen Larry McCrae and William Lincoln Wilson gave $5,650 to Gov. Ed Rendell's campaign in 2006. They applied for state licenses as casino principals in June 2006, and have not made campaign donations since then.

• Gambling board employees weren't the only ones rushing during the slots selection process. Just one day before his November suitability hearing, Barden submitted a $40 million loan commitment from International Game Technology's lending arm, IGT Capital. The company is a leading maker of slot machines.

Previously, Barden gave the board a $455 million letter of credit from Jefferies & Co., a Wall Street investment firm. That was enough to pay for the first two phases of his casino. Credit Suisse is now putting up the money for the casino instead of Jefferies.

An internal board report showed Barden would need more money for a third phase, to bring the casino up to 5,000 slot machines and add parking.

Barden, "without a doubt, is the best applicant for Pittsburgh," Colins said. "You will see that when he opens and from the way he will operate that casino."

Revenues at Majestic Star's two Gary, Ind., riverboats have improved since PITG won the Pittsburgh license. Revenue is up 1.4 percent over last year, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission.

"All that stuff that was being thrown around in the financial suitability hearings is moot because (Barden) did what he said he was going to do: turn around the Gary gaming operations," said Barden's spokesman, Bob Oltmanns.

Get it done

Driven by former Chairman Tad Decker, the gambling board rushed to award casino licenses last year after Rendell promised to provide property tax cuts and make up the revenue with slots money.

For weeks leading up to the board's Dec. 20 votes to award 11 slots licenses statewide, board employees worked long hours to review and report on more than 20 applicants, current and former staff members said.

Besides having five applicants' hearings and a board meeting over three days in November, for example, Decker and McCabe drove 200 miles round-trip to mark the opening of the state's first casino, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

Employees said Decker did not tolerate dissent or delay, and that they felt pressure to help the board award the licenses in 2006.

"There's no question I drove them to get it done, but not to the point that people became negligent," Decker said, adding that he wanted to finish the job before some board members' terms expired.

On the inside, some board employees lost confidence in the process.

One former employee said the board did not follow a uniform protocol for how to conduct each investigation.

Another source with knowledge of the agency's internal reviews said the work product suffered, particularly when the board's Financial Suitability Task Force failed to do a detailed financial analysis of Barden.

Colins declined to describe what was in the task force reports, saying only, "The total task force analysis was absolutely complete and detailed."

When investigating the three Pittsburgh applicants, the gambling board spent the least time and money looking at Barden and his companies, records show.

The agency spent 1,900 hours examining PITG and more than 3,000 hours each on Forest City and Isle of Capri. The investigations cost about $150,000 for Majestic Star, $166,000 for Isle of Capri and $206,000 for Forest City.

Colins said the differences do not mean the board paid less attention to Barden's application. He was "the most cooperative among the applicants" and his was a less complex corporate structure to examine, she said.

"I categorically reject that corners were cut," said Decker, who resigned from the board in August to become president and CEO of Cozen O'Connor, a Philadelphia law firm, which represents a company planning a Philadelphia casino.

From long shot to winner

At the start, a majority of the board members leaned toward either Forest City or Isle of Capri, giving Barden's company little chance.

But as they started looking at the applicants' traffic reports, board members realized PITG Gaming had a legitimate chance, Rivers said. The casino would sit on 17 acres west of the Carnegie Science Center.

"People are looking at each other like, 'Do you believe this?'" Rivers said. "It was amazing, and all of a sudden, people are going, 'I never thought Barden had this much going on for him.' That was the comment."

Members worried about traffic access to Station Square, where Forest City wanted to locate.

Isle of Capri, meanwhile, agreed to pay for a new hockey arena. It led a public campaign with the Penguins to build support for the plan.

"Isle of Capri, their only hook was save the Penguins, save the Penguins, save the Penguins," Rivers said. "The animosity that I had is that the city of Pittsburgh is more than just the Penguins. Pittsburgh was in dire need of a variety of assistance for help, and that's what I was looking at."

Although both he and Barden are black, Rivers said race never entered into his decision-making process. Barden was the only black applicant to win a casino operator's license.

When all the votes were finished in their private meeting, Rivers said he thanked his colleagues for being "able to address diversity without ever talking about diversity."

Rivers, a former National Football League referee, noted that the gambling board's vote came about a month before the Steelers named Mike Tomlin, who is black, as head coach.

"Two things happened that were just significant in that time frame," Rivers said. "We end up with a black football coach and a black man got the casino."

Both of the losing applicants criticized the board in their failed appeals to have the PITG award overturned.

The slots selection process was "laid out poorly and executed poorly," said a source with one of the losing bidders. "They spent too much time and too much money going through the process."

But Allan B. Solomon, executive vice president of Isle of Capri, said everyone knew there would be a winner and losers. He said he had no reason to believe the process was unfair or prejudiced -- even though he didn't agree with the outcome.

"We're in the gaming business or the gambling business, however you want to say it, and we play in high stakes tournaments," Solomon said. "We have to be bound, and we are bound, by what a gaming board decides."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2007-10-27/1028-gamble-a.jpg
An artist’s rendering shows what the entrance of Pittsburgh’s Majestic Star Casino would look like.
Strada LLC Architectural Firrm

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2007-10-27/1028-oldcas-a.jpg
The artist’s rendering for Pittsburgh’s Majestic Star Casino in 2006.
Strada LLC Architectural Firm

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2007-10-27/1028-newcas-a.jpg
The newest artist’s rendering for Pittsburgh’s Majestic Star Casino.
Strada LLC Architectural Firrm

[hyperion1110]

Those new renderings are truly hideous!

[Johnland]

I almost choked while eating when I looked at those crappy, crappy buildings. They're really laughable. Tampa's new airport economy parking garage looks exactly the same, except for the little suburban looking structure stuck on the front which is I guess the actual casino. It has all the intergrity of a turnpike exit Best Western. I wouldn't care if this was tucked away in some forgotten valley off the beaten path. But my God, this shit is going to be on full display on the riverbanks in downtown Pittsburgh. What really pissed me off is I've just been re-reading Stephan Laurents' mammoth Pittsburgh and have gone over pictures of the real gems and wonders of Pittsburgh's architectural past. The city deserves so much more than this stuff.

[Evergrey]

Yeah, I think the Pennslyvania Gaming Control Board should do a "do-over". This project just ain't right. Honestly, I always wondered why the casino had to be located in the central city... couldn't we just stick this thing out with all the booming big-box retail in Robinson Township? I don't think most people going to a slots barn really care about all the other things the urban core offers. And motoring to Robinson Township would probably be much easier for most people.

Strada LLC has done a lot of architectural and urban design work here in Pittsburgh.
http://www.stradallc.com/portfolio.php

[PA Pride]

In the latest "Pittsburgh Homes" magazine which is one of those free Real Estate mags you can grab at the entrance to grocery stores and other retail places, I found a rendering of a new 5 story luxury condo bldg to be built on Mt Washington - Grandview Ave. I couldn't find any more info when I did a search for this project so I just scanned the ad and uplaoded it here. It says prices start ni mid 500s which I guess means 550,000 and up:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/austindaniel/CondoBldgcropped.jpg

[BMikeSci]

Those new renderings are truly hideous!

I agree! hideous! It looks like a Giant Eagle. What happened to all the glass? Is this what we can expect from Barden? First the start date slips, then the design changes. What's next? Will we learn he lost all the money he raised on a horse?

[Evergrey]

good find, PA Pride.. I wonder if that's Vici or Bella Vista or something else... who knows if we'll ever see anything built on Grandview ever again

Chipotle will be demolishing the old house that contains the defunct Duke's Tavern at Baum and Millvale, replacing the house with a new restaurant. It will be next door to a Qdoba. I assume this will just be one of those single-story detached parking-lot encircled locations. It needs the approval of City Planning. This type of structure doesn't seem to fit in with the high-density Baum-Centre urban district devised by Peduto and City Planning 3 years ago. With the drive-thru National City bank across the street, a car dealership, a huge Pep Boys parking lot and now a Chipotle... this key intersection in the hypothetical high-quality urban district is wasted.

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/baumcentre/assets/04_BaumCentreSlideshow_oct_12_edits.pdf

In other news, Pittsburgh Public Schools continues in its attempt to abandon Schenley High... the most architecturally stunning building in the system... due to asbestos removal costs.

and PIT's free-fall into the abyss continues

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07303/829555-85.stm

Southwest calls airport's fees a large concern

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Southwest Airlines is "very concerned" about the fee increases it is facing at Pittsburgh International Airport in January because of cutbacks by US Airways at its former hub.

But at the same time, Whitney Eichinger, a Southwest spokeswoman, said yesterday the sharp hike in fees isn't expected to affect the airline's plans for growth in Pittsburgh next year, although it could have some impact long term if fees continue to rise.

"I think it's a concern, definitely. We're still planning on growing in Pittsburgh and we have a great relationship with the people in Pittsburgh," she said. "Although this is a large concern to us, we'll work through it."

The Allegheny County Airport Authority board authorized sharp increases in landing, terminal and ramp fees to the airlines operating out of Pittsburgh in approving an $87.4 million budget Friday for 2008.

Starting in January, landing fees will jump from $2.39 per 1,000 pounds to $3.18, or 33 percent; terminal fees will increase from $95 a square foot to $129.17, or 35.9 percent; and ramp fees will rise from $230.23 a lineal foot to $378.92, or 64.5 percent.

The authority said it was forced to raise rates because of the US Airways cutbacks. The carrier, which has been retrenching in Pittsburgh since Sept. 11, 2001, will eliminate 40 more daily flights and drop 18 of its 28 airport gates in January.

Those moves will cost the airport an estimated $5.5 million in revenue next year. To help offset the losses, the authority will close 27 gates at the ends of two of four concourses, saving about $1 million. But that won't be enough to prevent fee increases.

Under airport leases, the airlines are required to cover any budget shortfalls in the form of rate increases. When there are surpluses, the money is returned to the carriers in the form of fee reductions.

Low-cost carrier Southwest has been growing rapidly in Pittsburgh since its debut in May 2005.

Since then it has gone from 10 daily flights to 23 and has become the airport's second largest carrier behind US Airways. Last month, it carried 15.5 percent of all traffic, behind US Airways' 39.5 percent.

While in Pittsburgh earlier this month, Southwest Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said the Dallas-based carrier "will probably" add one to two flights in Pittsburgh next year, although he did not identify the routes.

Ms. Eichinger said she doesn't expect the fee increases to affect those plans. She said, however, that airport fees, if they continue to go up, conceivably could affect the airline's long-term plans for growth.

"I don't think we're quite at that point yet," she said.

Ms. Eichinger said landing fees are right behind fuel at the top of Southwest expenses. The average landing fee for the airline currently is about $5, higher than next year's estimated $3.18 at Pittsburgh. She did not know the averages for the terminal and ramp fees.

She said Southwest will continue to discuss the fees with airport officials.

The airport authority is "very aware of the cost implications" of the fee increases to all carriers, not just Southwest, Executive Director Bradley D. Penrod said.

But he added there's a good chance the rates will come down at some point during the year. The authority, he said, typically takes a conservative approach to budgeting and could end up returning money to the airlines.

He pointed out, for example, that the authority budgeted a $120 a square foot terminal fee for 2007. The actual rate ended up at $95 a square foot.

"We anticipate that the actuals are going to be significantly lower than what the estimate is. [The airlines] know we are very good stewards of airport money," he said.

For 2008, the authority did not budget a $12.4 million payment expected later in the year from a slot machine revenue-backed economic development and tourism fund to reduce airport debt. Once received, that could help to bring down costs to the airlines.

In all, the airport is expected to receive $150 million from the fund over the next decade for debt reduction.

And while fee increases are shared by all airlines, there are landing fee discounts available to carriers that initiate service to new cities or markets that lack competition. That could be a way for Southwest or other carriers to lessen the impact of the adjustments, particularly if they are looking to replace lost US Airways' service.

Two other airlines, AirTran Airways and Delta Air Lines, have expressed concern about the fee increases; however, neither expected them to have a big impact on the potential for growth here.

First published on October 30, 2007 at 12:00 am
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[PittPenn 03]

Sure, the basics are going to be the same across GE stores. However,
there can be big differences in product selection, staffing, aisle
layout (e.g. cramped vs spacious), and physical facilities
(e.g. cleanliness, parking, condition of equipment like shopping
carts, registers, fridge units, etc...). Come to the city and compare
the Shadyside Market District GE to the Squirrel Hill GE.





OK, but is that consistent with your earlier statement? This one:

Okay, cdc you got me. However, at least I did not opt for the Waterfront GE like a lot of the East Enders have. My hatred of the Sq Hill GE is more about the over crowding than anything- it is not suburban snobbery.

[PA Pride]

Evergrey:good find, PA Pride.. I wonder if that's Vici or Bella Vista or something else... who knows if we'll ever see anything built on Grandview ever again


That rendering is not found on the Cozza Enterprises website where the Vici rendering is located, so I assume this is a different project; Perhaps the Bella Vista or something different entirely...

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07304/829842-53.stm

Downtown's progress claims two standbys -- Headgear and Candy-Rama

HANGING UP THEIR HATS

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One has satisfied the sweet tooth of nearly two generations of Pittsburghers. The other has peddled Stetsons, fedoras and a host of other hats from the same Fifth Avenue location for nearly a century.

And both soon will join Gimbels, Joseph Horne, the Jenkins Arcade and countless others that have been lost to the tide of change or redevelopment.

Candy-Rama, a Downtown institution that has served up treats for more than five decades, will close its last little nook at Fifth Avenue and McMasters Way on Nov. 15. The Headgear store next door plans to relocate elsewhere Downtown, ending 84 years of hat sales at the same location.

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority has ordered those two stores and Kenny's Nail Design in the same block to vacate their premises to clear the way for the conversion of the G.C. Murphy store and their buildings into apartments and fitness and retail space.

Rather than relocate, Candy-Rama will close for good, ending a 55-year run Downtown that at one point featured locations on Fifth, Wood Street and Liberty Avenue and a Strip District warehouse.

The store has operated out of its cramped corner crevice on Fifth, one stuffed with chocolates, confections and sweet smells, since the Jenkins Arcade closed in 1983. It has served as Candy-Rama's lone location since mid-January, when a Liberty Avenue store closed. The Wood Street store closed in 2002.

Owner Debbie Tedesco said the store was facing rents upwards of $3,500 a month to stay Downtown. That was too expensive, particularly with the growing competition from Wal-Mart and other stores for candy shoppers. Candy-Rama currently pays $675 a month in rent.

"We're disappointed that it didn't work out," she said.

Since word leaked out that the store would close, regulars have been dropping by to take photos with employees and to enjoy the last few weeks of the store's life. Some have shed tears, said Sherri Schrader, who has been the store manager for the last 15 years.

She said she was upset about the closing.

"I feel like it's mine. I open, I close. I'm going to miss all the steady customers who come and visit us every day," she said. "We call this the living room in here because the same people every day just come and stop by and see us."

One of those regulars, Cathy Niederberger, has been visiting Candy-Rama since she was a child. She has carried on the tradition with her own son. She said she was disappointed to see the store go.

"It's sad. It really is sad. It's part of a bygone era," she said. "We're going to miss it. It's a great quick stop and the employees are friendly."

Ms. Niederberger, a PNC employee, said the redevelopment of Downtown, which includes the Murphy's conversion and the construction of the Three PNC Plaza skyscraper, was both exciting and overdue.

But at the same time "it would be great if the URA could figure out a way to incorporate some of these landmark institutions that have stuck around during Downtown's tough times and give them an opportunity for some affordable space in some of the new developments," she said.

At The Headgear store next door, owners Charles and Yung Lee said they plan to relocate elsewhere Downtown. But that does not mean Mr. Lee is happy about it.

"I have a feeling like someone cut my neck off," he said.

Part of the reason Mr. Lee is upset is that he understands and appreciates the long history of hat sales at the location. Before Mr. Lee arrived 12 years ago, the Tucker & Tucker hat store occupied the same storefront for 72 years.

He said some of his customers remember their fathers, grandfathers or even great-grandfathers stopping at the store. With the relocation, a "Pittsburgh tradition will be wiped out."

"I have a very empty feeling in my heart," he said.

The store is stacked from floor to ceiling with just about every style of hat imaginable, from Stetsons and fedoras to ball caps and knit caps. Some hats can go as high as $1,000. Mr. Lee said customers have come from all over the world.

"We collect the best hats in the world," he said proudly.

Mr. Lee said the URA had offered to temporarily relocate him to another of its properties Downtown, but he declined because he didn't want to move twice. He and his wife are now searching for another location Downtown.

He originally was told to vacate the store by today, but now may be able to stay until the end of the year. He hopes to remain for the holiday shopping season. Mr. Lee said he tried to buy the building about 10 years ago but was turned down by the city, which was assembling properties Downtown for redevelopment.

Kenny's Nail Design next to the hat store is planning to relocate to Forbes Avenue. Owner Tony Nguyen said he will be at the Fifth Avenue location for another three weeks before making the move.

Officials for the URA and Millcraft Industries, the Washington County firm undertaking the redevelopment of the Murphy building, could not be reached for comment.

The city planning commission yesterday approved Millcraft's plans to convert the Murphy store, the Candy-Rama and Headgear buildings and another structure into 46 apartments and street-level retail shops. The Downtown YMCA also will move into the new building.

Millcraft hopes to start the $33 million construction by the end of the year and have it completed by mid-December 2008.

First published on October 31, 2007 at 12:00 am
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_535431.html

Home construction, center renovation OK'd for Hill District

By The Tribune-Review
Wednesday, October 31, 2007


The Pittsburgh Planning Commission on Tuesday cleared a final hurdle facing the second phase of a mixed-income Hill District housing community.
The commission approved renovations to an 8,400-square-foot community center called Wadsworth Hall and construction of 115 residences on 7.5 acres of land at Oak Hill, a Pittsburgh Housing Authority-managed development.

The approval is only the first part of the second phase of Oak Hill, which could eventually have 450 homes. The entire second phase will be developed in three to four parts, commission members said.

Boston-based developer Beacon/Corcoran Jennison could begin construction next fall if it receives the proper state tax credits.

[FlyingDog]

In the latest "Pittsburgh Homes" magazine which is one of those free Real Estate mags you can grab at the entrance to grocery stores and other retail places, I found a rendering of a new 5 story luxury condo bldg to be built on Mt Washington - Grandview Ave. I couldn't find any more info when I did a search for this project so I just scanned the ad and uplaoded it here. It says prices start ni mid 500s which I guess means 550,000 and up:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/austindaniel/CondoBldgcropped.jpg

I spoke with the Coldwell Banker rep: this condo project is "Vista Grande" and is to be located at 501 Grandview Ave. -- near the church. First floor units will ask $560K with prices rising to the penthouse ... two units per floor with the penthouse being one unit. Coldwell stated that DeBartolo was involved to some extent in the project ... Cozza has lost their "first mover" opportunity with their Vici project at 341 Grandview.

I've been watching/following all new plans for Mt. Washington and this one seems like it might actually move forward as all permits have been secured.

[PA Pride]

^Oh, good work Flyingdog; That's interesting to hear. Do you happen to know of the name of Debartolo's company or if it has a website or anything?

Also, What does the first mover opportunity mean to the Vici; Is it delayed or on hold or cancelled now?

Thanks for contributing!



EDIT: By the way, here is that agents personal website that has a little bit more info on the Vista Grande and a better quality rendering of the same pic:

http://www.sydniejones.com/current-listings.asp?listing_id={5419211D-7756-485F-8BFD-73EC5E82981E}

[cdc]

Okay, cdc you got me. However, at least I did not opt for the Waterfront GE like a lot of the East Enders have. My hatred of the Sq Hill GE is more about the over crowding than anything- it is not suburban snobbery.

Actually, I've found that the Waterfront GE is often overcrowded too,
especially on weekends. I don't like going there either. But I don't
think that the East Enders who opted for the Waterfront did it because
of suburban snobbery (after all, they do actually live in the City).

I'll agree with EG that the Sq Hill GE has character. But not in a
good way...



Speaking of character, this week's City Paper's feature article is on
development in East Liberty. It isn't up on the web site yet, but the
paper copies are out (at least in Oakland).

[PA Pride]

a promising article in the Post-Gazette today. Sounds like a very good idea:


City to study neighborhood development investment
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Philadelphia-based consultant will start a study of city of Pittsburgh neighborhoods today, with the goal of providing detailed data and guidance on development investment.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl introduced The Reinvestment Fund at a press conference that announced the start of the $35,000 study funded by the city, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Surdna Foundation.

"We have to ensure that we are investing our limited resources wisely," said Mr. Ravenstahl. TRF's data will allow the city to rebuild "using hard data, instead of politics" to distribute limited funds.

Ira Goldstein of TRF said his organization will drive through every neighborhood, talk with community advocates, and comb data on housing, vacancies, abandonment, foreclosures and more. That "allows us to comprehend what's really going on" in neighborhoods.

That data will help local leaders answer a host of questions, he said. "In what way should [development] money be spent? Is that money for demolition? Is that money for infill housing? Is that money for a preservation program?"

Community development leaders gushed.

"This is exactly what the city needs," said Kate Trimble, executive director of Lawrenceville Corp. "You need data to drive decision making. . . . You have less [money] to do more with, so you need to base decision-making on hard facts."

TRF's work is expected to be completed in January.

[FlyingDog]

^Oh, good work Flyingdog; That's interesting to hear. Do you happen to know of the name of Debartolo's company or if it has a website or anything?

Also, What does the first mover opportunity mean to the Vici; Is it delayed or on hold or cancelled now?

Thanks for contributing!



EDIT: By the way, here is that agents personal website that has a little bit more info on the Vista Grande and a better quality rendering of the same pic:

http://www.sydniejones.com/current-listings.asp?listing_id={5419211D-7756-485F-8BFD-73EC5E82981E}

The guy I talk to within Cozza continues to maintain (as of July 2007) that they are hoping to be in the ground on both of their Mt. Washington projects - 341 and 1435 Grandview Ave. - by year end 2007. I have an email into him to see what's their update.

This Vista Grande project was somewhat of a surprise (to me) in that it appears to be moving forward before either of the Cozza projects, which have been repeatedly delayed for quite some time now.

[Evergrey]

Is 501 Grandview the lot across Ulysses St. from St. Mary on the Mount where the abandoned 2 1/2-story house with the two wrap-around decks is located? I assume that house would be demolished for this project.

news on SouthSide Works office buildings
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/10/29/daily27.html?surround=lfn

car-sharing services merge (Flexcar and Zipcar)
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/10/29/daily23.html?surround=lfn

[EventHorizon]

Onorato unveils $1B transit system plan

Article Link (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_535603.html)

By The Tribune-Review
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato this afternoon unveiled a $1 billion plan to connect Oakland, Downtown and the airport corridor by light rail.

The proposal was a key recommendation of the Transportation Action Team, which Onorato formed in March 2006 to address short- and long-term transit goals in the region. The system, which would connect the second and third busiest business districts in the state, would be funded through federal transportation dollars and public/private partnerships, officials said.

"While we fix the current fiscal crisis at Port Authority ... we are also focused on the next phase for transit in the region," Onorato said.

[PA Pride]

^It only makes sense for something like that, but will it happen? I have to wonder...

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_535662.html

Soffer plans 'lifestyle center'

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, November 1, 2007


Plans are moving forward for the next phase of the Soffer Organization's SouthSide Works development, with a marketing effort under way for a 160,000-square-foot office building facing the Monongahela River.
The Quantum V building is part of a redesign of a riverfront block that will be home to an upscale hotel and condominium tower, conference center, Hofbrauhaus restaurant and other residential developments.

"We're excited about the opportunity to market not only a corporate office building, but an incredible lifestyle center abundant with amenities unmatched anywhere in the region," said Jack O'Donoghue, commercial real estate broker with Grant Street Associates Inc.

O'Donoghue, who is leading the leasing effort, represented American Eagle Outfitters Inc. in a leasing transaction for its headquarters at the SouthSide Works.

Since July, American Eagle has moved about 400 workers from its former headquarters in Marshall to the Quantum II office building along Hot Metal Street at the SouthSide Works. It plans to move hundreds more in about two years when another building under construction, Quantum III, is expected to be completed.
Plans for another office building, Quantum IV, have yet to be announced.

Preliminary plans for the Quantum V building include 30,000-square-foot floor plates, with nine-foot ceiling heights, said a news release from Grant Street Associates. Those plans may include retail on the first floor.

Construction won't start until an anchor tenant is secured, O'Donoghue said.

Among the tenants said to be looking for space in the marketplace include the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, Equitable Resources Inc. and the Blatner Brunner advertising firm, according to area real estate officials.

Several other developers are proceeding with plans for projects near the SouthSide Works:

• Trammell Crow Co., a Dallas-based subsidiary of CB Richard Ellis Inc. of El Segundo, Calif., is building a $31 million, five-story building at Hot Metal and Sidney streets that will be the headquarters for construction company Dick Corp.

• Pittsburgh developer Ralph A. Falbo Inc. plans to build a $14 million, 40-unit condominium along South Water Street, east of the Dick building. Design is under way, and the construction is expected to start in the spring.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07305/830172-28.stm

Zipcar swallows Flexcar in car-sharing business

Thursday, November 01, 2007
By Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two car-sharing services that entered the Pittsburgh market within months of each other this year have joined forces in a merger that could jump-start their nascent industry.

In a deal that closed at midnight, Cambridge, Mass.-based Zipcar, bought Seattle-based Flexcar for an undisclosed sum. The new company, which will keep the Zipcar name and headquarters, will have more than 5,000 vehicles and 180,000 subscribers in 48 cities.

Flexcar brought car-sharing to Pittsburgh in May with a fleet of 19 vehicles in Downtown and Oakland that members could rent by the hour. Zipcar began serving Pittsburgh in August with two vehicles on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, the alma mater of its president and chief executive officer, Murrysville native Scott Griffith. Mr. Griffith will be chairman and CEO of the new company, while Flexcar CEO Mark Norman will be president and chief operating officer.

Pittsburghers have embraced the car-sharing concept. Shortly after Flexcar's arrival, City Council agreed to purchase $10,000 of rental time of the company's vehicles. VisitPittsburgh, the tourist promotion agency of Allegheny County, also enrolled as an organizational member. And by the end of September, the company's fleet had grown to more than 50 -- a benchmark that took several years to reach in its environmentally conscious hometown of Seattle.

"We think the high growth lies ahead of us," Mr. Griffith said, projecting that the combined company would have "up to 2 million members in the long term."

Locally, Mr. Griffith said, the only direct impact of the merger will be the rebranding of Flexcar vehicles and reworking their technology to make them available to Zipcar members.

Zipcar and Flexcar, both founded in 1999, operate in similar ways. Members can reserve a car either online or by phone. When they go to pick up the car at a designated location, waving a membership card over the windshield unlocks the doors, allowing the member to retrieve the car key inside. At the end of the reserved time, the member returns the car to the parking spot and replaces the key.

Elwin Green can be reached at egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.

[cdc]

In other news, Pittsburgh Public Schools continues in its attempt to abandon Schenley High... the most architecturally stunning building in the system... due to asbestos removal costs.


I think PPS is doing the right thing by proposing to close Schenley.
$45.5 million is a lot of additional money for a school district that
already has so many other more pressing problems to deal with.



more details from today's trib:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_535644.html

"We fully realize what a valuable building it is," Roosevelt said. "It is a building that we would love to save, but at what cost?"

...

Renovating Schenley, Miller, Reizenstein and Milliones would cost the school district $94.8 million, Roosevelt said. Closing Schenley and creating the four 6-12 schools would cost $49.3 million, he said, a $45.5 million savings over the plan to keep Schenley.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/binary/92cd/web44.jpg


http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A37791

NOVEMBER 1, 2007

At Liberty to Speak

After a half-century of having decisions made for them, East Liberty residents have a say in the future of the city's "second downtown"

BY VIOLET LAW

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/binary/bd57/44_0011_cover_andrewbutchertechkids.jpg
Andrew Butcher of GTECH (center) helps neighborhood kids build a fence. GTECH, a nonprofit, is helping plant biofuel crops in East Liberty.


Nearly three years ago, one dolly load at a time, Alethea Sims carted off 20 years' worth of belongings from the East Mall, the federally subsidized high-rise she'd made her home for two decades. Sims was among the 300 residents living in the complex, one of three high-rise apartment buildings that had come to define East Liberty's skyline.

"It was home to me," recalls Sims. "People looked out for each other. It was like one big family."

But if the building Sims had lived in was a community unto itself, it was also vilified as both a symbol and a cause of the neighborhood's downfall. After straddling Penn Avenue for decades, East Mall was the target of a gleeful paintball game in which city officials participated to celebrate its imminent destruction. Since the 17-story structure was reduced to rubble, in 2005, its disappearance from the skyline has opened up not just new vistas, but new possibilities for an area once hailed as the city's second downtown.

For the building's long-time residents, feelings about the future are mixed. On one hand, they are encouraged that the neighborhood where they've lived through times thick and thin is now being rediscovered -- by chain retailers, grass-roots businesses like the Shadow Lounge and area restaurants, and now by housing developers and new residents. Still, they wonder what their place will be amidst the new activity.

"Some of the places they're bringing are sort of expensive for low-income people. We know where we could afford to shop," says another long-time resident Dolores Morris, a widow living on Social Security.

Like Sims, Morris was displaced from East Mall after two decades there. She was temporarily relocated to nearby New Pennley Place in the spring of 2005, and is awaiting the construction of new housing for those displaced by the demolition of the high-rises. But whatever reservations Sims and Morris may have about the future are outweighed by their enthusiasm. Both are waiting to move back into the new housing planned for the East Mall site.

"It's nice to see it to be active again," Morris says, "because it was a ghost town."

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/binary/713b/44_0005_cover_lee.jpg
Alethea Sims, standing outside the door of a more recent addition to the neighborhood

In a heyday that spanned the first half of the 20th century, East Liberty was both a starting point for new arrivals and an entertainment and shopping mecca. One end of the neighborhood was dominated by the bustling thoroughfares of Penn and Centre avenues and Broad Street. The other was buttressed by densely populated streets, such as Mellon, St. Clair and Euclid, which connect to the nearby predominantly residential neighborhoods of Friendship and Highland Park.

The Penn Circle area surrounding East Liberty Presbyterian Church was said to be the state's third-largest shopping district, after Philadelphia's Center City and Downtown Pittsburgh. What Pittsburghers now know as Motor Square Garden was once a thriving marketplace and, later, a site for sporting events and other entertainment. Sims was born and raised in nearby Larimer, but has fond memories of Christmas shopping in East Liberty as a kid.

Old-timers can readily rattle off the names of the many cinemas that lit up the streets through the night: Sheridan, Enright, Cameraphone. Gene Kelly, who grew up in the neighborhood, was a regular marquee name. Today, the only surviving theater space, Kelly-Strayhorn, has been renamed partly after him; the other names live on as breakfast menu items at Anthom, a neighborhood diner.

Like many other urban neighborhoods, East Liberty had been inhabited by a succession of immigrants. By 1930, it was principally an Italian neighborhood, though with a rising black population: According to Lives of Their Own: Blacks, Italians, and Poles in Pittsburgh: 1930-1960, the area was 70 percent Italian and 20 percent black at the time. And while there were ethnic tensions in such neighborhoods throughout the city, Lives of Their Own notes, "The degree of peaceful interaction that existed ... prior to the 1930s has been underestimated."

Still, tensions worsened over the following decades, and "white flight" began to accelerate. During the 1950s, one representative census tract went from under 14 percent African American to 54 percent black.

And as the suburbs boomed, East Liberty business owners felt the threat of suburban malls looming. In 1960, city officials, already preoccupied with renewal efforts in the predominantly black Lower Hill District and elsewhere, decided to try their hand in East Liberty. With the federal government paying for the bulk of the estimated $60 million cost, the bulldozer was set in motion.

By the time demolition was complete, nearly half of the 254 acres that made up East Liberty's commercial heart and residential blocks had been flattened.

To remake a neighborhood seen at the time to be choked with slums and mom-and-pop stores, the planners made bold strokes. Streets that connected the tight-knit residential blocks to the main thoroughfare, Penn Avenue, were amputated. A pedestrian mall was installed. Fronting the mall, and serving as a signpost for the remade neighborhood, was the fortress-like East Mall, with its 17 stories of apartments for moderate-income families towering over the traffic on Penn Avenue. A traffic circle was configured to contain the then-sprawling shopping area within the more concentrated bazaar the mall was meant to be.

The conventional wisdom is that East Liberty was the victim of a top-down process with no citizen input. The truth, though, is somewhat more complex.

In comparison to -- and in part because of -- the notorious razing of the Hill District, East Liberty's redevelopment featured an increased emphasis on historic preservation. That's one reason the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater -- the former Regent Theater, built in 1914 -- still stands. Renewal efforts also provided for green spaces along traffic dividers and elsewhere, and benches were dispersed throughout the mall.

Moreover, "the now much-maligned East Liberty project was the first to involve extensive citizen participation," urban historian Roy Lubove wrote in his two-volume Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh.

The citizens who participated, however, were a highly select group. The neighborhood was represented by the East Liberty Citizens Renewal Council, which Lubove hails as the "first of its kind in Pittsburgh," while conceding that because it was "[d]ominated by neighborhood business and institutional interests, it was not a 'grass roots' organization." The council was controlled by local merchants and bankers, and was headed by Herbert Mansmann, who owned a department store bearing his name.

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A tenant lounge at Fairfield, East liberty's next-generation housing development

Perhaps not surprisingly, the resulting project was a sort of citified mall complex: a pedestrian center with benches for shoppers, anchored by major retailers like Sears, and surrounded by what planners hoped was an auto-friendly circulation pattern. That vision was combined with a housing plan that was in accord with the precepts of post-war modernism -- which dictated that tall, monolithic buildings were the way to improve housing conditions for the masses.

"It was an attempt to make a livable neighborhood," says Bob Pease, chief of the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority in the 1960s and architect of East Liberty's renewal.

"Based on market analysis [at the time], we did the best we could with the knowledge that we had," Pease now says. "I'm never afraid to say we made a mistake.

"The high-rises were very successful in the beginning," Pease recalls. "Occupancy rates were high."

So were expectations. The high-rises epitomized what a 1970 Pittsburgh Press report called East Liberty: "a laboratory for experimenting with new ideas and the developing methods of urban renewal."

During the 1960s, high-rise living was still a novelty here. Pittsburghers might have been accustomed to living in houses perched on hilltops, but never in buildings more than a few stories above ground.

And they didn't necessarily take to it. In 1980, when she was 27 years old, Sims had dreamed of having a house of her own. Instead, she and her mother ended up moving into a 16th-floor apartment in East Mall. "It was months before I could look out the window," recalls Sims.

An engineer by training, Pease placed his faith in a good plan. But while the road patterns looked good on the drawing board, the circular roadway and its radial one-way feeder streets soon confounded even those who frequented the area. The new traffic pattern, as a Pittsburgh magazine article noted in December 1983, made sense only when viewed from above.

But the project "did not cause the decline of [East Liberty's] business district, as often claimed," Lubove contends. Rather, it "hastened [decline] by wrapping the area in a confusing mall and arterial road configuration. Neighborhood business districts were probably undermined less by renewal, however ill-conceived, than by the emergence of suburban shopping malls, as well as substantial depopulation, poverty and crime."

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/binary/7d68/44_0001_cover_newresidences.jpg
Fairfield, a new mixed-income housing development

Still, in trying to compete with suburban shopping malls, planners made the mistake of trying to turn a city neighborhood into one.

Moe Coleman, who as a social-work student worked in the field in East Liberty in the 1960s, was a community organizer when land acquisition and relocation began. He's now a professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh.

"The [planners], with their suburban and middle-class values, didn't understand a way of life that has merit to it," Coleman says.

Once again, East Liberty is becoming "a laboratory for experimenting with new ideas" about urban redevelopment. But this time, the approaches being devised are intended to reverse the mistakes made during the last experiment.

Now, the process is not just about bringing businesses back, but also putting heads together.

"The vision of East Liberty is being crafted in this process," says Nathan Wildfire, of East Liberty Development Inc. (ELDI), the community group responsible for the neighborhood's redevelopment.

While it may seem as though the latest round of renewal happened overnight, the process of soliciting community input has been going on for a decade. In concert with residents and other stakeholders, ELDI hatched a community plan for the area in 1999.

Some changes had already begun by that point. The pedestrian mall, once thought to be the modern innovation that would revive business, was undone in the early 1990s. Once-closed streets were reopened, facilitating car traffic that the original renewal effort had shunned.

The 1999 plan extended that work: broadening the mix of businesses, reconnecting the residential streets to Penn Circle and linking residents to jobs and training opportunities in the area.

To be sure, the change began slowly. Among the first of the new arrivals was Home Depot, which moved into the area in 2000. The trend really took hold when the organic-food grocery chain, Whole Foods, moved in along Centre Avenue. The success of Whole Foods, which marked its fifth anniversary in October, began to attract an influx of businesses serving a similar clientele. Mosites Corporation, the developer who lured Whole Foods to the area, used the market's success to attract an influx of businesses serving a similar clientele. Over the past two years, a spa, an upscale wine store, Borders

Books & Music and Starbucks Coffee all cropped up within barely a block of Whole Foods, as part of the EastSide complex.

Now that "green" design is all the rage, East Liberty's redevelopment plans increasingly incorporate environmentally friendly initiatives. Last spring, in a residential section of East Liberty known as Mellon Orchard, a pilot project was launched by the U.S. Green Building Council. The project aims to test sustainable development strategies. Just a few blocks from Penn Circle, biofuel crops are being planted in vacant lots. In-fill housing prototypes are being designed to restore the original character and dwellings of the residential blocks. Certain streets will be resurfaced to eliminate run-off. Traffic islands and thoroughfares will be landscaped with low-maintenance and drought-resistant plants.

"The community plan of 1999 is responsible for what's happening now," says Wildfire. Now, with most of the original goals met, "It's about time for the people in East Liberty to contribute to an aligned vision again."

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In June, ELDI kicked off the community planning process by convening quarterly meetings of residents, business owners and social-service providers. Those who attend are encouraged to join various task forces, which focus on different aspects of neighborhood redevelopment. The task forces are on workforce, youth engagement, safe neighborhoods, housing, community health, small businesses, commercial core, and parks and recreation.

Participants are asked to identify the problems and areas of concern. In follow-up meetings they are expected to brainstorm for potential solutions, with an emphasis on "outside of the box" inputs, according to ELDI officials. Further, members of each task force are encouraged to draw up action plans and timelines for implementing such plans. Finally, each task force will elect a spokesperson to present its plan at the next community-planning meeting. The upshot, say Wildfire and other backers, is that urban planners no longer charge themselves with sole responsibility of prescribing solutions. Community planning is now of the people and by the people

And the people do have some concerns about the wildly trumpeted success of recent development. Too much of the shopping is expensive, they say, and too much of the housing is for rent.

"It's a little out of our reach," says resident Dolores Morris about the retail that has opened up in the area. "I would like to see something more down-to-earth," like the Sears store that dominated the neighborhood's retail scene in the 1980s. While Sears may not have been a destination store like Whole Foods, it did provide affordable clothing and other necessities to people in the area.

Residents also say they hope room can be made for more single-family for-sale housing -- the kind that was demolished during the city's first urban-renewal project, and never fully restored.

In the current redevelopment plans, the emphasis is on finding new homes for the former residents of torn-down high-rises who want to stay in the area.

East Mall and Liberty Park, a complex of low-slung homes and one high-rise, have come down. The area's only remaining high-rise, Penn Circle, will be vacated by the end of the year. So far, only the Liberty Park site has been rebuilt: It is now a 124-unit mixed-income rental development. Roughly two-thirds of its apartments were reserved for former high-rise residents; the balance, about 40 units, are market-rate units. The new development is named Fairfield, after an old street obliterated during the urban renewal. All of the affordable units, which housing officials say attracted nearly 1,000 phone calls, were quickly filled.

Most of the developments being planned so far are mixed-income rentals, a step up from merely warehousing the poor in restricted units. But Sims, a leader of a coalition of former high-rise tenants, says she'd like to expand the housing stock to include for-purchase homes.

"It'd be nice to see that kind of mix, something for everyone," says Sims. "That's what the East Liberty revitalization is about. Don't make another low-rent district."

Planners see the challenge.

"Are we building a community of two different classes in the same neighborhood? I don't think so," says Rob Stephany, who became deputy executive director at the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority this summer, after nearly 10 years at ELDI overseeing commercial developments.

Redevelopment officials are caught in a tough spot, however. "In East Liberty, the first move was several hundred units of affordable homes" for the original residents, says Stephany -- and almost none of those residents make enough money to buy their own homes.

Economics are also unfavorable on the supply side of the equation. The tightening of the home-mortgage market nationwide keeps developers and builders in a wait-and-see mode. A plan to build 84 condominiums inside the Highland Building, one of the Penn Circle area's most prominent structures, was recently scrapped. (According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the developer, the Zambrano Corporation, now plans to convert the building to office space instead.)

So for now, those looking to buy new homes -- and those who believe new for-sale housing will help anchor the area -- must look elsewhere.

When she was looking to buy a small house last year, Hilary Brown had hoped to find something affordable in East Liberty. She was disappointed and ended up purchasing a two-bedroom in Lawrenceville for $62,000, half as much as what she found listed in East Liberty.

"People want to buy into the neighborhood," says Brown, who is the outreach and events manager at the Union Project, a nearby converted church space which provides meeting space and other resources to community-rebuilding efforts. "There are not enough options for people to come in and buy to fix up the homes."

But ELDI, city officials and the developers involved say they're not about to repeat the mistakes of the past. That resolve is revealed in the code name of the development plans: called "nabru lawener" -- "urban renewal" spelled backward.

"That's what we're trying to do," says Mark Minnerly, a developer with Mosites Company, which oversees EastSide. "We had to laugh, because no one can say [the codename]."

After Minnerly and Steve Mosites Jr., owner of Mosites Company, brought Whole Foods to the neighborhood, they recognized they would have to keep at it. "We knew we had to do more to be successful, not one- or two-shot deals," says Mosites. And each of those deals requires considerable patience. With EastSide, for example, the developers moved slowly -- over a half-dozen years -- to acquire 14 parcels of land needed to build the complex along the Baum Boulevard corridor.

But moving slowly can be a good thing. "Urban renewal to me is characterized by huge sweeping moves," says Minnerly.

Instead of breaking up street grids, Minnerly says, this redevelopment is about reconnecting. This ethos is embedded in the name "EastSide" itself. Some in the community, Minnerly acknowledges, suspect the name is an attempt to erase the negative association people may have with East Liberty. But the developers, he says, see the name reflecting their attempts to reconnect East Liberty with more-prosperous Shadyside. In fact, the developers are currently awaiting state approval to build a pedestrian bridge over railroad tracks and the East Busway, so that visitors can walk over from the trendy boutiques of Ellsworth Avenue.

"Part of the appeal about East Liberty is the authenticity of the place," says Stephany. The trick, he says, is to restore the commercial core while keeping the feel intact. The inherent weakness of urban renewal lies in the incontrovertible fact that the intricate social fabric of a neighborhood, once ripped apart by the bulldozer, cannot be mended by the best-laid plan. This time, Stephany and others are confident that they're doing things the right way.

"It shows that revitalization can be done without forcing out people. This is not an exclusive success, but an inclusive success."

[PA Pride]

East Liberty has really been having a lot of development... It seems to be quickly becoming the next hot city neighborhood.

[hyperion1110]

Here is the link to the pdf of the transit recommendations: http://www.alleghenycounty.us/news/2007/271031att.pdf

Speaking as someone who commutes to and from Oakland everyday, I can tell you without hesitation that LRT between Downtown and Oakland is something that MUST happen. Oakland is absolutely a mess M-F from 7 AM to 7 PM, and it's still not so great the rest of the time.

[xyagentguy]

Speaking as someone who commutes to and from Oakland everyday, I can tell you without hesitation that LRT between Downtown and Oakland is something that MUST happen. Oakland is absolutely a mess M-F from 7 AM to 7 PM, and it's still not so great the rest of the time.
I'm all for it!! I just wonder how many years will go by before anything bears fruit.

[Evergrey]

The 1.1 mile North Shore Connector entered the planning phase in the late 90s and will be completed in 2011. I wouldn't hold your breath for this envisioned transit fantasy (though it totally makes sense)

Concerning that 11-unit condo at 501 Grandview... I noticed the old house I was talking about has been demolished and there are renderings up for the new building.

[Johnland]

As a former Pittsburgher, it is so good to see signs of progress in East Liberty. I lived near East Liberty back in the 80's. It was always ok, but there was just nothing there. Penn Ave was desolate. There was no real retail or dining. It was just the place you went through on your way from Shadyside to Highland Park.

When you read the history of Pittsburgh, you realize that East Liberty was a pretty happening place for a long time. It was the 2nd largest retail hub for decades. The grossly misguided urban renewal plans of the 60's set in course a decades long decline.

With its prime East End location on mostly level ground, it holds a great geographical asset. It is adjacent to several important city neighborhoods - Highland Park, Shadyside, Point Breeze, Friendship, Garfield, Larimar and Homewood.

[BMikeSci]

Actually, I've found that the Waterfront GE is often overcrowded too,
especially on weekends. I don't like going there either. But I don't
think that the East Enders who opted for the Waterfront did it because
of suburban snobbery (after all, they do actually live in the City).

I'll agree with EG that the Sq Hill GE has character. But not in a
good way...



Speaking of character, this week's City Paper's feature article is on
development in East Liberty. It isn't up on the web site yet, but the
paper copies are out (at least in Oakland).

All I can say is thank god for Trader Joes.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07306/830496-28.stm

Real estate prices higher in some places

Neighborhood appreciation

Friday, November 02, 2007
By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Homes in Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are solid bets for long-term price appreciation, but a recent study of real estate trends in and around Pittsburgh concluded the hottest place to own a home is the South Side.

A report by graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business shows home values in South Side Flats and Slopes over the past 10 years have had the highest price appreciation in the city -- more than 10 percent annually.

Surprisingly, lower and central Lawrenceville, where homes vales have risen at a steady 8 percent each year, come in a close second place.

"A lot of people wouldn't think Lawrenceville has done that, but it's actually done very, very well," said John Sozansky, president of the Appraisal Institute's Metropolitan Pittsburgh chapter, which sponsored the study.

"They've really turned Lawrenceville around," Mr. Sozansky said. "They've cleaned up the streets. They have a nice thriving business district. There are businesses moving back into the Penn Avenue corridor."

While 10-year historic trends show steady, moderate home value appreciation of 2 percent to 4 percent throughout the region, growth and decline are very localized as far as neighborhoods are concerned.

Homes in Shadyside and Squirrel Hill have appreciated 5.7 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. But economically depressed city neighborhoods such as Lincoln-Lemington, Belmar and Homewood have either experienced no home value appreciation since 1997 -- or had declining prices.

"While there's no one cause to explain the economic challenges faced in these neighborhoods, crime and the flight of the middle class are chief among troubles to be dealt with before growth can be expected to return," the report said.

Allegheny County's annual residential price appreciation at 3.8 percent was the lowest among all surrounding counties, according to the study.

Meanwhile, Butler County appears to be the home of the next real estate gold rush, but there too the market is localized.

"Butler has gone up, but a lot of it is due to certain neighborhoods, like Cranberry Township," Mr. Sozansky said.

"The rest of Butler County is significantly slower in growth. There's virtually nothing happening in the rest of the county."

Overall, home values in Cranberry and Peters in Washington County have grown 5 percent every year over the past decade as more people have migrated to communities along transportation hubs.

One might expect strong development in Beaver County given its proximity to the airport, but the CMU research found high property taxes on new homes was a primary reason for the low development rates there. Beaver County real estate values as a whole grew 4.3 percent per year over the decade.

Tax flight also has played a role in lower income families leaving Allegheny County. But the population loss largely has been mitigated by higher income families moving to Allegheny County for better K-12 education in public and private schools.

The region's growth, according to the study, will take the form of single family homes with condominium development in Allegheny County serving as the exception.

The study, which was based on historical sales data from public real estate records and interviews with real estate professionals, concluded that outside the city of Pittsburgh, the greatest development will be in Butler County, followed by Washington County.

The students did not examine every city neighborhood in detail, but the study suggested that the greatest appreciation in the city is expected to occur in higher risk neighborhoods with major projects under way, such as the North Side and Uptown, which will be home to the new casino and arena, respectively.

It does all boil down to the old real estate adage: Location, location, location.

Tim Grant can be reached at tgrant@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1591.

[BMikeSci]

Onorato unveils $1B transit system plan

Article Link (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_535603.html)

By The Tribune-Review
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato this afternoon unveiled a $1 billion plan to connect Oakland, Downtown and the airport corridor by light rail.

The proposal was a key recommendation of the Transportation Action Team, which Onorato formed in March 2006 to address short- and long-term transit goals in the region. The system, which would connect the second and third busiest business districts in the state, would be funded through federal transportation dollars and public/private partnerships, officials said.

"While we fix the current fiscal crisis at Port Authority ... we are also focused on the next phase for transit in the region," Onorato said.

Fantastic, but where are the details? Is this just a dream, or is there funding? Where will it be located, etc?

[Evergrey]

I am quite aware of the grim financial realities incurred by asbestos-hysteria at Schenley High. But the closure of this school will be a very tragic occurance for Pittsburgh Public Schools.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_535857.html

Schenley High School shuttering on the table again

By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 2, 2007


Despite the asbestos in the nearly century-old Schenley High School, real estate officials see a market for it as a place to live or work.
"It's prominent. It's handsome, and it's close to institutions that have a lot of demand. It has market attributes that a lot of other schools don't have," said David Matter, president of the Downtown-based Oxford Development Co.

Matter made his comment Thursday, a day after city schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt proposed for the second time in two years that the school be closed.

Roosevelt cited the $64.3 million cost of removing the asbestos and making mechanical improvements as reasons for closing the school in June. Public hearings will be conducted Nov. 13 and 27, and the school board is scheduled to vote on the proposal in February.

Matter said he talked with Roosevelt a few weeks ago about the marketability of Schenley. Perhaps the school's greatest asset is its location in Oakland near the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and nearby universities.
"There are institutions that are likely to develop demand for the most appropriate use, which I think is multifamily housing," Matter said.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele declined to comment on the university's possible interest in buying the 91-year-old building.

Jason Stewart, vice president of Grubb & Ellis, a Downtown-based commercial real estate services firm, said the building is suitable for condos and offices. Like Matter, he likes Schenley's location.

"On the surface, the Oakland area is ground zero for our region's growth," Stewart said.

Jasmine Davis, 15, of the North Side is a cheerleader and a junior at Schenley. When she learned yesterday morning of the proposed closing, she was heartbroken.


"I don't want it to close," Davis said. "I want to graduate from Schenley."

Supporters of Schenley say they will battle attempts to put it on the market.

"We're fighting it, but we're trying to work with the school district," said Jet Lafean, 56, of Schenley Farms, a member of Save Schenley, a group that opposed the earlier attempt to shut down the school.

He said the group wants to tour the building and review the district's report on how much the renovation would cost.

"We think the figure's about half that from what we heard a year ago," Lafean said.

Roosevelt, however, stands by the estimate.

"You can do a less-expensive remediation that could come around $50 million," he said. "But we believe to save the building and do it right, the best estimate is $64 million.

Stewart considers Schenley's historic status -- it's listed on the National Registry of Historic Places -- as an asset, too. He cited the conversion of the Heinz factory on the North Shore into Heinz Lofts and the ongoing renovation of the former Nabisco Bakery in East Liberty into Bakery Square, an office and retail development.


Matter said a buyer could take advantage of tax credits available for renovating historic buildings.

Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation at Station Square, said any buyer must have the plans approved by the state historic preservation officer.

Given the district's estimate for fixing the building, Ziegler said he was not surprised the administration wants to sell it.

"But it certainly is a hallmark school building that many people know and respect," he said. "So we want to see the building retained, if not by the school board, by a serious developer."

Neither the real estate officials nor Roosevelt would estimate what the building could fetch on the market.

"I think there will be a purchaser for Schenley," Roosevelt said. "I think it will be a very modest price."



Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2007-11-01/1102pschenley-a.jpg
Jasmine Davis, 15, of the North Side, a cheerleader and a junior at Schenley High School, doesn't want the facility to close. "I want to graduate from Schenley," she said.
Keith Hodan/Tribune-Review

[Evergrey]

finally there may be new life for one of Downtown's most elegant structures

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_535882.html

Union Trust Building excites latest suitor

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 2, 2007


An investment group led by executives of the Mika Realty Group in Los Angeles said Thursday it hopes to complete the purchase of the historic Union Trust Building, Downtown, by the end of the month.
The group, which includes Michael Kamen, founder of the privately held company, and a business associate, Gerson Fox, also of Los Angeles, said it has plans to restore the grandeur of the block-long structure at 501 Grant St. that experts say is one of Pittsburgh's most architecturally significant buildings.

The purchase price has not been disclosed, but the building is assessed at $30.75 million, according to Allegheny County records.

"We look at the Union Trust Building as a classic building that can't be duplicated," said Rick Barreca, CEO of Mika Realty, also one of the investors.

Plans are to continue using the 11-story, 800,000-square-foot structure as an office building and attract a mix of upscale retail tenants to the first level, he said.
"We think that is the highest and best use for it," Barreca said. "We're looking forward to bringing in some exciting retail to the first level, and leasing the office space to some very good tenants."

The Union Trust Building, which has been known as Two Mellon Bank Center, has been nearly empty since Mellon Financial Corp. -- now Bank of New York Mellon Corp. -- moved its personnel out of the structure in May 2006. A small number of mostly retail tenants remain on the first level, the largest being Lorrimer's clothing store.

"Several major office tenants and retail tenants already have expressed interest in the building," said Jeffrey Ackerman, commercial real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, the firm commissioned to sell the building by the owner, Teal Rock 501 Grant Street LP, a partnership owned by Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp.

CB Richard Ellis will handle leasing and management of the building once the sale is completed, Ackerman said.

The investment group is working with two architectural firms on ideas for the building that would not disturb its historic character, Barreca said.

Mika's Internet site said it is the 13th-largest developer in the Los Angeles area, with some 5.9 million square feet in commercial real estate developed.

Barreca said Kamen has been involved in the commercial real estate business for more than 40 years and has specialized on "adaptive reuse" of older buildings, including conversion of office facilities to loft apartments.

One of Mika's projects was the Star News Building, an 80,000-square-foot building in Pasadena, Calif., that was renovated as a $20 million residential building. The project included installation of a 24-hour fitness club and other amenities in a 30,000-square-foot basement that used to house newspaper printing presses.

A current project is Victory Lofts, where the company is developing 102 residential units in a Cleveland building in the vicinity of the Cleveland Clinic, Barreca said.

"We are really enthused that it appears a very promising buyer is very interested in the building," said Arthur P. Ziegler, president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. He met Barreca recently when he was visiting the city.

"This is a developer who appears to have considerable experience with historic buildings and is particularly attracted to the Union Trust Building because of his positive feelings about the future of the Pittsburgh market and the extraordinary architectural quality of the building," Ziegler said. "I think he is going to treat it very well."

Barreca said the group is finalizing financing for the purchase with a bank, rather than go to the capital markets or Wall Street sources. Thus, he said, there should not be a problem with financing because of the mortgage crisis, which has played havoc with the national residential real estate market and impacted some commercial deals.

Securing financing was said to be a problem with the previous potential buyer, a New York investment group that included Houlihan-Parnes/iCap Realty Advisors of White Plains and J.J. Operating Corp. of New York City.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/video/2007_pdfs/GX-UTRUST-ch-11-02.pdf

[cdc]

Speaking as someone who commutes to and from Oakland everyday, I can tell you without hesitation that LRT between Downtown and Oakland is something that MUST happen. Oakland is absolutely a mess M-F from 7 AM to 7 PM, and it's still not so great the rest of the time.

agree, LRT would be great.

One thing that could be done to improve things in Oakland right now is
to get the police to start ticketing delivery trucks that park in
traffic lanes on Forbes Ave. Those trucks (UPS, FedEX, beer delivery,
etc.) often clog things up by reducing Forbes from 3 lanes 2 to. In
fact, a few days ago I got caught in a traffic jam that was caused by
two delivery trucks parked directly across from each other leaving
only one traffic lane open. Arg!


East Liberty: After reading the CP article, I stumbled across this
interesting five part series of articles from the PG back in 2000 that
are worth revisiting if you want a bit more historical depth on the
topic:

Part 1: The story of urban renewal
http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000521eastliberty1.asp

Part 2: East Liberty Then - Initial makeover had dismal results
http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000523intro3.asp

Part 3: The land that retail forgot
http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000524elib3.asp

Part 4: East Liberty's dangerous reputation is major obstacle to development
http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000525elib3.asp

Part 5: A matter of speculation: Investors eye land as other wonder if East Liberty will finally rebound
http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000526elib4.asp

Being relatively new to the area, I found that quite informative.
Things are definitely on the rebound. In retrospect, it is clear that
Home Depot was an excellent starting point. With all the old housing
stock around (my house is >100 years old) there is always repairs and
improvements that can be made. K-Mart would have been a mistake (too
downscale and the company has not been in great financial shape). I
think a Target would work (though it would likely draw off some of the
traffic that currently goes to the waterfront store). Whole Foods is
a clear success and likely the reason for the arrival of Market
District and Trader Joes. In fact, I would say East Liberty has been
transformed from nothing into the mecca for all grocery shopping in
the PGH area --- it is a tremendous improvement.

[hyperion1110]

Amen on the trucks in Oakland, cdc.

As far as Schenley High goes, while I think it is unfortunate that it will likely be closed as a high school, this is a perfect opportunity to improve that whole area of Oakland. I could see Pitt purchasing the building and converting it into laboratory or academic space (which it needs greatly), or even student housing. Alternatively, I think it would make for an interesting conversation to housing. Still, I think it's most suitable function would be academic, given its achitecture and campus-like orientation.

[Evergrey]

Amen on the trucks in Oakland, cdc.

As far as Schenley High goes, while I think it is unfortunate that it will likely be closed as a high school, this is a perfect opportunity to improve that whole area of Oakland. I could see Pitt purchasing the building and converting it into laboratory or academic space (which it needs greatly), or even student housing. Alternatively, I think it would make for an interesting conversation to housing. Still, I think it's most suitable function would be academic, given its achitecture and campus-like orientation.

"Improving" Oakland to the detriment of Pittsburgh schoolchildren. Schenley is one of the better-performing high schools in the city and it's architecture and location both contribute to its unique and rich learning environment. The city needs high schools like this... not grim fortresses like Peabody. A recent study just identified five Pittsburgh high schools as "dropout factories"... yet we're gonna close one of the four high schools that are doing comparatively well.

As for a proposed re-use of Schenley... student housing would be a terrible idea. Students are slobs... we don't need them trashing an architectural landmark (Pitt recently killed Club Laga and the Upstage to build student housing in that Forbes Ave. building). We need a private developer so this valuable property can get on the tax rolls. This would be an awesome opportunity for luxury condos in an area where there is high demand (just look at the success of Metropolitan Shadyside on Neville). Condos in an architecturally-stunning historic landmark a short walk from Pitt and the heart of Oakland... adjacent to the beautiful Schenley Farms residential district... would fly off the shelf.

credit: SchultzLabs
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/55/151628336_fa2813fa8f_o.jpg

[xyagentguy]

We need a private developer so this valuable property can get on the tax rolls. This would be an awesome opportunity for luxury condos in an area where there is high demand (just look at the success of Metropolitan Shadyside on Neville). Condos in an architecturally-stunning historic landmark a short walk from Pitt and the heart of Oakland... adjacent to the beautiful Schenley Farms residential district... would fly off the shelf.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Surely we aren't the only ones? Maybe someone will take notice.

[PA Pride]

I like your idea for Schelnley high school, Evergrey. That is a great building. I bet it will get snapped up for conversion by developers very quickly if the public school system does put it up for sale.

[tooluther]

Sorry guys, I don't think so on the SHS to Condo Idea

1. That's a tough building layout to cut up into meaningful living space
2. The abatement costs and cost to bring base building up to spec are prohibitory.
3. THEN you have to add in the high cost of construction
4. And we haven't even added in purchase price yet.

Real Estate may be "location, location, location"...but recently its also "holy crap, how did this project end up costing so much"

I hope I have to eat my words, but that's just how I see it now.

[themaguffin]

Considering how much the Cork Factory cost, I would say this isn't viable. It's a wonderful building that must find a great use if not for education. Maybe one of the universities will use it? I know that will keep it off the taxes, but still....

[Brentsters]

Although Laga is now residential, and some students may live there, Pitt is not the owner of the building and it's not offered as university-affiliated housing. Plus I'm sure the rents are so high I doubt undergrads live there. More likely grad students and professionals.

[EventHorizon]

Steelers, Pirates, casino reach agreement on traffic

Friday, November 02, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Casino developer Don Barden has reached agreement with the Steelers and Pirates on an estimated $16 million in traffic improvements around the proposed North Shore casino that could allow for a casino ground-breaking by the end of the year.

Allegheny County Judge Joseph James announced the agreement late this morning. He was assigned to work with the parties after the Steelers and Pirates sued to block casino construction due to traffic concerns.

Under the agreement, an overhead pedestrian walkway will be built from the proposed light rail transit station --- to be built at the current site of the Carnegie Science Center's SportWorks facility -- across Allegheny Avenue to Heinz Field. That walkway is expected to be built before the casino or the LRT station is finished.

The improvements also will include lane controls and signs at the West End Bridge and West End Circle, which will be one of the primary access points to the casino.

The cost of the work will be shared by Mr. Barden, the Steelers, and city, Allegheny County and state governments.

The sports teams agreed to drop their legal challenge.

Judge James said he sensed the parties were close to an agreement and called a meeting Monday that included people from each organization that could finalize a deal. That included Steelers' President Art Rooney II; new Pirates' President Frank Coonelly; Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato; Yarone Zober, a top aide to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl; and John Estes, former chief of staff for Gov. Ed Rendell who is now assigned to the governor's Philadelphia office.

Judge James said the governor's office played a particularly important role in reaching the agreement.

Mr. Barden said the agreement should clear the way for construction to begin once the city approves final design for the casino complex. The major hang-up there is the visibility of a huge parking garage behind the casino building.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07306/830639-66.stm

[xyagentguy]

I wish I knew who to contact to add my own encouragement for this, I doubt it would ever happen. I think it would be so great for Pittsburgh, one of the "greenest" cities in America to have the world's first "green" casino.

:( Alas..

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_535837.html

Majestic Star Casino pressured to go green
By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 2, 2007

A coalition of architects and design experts are urging casino owner Don Barden not to "squander Pittsburgh's best piece of property" where his Majestic Star Casino will sit on the North Shore.

The Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition on Thursday said its seven member organizations -- such as the Carnegie Mellon University Urban Lab, Sustainable Pittsburgh and the Green Building Alliance -- believe the casino will become "obsolete as soon as it opens" if it doesn't meet national green-building standards.

Another concern is the $490 million casino's disjointed appearance along the Ohio River: The 12-story parking garage will rise three stories above the casino's highest point, which city planners contend would break up the continuity of the riverfront.

"Why should we accept anything less than the best project here? Why would we?" said Anne Swager, director of American Institute Architects in Pittsburgh. "The first thing people look at are our rivers."

Bob Oltmanns, a Majestic Star spokesman, declined to comment yesterday on the Civic Design Coalition's concerns.

Rebecca Flora, director of the Green Building Alliance, acknowledged the 3-year-old coalition can't make Barden change his casino's design.

But it can raise alarms with the hope of pushing city residents and the Pittsburgh Planning Commission to demand changes.

"We don't want schedule pressure to say, 'Oh well, build whatever you want there,' and then end up with something that we all think, 'What were we thinking?' You know, like building a new jail on a riverfront," Flora said.

Anne-Marie Lubenau, executive director of Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, said a more aesthetically pleasing casino that incorporates green building features will attract businesses to the North Shore and increase its taxable real estate value.

"We think good design is good business," Lubenau said.

Lubenau and Flora have written to Barden offering consulting services and financial support if he agrees to make his casino a certified green building, which would be the first such casino in the nation.

Barden responded that he doesn't intend to seek certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. That's mainly because the casino will allow patrons to smoke, which the council prohibits.

One Pennsylvania casino announced yesterday it will have a nonsmoking section of the casino floor for patrons. Officials with Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Pocono Mountains said the policy took effect early this week and all casino restaurants are nonsmoking.

Tom Halloran, special counsel to Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority, said city officials have made "some tentative progress" in negotiating possible design changes to Majestic Star's casino and parking garage design.

He would not elaborate, but said the Planning Commission has the authority to reject the casino's design if commission members don't like it.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to receive a briefing on the casino's shell design Nov. 13, Halloran said. A public hearing is set for Nov. 27 and a vote could happen Dec. 11, but votes on the building's shell already have been delayed by months.

Majestic Star officials have said it will take 16 months to build the casino from the date of a groundbreaking.

[Evergrey]

Although Laga is now residential, and some students may live there, Pitt is not the owner of the building and it's not offered as university-affiliated housing. Plus I'm sure the rents are so high I doubt undergrads live there. More likely grad students and professionals.

My apologies. I had heard Pitt purchased the Laga building, but my information was obviously wrong. Thanks for the clarification.

...

As for Schenley... I respect tooluther's opinion (as he actually knows a thing or two about this stuff)... and will not pretend to be an expert on the insides and outs of Schenley... but there are huge locational advantages for Schenley and the vice-president of Grubb & Ellis himself said that Schenley could make a good condo project. A number of historic school buildings in the Pittsburgh area have been or are in the process of being converted to residential, including a school in Bellevue, a couple Catholic schools in SouthSide, Pink schoolhouse in Strip District, a rather large school in Deutschtown, etc. It seems that a structure built for classrooms can make for a nice conversion into apartments or condos. Schenley is a massive structure, larger than any of the previously converted school buildings, but I believe it could make a successful residential conversion if the economics are right. It is truly one of the masterpieces of pre-war architecture in the city. The rooms are blessed with an abundance of natural light. The structure is strong and built to last. The curved ends could probably end up as some luxurious penthouses. There are interior courtyards... it's not like this is some big monolith. The swimming pool and gymnasium could potentially be attractive amenities for buyers... or they could possibly be used for community use or a private gym (they are located in an 80s annex). I'm not sure what could be done with the auditorium in the center of the building though... a performance art space perhaps? I really think Schenley sits on what is probably one of the Top 5 spots in the city for a large-scale residential project. It is so perfect... and would also fulfill the vision for the high-density Baum-Centre Corridor. The spot is close to work for a lot of potential tenents, close to universities and hospitals, close to tons of shopping and restaurants, close to major parks and beautiful vibrant neighborhoods, close to public transit and major city arteries, close to arts and culture. There are two proposed residential towers just a couple blocks down the street along Centre... which is evidence of the promise of this area for new multi-family housing.

Roosevelt's $64 million figure for asbestos removal and mechanical upgrades could potentially be a bit high.. as speculated by many opponents of his Schenley closure agenda. Architectural firm Astorino pegged a "essentials" remediation and mechanical upgrade at half that figure... $32 million. But $32 million just for asbestos removal is still about $4 million more than the construction of Falbo's 82-condo 151 FirstSide Downtown, for example. Schenley is a big building... I'm not sure how many condos you could fit in there... but you could probably fit quite a few into that triangular structure. I'm confident you could charge a pretty penny for condos in this buildling. The Metropolitan Shadyside, located a few blocks away on Neville, sold most of its 42 units priced between $500k-$1million before construction was completed... so there is a market for high-priced units in this area. This is a very desirable spot and a landmark buildling that will not be torn down... if a private developer with deep pockets (perhaps from out-of-town like the Chicago developer that did the Cork Factory) can crank out enough high-priced units to overcome the substantial asbestos cost in addition to conversion costs to make this profitable... it could be an amazing project. Oakland is the nerve center for the region's future economic growth... if that asbestos cost wasn't hanging over this... a condo conversion would make so much sense. I do not want to see Pitt taking this over... and I don't want to see it turned in to student housing (although students do need some more quality on-campus housing). Try St. Terminal is a good buildling to give over to students... Schenley would be wasted. But it would probably be a lot easier for a deep-pocketed non-profit like Pitt to take this over than a private developer.

http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20060222ho_schenley_450.jpg

Here's an article on Schenley from architecture critic Patricia Lowry from last year:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06053/658849.stm

[BMikeSci]

Re: Schenley HS

My guess is there is already a deal; otherwise the school would reopen.

[Smoker]

I don't trust Pitt with anything worth keeping. They made the Syria Mosque a parking lot.

[Evergrey]

I don't trust Pitt with anything worth keeping. They made the Syria Mosque a parking lot.

Actually, UPMC outbid Pitt (yes, they're not the same thing) for the Syria Mosque ($10 million in 1991) and promptly demolished it for a parking lot.

http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/20010904lowry0904fnp3.asp (another Patricia Lowry article)

[PA Pride]

I tend to agree with Evergrey that the Schenley School leans more towards economically viable for a conversion as opposed to not. Developers can get a pretty penny with beautiful old historical buildings and Oakland does not have enough high end units considering all the money that flows through Forbes and Fifth.


About the Syria Mosque; I never heard of that. That sounds pretty sad that they tore that down and then never used that land for anything. That's a good way to get a lot of people pissed off at you.

[hyperion1110]

I know this may sound heretical in a forum such as this, but I am strongly against "yuppifying" this building. I know the current mantra is "condo conversion, condo conversion!", but that would be a serious misuse of Schelney. If the Pittsburgh Public Schools cannot repair this school on its own, it should be retained for an educational use. I reiterate that it would be perfect as an academic complex of the University of Pittsburgh. Remember, folks, that, although tax-exempt, our universities are the economic engine of this region's present and future. Pitt especially needs room to expand, and its return on investment is beyond contestation. That being said, I would like to see a partnership between Pitt and the Pittsburgh Public Schools. For its part, Pitt would pay for the repairs and upgrades of the building (which it could afford many times over). In return, it would gain an invaluable resource for its School of Education to enhance its research and understanding of inner city and secondary education, much in the same way the Falk School does for preschool and primary education. It would also enhance the local education landscape, thus feeding more qualified students into Pitt (or any other university). The school district would save a high school, and make available to its students the resources of one of the largest research universities in the world. Far from diminishing Schenley as a high school, such a partnership would enhance the lives and education of inner city students (many of whom are minorities) incalculably.

In no way, under no circumstances, should Schenley be converted into something as trite as a condo project.

[PA Pride]

^I think people would just rather see it used for SOMETHING rather than possibly get bulldozed... That's the appeal for condos from this board.

But yeah, your plan sounds very good but unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world. Who knows though...

[Evergrey]

That Pitt/PPS partnership an innovative idea, Hyperion. Maybe you should pitch it to Pitt. Otherwise, I don't think Pitt just swooping in and turning Schenley into another university academic building would be the best use. I am a big proponent of getting this prized property on to the tax rolls as opposed to tax-exempt Pitt stretching its tentacles out more (it's the state government's fault that this is such an issue in the first place [lack of PILOT program for NPOs; municipal hyper-fragmentation]). I think cramming a few hundred "yuppies" in that building would be a great way for Oakland (and by extension, Pittsburgh) to reach a "tipping point". You have an extremely important location that would be highly valued as a place to live. This could generate a huge amount of tax dollars for the city (and the struggling school district). The City already has 1/3 of its property tax exempt (compared to like 1/10 for Mt. Lebanon, for example). Pitt is a huge economic engine and cultural/educational institition for the region... but the region does not provide essential services to Pitt... the City of Pittsburgh does... and the City receives peanuts in return for providing these services to Pitt's tax-exempt empire.

Of course... my first choice is for Schenley High School to remain Schenley High School (or Hyperion's partnership idea). The "urban renaissance" that is going on in America is largely attracting the empty nester and the childless young professional. The middle class family continues to flee urban cities due to terrible public schools. Closing a comparatively high performing high school like Schenley would further diminish Pittsburgh Public Schools' reputation.

[BMikeSci]

Amen on the trucks in Oakland, cdc.

As far as Schenley High goes, while I think it is unfortunate that it will likely be closed as a high school, this is a perfect opportunity to improve that whole area of Oakland. I could see Pitt purchasing the building and converting it into laboratory or academic space (which it needs greatly), or even student housing. Alternatively, I think it would make for an interesting conversation to housing. Still, I think it's most suitable function would be academic, given its achitecture and campus-like orientation.

Regarding the trucks in Oakland, do the police ever hand out tickets here? Everyone seems to speed. If the city needs more money, I recommend enforcing traffic laws rather than raising taxes. Of course that means working. BTW, I was in the subway yesterday. All the garbage cans were welded shut to keep terrorists from leaving bombs in them. I know that the city has spent a bunch of money defusing leftover lunches, but does that mean that the trash is going to end-up in the gutter? I mean, there hasn't been a real bomb found, and now the trash cans are being welded shut. Duh! If we really want to do something to reduce terrorist targets, why not get all that toxic waste, etc. off Neville Island.

[hyperion1110]

Perhaps referring to yuppies was the wrong idea, Evergrey. I suppose I am more against the gentrification of Pittsburgh than anything else, a la Philadelphia. That city tends to have no real middle class; there are either extremely poor or extremely wealthy people. Against such a trend, I'd like to see Pittsburgh adopt a more middle of the road approach to development.

As far are someone developing the building, I think we can rest assured that something will be done with it. As many of es here have rightly remarked, it is an amazing building with an amazing location. I'll be intrigued to see what will be done with it. Nevertheless, I, too, would lament the loss of a well-performing city high school like Schenley.

As for the traffic in Oakland, I don't know much that can be done about it in the near-term. I don't think they ticket very much at all. Then again, just stopping someone of Fifth or Forbes would be a traffic nightmare. LRT is the way to go in Oakland. For the price of the North Shore Connector, we could have built light rail to Oakland and probably Squirrel Hill/Shadyside as well.

[UrbaniDesDev]

I found these pics of the Syria Mosque. I vaguely remember it. I remember I peeked inside as a child. I snuck in because I was so in awe of the whimsical facade. It had 3 balconies and was one of the most ornate buildings I had ever seen. I remember the shock the people had. No one could believe this had happened. Pitt proposed all these plans and told the city how it absolutely needed this to grow. Nothing ever happened...PARKING!

I remember the furor it caused when Pitt razed it. It rallied the people of Pittsburgh much like the razing of Pennsylvania Station did in New York City. It was tantamount to razing Heinz Hall. I believe this was the impetus for the creation of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the creation of the theater district. This building sacrificed but it paved the way, making sure that nothing like this would happen again on such a scale.

This is where most of the large concerts were held in the 60s & 70s. I believe it is where the Pittsburgh Symphony played. No one ventured downtown back then. This was the center, the heart of Oakland. There was a great battle over it, protests and such, which is why they immediately razed it so they would not be told to halt their plans. It really left a bad taste in my mouth about Pitt and it's lack of conscious or any regard for Pittsburgh community. I don't believe that has changed either. Bette Middler even showed up saying it was one of the grandest theaters she had ever performed in. The pics do not even do it justice.

Mosque on far left. It really was the center of Oakland and this block showed must have been one of the most beautiful in the world!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/SyraiMosque4.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/SyraiMosque.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/SyraiMosque2.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/SyraiMosque3.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/SyraiMosque5.gif

Thes statues flanked the entrance and drew me in
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/SyraiMosque6.jpg

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07308/831040-53.stm

Long-delayed housing project expected to begin next spring

Sunday, November 04, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Construction of the Federal Hill housing development, delayed since its groundbreaking almost a year ago, should begin by spring, said Joan Kimmel, the Central Northside Neighborhood Council's representative on the project.

At the November 2006 groundbreaking, officials predicted the first six townhouses would be finished by spring. But the extent of water and sewer work called for additional public money, delaying construction until September.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority's then-executive director, Jerome Dettore, said last spring that as more planning became necessary, "it became clear public funds were needed."

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority in June approved spending $400,000 toward the project.

There are no current holdups, according to PWSA spokesman Mike Lichte. He said Michael Baker Engineers is preparing a design package for use in bidding out contracts for the water and sewer work. The Central Northside Neighborhood Council expects to close on the first six properties with the URA by the end of the year, Ms. Kimmel said.

The Federal Hill plan of 60 homes, 40 condos and a smattering of apartments predominantly on Federal Street also will fill in around gaps along some connecting side streets.

Ms. Kimmel said the neighborhood council has received many calls from interested buyers. Once construction is under way, S&A, the builder, will have a real estate trailer on site, "and the neighborhood council will make sure they are seeking clients broadly," she said. "Credit counseling will be available."

Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626.

[PA Pride]

Oh My God, Urbandesdev!!! I am not usually a huge preservationist but that is a SHAME!! THat is an amazing building... I had no idea it was so nice and so important. What a horrible shame....


That actually makes me a little sick to my stomach....

[hyperion1110]

It is a shame about the Syria Mosque. My dad often talks about how wonderful the Barry Manilow concert was he saw there in the 70's :haha:

[tooluther]

Real quick back to Schenley...One of the things that made Try Street, Cork Factory, and Heinz Lofts move forward was the Historic Tax Credit (as well as various preservation easements in the latter two). Those credits are only available for for-rent or commercial properties.

So, I think a great use (assuming the high school is 100% a no go) would be for a private developer to put in lab and research space and then get a master lease from Pitt or UPMC. That way the construction cost could be justified on the front end (given how rough capital markets are right now) and the building would go on to the tax rolls for the first time ever.

UPMC should really start adopting this model anyways. If they have a for-profit real estate arm to own their buildings they wouldn't have to worry about paying into the non-profit contribution system because all that real estate would be on the tax rolls. This is the way Highmark owns 5th Avenue Place through Standard Property Company.

[Evergrey]

Real quick back to Schenley...One of the things that made Try Street, Cork Factory, and Heinz Lofts move forward was the Historic Tax Credit (as well as various preservation easements in the latter two). Those credits are only available for for-rent or commercial properties.



That's also what's moving Piatt's G.C. Murphy conversion forward... I believe there is an expiration date after a few years where the for-rent units can be converted to condos.

Speaking from a purely emotional standpoint... I think lab/research space would be a huge missed opportunity for a potential re-use of Schenley.

Lab/research space can look like this:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/bridgesidedesign.jpg

But there is only one Schenley... and it should be a knockout project.

[Johnland]

All this about the Syria Mosque has dredged up ghosts of Pittsburgh's mistakes past. I remember being so outraged that it was torn down and replaced with nothing. You can see that happening in the 40's, 50's or 60's, but not the 90's. Awfully heavyhanded and ignorant blunder.

[BMikeSci]

My guess is that UPMC will develop SHS.

[Evergrey]

My guess is that UPMC will develop SHS.

or turn it into a parking lot (like UPMC's "redevelopment" of the Syria Mosque)

btw, I can't believe there are virtually NO photos of the Syria Mosque available on the internet... just old postcards

[EventHorizon]

^Here's some older ones...

http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/getimage-idx?view=image;entryid=x-84.62.29;viewid=1024985.TIF;cc=cma;c=cma;quality=2
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/getimage-idx?view=image;entryid=x-9119b.xxiv.3.sh;viewid=9119BXXIV3SH.TIF;cc=shourek;c=shourek;quality=2
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/getimage-idx?view=image;entryid=x-msp117.b009.f07.i03;viewid=PPS1923.TIF;cc=pps;c=pps;quality=2
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/getimage-idx?view=image;entryid=x-msp285.b002.f37.i01;viewid=ACCD0164.TIF;cc=accd;c=accd;quality=2
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/getimage-idx?view=image;entryid=x-1996.69.178;viewid=1002333.TIF;cc=cmaharris;c=cmaharris;quality=2

[AaronClark]

Holy crap! What a stunning building! I can't believe the city let that get town down!

[UrbaniDesDev]

EventHorizon you must have scoured the net. I couldnt find any pics.
Thanks
Im not sure that the bottom one is actually at the Syria Mosque

[EventHorizon]

EventHorizon you must have scoured the net. I couldnt find any pics.
Thanks
Im not sure that the bottom one is actually at the Syria Mosque

No, not the net .. .just my hundreds of bookmarks that I keep letting get unorganized! lol
They're from this site: Historic Pittsburgh (http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/) -- Just go to 'images' and then just search for any image.

The Bottom photograph is described as being - 'outside of the Syria Mosque'
See here: Masons (http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?sid=64905b4901f756056cafc33f53d324a0;xc=1;g=imls;q1=syria%20mosque;rgn1=ic_all;size=20;lasttype=boolean;view=entry;lastview=thumbnail;subview=detail;cc=cmaharris;entryid=x-1996.69.178;viewid=1002333.TIF;start=1;resnum=13)

[B4burgh]

I just have one random question, What happened to the sphinxs? Patricia Lowery, in her article states that they were taken away. If so where? It would be interesting if to see if UPMC has them stashed away somewhere.

[PA Pride]

UPMC done fucked up with that teardown.....

[Evergrey]

I would really like to see some modern photos of Syria Mosque... 70s/80s and in color... but they seem to be amazingly non-existant on the web.

Anyways... here's an article on some progress in long-battered New Kensington... a city of 14k in Westmoreland County along the Allegheny River... just past Oakmont and Lower Burrell. Its downtown is almost completely vacant... very depressing... some buildings are falling down... but you can tell it was amazing at one time. The downtown commercial streets are very intimately-scaled... I imagine it was a vibrant place to shop at one point.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07308/831014-52.stm

Putting the 'New' back in New Kensington

Sunday, November 04, 2007
By Cindi Lash, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200711/20071104vwhcnewken101_500.jpg
Post-Gazette photo
New Kensington Councilman Tom Guzzo, left, Mayor Frank Link, center, and Councilman John W. Regoli Jr. are trying to fight blight and revitalize their central business district. They see progress -- buildings have been condemned and will be demolished for new structures.Like so many other former mill towns in Western Pennsylvania, New Kensington has struggled to reinvent itself since 1971, when Alcoa closed its original riverfront plant complex that once provided jobs, revenue and community identity.

Population shrank nearly in half, from 26,000 in the early 1970s to about 14,000. Businesses moved to malls or suburban commercial strips. Buildings that housed them decayed.

Tax revenues shrank. Crime rates surged to the point that municipal leaders joked grimly that the only way the Allegheny Valley city attracted attention was in news reports of shootings on its seedier downtown streets.

But six years after launching an aggressive campaign to combat crime, enforce building codes, find new uses for vacant properties and recruit businesses, leaders and residents of the Westmoreland County town are seeing results that buoy them about prospects of resurrecting their struggling downtown.

"It's a really exciting time for New Kensington," said council member and native Tom Guzzo, 47.

"[Older] people here still remember the heyday, when you couldn't find a parking spot Downtown. Will we do that again? I don't know, but there are a lot of wonderful things we can do and are doing."

What's new

In recent months, New Kensington leaders have watched a contractor put finishing touches on a stylish new apartment complex for senior citizens where an eyesore of an abandoned school once stood.

They've seen ground broken last month for a new branch of Westmoreland County Community College. They expect the $6 million education and career link center will create more than 700 jobs and spur coffee shops, bookstores and complementary businesses to seek space in nearby buildings.

They've also kicked off the second $1.1 million phase of a plan to revitalize the down-at-the-heels Fifth Avenue corridor, where the community college development will be located.

Existing businesses have expanded and a diabetes center and MRI suite moved into the Alle Kiski Medical Center.

Perhaps most encouraging of all, city leaders have begun fielding calls from light industrial companies and commercial developers interested in finding new uses for rundown but serviceable buildings. They're cajoling those firms to move downtown or into the adjacent, privately owned Schreiber Industrial Park, which hugs the river where Alcoa once manufactured cookware and other aluminum items.

"For us to go from zero calls to someone interested in property is a whole big step. Now we're getting calls all the time," said Mayor Frank Link, who has been in office six years. "One of our biggest problems now is finding space for people who want to come in."

Mr. Link said he ran for office in 2001 with other candidates for City Council who shared a determination not only to lure jobs but to address increasing problems with drug-related crime and deteriorating buildings downtown. Community surveys showed that the primary concern of residents was crime.

"We definitely had a perception problem," he said. "There was a perception that you came to New Kensington for drugs, for violent crime and not much else. We had a lot of pieces to put together to get this puzzle completed."

Cleaning up

City leaders put together a plan that called for doubling its residential building code enforcement staff, hiring a private firm to enforce codes in residential buildings and directing those workers to take a sharply different, assertive approach of alerting property owners and members of a landlord-tenant organization to get into compliance -- or else.

"Six [or] seven years ago, you might drive through New Kensington and see a car up on blocks ... or a washing machine on a porch," said council member John W. Regoli Jr. "You will not see any of that today. Nobody got a pass."

With neighboring Arnold, New Kensington also joined the federal Weed and Seed initiative, promoted a veteran officer, Chuck Korman, to head the police department and sought help from state police and other law enforcement agencies to boost patrols, investigate drug traffic and reduce drug sales and other crime. Neighborhood watch groups knocked crime down further, Chief Korman said.

The 118 major crimes reported between July and September were a 35 percent decline from the 180 major crimes reported during the same quarter last year, the chief said. Less serious crimes also declined, from 192 reported during that quarter last year to 156 this year. The last homicide was in June 2006; the last shooting also occurred last year, he said.

"Things don't happen overnight, but there is real progress here," the chief said. "Now we have to convince people from outside [the city]."

Finding the funds

City leaders also have drawn on the ideas and energy of Kimberly A. McAfoose, the can't-sit-still executive director of New Kensington's Redevelopment Authority.

Under her direction, the authority has successfully sought federal, state and private funding and grants and has condemned, purchased and demolished buildings that were too tumble-down to save. It found new housing in stable residential neighborhoods and first-time homeowner programs for residents of those squalid structures.

To recoup demolition costs, the authority placed liens on some properties and cleared land for more productive uses, particularly in areas zoned for light industrial uses sought by numerous developers and companies. It brought in university students and private firms to develop streetscape plans and obtained an Enterprise Zone designation, making businesses eligible for tax credits or special financing.

An early success, Mr. Regoli said, was a deal brokered for construction of the Valley Sports ice rink and athletic complex in Falcons Park. The $4.6 million complex opened in 2003 and began drawing outsiders to the city.

As one of New Kensington's chief cheerleaders, Ms. Mc-Afoose continues to match potential businesses with available properties.

She enthuses about New Kensington's schools, parks and hilltop residential neighborhoods, its proximity to Route 28, the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other roads recently widened to four lanes or improved and the future prospects for a commuter train link to Pittsburgh.

Ms. McAfoose is so committed to her vision for an invigorated New Kensington that she paid repeated visits during construction of the neatly landscaped stone headquarters of Geo-Solutions Inc., an environmental equipment company that was first to build on property cleared during the Fifth Avenue renewal project.

During another recent drop-in stop, she nixed a "really crappy" terra-cotta shade of paint for hallways in the soon-to-be-completed 40-unit Ridge Avenue Senior Apartments, which already has more than 100 applications from would-be tenants.

Among her latest favorite projects: finding occupants for the former home of a Tile City store on Fifth Avenue, the former Dattola theater a block away and a stately Art Deco-trimmed building off Freeport Road that once housed Alcoa's laboratory.

She and other New Kensington leaders acknowledge that plenty of work lies ahead, particularly along Fifth Avenue, where some sagging buildings are sinking into their cellars and others are boarded up and plastered with condemnation placards.

But they are heartened by the response they're receiving from once-apathetic residents who now are eager to join volunteer street clean-up programs and from out-of-town developers who, not that long ago, wouldn't return their calls.

"My mother and father were from Braddock and it makes you so sad to just drive down those streets, where it's all [boarded] up and just awful," said developer Steve Kubrick, 46, who moved from Churchill to his wife's hometown of New Kensington 18 years ago. After working on the Ridge Avenue senior complex, he's now helping woo others like him to New Kensington.

"We brought people in [in October] and they're licking their chops. These buildings are beautiful, well worth saving," Mr. Kubrick said. "There's a lot of potential."




Cindi Lash can be reached at clash@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1973.
First published on November 4, 2007 at 12:00 am

[Smoker]

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m151/Smoker_03/syria1.jpg

The new Syria Mosque along Rt. 28 in Cheswick. It's an awful
looking structure for being of fairly recent construction.

photo: http://www.syriashriners.org/

I searched on Google for a long time and only came up with
two old black and white photos of the original Syria
Mosque. One was of the sphinx only and the page it was on
made it clear you could only view that pic on their site.
There must be something in the Shriner's rituals making it
unlawful to publish original photos?

[Grego43]

I just have one random question, What happened to the sphinxs? Patricia Lowery, in her article states that they were taken away. If so where? It would be interesting if to see if UPMC has them stashed away somewhere.


It appears Smoker found them in his last post of the "new" Syria Mosque. They appear in the older photos to be a memorial of sorts...names are inscribed on the pedestals.

[xyagentguy]

New Kensington was one a gorgeous and bustling town with great shopping, boutiques, theaters and food. It was one the most premier cities in the entire metro area at one time. You couldn't even find parking places downtown. It is so sad what has happened to the town, but hopefully it will revitalize. There is no reason at all it couldn't be like a waterfront. Some of the store fronts and city streets are beautiful.

[hyperion1110]

I think Smoker discovered where the sphinxes went.

[GeneW]

Holy crap! What a stunning building! I can't believe the city let that get town down!

From what I remember, UPMC (not Pitt) bought the property at midnight and had the bulldozers going at 6:00AM the next morning. The city didn't have time to do anything and before anyone even knew what was happening, the building was rubble. It was really one of the ugliest events in Pittsburgh during the time that I've lived here. UPMC couldn't have acted more arrogantly through the whole thing. The fact that it's still a small surface parking lot 15 years later just rubs salt in the wound.

[MayDay]

Sorry to digress - the amazing central chandelier was also taken from the former Syria Mosque and put in the new building:

http://www.syriashriners.org/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=560&linkpath=http://ran3750.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/ballrm2.jpg.w560h420.jpg&target=tlx_new

"My dad often talks about how wonderful the Barry Manilow concert was he saw there in the 70's"

The Cure (April '87 - one of my favorite early birthday presents), Love & Rockets, the Pixies... yeah, it was an amazing place for a concert.

[BMikeSci]

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m151/Smoker_03/syria1.jpg

The new Syria Mosque along Rt. 28 in Cheswick. It's an awful
looking structure for being of fairly recent construction.

photo: http://www.syriashriners.org/

I searched on Google for a long time and only came up with
two old black and white photos of the original Syria
Mosque. One was of the sphinx only and the page it was on
made it clear you could only view that pic on their site.
There must be something in the Shriner's rituals making it
unlawful to publish original photos?

Actually, I find this to be an attractive building. Of course, it doesn't compare to the old mosque, but what the heck. With current costs for construction, I'm guessing it would cost about $150 million to duplicate the old building.

Anyway, let's give the devil his due. On its own, this is not unattractive. I like the roof, the symmetry, and the landscaping. It looks like a nice little elementary school, church, or some such place.

[hyperion1110]

It looks like my idea about the PPS partnership with Pitt's School of Education is going to be realized, after a fashion. Where does this leave the Schenley building???

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07309/831202-298.stm

Excerpt from the article:
"The district hopes the new Hill District school, to be located in the former Milliones Middle School building, will operate in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh School of Education.

Officials want it to serve about 400 students who now attend Schenley because it's their neighborhood school. Also assigned to the new school would be about 180 middle-grade students from nearby Pittsburgh Miller PreK-8 and Pittsburgh Vann PreK-8, and students from other neighborhoods would be admitted as space allows."

[Smoker]

I just have one random question, What happened to the sphinxs? Patricia Lowery, in her article states that they were taken away. If so where? It would be interesting if to see if UPMC has them stashed away somewhere.

http://www.bplonline.org/Archives/moretti/Sphinx.htm

There is a black and white pic here and a bit of description. It does not say where they ended up. The newe mosque, or Syria Shrine, claims to be decorated with many tems taken from the old Mosque. Maybe they have them? Why all the mystery?

[Smoker]

Actually, I find this to be an attractive building. Of course, it doesn't compare to the old mosque, but what the heck. With current costs for construction, I'm guessing it would cost about $150 million to duplicate the old building.

Anyway, let's give the devil his due. On its own, this is not unattractive. I like the roof, the symmetry, and the landscaping. It looks like a nice little elementary school, church, or some such place.

The inside is more attractive although not a big deal. I drive by it often. From the road all you see is a solid red brick wall running the length. That's mostly what I find unattractive.

I think the front is just ok. Landscape-wise it isn't well done nor cared for.

[BMikeSci]

It's certainly not great architecture. I've only seen the one photo, which looked ok. The windows are obscured by the trees, so it is hard to judge. The decorative square darker bricks gave it some design pizzaz. But I've never seen all four sidesl so I can't judge anything beyond the photo. Given Murphy's Law, it probably sucks:-)

[xyagentguy]

If this insight is accurate, this is not good news..

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07308/830745-28.stm

Sunday, November 04, 2007
By Harold D. Miller

The unemployment data for September released last month showed that for the eighth month in a row, the unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh Region had decreased from a year ago.

In fact, the Pittsburgh Region has had one of the largest decreases in the unemployment rate this year among the top 40 regions in the country. The average unemployment rate here between January and September of 2007 was 4.4 percent, compared with 5.1 percent during the same nine months in 2006.

That's really good news, right? Unfortunately, "no" -- as it turns out, it's exactly the opposite. The unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh Region has been decreasing not because people are getting jobs, but because people are leaving the work force, and many of them may be leaving the region altogether.

Many people believe that the unemployment rate is the percentage of the population that doesn't have a job. But it's actually the ratio of the number of people who are looking for work divided by the "labor force," and the labor force is defined as the number of people who are either working or who are looking for work.

Every month, the labor force changes size because people either start looking for work or stop looking for work.

This means there are two different reasons the unemployment rate can go down. One is that people who are looking for work find jobs. But the unemployment rate also will go down if people who can't find jobs give up and/or move away, i.e., if they leave the labor force entirely.

What's happening in Pittsburgh? The Pittsburgh Region is one of only three regions in the country where unemployment has decreased primarily because people left the labor force, rather than because of an increase in employment. Comparing the first nine months of 2007 and 2006, the number of unemployed people in the Pittsburgh Region decreased by 8,100, but the number employed increased by only 2,200.

The primary reason for the decline in unemployment was that the number of people in the Pittsburgh labor force decreased by 5,900 (a 0.5 percent decrease).

In contrast, Dallas saw its unemployment rate drop by an amount similar to Pittsburgh's -- from 5 percent in the first nine months of 2006 to 4.3 percent in the same period in 2007. But there, the labor force increased by nearly 36,000 (a 1.2 percent increase), and employment in Dallas increased by more than 56,000, enough to reduce unemployment by more than 20,000 and still absorb the 36,000 new workers who joined the labor force.

In fact, the Pittsburgh Region has had the largest percentage reduction in labor force this year of any of the top 40 regions in the country. That's why we've had such a large decrease in the unemployment rate. It's hard to know the reasons, but anecdotal evidence suggests that many are giving up and going elsewhere.

It's not surprising if they're discouraged -- there were only 3,000 more jobs in the Pittsburgh Region in September than a year ago, a growth rate of only a quarter-percent, and we still have 5,000 fewer jobs than we did in 2001. Job growth in Pittsburgh was less than one-fourth the national rate and was slower than all of the top 40 regions except for Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit and Providence, R.I. And it's getting worse, not better.What's causing our slow growth? It's not US Airways cutbacks or a few major plant closings. The economic malaise cuts across almost every sector of our economy. The most likely causes are an uncompetitive state business climate and insufficient support for entrepreneurship.

And unless we fix those things, we can expect to lose more of our labor force in the months ahead.

[Wheelingman04]

That was a pretty depressing article.:(

[UrbaniDesDev]

New Ken...
imagine if towns like New Ken would have received the millions of dollars in help that boondoggles like Pittsburgh Mills Mall, down the river, received from the government. The misguided priorities of living in a throw-away society. Pennsylvania is covered, east to west, with some of the most charming cities and towns. I venture to say more than any other state. They are being squeezed out of the financial picture due to ever sprawling townships and big corporate priorites like useless malls. These small communities can not compete within the structure that exists. Slum lords getting section 8 funds have destroyed our old towns and neighborhoods with no relief in sight. We will continue to throw good money after bad to new infrastructure for sprawling roads and highways to accomodate new construction while our core continues to rot. Nothing will change as long as millionaire developers continue to get the handouts. The current laws are stacked against them

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/ssw1107.aspx

160,000 sf Quantum V office complex next up for 34-acre SouthSide Works


Soffer Organization is planning Quantum V, the latest addition in its 34-acre SouthSide Works.

The 160,000 square-foot office building will feature five, 30,000 square-foot levels and offices with nine-foot ceilings.

Part of the redesign of a block along S. Water St. that will also feature a 140-room, five-star boutique hotel, for-sale condos and Hofbrauhaus, Quantum V will be constructed near South Shore Riverfront Park.

"The first floor can be a traditional office layout or signature restaurant with riverfront dining. We're in the process of pre-leasing right now," says Steven Kasunich, with Soffer. Plans call for up to 30,000 square feet for first-floor retail.

"Retail is doing very well here; we're ninety-eight percent occupied on the retail level. For some merchants, Pittsburgh is their best location. We're ninety-five percent cccupied as far as offices, and we have 84 units of lofts and flats that are well leased," says Fulton, describing SouthSide Works. Soffer is currently evaluating design proposals for Quantum V.

“We'd like to get a headquarters type of lease in there before we break ground,” says Scott Astorino with Grant Street Associates, the project’s leasing agent. The commercial real estate firm will market Quantum V, secure an anchor tenant and handle ongoing leasing. Grant Street Associates recently represented American Eagle Outfitters in the relocation of its headquarters to SouthSide Works’ Quantum II complex; the retail giant will also occupy Quantum III as part of the expansion of its corporate campus.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Chris Fulton and Steven Kasunich, Soffer Organization; Scott Astorino, Grant Street Associates


Image of Quantum IV courtesy of Soffer Organization

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2085/grantstreetassoc_300.jpg

[PA Pride]

^Wait a minute; so that rendering is the unbuilt Quantum 4 but the article is announcing a 5th office building that doesn't have a rendering yet? Is that right?

[PittPenn 03]

If this insight is accurate, this is not good news..

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07308/830745-28.stm

While there most certainly is some if not a lot of truth to this article, to say that the 10,000+ USAirways job losses (not to mention the lost business/jobs from these USAirways job losses) is not a factor I think more than slightly discredits this guy's opinion. What is the statistic - every three jobs creates another job? So it is safe to say an additional couple thousand jobs were lost or not created from all of USAirways cuts. How many companies decided not to relocate here because we lost our flights to Europe and other direct flights? I am no expert, but if it were not for the screwing of Pittsburgh by Usair we most certainly would be in positive territory on a much stronger footing (all other factors staying the same).

[BMikeSci]

Cany-Rama closes

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/seate/s_536814.html

It's a shame that the powers that be haven't stepped-up to help find a spot for this downtown tradition. As the city morphs into whatever, it's government officials and development groups should do their best to keep those establishments that are good, decent, and that somehow help define the PGH experience. Keeping good businesses in the downtown will add value to real estate. It is ironic that the city steps up to subsidize projects that may never materialize, but ignores the good businesses that are already here and struggle to remain.

[PA Pride]

^I loved Candy-rama... I used to buy candy there at least a couple times a week when i went to school downtown. The store at the corner of Wood & Fifth.

[Johnland]

^I loved Candy-rama... I used to buy candy there at least a couple times a week when i went to school downtown. The store at the corner of Wood & Fifth.

I used to work downtown in the early 80's. There was a GNC on just about every other block and they sold health food to go. I was always in there for yogurt, or the sprouts and cream cheese on a bagel. The old Bank Center had a GNC. Remember that place? It was a maze of retail. That's probably why it closed, but I loved it. There was a big coffee shop across from Kaufmanns on Smithfield that was always crowded. And it seems half the drug stores ran the whole width of the block and had entrances on each street, which made for great convience - go through a drug store, buy something, and go out the other side and be one your way of foot in no time. Pittsburgh was great for being on foot.

The passing of the Candy-rama is just another incremental change towards the new Pittsburgh. While I certainly welcome upscale things, I really think it's the middle and lower retail that feeds the life blood of a lively downtown. The city needs a huge number of small establishments and a few large ones.

[PA Pride]

^Yeah, that sounds about right.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_536823.html

Plans move forward for luxury condos in Mt. Lebanon

By Craig Smith
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, November 8, 2007


When Lisa Perrone was thinking about moving from Cincinnati nine years ago, she found Mt. Lebanon listed among the best places to raise a family and chose a home.
"I love this town. I love Mt. Lebanon," Perrone said Friday as ground was broken for the development that will include her new condominium.

Washington Park Condominiums, located at the corner of Washington and Bower Hill roads, will offer two- and three-bedroom luxury condos with six different floor plans. The 40 units are priced from $380,000. The complex will include 14,000 square feet of retail space.

Construction is expected to get under way in March, said Michael D. Heins, chief financial officer for the developer, Zamagias Properties. The project has a 16-month construction schedule.

That will allow Perrone time to put her home in Virginia Manor up for sale next May and give her a year before she moves.
A plan to use tax dollars for the project stirred controversy when opponents didn't think tax monies should be used for turning lanes and other portions of the project.

"Everybody finally came together," Heins said.

The Mt. Lebanon commissioners joined the school board in approving a $6.1 million tax break to Zamagias to allow the $42.8 million project to proceed.

That tax-increment financing allowed money that would have been paid as property taxes to be used for infrastructure improvements. The Zamagias project calls for the addition of 50 public parking spaces; a new park, plaza and bus shelter; and road improvements along Bower Hill Road.

An independent financial analysis by Janney Montgomery Scott said the amount of money pledged by the school board and municipality was reasonable because it represented new income, rather than an existing revenue source, and would not impact their budgets.

The report said that when completed, the assessment of the 1.71-acre site will increase $845,000 to $37.3 million and generate $20.7 million in tax revenue over a 30-year period.

"It's been a roller-coaster ride," developer Michael Zamagias said. "But we knew we had to raise the bar to an incredible height because of the community."



Craig Smith can be reached at csmith@tribweb.com or 412-380-5646.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07312/832144-53.stm

Developer plans hotel for South Oakland

Thursday, November 08, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Harmar developer is poised to add to its bulging portfolio of hotels in the Pittsburgh region.

Kratsa Properties has been selected by the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority to build a hotel at the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland.

The URA board is expected to vote today to sell Kratsa a 1.2-acre site along Technology Drive, near the Bates Street and Second Avenue intersection, for $300,000 an acre and to accept the developer's proposal for the construction of the hotel, which would include a restaurant.

Kratsa was one of two developers to submit proposals for the hotel. Kyra Straussman, the URA's director of real estate, said the Kratsa proposal was "more complete" than the one submitted by Acquest Development Inc. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., which developed Erie's Bayfront Convention Center and an accompanying 203-room Sheraton Hotel.

She said Acquest wanted more time to study the hotel project.

Kratsa owns and operates 14 hotels in the region, including a 125-room Holiday Inn Express and Suites at the South Side end of the 10th Street Bridge and a 198-room Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel next to PNC Park on the North Shore.

The developer also is building a 115-room SpringHill Suites Hotel on URA-owned land on the South Side, near the UPMC Sports Performance Complex. It also is working on a 180-room Residence Inn by Marriott on the North Shore near the Pirates' ballpark to complement the SpringHill Suites hotel.

With action today, Kratsa plans to begin the franchising, design and financing process for the new full-service five-story hotel immediately. It hopes to formally acquire the site by August and plans to open the hotel in November 2009.

Ms. Straussman said the development will be privately financed.

The new hotel is part of a major expansion of the technology center that could include the construction of three garages and as many as five office buildings on about 30 acres. The expansion includes the $46 million Bridgeside Point II project, a 150,000-square-foot lab and office building being planned by The Ferchill Group of Cleveland.

The hotel will be only a stone's throw from the Hot Metal Bridge, which takes traffic over the Monongahela River to the South Side in the vicinity of the SpringHill Suites hotel Kratsa is building.

Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07312/832202-28.stm

Specter, other Pa. lawmakers issue a public rebuke of US Airways CEO

'Half of what was said couldn't be printed in a newspaper'

Thursday, November 08, 2007
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter yesterday delivered a stern public scolding to US Airways' top executive after a heated meeting in his Washington office, saying the airline had broken repeated commitments to the Pittsburgh area with huge cutbacks and layoffs.

"It was not a satisfactory meeting," a grim Mr. Specter told reporters as he stood afterward alongside US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker. "There are grave concerns from the Pennsylvania delegation about what US Airways has done in Pittsburgh."

Sen. Bob Casey and nine of the state's House members joined Mr. Specter, a five-term Republican, for the closed-door session. Each took turns berating Mr. Parker and other airline officials for planning a new round of cuts in the region, including the elimination of 450 local jobs and the shifting of 500 local pilots and flight attendants to new locations.

"This was the most unbelievable meeting I've ever sat through," said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills. "Half of what was said couldn't be printed in a newspaper."

By the beginning of next year, US Airways will have 68 daily flights and 1,800 local employees, down from highs of 542 flights and 11,995 people in September 2001.

The latest announcement came last month, just weeks after Mr. Parker told union officials that US Airways was not planning any additional reductions in the region.

Mr. Parker, who joined US Airways after the company's 2005 merger with America West Airlines of Tempe, Ariz., said he came to the nation's capital to explain his business perspective to Pennsylvania lawmakers. He cited the high cost of fuel and the loss of $40 million in revenue in Pittsburgh over the past year.

"We're deeply committed to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania," he said. "We still are the largest airline in Pittsburgh. We generate more revenues in the state of Pennsylvania than we do in any other state. We've worked very hard to be good corporate citizens, to be good employers and we'll continue to do that."

Lawmakers rejected his arguments, saying that fuel costs are high across the country, not just in Pittsburgh.

They also argued that other airlines, like Southwest, have seen expansions in the region. According to Mr. Specter's office, 10 of Pittsburgh's 12 airlines saw significant increases in the number of passengers they served from August 2006 to August of this year.

Meanwhile, US Airways has been profitable.

"I know times change and I know a company is in business to make money," Mr. Specter said. "Well, US Airways made $475 million the first five months [of the year]."

The senator looked for confirmation from Mr. Parker, who said quietly, "Yes."

Mr. Specter shot back: "He's a good witness on one point at least."

The 20-minute news conference, which took place in the lobby of the senator's office, had the feel of a tense hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Mr. Specter chaired up until this year. He repeatedly interrupted Mr. Parker, who spoke quickly and stuck to a series of talking points.

Mr. Specter was especially furious about reports that US Airways is threatening to abandon a proposed flight between Philadelphia and Beijing if the Pennsylvania city allows Delta Air Lines to use a terminal that handles both domestic and international traffic.

The senator called the airline's actions "extortion." Mr. Parker said US Airways was concerned that the move by Delta could interfere with plans to expand its international operations in Philadelphia.

Mr. Specter also outlined some of his work over two decades of trying to accommodate the needs of US Airways in Pennsylvania, including the 1992 opening of the $1 billion Pittsburgh International Airport.

"[Former Sen.] John Heinz and I worked our fingers to the bone to get that hub airport there," Mr. Specter said. "And suddenly it goes up in smoke."

Mr. Parker said past commitments from the airline were made by a different leadership and couldn't be applied in today's business climate. Pittsburgh's airport, he said, is a remnant of the outdated "hub-and-spoke" system of air travel, which can't compete with low-cost airlines that fly directly between cities.

One of those airlines, Dallas-based Southwest, plans to add at least two more Pittsburgh flights next year as US Airways retrenches. It is already the airport's second-largest carrier.

Yesterday, it rolled out a new set of "business select" fares that are $10-30 higher than the carrier's current top fares but allow elite travelers to board sooner, receive extra frequent flier miles and a free drink.

The change is part of a larger Southwest strategy to court business travelers. Southwest is also changing its boarding process by assigning each traveler a place in line, and it is updating gates at more than 60 airports, including Pittsburgh International, with stainless steel columns and flat screen televisions.

Mr. Parker said US Airways would always be Pittsburgh's largest carrier.

"OK, write that down," Mr. Specter told reporters.

"That is our hope," Mr. Parker said.

Mr. Specter responded: "That's different."

Staff writer Dan Fitzpatrick contributed. Jerome L. Sherman can be reached at jsherman@post-gazette.com or 202-488-3479.

[hyperion1110]

I can't understand how USAir is not, in some way, legally liable for maintaining operations at PIT. I mean, the new airport terminal was built for them. What's more, they actually ASSUMED a good chunk of the debt of building the thing! All that aside, though. There is no way that it is cheaper to from Charlotte to Europe (given the geometry of the earth and shear distance), and the skies over Megalopolis are incredibly dangerous, and heavily delayed. What's more, PIT is actually a better airport than Philadelphia, with more and longer runways, LOTS of room to expand, state-of-the-art terminal, and the Airmall (had to throw that one in).

What is this madness that they cannot be profitable in Pittsburgh? It's bullshit, quite frankly.

Whatever happened to Pittsburgh's Allegheny Air???

[Grego43]

I can't understand how USAir is not, in some way, legally liable for maintaining operations at PIT. I mean, the new airport terminal was built for them. What's more, they actually ASSUMED a good chunk of the debt of building the thing! All that aside, though. There is no way that it is cheaper to from Charlotte to Europe (given the geometry of the earth and shear distance), and the skies over Megalopolis are incredibly dangerous, and heavily delayed. What's more, PIT is actually a better airport than Philadelphia, with more and longer runways, LOTS of room to expand, state-of-the-art terminal, and the Airmall (had to throw that one in).

What is this madness that they cannot be profitable in Pittsburgh? It's bullshit, quite frankly.

Whatever happened to Pittsburgh's Allegheny Air???

US Airways is not liable because 2 days before emerging from bankruptcy protection they rejected various leases at PIT...the sneaky bastards. There definately is a lot of blame to go around for the dismantling of the PIT hub:

-high per passenger costs relative to PHL & CLT
-shrinking population base at PIT, althought PIT's O&D is higher than CLT
-shitty management at US
-US failure to counteract LCC (low cost carriers) eating into their high-yield bread & butter routes, not only at PIT but also in feeder airports Harrisburg, Dayton, Canton/Akron

[BMikeSci]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07312/832202-28.stm

Specter, other Pa. lawmakers issue a public rebuke of US Airways CEO

'Half of what was said couldn't be printed in a newspaper'

Thursday, November 08, 2007
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter yesterday delivered a stern public scolding to US Airways' top executive after a heated meeting in his Washington office, saying the airline had broken repeated commitments to the Pittsburgh area with huge cutbacks and layoffs.

"It was not a satisfactory meeting," a grim Mr. Specter told reporters as he stood afterward alongside US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker. "There are grave concerns from the Pennsylvania delegation about what US Airways has done in Pittsburgh."

Sen. Bob Casey and nine of the state's House members joined Mr. Specter, a five-term Republican, for the closed-door session. Each took turns berating Mr. Parker and other airline officials for planning a new round of cuts in the region, including the elimination of 450 local jobs and the shifting of 500 local pilots and flight attendants to new locations.

"This was the most unbelievable meeting I've ever sat through," said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills. "Half of what was said couldn't be printed in a newspaper."

By the beginning of next year, US Airways will have 68 daily flights and 1,800 local employees, down from highs of 542 flights and 11,995 people in September 2001.

The latest announcement came last month, just weeks after Mr. Parker told union officials that US Airways was not planning any additional reductions in the region.

Mr. Parker, who joined US Airways after the company's 2005 merger with America West Airlines of Tempe, Ariz., said he came to the nation's capital to explain his business perspective to Pennsylvania lawmakers. He cited the high cost of fuel and the loss of $40 million in revenue in Pittsburgh over the past year.

"We're deeply committed to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania," he said. "We still are the largest airline in Pittsburgh. We generate more revenues in the state of Pennsylvania than we do in any other state. We've worked very hard to be good corporate citizens, to be good employers and we'll continue to do that."

Lawmakers rejected his arguments, saying that fuel costs are high across the country, not just in Pittsburgh.

They also argued that other airlines, like Southwest, have seen expansions in the region. According to Mr. Specter's office, 10 of Pittsburgh's 12 airlines saw significant increases in the number of passengers they served from August 2006 to August of this year.

Meanwhile, US Airways has been profitable.

"I know times change and I know a company is in business to make money," Mr. Specter said. "Well, US Airways made $475 million the first five months [of the year]."

The senator looked for confirmation from Mr. Parker, who said quietly, "Yes."

Mr. Specter shot back: "He's a good witness on one point at least."

The 20-minute news conference, which took place in the lobby of the senator's office, had the feel of a tense hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Mr. Specter chaired up until this year. He repeatedly interrupted Mr. Parker, who spoke quickly and stuck to a series of talking points.

Mr. Specter was especially furious about reports that US Airways is threatening to abandon a proposed flight between Philadelphia and Beijing if the Pennsylvania city allows Delta Air Lines to use a terminal that handles both domestic and international traffic.

The senator called the airline's actions "extortion." Mr. Parker said US Airways was concerned that the move by Delta could interfere with plans to expand its international operations in Philadelphia.

Mr. Specter also outlined some of his work over two decades of trying to accommodate the needs of US Airways in Pennsylvania, including the 1992 opening of the $1 billion Pittsburgh International Airport.

"[Former Sen.] John Heinz and I worked our fingers to the bone to get that hub airport there," Mr. Specter said. "And suddenly it goes up in smoke."

Mr. Parker said past commitments from the airline were made by a different leadership and couldn't be applied in today's business climate. Pittsburgh's airport, he said, is a remnant of the outdated "hub-and-spoke" system of air travel, which can't compete with low-cost airlines that fly directly between cities.

One of those airlines, Dallas-based Southwest, plans to add at least two more Pittsburgh flights next year as US Airways retrenches. It is already the airport's second-largest carrier.

Yesterday, it rolled out a new set of "business select" fares that are $10-30 higher than the carrier's current top fares but allow elite travelers to board sooner, receive extra frequent flier miles and a free drink.

The change is part of a larger Southwest strategy to court business travelers. Southwest is also changing its boarding process by assigning each traveler a place in line, and it is updating gates at more than 60 airports, including Pittsburgh International, with stainless steel columns and flat screen televisions.

Mr. Parker said US Airways would always be Pittsburgh's largest carrier.

"OK, write that down," Mr. Specter told reporters.

"That is our hope," Mr. Parker said.

Mr. Specter responded: "That's different."

Staff writer Dan Fitzpatrick contributed. Jerome L. Sherman can be reached at jsherman@post-gazette.com or 202-488-3479.

So long as people want to fly through Pittsburgh, there will be an airline that wants the business. If US Air wants to leave, fuck em. Southwest, I'm sure, would love their business. Why doesn't PGH partner with SW airlines? Then we would own part of the business and we could build our own fleet and services to support our own infrastructure. Boycott U S Air; then we can buy the planes from U.S. Air as they go broke. Fuck US Airways!

Let's end this stupid corporate welfare.

[BMikeSci]

Grego,

I like your tagline: Impunity is an open wound in the human soul.

Here here!

[PA Pride]

Mr. Parker said US Airways would always be Pittsburgh's largest carrier.

"OK, write that down," Mr. Specter told reporters.

"That is our hope," Mr. Parker said.

Mr. Specter responded: "That's different."


Haha... Senator Spector gettin into it!


I think Pittsburgh International has the same future as our population base: They've been in decline, and there still is going to be more loss in the immediate future, but then it will slowly stabilize and then start an upward trend of growth at some point. When? No one is sure, but probably in the next 5-10 years.

[cdc]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07312/832202-28.stm

Specter, other Pa. lawmakers issue a public rebuke of US Airways CEO

'Half of what was said couldn't be printed in a newspaper'


What I find curious in all this is the PA lawmakers' focus on PIT. I
would argue that USAir has hurt both major airports in PA by
drastically decreasing traffic at PIT and increasing the traffic at
PHL to the point of overload. I've seen lots of complaints about the
overcrowding at PHL. USA today had an article a few days ago that said:

"The volume of late flights at the New York City area's major airports
--- John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Philadelphia
which shares New York's airspace --- surged so much this year that it
swamped the entire aviation system, federal data show."
( http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-11-05-delays_N.htm )

See also "US Airways landed in a mess at Philadelphia Airport" ...
( http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05030/449585-28.stm ).


And the government delay stats don't really tell the whole story
because a flight is considered to leave "on time" if it pushes off the
gate as scheduled, even if it goes on to sit on the runway for an hour
to wait for a turn to take off. The airlines just add that dead
waiting time to the official schedule to keep things "on time." In
the NY airspace you end up with flights that only have 45 minutes of
actual flying time scheduled for double that time to account for the
runway waiting delays.

[tooluther]

Cany-Rama closes

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/seate/s_536814.html

It's a shame that the powers that be haven't stepped-up to help find a spot for this downtown tradition. As the city morphs into whatever, it's government officials and development groups should do their best to keep those establishments that are good, decent, and that somehow help define the PGH experience. Keeping good businesses in the downtown will add value to real estate. It is ironic that the city steps up to subsidize projects that may never materialize, but ignores the good businesses that are already here and struggle to remain.


They, and others did try and help. The simple fact is that their business model doesn't work on realistic rents...anywhere.

[hyperion1110]

US Airways is not liable because 2 days before emerging from bankruptcy protection they rejected various leases at PIT...the sneaky bastards. There definately is a lot of blame to go around for the dismantling of the PIT hub:

-high per passenger costs relative to PHL & CLT
-shrinking population base at PIT, althought PIT's O&D is higher than CLT
-shitty management at US
-US failure to counteract LCC (low cost carriers) eating into their high-yield bread & butter routes, not only at PIT but also in feeder airports Harrisburg, Dayton, Canton/Akron

I understand about the bankruptcy thing (which I agree is sneaky). But, what I don't get why the costs were higher per passenger here? Does it have to do with their obligations associated with the construction of the terminal? If so, wouldn't those costs have been discharged in the bankruptcy?

The idea that a corporation can just through it's financial responsibilities onto a community, and that community has no recourse, is completely insane.

[Grego43]

I understand about the bankruptcy thing (which I agree is sneaky). But, what I don't get why the costs were higher per passenger here? Does it have to do with their obligations associated with the construction of the terminal? If so, wouldn't those costs have been discharged in the bankruptcy?

The idea that a corporation can just through it's financial responsibilities onto a community, and that community has no recourse, is completely insane.

I should have added: shitty management at PIT. Yes, in part the high fees are due to construction of the new terminals built to US's specifications. I don't remember all the details, but before US jettisoned the lease agreements while in bankruptcy, they told the county and PIT management that the high landing fees & passenger charges at PIT were killing them. CLT & PHL were a fraction of the PIT fees and much more competitive. They threatened to cut traffic at their largest hub and divert that traffic to lower-priced CLT & PHL. Kent George, et. al called US's bluff...and the rest is history. Even now, with the latest increase in fees coming to PIT next year, PIT fees will now be nearly 4 times what they are in CLT and around 75% more than PHL! More than 20 million people/year were being pumped thru the airport at the time, less than 10 million this year.

As for the rest of your question, the debt load of the airport could not be discharged in US's bankruptcy because US is/was simply a tenant paying rent. The debt burden falls to the county, and its good citizens.

In a great example of Corporate Welfare, US was able to discharge their lease agreements and the associated costs, eventually flush about 11,000 jobs, and basically walk away from a $1Billion airport built for them ...go ahead and try to do that in a personal bankruptcy.

[Grego43]

Grego,

I like your tagline: Impunity is an open wound in the human soul.

Here here!

Thanks. Unfortunately, there seems to be quite a bit of Impunity around lately.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_537087.html

Transit-oriented housing development set for Green Tree

By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 9, 2007


One of the first transit-oriented residential developments in the Pittsburgh region may be located on a former driving range.
Experts say the concept allows residents of a community to abandon their cars and use public transportation or walk to get to work or shop.

The idea has inspired Lynn DeLorenzo's plan for housing project on a 26-acre site behind the Parkway Center office complex off McKinney Lane in Green Tree and Pittsburgh.

"We want to provide housing in an area close to public transportation, or within walking distance of the resident's place of employment and where they can shop, such as Parkway Center Mall," she said.

The Port Authority of Allegheny County has two bus routes -- the 36C (Greentree) and the 36D (Westwood) -- that service the area.
"Residents wishing to use the bus would have to walk down McKinney Lane to Greentree Road, although some routes include service in the Parkway Center Mall area," said Bob Grove, PAT spokesman.

PAT promotes the transit-oriented concept, which may also be developed in Castle Shannon, at its Shannon "T" station. This project, in the works for the past few years by Jim Aiello of JRA Development Group, would offer a mix of residential, retail and office uses and nearly double the 500 parking spots.

"It's the wave of the future," said Jim Dodaro, who has promoted the concept of transit-oriented development since joining the PAT board of directors 3 1/2 years ago.

Working with the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development, the concept is attracting developers who are considering the Dormont Station site, Dodaro said. Also, transit stations in Mt. Lebanon and Moon are being considered, he said.

"We welcome developers interested in pursuing the transit-oriented community concept," Grove said.

DeLorenzo's plan is to design a high-density development -- still unnamed -- to contain about 300 units of townhouses, condominiums and flats.

In that way, more land could be made available for open space, she said.

All housing would be for sale, but prices are still to be determined, based on construction costs.

She hopes to attract young professionals who may not be able to pay the price of new condominiums Downtown but want to live close to the Golden Triangle.

Until construction costs are finalized, no estimate will be available on the development cost.

"We expect the development will be financed with private funds. At this time, we have no plans to seek public funds," she said.

DeLorenzo's SouthStar Development Partners acquired the property in March for $1.1 million from Greentree Parkway Associates II LP, a group headed by Frank Gustine of FWG Real Estate LLC.

Once a traffic study of the area is completed, probably after Thanksgiving, DeLorenzo plans to meet with residents of Hamburg and Springfield streets in Pittsburgh, the closest residential community to the site.

"I want to inform them of what we are planning and explain how we plan to improve the road and provide sidewalks where there are none," she said.

About 10 acres of the property are within the city; 16 acres are in Green Tree.

"We have held preliminary discussions with both the city of Pittsburgh and Green Tree," she said, "but have not filed any plan in either municipality."

The project will be developed under SouthStar Development Partners of Pennsylvania in partnership with SouthStar Development Partners of Florida. DeLorenzo of DeLorenzo & Co. LLC is the local partner.

Coral Gables-based SouthStar's primary activities include the analysis, financing, acquisition, planning and marketing of real estate sites for residential and commercial uses.

Developing projects is not new to DeLorenzo, who has been active in development organizations.

A resident of Moon, she is a member of the township's planning commission, and among her memberships are the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and the Allegheny Land Trust.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.


What is transit-oriented development?

It's a fast-growing trend nationwide that experts say could create more vibrant, livable communities. Also known as transit-oriented design, it is the creation of compact, walkable communities built around high quality transit systems, such as buses and subways. It could make possible a higher quality of life without dependence on a car for travel.
The Urban Land Institute, a Washington group that promotes real estate innovation, said transit-oriented development is "an approach to combat traffic congestion and protect the environment. ... Today, highways are out; urban transit systems are in."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2007-11-08/1109brange-a.jpg
Lynn DeLorenzo envisions using transit-oriented residential development to turn this 26-acre site behind the Parkway Center office complex off McKinney Lane in Green Tree and Pittsburgh into a high-density development with about 300 units of townhouses, condominiums and flats.
Philip G. Pavely/Tribune-Review

[Evergrey]

Beechview's Broadway business district is a huge missed opportunity. It's quite pathetic, really. Also, Luna Square is finally dead.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07313/832482-53.stm

URA to pull plug on Beechview developer

Friday, November 09, 2007
By Gary Rotstein, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority plans to retake Beechview property it sold several years ago to developer Bernardo Katz, who has been criticized in the neighborhood for failing to upgrade the Broadway Avenue sites.

URA officials announced plans for the foreclosure action at a meeting yesterday where they also selected Kratsa Properties to develop a 142-room hotel in a new phase of the Pittsburgh Technology Center. The hotel, five or six stories, is expected to be under construction next year and open in the fall of 2009.

URA officials said they intended to foreclose on properties Mr. Katz acquired in 2004 and 2005 at 1600, 1601, 1602 and 1619 Broadway because he has fallen behind on loan payments and shown no progress toward redeveloping the properties. He received about $700,000 in URA funding for acquisition and development plans for the four parcels.

He eliminated two nuisance bars that were among the parcels, but community representatives said no other development has occurred and the rest of the business district is suffering from it.

"Mr. Katz has been a slum landlord and a thorn in the side to residents of Beechview for many years now," city Councilman Jim Motznik, who represents the area, told the URA board.

Mr. Katz, a Mt. Lebanon businessman who owns many additional properties in Beechview out of the URA's control, could not be reached for comment.

The south Oakland hotel is the latest in a series of similar projects by Kratsa, a Harmar firm that owns and operates 14 hotels in the region. General partner Bill Kratsa declined to identify which hotel chain would be on the site because the franchise agreement is not yet completed.

Kratsa recently opened a Holiday Inn Express and Suites on the South Side and Marriott SpringHill Suites on the North Shore, and has under development a SpringHill Suites on the South Side and Residence Inn by Marriott on the North Shore.

The new hotel has an estimated construction cost of about $15 million. The site will take up more than an acre, with Kratsa paying $300,000 an acre for the acquisition. It is one of multiple parcels the URA is developing in a new row of the technology center between the existing office buildings and Second Avenue.

Among other actions, the URA board:

• Signaled abandonment of a once-ambitious $115 million Bloomfield development called Luna Square by requesting that the city dissolve the Baum/Millvale tax increment financing district. Kratsa was also to be the developer of that project, which would have included a hotel, apartments, offices, shops and cinema, but it could not raise necessary financing.

• Will seek a $1.35 million grant from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assist in plans to upgrade South Side Riverfront Park around its boat launch area.

• Will provide $1.75 million to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership for the group to combine with similar Heinz Endowments funding to develop a loan program for small-scale residential development Downtown. The program will be aimed at "gap" projects renovating the upper floors of buildings, aside from large projects already under way.

• Approved financing of seven new North Euclid Avenue and Hays Street homes to be developed by East Liberty Development Inc. The homes are to be marketed at $200,000 to $300,000, using green building techniques under a Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency pilot program, and a second phase of 10 homes is to follow.

Gary Rotstein can be reached at grotstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1255.
First published on November 9, 2007 at 12:00 am

[Evergrey]

uhhh...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07313/832466-52.stm

San Francisco architect wins contest to remake Allegheny Plaza

Friday, November 09, 2007
By Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200711/20071109view_towards_childrens_muse_500.jpg
Andrea Cochran's vision for Allegheny Plaza.A San Francisco landscape architect has won the competition to make over the North Side's Allegheny Plaza with a child-focused design inspired by the history, form and ecology of Pittsburgh's rivers and riverbanks.

Andrea Cochran's plan calls for a green landscape bisected diagonally by a dry, undulating river of long, rectangular concrete pavers. Many of the design elements are modeled after the movement of water in waves, eddies and shallows. The concrete river, for example, will lap over the edges of the park onto the sidewalk.

Water in three states -- steam, water and ice -- also will play a significant role in the park, with a steam sculpture by Ned Kahn, 76 jets of water and a stage area that can be frozen in winter to make a skating pond.

The Children's Museum, which sponsored the design competition, views it as the necessary first step in replacing the existing multi-level concrete plaza across the street from the museum with a children's park that is green in both senses of the word, providing a lush and sustainable landscape.

The six competing design teams were given free rein in interpreting the park's sustainable aspects. The winning design uses recycled materials, permeable surfaces and, to power the park's lights, solar collectors in the wings of tall dragonfly sculptures. The park also is meant to be a learning lab for environmental education.

"One of our primary goals was to create a design that resonated with the museum, the surrounding neighborhoods and the region at large," Ms. Cochran said. "We believe that the park provides a wonderful opportunity to create a green space, and collaborate with artists to develop interpretive experiences that can teach sustainability and the history of the area."

The park also will accommodate open space for events, terraced seating and a flexible area for varied programming.

For children, Ms. Cochran's scheme will provide a backdrop for unscripted experiences of a river and its banks, with reclaimed locust planks suggesting driftwood making a path through meadow grass, and large boulders where the dry river meets the street. Artist-made renditions of craft that once plied the rivers, such as canoes, keelboats and flatboats, will be tethered to docks extending like fingers into the meadow grass. They'll be made of a nontoxic material that combines recycled plastic and reclaimed wood.

The winning design also features a phased plan to reconnect East Ohio and Federal streets through Allegheny Center.

The work is scheduled to be completed in fall 2009.

Ms. Cochran's 12-member firm, established in 1998, has been much praised (numerous design awards) and published (in Dwell, House & Garden and others), partly because it uses native plants in inventive, sustainable ways. Ms. Cochran also is chair of the San Francisco Arts Commission's Civic Design Committee.

The 10-member jury selected La Dallman Architects of Milwaukee as the second-place winner and landscape architect Paula Meijerink of Boston as the third-place winner. They were among six finalists whittled from a field of 25.

Architecture critic Patricia Lowry can be reached at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.


Allegheny Center is in desperate need of obliteration... and I'm all for reconnecting E. Ohio and Federal streets... but this article sounds like a bunch of new age touchy-feely baloney... but I'll have to learn more concrete details before passing judgment

[Evergrey]

good for Schenley backers.. I suspect the asbestos "threat" is exaggerated

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07313/832515-85.stm

Schenley backers loud, clear, in opposition to closing

Friday, November 09, 2007
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Schenley High School supporters last night interrupted, shouted down and ridiculed a Pittsburgh Public Schools' executive as he tried to explain the district's plan to close the building and disperse its students to three other locations.

Derrick Lopez, chief of high school reform, told the crowd of about 125 that the district doesn't believe it can afford $64 million in renovations to the landmark Oakland building.

The crowd didn't want to hear it.

Supporters disputed his report about extensive asbestos problems, suggested the district sell the administration building to help raise money for a Schenley overhaul and likened Schenley's dismantling to a family breakup.

Speaker after speaker cited a bond among Schenley students that transcends racial, socioeconomic and academic planes, fueling the school's record of academic and athletic achievement.

"There is something intangible that we are desperately trying to communicate to you tonight," said Mount Washington resident Sharon Brady, whose daughter is a junior at Schenley.

Ms. Brady said Schenley should be replicated, not "destroyed." Other supporters said they would try to raise money -- by selling pizza and baked goods, if necessary -- to save it.

Mr. Lopez, who joined the district in August, said at the meeting's outset that he wouldn't be able to counter the passion of Schenley supporters. The speakers in Schenley's auditorium quickly proved him right.

"Stop lying to the public. There is no asbestos crisis in Schenley," said Jet Lafean, the first audience member to speak.

Mr. Lafean and others said asbestos is present in many other district buildings, including the administration building where Superintendent Mark Roosevelt has his office. They demanded the opportunity to review the district architects' reports on Schenley.

The triangle-shaped school occupies a prominent location in Oakland's university and hospital corridor, something supporters say is crucial to success of the school's international studies program. Some speakers said they feared the financially strapped district sees the Schenley building as a cash cow and wants to sell it as soon as possible, something the district has denied.

Mr. Lopez cut off the discussion after about 90 minutes, saying he had to get home to his family. That statement brought a final round of jeers.

Schenley has about 1,100 students in grades nine through 12. It has two magnet programs that accept students by race-based lottery but also serves as a "neighborhood school" that enrolls some students because they live nearby.

Because of asbestos and other problems, Mr. Roosevelt two years ago proposed closing Schenley's building and moving the school, intact, to the former Reizenstein Middle School building in Shadyside. School supporters objected, and Mr. Roosevelt put the idea on hold for more study.

After a stairwell ceiling collapse last summer and a grim assessment from architects seven weeks ago, Mr. Roosevelt proposed closing Schenley at the end of the school year.

He recommended transferring about 550 students in Schenley's international studies/International Baccalaureate magnet to a new IB school for grades six through 12 at the Reizenstein building.

About 175 students in Schenley's robotics technology magnet would be given a wing at Pittsburgh Peabody High School in East Liberty.

The rest of Schenley's students would go to a new university-affiliated school at the former Milliones Middle School building in the Hill District. That school also would take in middle-grade students from nearby elementary schools and accept students from other neighborhoods, space permitting.

Mr. Roosevelt's plans, announced last week, are part of a series of initiatives for improving district high schools.

Mr. Roosevelt did not attend last night's meeting, irking some audience members. He previously said the high performance of international studies/IB students has masked more modest performance of robotics and general-enrollment students, and vowed to give the latter groups more attention in their new schools.

But supporters last night said the district could find other ways to shore up Schenley's programs. If the building must be closed, they said, the school should be moved intact as Mr. Roosevelt suggested two years ago.

"Why do we have to tear it apart?" said Point Breeze parent Janet Catov.

Schenley supporters reactivated the Web site -- saveschenley.netfreehost.com -- that they launched two years ago. Some alumni plan to hold a strategy session at 3 p.m. tomorrow in Room 326 of the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

The school board still must vote on Schenley's fate. Mr. Roosevelt said he was unable in two years' time to find money to renovate Schenley but would keep an open mind to funding possibilities.

Joe Smydo can be reached at jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548.

[tooluther]

TOD's are great...this idea in Greentree doesn't seam to be the best implementation of one however.

The idea for a mixed use development at Castle Shannon (and Dormont & Mt. Lebanon) T-Station(s)...ala Atlanta's MARTA station complexes is a much better implementation of the concept because it is situated directly on a major and highly serviced transit line.

2 bus routes which you have to walk a couple blocks to get to is just a housing development...BUT better to make the attempt than just another cookie cutter mcmansion development in Cranberry (where there should also be a TOD per my posts at elsewhere!)

[themaguffin]

I don't think has been touched on yet...?

Final piece set for Oakland planPittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley
After years of work, Guy Totino has landed the final piece of property he needs to create Oakland's first new apartment building in decades.

Totino's suburban Cleveland-based Polaris Real Estate Equities has reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh Parking Authority to acquire what is now a 26-space surface parking lot on a little more than an acre of land. Polaris has the lot under contract, as well as five nearby houses and the next-door offices of McKnight Development.

The developer plans a 17-story mixed-use project at the corner of Craig Street and Centre Avenue. It will feature what Totino described as the first new apartment building in the area in 30 or 40 years, called "The Chelsea," along with retail space.

Totino announced the agreement last week at a meeting of the Bellefield Area Citizens Association, which represents the span of Oakland that borders the Hill District and Bloomfield.

[hyperion1110]

I should have added: shitty management at PIT. Yes, in part the high fees are due to construction of the new terminals built to US's specifications. I don't remember all the details, but before US jettisoned the lease agreements while in bankruptcy, they told the county and PIT management that the high landing fees & passenger charges at PIT were killing them. CLT & PHL were a fraction of the PIT fees and much more competitive. They threatened to cut traffic at their largest hub and divert that traffic to lower-priced CLT & PHL. Kent George, et. al called US's bluff...and the rest is history. Even now, with the latest increase in fees coming to PIT next year, PIT fees will now be nearly 4 times what they are in CLT and around 75% more than PHL! More than 20 million people/year were being pumped thru the airport at the time, less than 10 million this year.

As for the rest of your question, the debt load of the airport could not be discharged in US's bankruptcy because US is/was simply a tenant paying rent. The debt burden falls to the county, and its good citizens.

In a great example of Corporate Welfare, US was able to discharge their lease agreements and the associated costs, eventually flush about 11,000 jobs, and basically walk away from a $1Billion airport built for them ...go ahead and try to do that in a personal bankruptcy.


Thanks for the info...that makes a lot more sense. It still blows, though.

[FlyingDog]

The guy I talk to within Cozza continues to maintain (as of July 2007) that they are hoping to be in the ground on both of their Mt. Washington projects - 341 and 1435 Grandview Ave. - by year end 2007. I have an email into him to see what's their update.

This Vista Grande project was somewhat of a surprise (to me) in that it appears to be moving forward before either of the Cozza projects, which have been repeatedly delayed for quite some time now.

here's a reply that I received from Cozza regarding an update on their Mt. Washington condo projects:

"We’re pretty focused on a major mixed use project in Monroeville that has demanded much of our attention over the past 6 months. It’s a large project that includes a 279 room hotel, 3 restaurants, an events center, a spa and a potential casino. Since our main business is freestanding drugstore development, the mixed use project in Monroeville is really acting as the risk asset in our portfolio.

As it relates to the condos, we have started the process of meeting with a number of potential buyers for pre-sales. We have also met with some potential equity partners for both Vici and Bella Vista over the past few months. Thus, we are trying to fully understand the return differential between doing presales and farming out part of the risk via an equity partner. That said, there is no firm start date on construction. We are about 90% complete for plans on both condo projects so once a path is chosen, construction can begin soon thereafter."

I expect to learn more about the 501 Grandview project next week.

[Evergrey]

Cozza is trying to get a gaming license for the defunct Palace Inn in Monroeville. It just barely meets the 15 mile distance requirement from the Majestic Star.

Maguffin: The Chelsea at Craig and Centre will have 300 apartments.

A 41,000 sq. ft. gym Urban Active will locate in TIF-financed Bakery Square in E. Liberty. This is just a couple blocks away from the existing 55,000 sq. ft. Club One gym. The Bakery Square gym will have many of the same amenities as Club One. I don't like this at all... especially since the project is getting a TIF...

[EventHorizon]

Barden says groundbreaking for casino in 30 days

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

North Shore casino developer Don Barden expects to break ground in 30 days after reaching an agreement on the facility's design in a private meeting today with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

The agreement, announced at an early afternoon news conference, calls for the casino's hulking garage to have decorative screening installed on the side facing the Ohio River and for a minimum of 25 percent of the casino to be nonsmoking. It removes the final hurdle from the proposed $450 million project.

Mr. Ravenstahl had said earlier this week that he would recommend against the design unless changes were made in the garage and at least part of the building would be nonsmoking. At the news conference, he said he is satisfied with the improvements and will recommend the planning commission approve the project.

Last week, Mr. Barden reached agreement with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates over potential traffic problems on the North Shore.

"Right now, it's full steam ahead," Mr. Barden said. He hopes to break ground within 30 days and open the casino in 16 months, April 2009.

City officials and others have expressed concern for several weeks about changes in the design of the casino that resulted in the 3,800-space garage at the rear of the site being substantially taller than the casino itself. The mayor also wanted the building to have nonsmoking areas so it would qualify as a "green" building, adding to the city's leadership in environmentally friendly development.

Although the size of the garage won't change, Mr. Barden agreed to a suggestion by the city's Contextual Design Advisory Panel to use screening on the most visible side of the garage. He initially rejected the idea because of cost that could add several million dollars to the project, but today he agreed.

Mr. Barden said the casino will have a high-quality design and in a jab at the Steelers said visitors would "see something more attractive than Heinz Field" when the project is done.

As far as smoking, Mr. Barden committed to nonsmoking areas in some part of the facility, but didn't promise it would be on the gambling floor. He said there would be a minimum of 25 percent of the building nonsmoking, but his spokesman said it could be as high as 70 percent.

The agreement ends a series of delays that have held up the only free-standing casino in Western Pennsylvania for nearly a year. First, losing applicants challenged the award of the license to Mr. Barden, leading to a court case he ultimately won. Then, the sports teams filed suit over traffic. Then, city officials complained about the design.

Mr. Barden said the delays have cost about $300 million in wages and taxes, about $1 million a day.

Early next year, Mr. Barden said, the casino would begin accepting applications for about 1,000 employees that will be needed to operate the facility.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07313/832593-100.stm

I look forward to seeing this 'masking' design change.

Barden is right about Heinz Field! It's very unattractive.:yuck:

[Evergrey]

I doubt "decorative screening" on one side of that garage-from-hell will do much... there will still be a mammoth 110 ft. garage visible from Mt. Washington

for reference... here's Heinz Field

http://www.pbase.com/deadwing/image/51801943.jpg

[PA Pride]

That garage is destined to be a horrible sight. Even with ONE SIDE (whoop-de-doo) decorated, that doesnt change the fact that it is two times the size of that average looking casino it will sit next to!!

[xyagentguy]

So the Trib and Post-Gazette claim part of the reason the mayor wants some of the casino to be non-smoking is so they can still get certified as a "green" building. So, is that going to happen? Don't you have to do a lot more than simply ban smoking in certain parts to get LEED certified? I know there are all sorts of regulations etc, the casino will employ them all?

I am HOPING so much that it can get green certification. This would be the world's first LEED certified casino.

*finger's crossed*

[Johnland]

I doubt "decorative screening" on one side of that garage-from-hell will do much... there will still be a mammoth 110 ft. garage visible from Mt. Washington

for reference... here's Heinz Field

http://www.pbase.com/deadwing/image/51801943.jpg

I'm pissed off and angry all over again about that garage. Naturally you'd expect some Philistine moron monopoly holder (casino owner) to go for the biggest, cheapest box possible to maximize his bottom line. But where in hell were the elected officials and other public policy gatekeepers on this one?? It's as if not a single damn one of them have any taste or sense of aesthtics. I guess Pittsburgh is just a national joke butt to be milked for all the state pork money any half clever jerk with a contract in hand to operate a casino and the pathetic government boobs who smoothed his way can get. You can't even say the urban environment has been dumbed down. That's too high a level for that garage and casino. This monstrous crap goes straight down to pure shit.

[Evergrey]

But where in hell were the elected officials and other public policy gatekeepers on this one??

We just had a mayoral election a few days ago... and let's just say Pittsburgh gets what it votes for.

[Rufus]

Will the T extension be accessible to the casino? It looks like it. I am pro-casino, but the state has gone about it all wrong from start to finish, not just in Pittsburgh but other locations. I agree the massive garage is a disappointment.

[Evergrey]

Yes, the T connection will be right across the street from the casino... which wasn't something that was planned by PAT... since the route was devised long before any discussion of gaming.

[UrbaniDesDev]

Transit Oriented housing... FINALLy. Why havent' they done more like this around the T stations at Castle Shanon etc??? They have never utilized the T line fully, or should I say fooly

I consider it a good thing that they stepped in at Beechview

Im glad to see some interest in Allegheny Square and thrilled they are still talking about extending Federal Street. This will be a great benefit to that area. My old nreighborhood.

[Smoker]

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

The LEED® Rating System
LEED® certification is based on a point system. The amount of points achieved will determine which level of LEED® certification the project is awarded. There are 69 possible points and four certification levels. Basic LEED® Certification requires 26 to 32 points; LEED® Certified Silver Level requires 33 to 38 points; LEED® Certified Gold Level requires 39 to 51 points; and LEED® Certified Platinum Level requires 52 to 69 points.

Below is a list of the categories and examples of required and possible points for each of the categories.

* Sustainable Sites (14 possible points total): Erosion and Sedimentation Control (required point); Site Selection (1 point); Urban Redevelopment (1 point); etc.
* Water Efficiency (5 possible points total): Water Efficient Landscaping, Reduce by 50% (1 point); Innovative Wastewater Technologies (1 point); Water Use Reduction, 20% Reduction (1 point); etc.
* Energy and Atmosphere (17 possible points total): Fundamental Building Systems Commissioning (required point); Minimum Energy Performance (required point); CFC Reduction in HVAC&R Equipment (required point); Renewable Energy, 20% (1 point); etc.
* Materials and Resources (13 possible points total): Storage and Collection of Recyclables (required point); Building Reuse, Maintain 75% of Existing Shell (1 point); Construction Waste Management, Divert 50% (1 point); etc.
* Indoor Environmental Quality (15 possible points total): Minimum IAQ Performance (required point); Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control (required point); Ventilation Effectiveness (1 point); Low–Emitting Materials, Adhesives & Sealants (1 point); etc.
* Innovation and Design Process (5 possible points total): Innovations in Design, Provide Specifics (1 to 4 points) and LEED® Accredited Professional (1 point).

http://www.agc.org/page.ww?section=Green+Construction&name=LEED+Green+Building+Rating+System#rate

[Evergrey]

ugggghhhhh....


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07314/832817-85.stm


'Full steam ahead' for North Shore casino

Barden to break ground in 30 days after settling design concerns

Saturday, November 10, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200711/20071110sm_barden02_500.jpg
Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, left, North Shore casino developer Don Barden, center, and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato are all smiles after announcing an accord yesterday on the casino's design.Don Barden plans to break ground on his North Shore casino in 30 days, after reaching agreement yesterday on design-related issues in a private meeting with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

The accord clears the final hurdle standing between Mr. Barden and the start of construction, nearly a year after the Detroit businessman was awarded the state license for the Pittsburgh casino.

"Right now, it's full steam ahead," Mr. Barden said at a news conference to announce the deal.

The agreement came four days after the Ravenstahl administration said it would urge the planning commission to reject the proposed design for the casino because of concerns about the massive 3,800-space parking garage to be built directly behind it.

Mr. Ravenstahl, Mr. Onorato, and others feared the garage, nearly twice the height of the casino, could affect views of the city skyline from Mount Washington, the West End, the Fort Pitt Bridge and other areas. The $450 million casino will be built on the Ohio River waterfront, just west of Carnegie Science Center.

The mayor also wanted Mr. Barden to build an environmentally friendly green casino and to prohibit smoking in at least part of the building.

As part of yesterday's deal, Mr. Barden will install decorative screening to the side of the garage facing the river to address concerns, but will not change the size or height of the structure or the casino itself.

Last summer, the city's Contextual Design Advisory Panel had recommended the use of screening and an increase in the height of a drum atrium, the casino's centerpiece, to mitigate the garage's impact.

Both were rejected by Mr. Barden at the time as being too expensive.

Under the agreement, Mr. Barden also has pledged to make more than 25 percent of the casino nonsmoking. His spokesman, Bob Oltmanns, said two-thirds to 70 percent of the building could end up being smoke free.

But whether any part of the gambling floor will end up that way remains to be seen. That, Mr. Oltmanns said, "hasn't been worked out."

While Mr. Barden insisted he would have a "green" building, he acknowledged that it wouldn't be LEED-certified unless the state Legislature acts to ban smoking in casinos throughout Pennsylvania.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, establishes strict standards for environmentally friendly construction designated by the U.S. Green Building Council.

To obtain a LEED certification, a building must either ban smoking altogether or prohibit it except in designated areas equipped with separate ventilation systems.

The Green Building Alliance and the Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition have been pushing Mr. Barden to get LEED certification. Rebecca Flora, executive director of the Green Building Alliance, could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Barden said his casino will feature the "Rolls Royce of air conditioning systems in the state of Pennsylvania" and will meet 32 of 33 qualifications needed for LEED certification, the lone exception being a smoking ban.

"But we're going to go as far as we can. There won't be smoking in our restaurants. There won't be smoking in our meeting spaces and other places in part of the casino," he said.

He did not know whether the no-smoking areas would be separately ventilated but added the casino "will achieve the goal of making it nonsmoking suitable."

Mr. Ravenstahl said he is satisfied with the commitments made by Mr. Barden and would recommend that the planning commission approve the design in the coming weeks.

"As a result of the agreements that Mr. Barden has made today, I feel comfortable that the two issues I had will be resolved and, therefore, we'll be supportive," he said.

Anne-Marie Lubenau, chairwoman of the Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition, said it "was encouraging that some progress has been made" on the two design-related issues. But she added it was hard to comment further without seeing more detailed plans.

Mr. Barden had no updated drawings to show to highlight the changes that will be made to the casino and garage. But, in a poke at the Steelers, he said visitors will "see something much more attractive than Heinz Field."

He anticipates a 16-month construction schedule. If he breaks ground next month, that would put the casino's opening in April 2009, more than a full year beyond his initial estimate of March 2008.

For much of the last year, delays have held up the construction.

First, the two losing applicants for the casino challenged the award of the license to Mr. Barden, leading to a court case he ultimately won. Then, the Steelers and Pirates sued over traffic-related issues, followed by complaints by city and county officials about the design.

It wasn't until last week that Mr. Barden, under court mediation, reached agreement with the two sports teams to resolve the traffic issues.

"This has not been an easy process. This has been a lengthy process. We've had delays thrust upon us from many sources. But we've overcome all of those obstacles and now it's full steam ahead," he said.

By early next year, Mr. Barden hopes to start accepting applications and hiring for the 1,000 jobs to be available at the casino.

Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[Johnland]

Decorative screening, and only one side!? Amazingly, it just gets worse. So the mayor actually realized the unique and priceless views of the city would be marred by the garage, but then said 'ok' to the licence holder's 'solution' of screens on the city-side? That's like planting rose bushes around a dump and expecting people not to notice the dump. This whole sickening venture just speaks volumes about the depth of Pittsburgh's slide into mediocrity. Just underscores the government's mindset that serious underlying economic problems can be 'quick-fixed' with huge, state-sponsored solutions like casinos. It diverts thought and energy away from real problems at hand - how to generate a better business climate that would keep more people from leaving the region, and even get more moving in. Rather than focusing on Pittsburgh's unique and amdirable assets - rich history, compact size, stunning architecture, miles of river front, etc, the state (ala Soviet Union) comes in and dictates solutions like gambling, awards licence to out of state person, then gives total free reins to the licence holder to build whatever piece of crap building he wants - the people and history of Pittsburgh be damned. How does this help the North Side? It's so close to several historic neighborhoods that have been slowly rehabilitating by sheer will of its residents. Then this gargantuan project it plopped down on thier border. Out of scale and out of character. A 3,800 car garage? Isn't that about the equivalent of 5 or 6 wal-Mart parking lots? I just see tons of cars projected for the streets in that neighborhood. I think they should've picked some nice exit off the parkway West near the airport for this thing.

Again, it just make make very disheartened that Pittsburgh is being run further into the ground by poor, poor leadership. For all the friggin money being spent, Oakland could've been connected to Downtown with lightrail as one possibility. That would've strengthened Oakland's job creation ability. From what I read, Oakland is a bright spot in the city for jobs. But it needs of the rough edges smoothed out to boost that ability even more. Get better transit to and from Oakland. Keep the infrastructure up to date. Work on cleaning up the areas that are suffering from neglect. Oakland is the place where young people often get their first experience of Pittsburgh. Make it a place that truly exhibits Pittsburgh as a viable city for living and working.

Pittsburgh has a legacy of big ideas that go over like lead balloons. It is as strong as ever. The obliteration of the Lower Hill resulted in the Civic Area. For 50 years, that has been a cold, barren hole in the city's urban fabric. It displaced thousands of people and tore away the Hill's connection to downtown. It never helped the Hill economically.

In other words, be real city with a real economy.

[BMikeSci]

That garage is destined to be a horrible sight. Even with ONE SIDE (whoop-de-doo) decorated, that doesnt change the fact that it is two times the size of that average looking casino it will sit next to!!

What I don't understand is how the design could change after the license award. Weren't the competitors bound to their plans? Doesn't Barden have to build the design he submitted? How is making changes now allowed? Why is it that the commission is allowed to not enforce the original agreement? Doesn't the gaming commission answer to the people? Isn't it the case that they must step in an insist that the original plan be built? Really, the license should be granted to someone who will abide by the original agreement. Does this state bid jobs that way too - give the job to the lowest bidder, but then pay double? I just don't understand how business is done in PA?

[BMikeSci]

I wonder if a private citizen or group (like Isle of Capri) could sue Barden for breech of contract on behalf of the state?

[xyagentguy]

Below is a list of the categories and examples of required and possible points for each of the categories.

* Sustainable Sites (14 possible points total): Erosion and Sedimentation Control (required point); Site Selection (1 point); Urban Redevelopment (1 point); etc.
* Water Efficiency (5 possible points total): Water Efficient Landscaping, Reduce by 50% (1 point); Innovative Wastewater Technologies (1 point); Water Use Reduction, 20% Reduction (1 point); etc.
* Energy and Atmosphere (17 possible points total): Fundamental Building Systems Commissioning (required point); Minimum Energy Performance (required point); CFC Reduction in HVAC&R Equipment (required point); Renewable Energy, 20% (1 point); etc.
* Materials and Resources (13 possible points total): Storage and Collection of Recyclables (required point); Building Reuse, Maintain 75% of Existing Shell (1 point); Construction Waste Management, Divert 50% (1 point); etc.
* Indoor Environmental Quality (15 possible points total): Minimum IAQ Performance (required point); Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control (required point); Ventilation Effectiveness (1 point); Low–Emitting Materials, Adhesives & Sealants (1 point); etc.
* Innovation and Design Process (5 possible points total): Innovations in Design, Provide Specifics (1 to 4 points) and LEED® Accredited Professional (1 point).
Wonderful! Thank you! Now the question is, will the casino meet the requirements??

[tooluther]

The article said the casino will meet 32 of the 33 LEED requirements...the only one being the non-smoking thing.

Can we please just pass that statewide ban and join the rest of the country?

[PA Pride]

^Actually, that would be pretty nice if we had the first Green certified Casino to go with our other collection of firsts.

[PA Pride]

Here is a Moon Township (airport area) construction update. I took these pics about 1 hour ago:

Right by my office (Howard Hanna Real Estate - West Suburban). Building a third and final office building at the airside business park. From the Pittsburgh business Times:
A California insurance company is taking steps toward anchoring a new 80,000-square-foot office building at Airside Business Park, potentially taking the last remaining site at the Moon Township park.

Balboa Insurance Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Calabasas, Calif.-based Countrywide Financial Corp., is considering consolidating its local operations at a three-story office building on the 2.5-acre site, said Bill Hunt, president of Uptown-based The Elmhurst Group, developer of the project.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/austindaniel/Countrywidebuilding.jpg


And this used to be Cutler Hammer, but then Cleveland based Eaton bought it out a couple years ago, is building a 120,000 sq ft adddition.
from the Pittsburgh Business Times:
Eaton Corp., an industrial products manufacturer, is expanding its Pittsburgh-area operations.

The Cleveland-based company (NYSE:ETN) is planning a $24 million, 120,000-square-foot addition to its electrical business headquarters, which are based in Moon Township.

The company presently occupies a 140,000-square-foot building in Moon. The 120,000 square-foot addition will be built onto the current space.

The expansion is expected to add 30 jobs within three years to the company's existing 756-employee regional payroll.


Here is the current 140,000 sq ft building:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/austindaniel/IMG_6160.jpg

and here is ground moving next to it as part of the 120,000 new addition:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/austindaniel/IMG_6159.jpg

[Smoker]

http://megababy.com/statics/leedPts.jpg

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07315/832951-147.stm

Silence is deafening in airport concourses

Cutbacks by US Airways leave vast areas of Pittsburgh International's world-class facilities unused and quiet

Sunday, November 11, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200711/20071111smairport01_500.jpg
Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
Travelers head to a security checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday.Kevin Tinta remembers the days, not too long ago, when his sandwich shop at Pittsburgh International Airport couldn't keep up with the crowds, when lines stretched down the concourse and he hardly had time to take a break.

Now, the few employees who work at Charley's Steakery, at the far end of B Concourse, can go eight hours without seeing a flight take off or land.

"A lot of times there's nothing for us to do," said Mr. Tinta, the manager.

The shop's plight is just one indication of the hard times that have befallen this once mighty hub. And it could get worse in January, when US Airways cuts another 40 flights and drops 18 of its 28 gates.

The cutbacks will leave the airline with 68 daily flights and 1,800 local employees, down from highs of 542 flights and 11,995 workers before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks dealt a devastating blow to US Airways and the entire airline industry.

Altogether, the 13 airlines now serving the airport offer an average of 227 daily flights, down from 633 in August 2001.

Nowhere are the changes more evident than on the A and B concourses, where US Airways once controlled all 50 gates.

Once crammed with vacation travelers and anxious business people hustling to make connections, both have gone from bustling to boarded up.

In A Concourse, yellow caution tape is strung across the entrances to several former US Airways gate areas. Wallpaper and logos have been stripped away and most monitors are blank.

A US Airways special services center has been closed. One day last week, the concourse had the feel of a wake, with the spacious aisles all but empty.

Visitors had no trouble hearing the announcements or the music coming from the airport's sound system. While it might have been tough to hear a pin drop, it was quite easy to pick up the high-pitched squeals of a video game coming from a bar.

At the end of A Concourse, a bank of five gates sits largely unused, the lone exceptions commuter flights to DuBois and Bradford/Jamestown. About 15 travelers waited to board.

It wasn't long ago that the gates harbored some of US Airways' biggest planes. Now they serve as a base for the airline's commuter flights. A turboprop idled on the tarmac, waiting to haul a handful of travelers to DuBois.

"It never was like this. This place used to be packed," said Stan Foster, sales and marketing manager for SGL Group, as he waited to board.

Abandoning A Concourse

In January, US Airways will abandon A Concourse altogether, where it once occupied all 25 gates, and consolidate what's left of its operations in B Concourse where it will keep 10 gates.

That will leave only Southwest Airlines, which started operations in Pittsburgh in May 2005, and its three gates on A Concourse. Twenty-two others will be empty.

The airport authority is still trying to determine what to do with those gates, spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny said. One possibility is to relocate other airlines now operating out of C and D concourses to A, a move that would have been unthinkable six years ago.

"There's something bubbling and percolating in the planning process," she said. "It's not likely that that concourse is going to stay vacant for a lengthy period of time."

The gate consolidation could bring a shot of life to B Concourse, which has suffered much the same fate as A Concourse because of the repeated US Airways cutbacks.

While the first half of the corridor still brims with US Airways activity, the rest of it is dormant, much like a computer in sleep mode.

At the very end of B Concourse, five gates are empty and the monitors black. On this day, state officials are using one corner of the spacious waiting area to discuss assistance available to displaced US Airways employees.

It's the only sign of life.

A short walk away, Kyle McCusker, the lone employee staffing a Ben & Jerry's ice cream concession, said business has been extremely slow.

"By the end of the night, I'll probably be able to count the number of customers I had on my hands," he says.

In January, to save money, the airport authority plans to wall off the ends of the A and B concourses and close 27 gates.

Airport passenger traffic has fallen from a high of 20.7 million in 1997 to 9.9 million last year, due mostly a huge drop in connecting traffic. As US Airways has retrenched, abandoning its hub and spoke business here, pass-through traffic has plunged from a high of 13.9 million people in 1996 to 1.7 million last year.

With the cutbacks, airline costs have increased. The airport's per passenger cost has gone from a low of $5.98 in 2000 to $11.89 in September. It's a simple equation -- as fewer travelers come through the terminal, the per passenger cost increases.

Concession revenue from the award-winning Airmall has plummeted from a high of $89.9 million in 2001 to $65.3 million in 2005. It was $65.9 million last year. The number of stores has dropped from 110 (including those in the now closed commuter terminal) in 2001 to 99 in September.

Despite that and the many flight cuts, Jay Kruisselbrink, vice president of development for BAA Pittsburgh, the Airmall manager, said sales are still "very good" and actually "trending up over last year."

He acknowledged that some stores likely will be hurt when 27 gates are closed and the ends of the A and B concourses are walled off. But what overall impact that will have is hard to predict.

"We're hoping the impact in January will be minimal but time will tell," he said.

To some extent, the airport has been able to offset the losses by boosting its local traffic, spurred in large part by the success in recruiting low-cost carriers like Southwest and JetBlue to start service in Pittsburgh after US Airways dropped the airport as a hub in 2004.

In two years, Southwest has become the airport's second largest carrier, with 15.5 percent of all traffic.

Origin and destination traffic -- that is, the number of passengers not getting off connecting flights and getting on another one -- hit a high of 8.2 million last year. That in turn boosted parking and rental car revenues to a record $29.7 million and $82.4 million, respectively, producing this paradox: While the airport has lost more than half of its passenger traffic, the parking lots are full.

Mr. Kruisselbrink said what the industry calls origin and destination traffic is actually better for the Airmall than connecting because travelers have more time to browse, particularly given security measures that require them to be at the airport 90 minutes to two hours before flights.

With the shift away from US Airways, the airport's C and D concourses, traditionally slower than A and B, have become busier. On these concourses you will find upstarts AirTran and JetBlue along with legacy carriers United, Delta, American and Northwest.

Most of these airlines have posted gains as US Airways has cut. But despite those successes and more local travelers than ever before, they cannot come close to making up for the traffic that has been lost.

Still, Mr. Kruisselbrink said BAA has given no thought to pulling out of Pittsburgh. He says the airport will rise again.

"It's a fantastic facility," he said. "It's just a wonderfully designed building. It's got the best staff of any airport. It's situated perfectly. We don't have any air space issues. So yeah, I don't know how long it will take but this is going to be a viable airport for a long time to come."

Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First published on November 11, 2007 at 12:00 am

[AaronClark]

I posted this on another forum, but I'll copy it over here because it's in line with the article Evergrey just posted.

I just flew non-stop from Cancun back to Pittsburgh this past Saturday afternoon. If you think the emptiness of the regular concourses of PIT are depressing, you should see what has happened to the customs and immigration level below C. I am talking abandoned machinery strewn everywhere, flat screens pulled out of the walls with wires hanging, baggage claims that haven't been used, empty check-in gates, wrong signs.......and they let it stay in this condition while funneling people through! It was one of the biggest customs stations I've been through, but they only had two lines open. We actually got in early....I was the first person to get to the international security screening point and I surprised them. They jumped up from a card table and were like "Look. People!" "The flight's early!". They had me wait five minutes while they turned on the X-ray machines and metal detectors. Really really sad. Talk about a ghost town. You seriously had to maneuver around old US Airways crap all over the place. It was like walking through someone's basement.

[BMikeSci]

The article said the casino will meet 32 of the 33 LEED requirements...the only one being the non-smoking thing.

Can we please just pass that statewide ban and join the rest of the country?

Banning smoking in public would be antithetical to the state's position on lungs - which is, if we protect people from smoking, we will have to blame asthma, cancer, etc. on coal mining and coal burning industries like US Steel. Smoking is just too convenient a dodge.

[Johnland]

I posted this on another forum, but I'll copy it over here because it's in line with the article Evergrey just posted.

I just flew non-stop from Cancun back to Pittsburgh this past Saturday afternoon. If you think the emptiness of the regular concourses of PIT are depressing, you should see what has happened to the customs and immigration level below C. I am talking abandoned machinery strewn everywhere, flat screens pulled out of the walls with wires hanging, baggage claims that haven't been used, empty check-in gates, wrong signs.......and they let it stay in this condition while funneling people through! It was one of the biggest customs stations I've been through, but they only had two lines open. We actually got in early....I was the first person to get to the international security screening point and I surprised them. They jumped up from a card table and were like "Look. People!" "The flight's early!". They had me wait five minutes while they turned on the X-ray machines and metal detectors. Really really sad. Talk about a ghost town. You seriously had to maneuver around old US Airways crap all over the place. It was like walking through someone's basement.

Oh, that is just sad. I just read the Post Gazette article and your post above. As a frequent traveller to Pittsburgh, I've seen the airport go from the old, crowded original terminal of the 80's to the new terminal that opened in the early 90's. Every year was busier than the previous. The AirMall was great. To think it has fallen so far down it very disheartening.

I'm getting tired of my own rant against the casinos, but it would think the airport situation should be a higher priority than gambling. All the money, planning, time and effort put into casinos should've been directed to toward the airport. The state, county and city should be developing a viable remedy. I don't know if that means running rail out to the airport from the city or what, but something better get more flights in and out of that place. As has been pointed out, Pittsburgh, long runways and none of the congested airspace issues plagueing the East Coast. From what I've read, the space over Wash DC to New York is literally packed. The FAA is considering flight caps on JFK.

My big concern is that airport is an asset now being grossly underutilized, which will drain money from the area.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07315/832966-147.stm

Getting Around: Transportation wish list would cost billions

Sunday, November 11, 2007
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If you missed the Nov. 1 Post-Gazette article headlined "Transportation Wish List: County panel recommends light rail to Oakland and airport," you didn't miss much.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato held a news conference to announce the study results, which included reviving plans to establish rapid transit between Downtown and Oakland and creating an "Oakland Circulator System" to link Pitt and Carnegie Mellon to the Pittsburgh Technology Center, possibly with people movers reminiscent of the old Skybus system that politicians scuttled in the early 1970s.

Those two projects may be plausible and realistic to pursue again, ASAP, although neither one has gotten very far in the past.

But the wish list didn't stop there. It ended up being a pipe dream, recommending a laundry list of concepts and ideas, some with improbable outcomes.

Additional strategies included expanding an Oakland Circulator System to Shadyside, Lawrenceville and the South Side; building a rapid transit system between Downtown and Pittsburgh International Airport; converting busways into high occupancy toll lanes for cars; establishing commuter rail service; creating an "Airport Area Circulator System" fed by trolleys; and advancing transit-oriented development in locations such as Castle Shannon and East Liberty.

Gulp!

That's at least five times more public transportation than Allegheny County has been able to develop in the past century.

Mr. Onorato didn't say how much all of this would cost, but undoubtedly it would be many billions of dollars. He suggested that "public-private partnerships and innovative funding approaches could make these linkages a reality," an interesting thought from the man having trouble finding $27 million in his 2008 budget just to keep the Port Authority afloat this year.

To be fair, the recommendations announced by Mr. Onorato were not necessarily all his. They were drawn up by a Transportation Action Team that he appointed in March 2006, with help from a consultant, Lea-Elliott, hired by the Allegheny Conference of business bigwigs.

The team consisted of 15 members (one died), including political supporters and a few people with transportation backgrounds. It was chaired by Dave Hickton, a partner at Burns White & Hickton LLC, a Pittsburgh law firm.

The Port Authority had one representative, Richard Taylor, of Forest Hills, a three-year authority board member. And although the authority would be the agency charged with building and lining up federal and state funding for any project, none of its planning or engineering people was sought to provide input for the Transportation Action Team study.

"Getting Around" has a few more observations, such as:

• If TAT wants to charge cars to use the West Busway as a "HOT Lane" to bypass Parkway West congestion "to generate revenue for priority capital projects identified in this report," the county better be prepared to reimburse the Federal Transit Administration about $200 million for the federal share of busway costs. The FTA does not permit general traffic to use exclusive busways that it funds;

• The study does not mention the little-used Wabash HOV Tunnel and how this waste of money could somehow be salvaged. It ignores -- rightfully so, probably -- the highly unlikely prospect but still active effort of building a high-speed maglev line between the airport and Downtown;

• The study does not consider ideas as simple, practical and affordable as re-establishing streetcars in the Strip District and on the South Side as useful local public transportation and a visitor attraction;

• If light rail were extended to the airport as the study recommends, who would ride? Downtown and Oakland account for less than 20 percent of airport passengers and employees. The Parkway West will soon be three lanes in each direction between the airport and Carnegie, at the junction of the West Busway that provides a transit alternative to traffic. And a significant number of cars will be removed from the Parkway West when the next section of the Southern Beltway is built between I-79 and the Findlay Connector.

The bottom line: Unless it was for political reasons, Mr. Onorato didn't need to create a Transportation Action Team.

He has me.

[Evergrey]

Brian O'Neill has an excellent piece on the political dysfunction of Pittsburgh... noting that the city is a tenent of the state and plays by the state's rules. The state has denied Pittsburgh many of the powers that cities in other states have... such as annexation. Pennsylvania's hyper-fragmented system of local governance is a failure and cannot cope with modern economic realities. What kind of crisis does this state need to endure to address this fundamental problem?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07315/832686-155.stm

Can mere mortals fix Pittsburgh?

Sunday, November 11, 2007
By Brian O'Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two days after 68,500 Pittsburghers voted to determine who gets to be mayor, four guys who hold real power sat behind a table in City Council chambers.

The four state senators from Allegheny County do not, by themselves, hold enough power to turn the city around. There are 249 other lawmakers in the state Legislature with something to say, too. But as the hearing by the state Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee made clear, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is not entirely the master of his own fate.

Do you think the hospitals and universities should be kicking in more to pay for cops, firefighters, ambulances and such?

That would require changing a 10-year-old state law that stripped away the leverage the cities had to get payments from non-profits in lieu of taxes.

Since the city has cut 1,000 jobs, about a quarter of its work force, since 2002, is it time to tighten workers' compensation payments that cost millions?

However you answer that loaded question, workers' compensation is in the hands of Harrisburg lawmakers, too.

The relative inconsequence of any mayor compared with the state was the background noise of this hearing on Act 47, the state system that is supposed to stop Pennsylvania cities from circling the drain.

That system is looking like the Roach Motel: Cities check in but they don't check out. Nine cities and boroughs have been flying the Act 47 distress flag for at least 15 years -- Scranton, the state's sixth-largest city, among them.

No city has ever escaped the designation, though six boroughs have. Homestead emerged last spring after 14 years of official distress. (For policy wonks scoring at home, Ambridge has the record for shortest stretch, spending only three years in fiscal palookaville in the early '90s.)

The wonder is that more Pennsylvania cities don't topple because their set-up has been exactly wrong for a half-century. Even the city's fiercest critics unintentionally show that when they make comparisons.

Jake Haulk, president of the Allegheny Insitute for Public Policy, testified that Pittsburgh doesn't compare well with cities such as Omaha, Charlotte, Columbus and Salt Lake City.

But the smallest of those cities covers twice as much land as Pittsburgh's 55.5 square miles. Columbus and Charlotte have four and five times Pittsburgh's footprint. That's the key to survival in a commuter age: A city must capture where citizens make money and spend money for a stable tax base.

That's why Charlotte has annexed almost 250 square miles around it since 1950, making it nothing like the 30-square-mile city it once was. Omaha has annexed aggressively, too, while Columbus has quintupled its spread. Salt Lake City has merely doubled its land area, but the look of these auto-centric places is more like Allegheny County than the crowded city in its belly.

Pittsburgh, the city that has lost more than half its population since 1950, crowded? Well, Pittsburgh still has about 5,600 residents per square mile. That makes it more densely packed than the most crowded of the other four, Columbus and Omaha, which have but 3,400 per square mile. Pittsburgh would have more people per square mile even if it lost another 100,000 residents.

That seems to be the plan.

Those statistics didn't come up at the hearing. I got them when I Googled around later at the office, then pulled out a calculator. We should have no illusions that Pittsburgh will annex anything because not only is it too late, Pennsylvania law and politics make it impossible. The clout is in the suburbs, so the only response can be getting the county to start assuming more of the metropolitan load.

A shift from a city to a county police force seems a good bet at some point this century, but it's hardly on the radar now. There's a lot of fiddling around the edges of reform because the city's massive debt and pension burdens means any city-county marriage would come with an anti-dowry.

That won't be easy to figure out. Meantime, though, the state should realize that some of Pittsburgh's big non-profits are gold mines and their employees pay millions in state income taxes. It's time that Pennsylvania, like Connecticut and Rhode Island, reimburse cities for some of the property and business taxes they don't get for hosting the economic engines of the modern economy. Or get hospitals and universities to pony up as much as they do in Massachusetts cities.

It's either that or wait for $4-a-gallon gasoline to get commuters back to living close to where they work. Don't bet your Giant Eagle fuelperks on that.

Brian O'Neill can be reached at boneill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1947.

[BMikeSci]

Getting Around: Transportation wish list would cost billions

It would be great to have rail between Oakland and the Downtown. On the other hand, it's really easy to get from one to the other by bus.

[xyagentguy]

It would be great to have rail between Oakland and the Downtown. On the other hand, it's really easy to get from one to the other by bus.
I know a TON of people who won't use the bus but would easily use the light rail. Of course, I guess that's there problem, though.

[BMikeSci]

Convention center getting more work & latest news on the Penguins Arena

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_535839.html

[hyperion1110]

Getting Around: Transportation wish list would cost billions

It would be great to have rail between Oakland and the Downtown. On the other hand, it's really easy to get from one to the other by bus.

Bus transportation between Downtown and Oakland is NOT easy for quick. During rush hour, when most of us are moving between the two, it takes half an hour to travel 2 miles by bus. If there were to be light rail, with its own right of way, it would become a 5 minute commute, regardless of time. And that would be awesome :)

Regarding the state of the city, it's in sad shape, but it's not too late for Pittsburgh. Things will turn around, though it will take a lot of years still, and a lot more decline. It will be economics that drive it, too, not legislation from Harrisburg. The most optimistic new forecasts put geological peak oil production at 2012. Political peak, however, when petroleum exporting countries start hording their resources, will come much sooner, if not already.

Cities will be coming back in a big way, very soon.

[BMikeSci]

Bus transportation between Downtown and Oakland is NOT easy for quick. During rush hour, when most of us are moving between the two, it takes half an hour to travel 2 miles by bus. If there were to be light rail, with its own right of way, it would become a 5 minute commute, regardless of time. And that would be awesome :)

Regarding the state of the city, it's in sad shape, but it's not too late for Pittsburgh. Things will turn around, though it will take a lot of years still, and a lot more decline. It will be economics that drive it, too, not legislation from Harrisburg. The most optimistic new forecasts put geological peak oil production at 2012. Political peak, however, when petroleum exporting countries start hording their resources, will come much sooner, if not already.

Cities will be coming back in a big way, very soon.

I don't take the bus during rush hour; so I will defer to your experience. I do really like light rail, and I would love to see it between the downtown and Oakland.

[Johnland]

I've yet to hear anyone say "there should not be light rail between Downtown and Oakland". Seems almost everyone agrees that it's a logical decision. Doesn't it make you wonder why it has never come to pass?

[xyagentguy]

I've yet to hear anyone say "there should not be light rail between Downtown and Oakland". Seems almost everyone agrees that it's a logical decision. Doesn't it make you wonder why it has never come to pass?
Money.

[Johnland]

Money.

Riiiiiight. They built the Civic Arena, a couple of stadiums, a light rail 'connector' to those stadiums and a now empty airport. They have somehow funded parking for three thousand eight hundred slot machine players.

[hyperion1110]

I like the idea someone had a few posts back about just ripping up the street to uncover the street car tracks (it may have been a news article, not sure). All the track is still there, and, in some place, it's even still on the surface. It wouldn't be too expensive to restore rail service that way, I should think.

[Johnland]

I like the idea someone had a few posts back about just ripping up the street to uncover the street car tracks (it may have been a news article, not sure). All the track is still there, and, in some place, it's even still on the surface. It wouldn't be too expensive to restore rail service that way, I should think.

Exactly!! That's one practical, expedient and affordable solution to a transportation need.

[xyagentguy]

After reading the two good articles, Getting Around: Transportation wish list would cost billions and Can mere mortals fix Pittsburgh, it seems to me that at least the city is aware of the problems and even has ideas to fix them.

So why aren't wheels in motion to do just this?? I just don't understand, it's like Pittsburgh is now clearly aware of it's own doom (which is an EXCELLENT thing, after all, you can't fix something if you are in denial about it), but nothing seems to happen or is done about it!!

I'm so frustrated. It's been like this for decades. I just don't get it, it's like Pennsylvania WANTS to fail at progress.

[PA Pride]

^I think you are really going overboard and/or catastrophising about Pittsburgh's downsides. In the last few years, the city has lured a bunch of new company R&D centers: Intel, Apple, Seagate, Google, etc... We built a great new convention center that gets a lot of use; Built riverfront parks on both sides of the Allegheny so far at least; The cultural district is single handedly bringing downtown alive one block at a time; The southside has been gentrified; The northshore parking lot is being developed...

There is a TON of progress. All out of town people I bring to the city have their jaws on the floor. Even my sisters Japanese friend from Tokyo thought Pgh was one of the most beautiful cities she had ever seen and had a blast going clubbing and touring the old historic buildings (Oakland).

I just feel there has been a ton of progress made in the last 10 yrs and while there still is plenty of room for improvement, this city is well on the right path.

[Johnland]

After reading the two good articles, Getting Around: Transportation wish list would cost billions and Can mere mortals fix Pittsburgh, it seems to me that at least the city is aware of the problems and even has ideas to fix them.

So why aren't wheels in motion to do just this?? I just don't understand, it's like Pittsburgh is now clearly aware of it's own doom (which is an EXCELLENT thing, after all, you can't fix something if you are in denial about it), but nothing seems to happen or is done about it!!

I'm so frustrated. It's been like this for decades. I just don't get it, it's like Pennsylvania WANTS to fail at progress.

I think it partly due to a negative mindset of some sort. Both on the third-rate government leaders who retard growth at seemingly every turn, and the citizens who don't demand more of thier 'leaders' or settle complacently for the lacklustre results of non-progress and regression.

Regarding rail, Pittsburgh has a the tiniest little system now for decades. And it only runs to a few select places. yet, Pittsburgh with its small, compact nature and rather high densities as pointed out above, even with massive population declines, make it a conducive environment for rail. Why Oakland, the powerhouse of job creation for the city, was constantly shunned is stupid. Getting people around more efficiently would improve the economics, the image, th equality of life, give people hope that the city can improve. These are valuable intrinsic assets that would accrue from the physical infrastructure improvements.

Here in Tampa, we have no rail. The metro layout is far-flung across two counties. We have really 4 distinct major urban cores, in order of size: Westshore District near Tampa Airport, Downtown Tampa, Downtown St Pete and Downtown Clearwater. The are separated by low density areas. It's very difficult to connect all of these areas logically and economically feasibly. We are just in the phase (again) of putting it to referendum for a vote if taxes should be increased to pay for an inital system. A system is years away if it happens. My point is that Pittsburgh has a system, the compact layout, and the need to reach more areas of the city. The fact that the little system has remained frozen in it's early 80's layout is shameful. Tampa would love to have what Pittsburgh has. But Pittsburgh doesn't seem to appreciate what it has, or the fact that it needs to keep moving on and up to survive.

[Evergrey]

You're right, PA Pride. The story of Pittsburgh is quite nuanced and complicated in the wake of the steel collapse. On one hand, we have had very weak rates of net job growth in the past 5 years... but the types of jobs we have been creating tend to be in high-wage professional sectors. The metro has experienced one of the greatest increases in per capita income in the country, increases in college-educated people... and the city itself has gained young adult population this decade... counter to the incessant whining about losing young people. But we need to do better. We need more balanced growth across all sectors... and the State government is not helping us any with the dysfunctional system of municipal governance, high corporate taxes, sprawl subsidies, weak urban agenda, inadequate mass transit funding, etc etc. It also doesn't help that city residents keep electing bozos to mayor and city council. The "cult of personality" and party allegiance always seems to trump sound policy, transparant government and fiscal recovery.

I'm really proud of what Pittsburgh has accomplished in recent years in spite of terrible leadership at state and local levels.

[Wheelingman04]

^ I agree. It is not all doom and gloom by any means.

[xyagentguy]

I'm really proud of what Pittsburgh has accomplished in recent years in spite of terrible leadership at state and local levels.
I am, too, believe me! I think Pittsburgh is almost the perfect city except for probably the most fundamental part of a city, job growth and economy and thus population decline (minus the death factor).

I just wish there was more encouragement in terms of job and economy growth. There is no reason Pittsburgh can't be a growing city. We have SO much going for us, especially in all the development and revitalization that was mentioned.

It just seems that no matter how beautiful, clean, safe, fun, inexpensive, and unique the city will be or will rank nationally, it doesn't matter if people can't come here and find good work.

I don't mean to sound doom and gloom, I have a fierce love of the city, I just want to see it succeed and get so frustrated.

[Evergrey]

You're right, xyagentman. We can create the most beautiful, exciting, livable city in America (and the media often makes note of this)... but people can't live here if they don't have a job. And we aren't creating jobs due to poor state economic policies (coupled with weak and hyper-fragmented local government). Look across the entire state... all across Pennsylvania, economic and population growth is either relatively stagnant or in decline. Even gigantic BosWash-corridor Philly has had very weak growth over the past few decades... most of its growth actually takes place in New Jersey and Delaware. The York/Lancaster area has the most robust growth due to its new-found status as long-distance exurbia for DC/Baltimore. That type of sprawl-economy is certainly nothing to be proud of.

Pittsburgh is really at a crossroads now. We're a couple decades removed from steel... we have great educational and research institutions in place to take advantage of the post-industrial high-tech economy. We have a relatively strong urban core that has been reviving itself. We have unique assets found nowhere else in the U.S. But we need a lot of help from the state government. The state stripped away the city's power to leverage "payments in lieu of taxes" from non-profits. The state keeps Pittsburgh at a puny under-bounded extent of 55 sq. miles while its peers expand into the hundreds of square miles to capture tax base and economic growth. The state puts the city at the mercy of arbitration process that has resulted in the ever-expanding wages of the 6-figure firefighter lords. The state engineered the municipal pension crisis... something that cities across the state are facing. This state is blind to its local government crisis... and I have little hope they will address this antiquated system. There are powerful people who profit from the status quo... to the detriment of the state.

[xyagentguy]

Pittsburgh is really at a crossroads now. We're a couple decades removed from steel... we have great educational and research institutions in place to take advantage of the post-industrial high-tech economy. We have a relatively strong urban core that has been reviving itself. We have unique assets found nowhere else in the U.S. But we need a lot of help from the state government. The state stripped away the city's power to leverage "payments in lieu of taxes" from non-profits. The state keeps Pittsburgh at a puny under-bounded extent of 55 sq. miles while its peers expand into the hundreds of square miles to capture tax base and economic growth. The state puts the city at the mercy of arbitration process that has resulted in the ever-expanding wages of the 6-figure firefighter lords. The state engineered the municipal pension crisis... something that cities across the state are facing. This state is blind to its local government crisis... and I have little hope they will address this antiquated system. There are powerful people who profit from the status quo... to the detriment of the state.
You seem to know to intimates of the situation far more than I do. However, even you say you don't think the antiquated system will be addressed. How does that bode for Pittsburgh? Will Pittsburgh EVER get out of this "good in every way except the most important: JOBS" situation??

It doesn't help that institutions that are non-profit and pay no taxes to the city are starting to make up a large bulk of our industry, LOL. I know it seems sort of cold to suggest taxing hospitals and universities, but can you imagine what extra revenue the city would acquire??? Point Park alone owns like almost 15% of downtown property, no??

[PA Pride]

Good post Evergrey. I do think the fragmented governement, high CNI tax coupled with other bad state economic policies and also the lack of unity among municipalities to attract growth since they are competing among themselves, are the bulk of whats killing us right now.

Hopefully these large issues will become more prominent and urgent in the minds of those who matter. I think it already is with Dan Onorato and former governer Dick Thornburg recently bringing the issue to light and getting good publicity on the subject.

[xyagentguy]

Hopefully these large issues will become more prominent and urgent in the minds of those who matter. I think it already is with Dan Onorato and former governer Dick Thornburg recently bringing the issue to light and getting good publicity on the subject.
Maybe Mark DeSantis also put the squeeze on in a good way a little bit??

[PA Pride]

^I'm really not sure the amount of influence he has, but he seems to be a pretty level headed guy.

In my personal opinion, Dan Onorato seems to always be on the up and up about what needs to be done. I think he could be a powerful force for change.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07316/833115-52.stm

Tax break working well for new housing

Downtown, for which program was designed, stymied

Monday, November 12, 2007
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A city of Pittsburgh tax break for new housing approved in June is working where it seemed least likely, but not yet in the neighborhood for which it was really written: Downtown.

Developers of housing in East Allegheny, Elliott and Hazelwood have applied for waivers of as much as $6,200 a year in city and school property taxes for 10 years. Downtown home builders, though, have been stymied by technicalities.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration has responded by introducing amendments to the ordinance passed in June. Council is set to debate and tentatively vote on the changes Wednesday.

"We knew there were some ambiguities and some issues that should be clarified," said city Finance Director Scott Kunka.

It's unclear, though, whether the proposed changes would help two key condo builders avail themselves of the tax break.

Mr. Ravenstahl's legislation, which won council approval over a competing plan by Councilman William Peduto, applies to Downtown and 28 neighborhoods that have seen little new construction or face socioeconomic problems.

So far, all eight of the applications the administration has received for the tax break are in the distressed neighborhoods.

One is the Deutschtown section of East Allegheny. October Development has applied for the break on an Avery Street property it is rehabilitating, and plans to seek the exemption for five more properties on James, Tripoli and Suismon streets.

The firm intends to sell the homes for $100,000 to $220,000, and since the tax break applies to the first $250,000 of a new home's value, they will be free of city and school property taxes for 10 years if his applications are granted.

"We decided that we're going to concentrate on Deutschtown because of the abatement" and the neighborhood's amenities, said Al DePasquale, owner of October Development. "This could become a very, very strong neighborhood."

A prime target of Mr. Ravenstahl's tax break, though, was Downtown, where multi-million-dollar condominium and apartment projects are under way and more are sought. A handful of provisions in the legislation seem to be blunting its impact.

The ordinance, for instance, bars any properties that are in tax-increment financing districts from getting the new tax break. In TIFs, the city borrows millions of dollars to help a development, then pays off the debt using most of the future tax dollars created by the new construction.

The former Lazarus department store was aided by a TIF. Developer Millcraft industries wants to build housing atop it, but would be barred from the new tax break because of the TIF district.

The amendments would change that, by allowing new properties built atop old ones to get the break, even if they're in a TIF district.

Another provision holds that a development must apply for the tax break "at the time" when they get their building permit. That means anyone who got their building permit before the passage of the legislation, including developers of new condos at the Carlyle and 151 First Side, Downtown, could not pass the tax break on to their buyers.

That threatens to "create islands Downtown of the haves and the have-nots," said David W. Bishoff, developer of the 60-condo Carlyle. Some will have the tax breaks, but many -- including his buyers -- will not.

"The goal in Pittsburgh is to bring in 2,000 new residents," he said. "The exact date of the permit should be the least of everybody's worries. ... You can't let every piece of housing ever built become part of it. But there is a fairly easily defined period when the housing boom began."

That date would probably be in late 2005, when developer Ralph Falbo began work on 151 First Side. He, too, has had talks with the administration about changing the legislation.

The proposed amendments would allow builders to apply for the tax break within 180 days of getting their initial building permit.

"I don't see any sense where that helps anybody," said Mr. Falbo, who believes he got his first building permit in 2005.

Mr. Kunka said the administration is reviewing whether the Carlyle or 151 First Side could be eligible. "Right now, their timing is not within the parameters," he said. "We are re-examining some of the paperwork that may be there" in the building inspection files.

Another amendment, requested by the Pittsburgh Public Schools board, would bar property owners who are delinquent on property taxes from getting the break. Yet another would allow properties where less than half the space is being converted from industrial to residential uses to get partial tax breaks.

"They're working hard with the legislation," said Mr. Bishoff, "and I believe they will succeed."

Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.

[BMikeSci]

Riiiiiight. They built the Civic Arena, a couple of stadiums, a light rail 'connector' to those stadiums and a now empty airport. They have somehow funded parking for three thousand eight hundred slot machine players.

I think the problem is that no one has figured out how to make a ton of pork money on the Oakland to Downtown Light rail line. Buying-up property in the hill is guaranteed to end up in protests, etc. Of course, the Oakland Downtown line is the logical thing to build. Find out who bought up most of the land on the North Shore and you'll probably find out who has pushed for that stupid North Shore connector.

The argument is that because it's federal funding, the money can't be moved to a rational project. This is true, but why was this project submitted over the Oakland Downtown project in the first place? Follow the money.

[BMikeSci]

^I think you are really going overboard and/or catastrophising about Pittsburgh's downsides. In the last few years, the city has lured a bunch of new company R&D centers: Intel, Apple, Seagate, Google, etc... We built a great new convention center that gets a lot of use; Built riverfront parks on both sides of the Allegheny so far at least; The cultural district is single handedly bringing downtown alive one block at a time; The southside has been gentrified; The northshore parking lot is being developed...

There is a TON of progress. All out of town people I bring to the city have their jaws on the floor. Even my sisters Japanese friend from Tokyo thought Pgh was one of the most beautiful cities she had ever seen and had a blast going clubbing and touring the old historic buildings (Oakland).

I just feel there has been a ton of progress made in the last 10 yrs and while there still is plenty of room for improvement, this city is well on the right path.

Yes, of course you are right about this, but there are some underlying problems too. If you want them fixed, maybe we need to discuss them and help each other understand them a little. PGH has done some really smart things and some things that look strange - like the North Shore Connector. Lately the tone of this board has gotten a bit negative. I think that US Air puts everyone in a funk. Anyway, PGH is still a great city with a lot of exciting things going on now.

[xyagentguy]

Lately the tone of this board has gotten a bit negative. I think that US Air puts everyone in a funk. Anyway, PGH is still a great city with a lot of exciting things going on now.
For sure!! It just still gets so discouraging when now all you hear about is "Pittsburgh has the second highest population decline after New Orleans" or from the past years job and economy growth.

That should undoubtedly be a top priority for the mayor and council. I imagine all these condo's and apartments opening up downtown could really spur some good growth. If we get enough affluent people living downtown I imagine good retail will follow, office space will continue to get used up, and jobs will be created in a round-about-way. I am really excited about all these openings!!

[Black-n-Gold]

Update on the development at Craig and Centre:

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/11/12/story1.html

Summary if you can't read the article:

17 Stories of apartment / retail / office
Parking to replace existing lot and serve new uses
Architect to be MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni (oldest firm in Pittsburgh) - replacing previous architect from Indianapolis.
Currently in schematic design, preliminary approvals

[PA Pride]

Black & Gold: that'll be interesting to see what the rendering looks like...

[Johnland]

Pittsburgh is really at a crossroads now. We're a couple decades removed from steel... we have great educational and research institutions in place to take advantage of the post-industrial high-tech economy. We have a relatively strong urban core that has been reviving itself. We have unique assets found nowhere else in the U.S. But we need a lot of help from the state government. The state stripped away the city's power to leverage "payments in lieu of taxes" from non-profits. The state keeps Pittsburgh at a puny under-bounded extent of 55 sq. miles while its peers expand into the hundreds of square miles to capture tax base and economic growth. The state puts the city at the mercy of arbitration process that has resulted in the ever-expanding wages of the 6-figure firefighter lords. The state engineered the municipal pension crisis... something that cities across the state are facing. This state is blind to its local government crisis... and I have little hope they will address this antiquated system. There are powerful people who profit from the status quo... to the detriment of the state.

It's becoming more clear that the State is among Pittsburgh's largest problems. Why in hell would it strip the city's ability to leverage payments in lieu of taxes? It just defies logic beyond words. Pittsburgh is in the freaking state!! Do they not understand that? Put Pittsburgh on a tough financial road, and the state feels the pain as well. My God. What is so pathetic, is that Pittsburgh, the city, has endured floods, epic air pollution, deadly labor strikes, fires, financial panics, cholera, urban 'renewal', you name it. But it will finally be done in by morons and idiots in the state capital. To me, that is the most reprehensible aspect. The city will be literally legislated into ruin.

[Evergrey]

Oakland Skyscraper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_537650.html

Mixed space planned for Oakland

By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, November 13, 2007


Ex-Pittsburgh developer Guy Tutino of Cleveland-based Polaris Real Estate Equities, has acquired a site in Oakland to build a 17-story residential/commercial building.
Tutino, a former resident of Brookline, said once he closes on a 26-space surface parking lot at the corner of Centre Avenue and North Craig Street, he plans to seek Pittsburgh Planning Commission approval for the project.

The lot is owned by the Pittsburgh Parking Authority. Officials could not be reached from comment.

His plan is to go before the commission in December -- tentatively scheduled for the 11th -- and if the commission and city council approve the project, begin construction in June 2008.

He gave no estimate on the development cost for The Chelsea, the name of the project.
"We believe we will be filling a need for housing that will support the development activities already under way or to start soon by the universities and the medical center," he said.

His plan is to provide about 300 rental units, atop first floor retail and four levels of indoor parking starting on the second floor, and containing about 400 to 450 spaces.

The site has a 20-foot drop from Centre to the Craig boundary. Most of the retail will be on the Centre side although additional sites may be located along Craig, he said.

Tutino said there is a river that runs beneath Oakland, which creates a water problem for developers who want to build below surface parking.

"It has taken us three years to put together this site," Tutino said.

Two weeks ago he spoke at a meeting of the Bellefield Area Citizens Association, which represents that section of Oakland and announced he had obtained an agreement on the lot.

Tutino said his partner in the development is Longboat Capital, a Pittsburgh-based investment group. He declined to identify the principals.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07317/833343-53.stm

Bicycle-pedestrian bridge over Mon to open Nov. 28

Tuesday, November 13, 2007
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The invitations have been sent: The Hot Metal Bridge for bikers and pedestrians will officially be opened following a Nov. 28 noon ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will lead participants in the first trip across the Monongahela River on the $10 million, rehabilitated steel bridge that parallels its old industrial twin that was converted in 2000 into a two-lane bridge for cars and trucks.

The symbolic short journey will begin on the Second Avenue side, near the Pittsburgh Technology Center, and end up at the SouthSide Works, where participants will be treated to hot chocolate, coffee and cookies in the lobby of the REI outdoors gear and recreation outlet.

The bridge links up on one side with the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and on the other with the Eliza Furnace Trail, also called the "Jail Trail," to Downtown and Oakland.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority has been working on the project since 2003 with project advocates, including the Allegheny Trail Alliance, state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Friends of the Riverfront.

The Hot Metal Bridge that was built for the exclusive use of bikers, runners and walkers is regarded as a key link in the Great Allegheny Passage, a 150-mile trail which, when the last short pieces are finished, will connect Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md. From there, people can take the C&O Canal Towpath to Washington, D.C.

Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh, characterized the opening of the Hot Metal Bridge as "momentous."

"We're trying to get as many people out as possible to ride and walk it and all kinds of stuff," he said. "It'll be a great day for the city."

The event also is significant because the city that Bicycling Magazine ranked as one of the worst places to ride a bicycle in 1991 has evolved into one of the nation's best. Next June, Tour Pennsylvania, a USA Cycling-sanctioned event, will begin in Philadelphia and finish in Pittsburgh to help the city celebrate its 250th anniversary.

Both Hot Metal bridges were used to shuttle molten iron and materials between former Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. plants on both sides of the rivers. All but a few buildings near Hazelwood have been demolished and the huge sites have become "brownfield sites" being aggressively redeveloped.

Converting the second bridge for biking and hiking was in question for a while when bids came in about $3 million over budget. But the URA secured an extra $2.2 million in federal funding and about $500,000 from the state.

Joe Grata can be reached at jgrata@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1985.


from a couple months ago
http://www.pbase.com/deadwing/image/86450613.jpg

[UrbaniDesDev]

^I think you are really going overboard and/or catastrophising about Pittsburgh's downsides. In the last few years, the city has lured a bunch of new company R&D centers: Intel, Apple, Seagate, Google, etc... We built a great new convention center that gets a lot of use; Built riverfront parks on both sides of the Allegheny so far at least; The cultural district is single handedly bringing downtown alive one block at a time; The southside has been gentrified; The northshore parking lot is being developed...

There is a TON of progress. All out of town people I bring to the city have their jaws on the floor. Even my sisters Japanese friend from Tokyo thought Pgh was one of the most beautiful cities she had ever seen and had a blast going clubbing and touring the old historic buildings (Oakland).

I just feel there has been a ton of progress made in the last 10 yrs and while there still is plenty of room for improvement, this city is well on the right path.


Good points Pa Pride. I think there is a bit of perspective thats missing. Most of these comparisons are relative. Pittsburgh is not in the same boat as Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix or Seattle. We are in the same boat as Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo and Cleveland. Having recently been to these cities, Pittsburgh is, by far, ahead of the game. All of these cities are suffering from a loss of population and jobs. Pittsburgh has held together quite well, from what Ive seen. I truly believe that a foundation has been set and the rest will follow. It is already begun.

One of the most important of the changes that has taken place here, and the importance often overlooked, is the conversion of the riverfronts to parks. This has laid a good foundation for a future of inner city neighborhoods. The South Side Works, The North Shore, Downtown residential towers would not be happening if it werent for the beautification of the rivers, tho not finished, it is the commitment that is evident and developers see this commitment. Transportation, jobs and sluggish politicians are a common problem in most cities, even booming ones. They are not unique to Pittsburgh.

The problem with the job market is a circular argument. Yes there might be more job opportunities in Phoenix, but the population there is swelling, creating more jobs and attracting more employers. It is far more than just having better tax climate and more to the sun. The communities there are battling each other as far as tax incentives, like everywhere else. Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale and Tempe are all pulling jobs from Phoenix, same battle, different players. From what Ive seen, Phoenix is struggling to keep it's more affluent population from leaving to it's neighbors. Even the boom cities have their battles. Pittsburgh's battle with the loss of industry has been far more critical, which makes me so impressed on how it has stood it's ground.

Las Vegas, the fastest growing city, has no city amenities. There were billions being spent on the strip. Huge decadent hotels going up, likely with huge subsidies, while the rest of the city off the strip it is a dismal spread of cheap strip malls melting into an endless sea of generic neighborhoods, rich and poor.

It is going to be hard to stay afloat in the job market, especially the climate that I believe is coming nationally. It will not be unique to Pittsburgh. We may not have the transportation system that we want, or maybe need. Most cities don't. We do have a stong infrastructure for good urban neighborhoods and most cities don't have that. The sprawling boom towns are going to be hit hard with gasoline crunch that is coming. I believe the future will hold alot more federal funds available for mass transit as the country will finally come to grips with it's love affair with the automoble, highways, traffic and oil. Pittsburgh is uniquely positioned to accomodate a region better served by mass transit than overcrowded freeways.

With all the complaints of transportation here, Pittsburgh has one of the shortest commute times and still has one of the strongest Downtowns in the country.

All the complaints of the current condition of downtown Pittsburgh. You'd be hard pressed to find a downtown Phoenix, or shops in downtown St Louis, LA, Atlanta or Miami...

This doomsday scenerio that plagues Pittsburgh is one of the unique problems to Pittsburgh. It's always the end of the world here. This is like a virus that infects people here.

This may be a morbid thought, but the changing climate will prove to be beneficial to this area. There will be a great battle for water in the future. My theory is, the same way people have fled to the sun in the 80s and the 90s, they will begin a search of water and a more sustainable lifestyle in the future. Atlanta is dying of thirst. These "Sun Belt" cities will soon be clammering for the waters of the Great Lakes. The talks of pipelines have already begun. Im hoping we have the proper politicians to protect them. Miami has a jungle of empty condo towers, built on speculation. Atlanta has a great subway system that no one uses, (atleast thats how it appears sitting in traffic), traffic that will choke this city. This system of moving farther and farther from city centers is becoming unmanageable

The migration has already begun in my eyes, as so many friends and family, long lost to the "affluent" sunny spots are planning to return here. Not because of taxes, jobs or water, but quite simply it is so affordable and sustainable here. Pittsburgh has largely been spared the great mortgage collapse that has happened out west or down south. This won't show as a great population swell here, as most are singles or empty nesters, but they are affluent, and they are coming. 50% of my clients have moved here from out of state, 60% of them are returning with spouse in tow.

[PittPenn 03]

So is this the one we already knew about from a year ago, or is it another? It would be great if there were high-rises on the two vacant corners at that intersection.



[QUOTE=Evergrey;3163563]Oakland Skyscraper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_537650.html

[cdc]

(quoting Brian O'Neill)

Those statistics didn't come up at the hearing. I got them when I Googled around later at the office, then pulled out a calculator. We should have no illusions that Pittsburgh will annex anything because not only is it too late, Pennsylvania law and politics make it impossible.


Didn't Pittsburgh forcibly annex Allegheny City in 1907? Was there
any annexation attempts after that? When did the laws change?

[cdc]

Good points Pa Pride. I think there is a bit of perspective thats missing. Most of these comparisons are relative. Pittsburgh is not in the same boat as Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix or Seattle. We are in the same boat as Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo and Cleveland. Having recently been to these cities, Pittsburgh is, by far, ahead of the game. All of these cities are suffering from a loss of population and jobs.


Pittsburgh is not "far ahead" of St. Louis. Pittsburgh and St. Louis
have a fair bit in common: big rivers, empty airports, two main
business areas (downtowns, Oakland/Clayton MO), large parks (schenley,
forest park), 3 new sports stadiums (but no NBA team), casinos,
universities (cmu/pitt, wustl/slu), big hospitals (upmc, barnes/jewish
in the CWE), Inclines vs Arch, etc.

Pittsburgh's transportation infrastructure is in worse shape (St Louis
has better highways and actually has light rail service from
downtown/Clayton to the airport, our airport is a long drive out
parkway west).

[Evergrey]

Didn't Pittsburgh forcibly annex Allegheny City in 1907? Was there
any annexation attempts after that? When did the laws change?

The laws changed right after Allegheny City was forcibly annexed.

[tooluther]

The major problem with Annexation by Pittsburgh isn't just that its hard to do (although it is as a result of the Allegheny City debacle) Its that there is no where to annex. Sun belt cities don't expand by annexing existing municipalities, they do so by annexing unincorporated land...mostly commercial developments. They will go so far as to annex 6 inches along a highway to avoid residential development (residents cost a lot of money to service while commercial land has a higher taxable value) and then absorb a shopping center.

This is why if you were to lay out a map of Dallas corp. limits over Pittsburgh you would be picking up parts of Ohio and West Virginia.

Pittsburgh doesn't have any unincorporated land, just the strangling mass of tiny municipalities. Someone should do a study of exactly what it costs to maintain 113 municipal manager salaries...ridiculous.

[hyperion1110]

Pittsburgh is not "far ahead" of St. Louis. Pittsburgh and St. Louis
have a fair bit in common: big rivers, empty airports, two main
business areas (downtowns, Oakland/Clayton MO), large parks (schenley,
forest park), 3 new sports stadiums (but no NBA team), casinos,
universities (cmu/pitt, wustl/slu), big hospitals (upmc, barnes/jewish
in the CWE), Inclines vs Arch, etc.

Pittsburgh's transportation infrastructure is in worse shape (St Louis
has better highways and actually has light rail service from
downtown/Clayton to the airport, our airport is a long drive out
parkway west).

I don't think you make a fair comparison between Pgh and St. Louis. While I will defer to your understanding of traffic infrastructure, I have to take issue with your other comparisons. Pitt/CMU/UPMC/CHP are MUCH more prestigious than their equivalents in St. Louis (with the notable exception being Washington University). Pgh several very large parks, not one. Our togography makes us an outdoorsman's dream. St Louis sits in the middle of the continent, whereas Pgh is close enough to the Atlantic to make non-stop European flights.

Pretty much the only thing St Louis has on Pgh is Nelly, and I wouldn't exactly call that a plus for them.

[Evergrey]

Let's not get into a Pittsburgh vs. St. Louis pissing match.

anyways..... here's some good news on the wage front

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/11/12/daily11.html?surround=lfn

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 10:20 AM EST

Allegheny County wages with biggest increase statewide

Pittsburgh Business Times

The average weekly wage increased 8.1 percent in Allegheny County in the first quarter of 2007 from the previous year, the largest advance in the commonwealth, the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday.

Among Pennsylvania's 19 large counties, three had average weekly wages exceeding $1,000 in the first quarter of 2007 -- Montgomery ($1,176), Chester ($1,117), and Philadelphia ($1,038). Allegheny County was next in the commonwealth, averaging $946.

Westmoreland County had the second-lowest average wage ($659) in the commonwealth, ahead of only Lackawanna County ($634).

The average weekly wage in Pennsylvania was $849, $36 below the nationwide level, ranking 16th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.



All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

[PA Pride]

Good points Pa Pride. I think there is a bit of perspective thats missing. Most of these comparisons are relative. Pittsburgh is not in the same boat as Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix or Seattle. We are in the same boat as Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo and Cleveland. Having recently been to these cities, Pittsburgh is, by far, ahead of the game. All of these cities are suffering from a loss of population and jobs. Pittsburgh has held together quite well, from what Ive seen. I truly believe that a foundation has been set and the rest will follow. It is already begun.

One of the most important of the changes that has taken place here, and the importance often overlooked, is the conversion of the riverfronts to parks. This has laid a good foundation for a future of inner city neighborhoods. The South Side Works, The North Shore, Downtown residential towers would not be happening if it werent for the beautification of the rivers, tho not finished, it is the commitment that is evident and developers see this commitment. Transportation, jobs and sluggish politicians are a common problem in most cities, even booming ones. They are not unique to Pittsburgh.

The problem with the job market is a circular argument. Yes there might be more job opportunities in Phoenix, but the population there is swelling, creating more jobs and attracting more employers. It is far more than just having better tax climate and more to the sun. The communities there are battling each other as far as tax incentives, like everywhere else. Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale and Tempe are all pulling jobs from Phoenix, same battle, different players. From what Ive seen, Phoenix is struggling to keep it's more affluent population from leaving to it's neighbors. Even the boom cities have their battles. Pittsburgh's battle with the loss of industry has been far more critical, which makes me so impressed on how it has stood it's ground.

Las Vegas, the fastest growing city, has no city amenities. There were billions being spent on the strip. Huge decadent hotels going up, likely with huge subsidies, while the rest of the city off the strip it is a dismal spread of cheap strip malls melting into an endless sea of generic neighborhoods, rich and poor.

It is going to be hard to stay afloat in the job market, especially the climate that I believe is coming nationally. It will not be unique to Pittsburgh. We may not have the transportation system that we want, or maybe need. Most cities don't. We do have a stong infrastructure for good urban neighborhoods and most cities don't have that. The sprawling boom towns are going to be hit hard with gasoline crunch that is coming. I believe the future will hold alot more federal funds available for mass transit as the country will finally come to grips with it's love affair with the automoble, highways, traffic and oil. Pittsburgh is uniquely positioned to accomodate a region better served by mass transit than overcrowded freeways.

With all the complaints of transportation here, Pittsburgh has one of the shortest commute times and still has one of the strongest Downtowns in the country.

All the complaints of the current condition of downtown Pittsburgh. You'd be hard pressed to find a downtown Phoenix, or shops in downtown St Louis, LA, Atlanta or Miami...

This doomsday scenerio that plagues Pittsburgh is one of the unique problems to Pittsburgh. It's always the end of the world here. This is like a virus that infects people here.

This may be a morbid thought, but the changing climate will prove to be beneficial to this area. There will be a great battle for water in the future. My theory is, the same way people have fled to the sun in the 80s and the 90s, they will begin a search of water and a more sustainable lifestyle in the future. Atlanta is dying of thirst. These "Sun Belt" cities will soon be clammering for the waters of the Great Lakes. The talks of pipelines have already begun. Im hoping we have the proper politicians to protect them. Miami has a jungle of empty condo towers, built on speculation. Atlanta has a great subway system that no one uses, (atleast thats how it appears sitting in traffic), traffic that will choke this city. This system of moving farther and farther from city centers is becoming unmanageable

The migration has already begun in my eyes, as so many friends and family, long lost to the "affluent" sunny spots are planning to return here. Not because of taxes, jobs or water, but quite simply it is so affordable and sustainable here. Pittsburgh has largely been spared the great mortgage collapse that has happened out west or down south. This won't show as a great population swell here, as most are singles or empty nesters, but they are affluent, and they are coming. 50% of my clients have moved here from out of state, 60% of them are returning with spouse in tow.



Hell yeah, man. I agree with most of what you say and I think you have it pretty well thought out.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[cdc]

I don't think you make a fair comparison between Pgh and St. Louis.


My main point here was to disagree with the OP who stated that PGH was
"far ahead" of a number of places, including STL. I've lived in PGH
for 4 years now, and I lived in STL for 8 years and I'm telling you
from personal experience that it is not true. (I cannot speak for
Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland -- never been there.)

It probably isn't worthwhile to start going into detailed comparisons
on this forum, so i'll leave it at that.

[mind field]

time for some pittsburgh lovin' from an outsider who seriously considered making Pittsburgh his new home. I think that locals tend to put more weight on negative news in this era, where it seems we are all bombarded with negative news on a daily basis. It's almost natural to view almost everything with a pessimistic and cynical view nowadays. This is speaking generally, not only in Pittsburgh, but in nearly every major city across the US, people tend to overlook the positive developments and focus on negative ones.

Pittsburgh is an incredible city. How it overcame the collapse of the domestic steel industry to become a high tech city is miraculous. Your downtown is a mini-Manhattan, ultra dense, and framed in one of the best natural settings you could ask for. The inclines are sooo unique and add an exciting character to the city. The bridges in the aptly named "city of bridges" also add tons of character. Your housing market is in great shape, crime is very low for a major city, and you have urban neighborhoods that would be the envy of cities anywhere. Pittsburgh will continue to succeed as an emerging high tech metropolis.

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/totino1114.aspx

$60M Chelsea moves forward on Centre, to bring Oakland's first rental units in 30 years

The Chelsea, a $60 million mixed-use project planned for the corner of Center Ave. and Craig St. in Oakland, is moving forward. Located on a 1.4-acre site that currently houses a Pittsburgh Parking Authority lot, the 17-story project will feature 300 rental units, commercial space and parking for 450 cars.

Project developer Guy Totino of Polaris Real Estate Equities is in the process of resolving zoning issues and variances with the city. “The city is very supportive. We’ve met with both neighborhood groups in Oakland and they’re both very supportive. It’s a question of how it’s going to get done, not whether it’s going to get done,” says Totino.

Units will include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, as well as loft-style studios. “The last new rental project built in Oakland was probably thirty-plus years ago. It’s an excellent site for mixed-use. The city has targeted it for residential. Oakland is vibrant, very dense and growing. The use complements the area,” adds Totino. “We've designed it to be very respectful of the streetscape, to make the retail fit the area. We’d love to attract some grocery use and a coffee shop—it’s a destination neighborhood.”

The project, which will have a Centre Ave. entrance, will continue onto N. Dithridge and Craig Sts. “It’s a corridor experiencing tremendous commercial growth, with everything that UPMC and CMU are doing. It’s taken us three years; we've had a lot of stamina. It fills a tremendous need,” adds Totino, who says that The Chelsea will be designed by MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni Architects. Contractor is Massaro Corporation. The 24-month project is expected to break ground during the summer of 2008.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Guy Totino, Polaris Real Estate Equities



Photo courtesy of Polaris Real Estate Equities

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2086/oaklanddev_300.jpg

[AaronClark]

Very promising looking!

[EventHorizon]

Penguins Officials Debut New Sketches Of Arena

http://kdka.com/sports/Penguins.arena.sketches.2.566854.html

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―

Officials with the Pittsburgh Penguins have unveiled updated sketches of the new arena in the city's Uptown neighborhood.

The arena will include all of the best features from arenas around the country and will seat more than 18,000 fans. It will also have a glass atrium and open-air concourses so fans won't miss any part of the games.

The outside of the structure will be designed to blend in with existing buildings on Centre Avenue.

The arena is slated to open in 2010.

http://image.cbslocal.com/320x240/arena1.gif
http://image.cbslocal.com/320x240/arena3.gif
http://image.cbslocal.com/320x240/arena2.gif

Be sure to watch the video report on the linked page ... they mention a potential hotel! :)

[PA Pride]

I don't know about the Chelsea... It doesn't look bad; But it isn't that intriguing either.

Maybe the 1 sq inch picture just doesn't show the details well enough. Hehe...


As for new arena: I love this modern style of arena that is designed to meld into the environment it's built... Like PNC park also. I hate the old style arenas built in the middle of an ocean of parking (mellon arena is a perfect example). The design looks modern and interesting enough i suppose. It will be an interesting contrast to see such a large modern structure, built next to that large, ancient church. Both architecturally interesting in their own ways!!

[PA Pride]

time for some pittsburgh lovin' from an outsider who seriously considered making Pittsburgh his new home. I think that locals tend to put more weight on negative news in this era, where it seems we are all bombarded with negative news on a daily basis. It's almost natural to view almost everything with a pessimistic and cynical view nowadays. This is speaking generally, not only in Pittsburgh, but in nearly every major city across the US, people tend to overlook the positive developments and focus on negative ones.

Pittsburgh is an incredible city. How it overcame the collapse of the domestic steel industry to become a high tech city is miraculous. Your downtown is a mini-Manhattan, ultra dense, and framed in one of the best natural settings you could ask for. The inclines are sooo unique and add an exciting character to the city. The bridges in the aptly named "city of bridges" also add tons of character. Your housing market is in great shape, crime is very low for a major city, and you have urban neighborhoods that would be the envy of cities anywhere. Pittsburgh will continue to succeed as an emerging high tech metropolis.


Thank you!!! good assessment. And you are right. Pittsburgh is awesome. you have good taste!

[Johnland]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/totino1114.aspx

$60M Chelsea moves forward on Centre, to bring Oakland's first rental units in 30 years

The Chelsea, a $60 million mixed-use project planned for the corner of Center Ave. and Craig St. in Oakland, is moving forward. Located on a 1.4-acre site that currently houses a Pittsburgh Parking Authority lot, the 17-story project will feature 300 rental units, commercial space and parking for 450 cars.

Project developer Guy Totino of Polaris Real Estate Equities is in the process of resolving zoning issues and variances with the city. “The city is very supportive. We’ve met with both neighborhood groups in Oakland and they’re both very supportive. It’s a question of how it’s going to get done, not whether it’s going to get done,” says Totino.

Units will include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, as well as loft-style studios. “The last new rental project built in Oakland was probably thirty-plus years ago. It’s an excellent site for mixed-use. The city has targeted it for residential. Oakland is vibrant, very dense and growing. The use complements the area,” adds Totino. “We've designed it to be very respectful of the streetscape, to make the retail fit the area. We’d love to attract some grocery use and a coffee shop—it’s a destination neighborhood.”

The project, which will have a Centre Ave. entrance, will continue onto N. Dithridge and Craig Sts. “It’s a corridor experiencing tremendous commercial growth, with everything that UPMC and CMU are doing. It’s taken us three years; we've had a lot of stamina. It fills a tremendous need,” adds Totino, who says that The Chelsea will be designed by MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni Architects. Contractor is Massaro Corporation. The 24-month project is expected to break ground during the summer of 2008.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Guy Totino, Polaris Real Estate Equities



Photo courtesy of Polaris Real Estate Equities

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2086/oaklanddev_300.jpg

I glad to see this one moving forward. As PA Pride said, the rendering is ok, not great. But still, I'm so glad to see that gravel parking lot finally replaced.

[Wheelingman04]

I really like the new renderings of the arena.

[Evergrey]

more on the arena

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07318/833624-52.stm

New Penguins arena design unveiled

The team's design firm says the facility incorporates elements from nearly every major hockey venue in the nation

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Penguins unveiled their master plan for the new arena yesterday, one that will feature retail space on Fifth Avenue and a 500-space parking garage for fans and commuters as well as a state-of-the art 18,500-seat venue for hockey games and other events.

The signature piece of the $290 million building will be a glass atrium that will stretch between Fifth and Centre avenues and run from 40 to 80 feet high, offering sweeping views of the Downtown skyline. An outdoor plaza will overlook the city on the Fifh Avenue side, some 80 feet above ground.

"The site is absolutely the best in Pittsburgh," Penguins Chief Executive Officer Ken Sawyer said yesterday.

Inside, the arena will offer the cream of the crop in terms of amenities, including a high-definition video scoreboard, wider and more comfortable seats, and more spacious concourses.

Parts of the building also will feature "open" concourses, where fans will be able to grab a hot dog or a drink while watching the action unfold on the ice below.

"We are picking the best of the best and putting it in this building," said Wayne C. London, principal for HOK Sport, the arena designer.

Mr. Sawyer said the Penguins visited virtually every National Hockey League arena in the country, some more than once, in gathering ideas for their new home. They've incorporated elements from venues in Minnesota, Boston, Phoenix and North Carolina.

"No one arena is the absolute. We've looked at them all. We liked elements of every one," he said.

The Penguins discussed the details yesterday in submitting a master development plan for the arena to the city planning commission for approval. It includes not only the arena itself, but also a four-level, 500-space parking garage to be built adjacent to it, a 150-space parking lot and staging area for events, 2.5 acres of green space, and the former St. Francis Central Hospital site, which is being reserved for future development.

Mr. Sawyer said one potential use for the St. Francis site, along Centre Avenue, could be a hotel.

The garage, which will be attached to the arena, will be open to commuters during the day. It will be reserved for season ticket holders, suite holders and sponsors during events.

The Penguins are planning to add retail space along Fifth Avenue to blend with the commercial, office and restaurant uses on the opposite side of the street.

The main entrance to the new arena will be a plaza at Washington Place and Centre Avenue. There also will be an entrance on Centre, and a third at Washington Place and Fifth Avenue, where fans will enter at street level and take escalators to the main concourse.

While the Penguins considered a number of different schemes for the arena, they eventually settled on a more traditional design that looks a bit like a cross between PNC Park and the proposed North Shore casino.

The building ended up being mostly rectangular.

Along with the wall of glass on the west side of the building will be a mostly brick facade on the south side, facing Fifth Avenue, as architects tried to create a design "that fits in with the neighborhood," Mr. Sawyer said. He believes the overall effect will be "exceptional."

Mr. Sawyer said the team is still trying to keep the cost of the arena at $290 million without sacrificing quality. It is on pace to get into the heart of the construction by next summer, with earth and foundation work expected to start in the spring. The arena is on target to be completed by the start of the 2010-11 hockey season.

The arena master plan will be the subject of a briefing before the planning commission Nov. 27. That will be followed by a public hearing Dec . 11, with a vote set for Jan. 11.

Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.





...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_537817.html

Penguins say arena will fit in

By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, November 14, 2007


The new Uptown arena will help make the Penguins better neighbors this time around, officials said Tuesday.
Despite having 18,500 seats and an eight-story glass wall facing the city, the arena should look like it fits with the buildings around it, team CEO Ken Sawyer said.

"What we're trying to do is match the character of the neighborhood," he said.

The team submitted its arena designs yesterday to the city Planning Commission, which is expected to hear a briefing Nov. 27, take a preliminary vote next month and consider final approval in January.

Team officials hope to break ground before summer and open for the 2010 season.
Surrounded by parking lots, Mellon Arena has a more suburban design, said Don Carter, president of Urban Design Associates, a Downtown-based consulting group hired by the team and city. The new arena will fit into an urban plan.

The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority plans to raze Mellon Arena for a 28-acre neighborhood development after the new building opens.

"A lot of people have had some input," Carter said. "This is the (design) most people were comfortable with."

After meetings with residents, public officials and other stakeholders, the arena designs changed from a contemporary river theme to a more traditional look, said Wayne London, an architect with HOK Sport of Kansas City.

The proposed arena would have more brick on its exterior and fewer contemporary metal panels. It would have 2.5 acres of green space, with outdoor plazas for community events. Along Fifth Avenue, the facade would be broken up to look more like nearby buildings.

A glass atrium facing Downtown would stretch along Washington Avenue and be topped by an outdoor balcony with restaurants.

A four-story, 500-space parking garage would sit on the opposite side of the arena with a surface parking lot and space for a hotel.

Penguins officials traveled around the league to see what they wanted inside the building.

They picked the top-down entry points from Minnesota, open lounges in North Carolina, the larger seat sizes in Phoenix and Boston's high-definition electronic screen, Sawyer said.

The arena would have wider interior concourses than Mellon Arena, as well as places where fans could access concession stands and still be able to watch the action on the ice.

"We are picking the best of the best and putting it in this building," London said.

While the team is trying to stick to a $290 million budget, Sawyer said the price could go up before construction managers set a guaranteed maximum price next summer.

The public would share in cost increases up to $310 million. After that, the Penguins will pick up any cost overruns.

The state is paying $8.5 million upfront and $7.5 million a year for 30 years. Majestic Star Casino agreed to pay $7.5 million a year for 30 years. The team is paying $4.2 million a year toward the arena and $500,000 a year for the parking garage.



Andrew Conte can be reached at andrewconte@tribweb.com or 412-320-7835.

[themaguffin]

It's an apartment building. As long as it looks nice/decent that's fine. Oakland should have more of this size. Take Oakland out of Pittsburgh and people would talk about that job engine fast growing city of Oakland. The city really needs to use Oakland's strength's to build in itself and the city.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07318/833570-35.stm

Deal or no deal: Barden's behemoth leaves much to be desired

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"It's got to fit into the landscape." That's what Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said in September of the proposed parking garage for the Majestic Star Casino on the North Side.

Early last week, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl asked for changes to the massive garage and a commitment to an environmentally friendly green casino with a prohibition on smoking in at least part of it.

How, then, were Mr. Onorato and Mr. Ravenstahl able to smile so broadly Friday when they announced a deal with casino owner Don Barden that accomplishes so little?

Mr. Barden has agreed to add decorative screening to the Allegheny River side of the parking garage, which will sit behind the casino. He previously had agreed to have screening on other sides of the garage, a device that improves the structure's appearance. But Mr. Barden continues to reject more drastic modifications to his 119-foot garage, which on the North Shore will be dwarfed only by the highest point of Heinz Field, which is 156 feet.

The city's Contextual Design Advisory Panel suggested Mr. Barden increase the atrium at the front of the casino, and the Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition, a consortium of seven organizations that advocate for quality design, questions why the structure needs to be so large. Rebecca Flora, executive director of the Green Building Alliance, said the 3,800-space garage is akin to a suburban shopping mall that builds parking based on the number of spaces needed the day after Thanksgiving, typically the busiest shopping day of the year.

As for smoking, it is encouraging that Mr. Barden, who has said before that he would have nonsmoking sections in his bars and restaurants, now says the restaurants and meeting spaces will be smoke-free. So far, though, he has not committed to any nonsmoking sections on the gambling floor.

Pittsburghers want a successful casino, but not one whose facilities foul their lungs or mar the look of their spectacular riverfront. We're anxious to learn more details about the agreement worked out with Mr. Barden. We're not smiling yet.

[PA Pride]

Evergrey: You are slacking!!

You didn't post the best Post-Gazette article from today:

http://post-gazette.com/pg/07318/833766-100.stm

Council supports bigger 'green' buildings
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Green buildings would be allowed to be larger than less environmentally friendly structures under legislation tentatively approved by Pittsburgh City Council today.

Council unanimously backed member William Peduto's legislation, which the city Planning Commission had recommended against.

Under the legislation, buildings certified as "green" under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the United States Green Building Council could be as much as 20 percent higher, and have 20 percent more floor space, than non-certified new buildings in their zoning areas. In neighborhood commercial districts, a public hearing and Planning Commission vote would be required before the extra height and floor plate would be allowed.

First published on November 14, 2007 at 11:29 am


This has cleared the way for any future high-rise buildings in downtown to be 20% taller and 20% larger per floor if they go green!

[PittPenn 03]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_537939.html

Allegheny General to renovate historic Aeberli House
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Allegheny General Hospital today announced plans to begin a $2.5 million renovation of the Aeberli House, a landmark North Side structure adjacent to the hospital on North Avenue that has been vacant for more than two decades.

Located at the corner of North Avenue and Sandusky Street, the near 150 year-old building was purchased in 1909 by William Aeberli and served as a funeral home for most of the 20th century. It has been designated as an historic structure by the City of Pittsburgh.

"Renovation of the Aeberli building is an important investment in the future of this community and another tangible expression of AGH's deep and long-standing commitment to the North Side's vitality and progress," said Connie Cibrone, AGH president and chief executive officer.

The first phase of renovations will be funded jointly by AGH and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, which awarded a charitable grant in support of the project.

Scheduled to begin in November, the project will involve exterior work on the structure, including foundation stabilization, re-pointing of the entire exterior brick surface, replacement of the roof, reconstruction of the porch and replacement of other period details such as railings, door and window hardware and decorative wood moldings.

Potential uses for the restored building includes additional space for Allegheny General administrative offices as well as space for possible retail use, the hospital said.

[PA Pride]

^I know that building; I've always thought that would be a great place to live; or have a nightclub or something... I suppose it will make a nice historic renovation too.

[Evergrey]

This medical office buildling proposal for Bigelow and Bayard in Oakland is a dead project... the NIMBYs of Schenley Farms won... it shall remain a parking lot

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/ActureCareMedicalFacility.jpg

[PA Pride]

By the way, did everyone see the humongous news in Erie? I will post this in this thread since Pittsburgh is Erie's big brother, being the only other sizable city in Western PA:

'Anonymous Friend' gives $100 million to [Erie, PA] town

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/12/million.mystery.ap/index.html

ERIE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Mike Batchelor invited the heads of 46 charities into his downtown office for one-on-one meetings to personally deliver the news. Nearby, on a small table, sat a box of tissues.


Mike Batchelor accepted a $100 million donation from an "Anonymous Friend" to benefit Erie charities.

And then he proceeded: A donor had given a staggering $100 million to the Erie Community Foundation, and all of the charities would receive a share.

That was when the tears began to flow -- and the mystery began -- in this struggling old industrial city of 102,000 on Lake Erie, where the donor is known only as "Anonymous Friend."

Batchelor, president of the Erie Community Foundation, has been sworn to secrecy and will allow only that the donor worked with the organization for years to identify deserving recipients before the announcement over the summer.

Is the donor dead or alive? No comment, Batchelor says. What is the donor's connection to Erie? No comment.

The talk about the gift has taken an interesting turn in recent weeks. As much as everyone here would like to know their benefactor's identity, many are also reluctant to pry.

"My feeling is that we're not honoring the donor if we spend time speculating about it," says Rebecca Brumagin, executive director at the Achievement Center, which provides physical therapy and other services to children. The center, which serves 3,200 children a year, will get $2 million.

"The needs are really great. So we will be able to help more children because of this," Brumagin says.

Kitty Cancilla cried when she learned the homeless shelter where she is executive director will get $2 million. Its previous largest donation was $25,000. Even now, Cancilla clutches a balled-up tissue and fights back tears as she talks about the gift.

Cancilla says she is unable even to speculate who the donor could be.

"We don't really travel in a community that knows the wealth of people," she says. And she prefers not to even try.

"It's disrespectful to the friend. To me, that's a spiritual thing."

Each of the charities will get about $1 million to $2 million. The recipients include a food bank, a women's center, a group for the blind and three universities.

The city -- and the entire county of 280,000 -- could clearly use the money.

Erie was once a bustling iron and steel town, and later also made machinery, plastics, paper and furniture. But many factories eventually closed or moved overseas. The paper mill, which employed more than 2,000 people in the 1950s, shut down in 2002 after more than 100 years in business.

The city has a growing service industry and has tried to remake itself as a tourist destination with a new slots casino. But its poverty rate is about 19 percent, or twice the national average, median household income is $31,196, versus $48,451 nationally, and as of 2006, it had an estimated 400 homeless people.

"What a godsend for some of these agencies, because I know a lot of them struggle," says Pam VanHorn, as her 5-year-old autistic daughter, Abigail, rides a scooter-like contraption at a playroom at the Achievement Center.

Some charity officials fear that other people will see the large donation and decide their small contributions aren't needed.

But Batchelor says that's not what Anonymous Friend intended at all.

"I know that the donor hopes this will inspire others to give within their means," he said.





The only logical choice i can think of as to who the "Mystery Donation" is, is John Petersen. He is a Univ. of Pittsburgh grad who gave a 10 million check to Pitt in 2000 for the Peterson events center, the largest gift in Pitt history. he was the CEO of Erie Insurance Co. and is very rich.

Here's a really good article about it:

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pitt/20021108pcpetersen1108nP9.asp

[Johnland]

This medical office buildling proposal for Bigelow and Bayard in Oakland is a dead project... the NIMBYs of Schenley Farms won... it shall remain a parking lot

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/ActureCareMedicalFacility.jpg

Well that's a shame. While that building is not stunning, I think it would blended in perfectly with that neighborhood in an utmost respectable manner. I cannot understand why the neighbors would rather have a parking lot.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07319/834028-52.stm

URA in final review of plans for North Side corridor

Thursday, November 15, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Urban Redevelopment Authority is close to finishing a review of its A-list of proposals for development of the North Side's Federal Street-North Avenue corridor.

Two of five proposals would focus on the Garden Theater as part of a larger vision for the block, and one covets only the theater, the last nickelodeon-style specimen in the city with an intact interior and one of the last in the country.

The theater is considered by some to be the linchpin in the success of the corridor. Craig Dunham, a principal at the Rubinoff Co., said he would want to get the theater up and running first, "as the anchor" to generate leverage for other buildings.

The URA requested proposals in the spring for a dozen blighted properties. Kyra Straussman, the URA's director of real estate, said the board will be told of a decision at its meeting next month.

A final feasibility review is ongoing, she said. Parties will be called in for a final round of questioning after that, she said.

A committee that included neighborhood residents has studied the plans and interviewed the developers in recent months.

"We were looking at proposals from experienced groups and people who just have a real heart for the neighborhood, and we were intrigued by both," Ms. Straussman said. Among them are large and small pieces, "and we're looking at ways to partner up some of these."

The authority is also helping former Steeler Franco Harris with his interest in transforming a small building on the north-east corner into a restaurant, she said.

A large building on North Avenue sustained extensive fire damage years ago and will likely be razed, she said. Otherwise, the plan has been to save the structures. Most date to the 19th century.

The Garden was built in 1915 with terra cotta detailing and a copper canopy, which has not survived. It was a first-run movie house before it became a porn theater in 1972. The URA bought and closed it in February amid news that a new plan for housing and a Carnegie Library branch would be coming in the future to Federal.

Rebecca Davidson-Wagner, project development specialist for the URA, said all 12 buildings were addressed in the proposals, some as part of large proposals, a few as individual, small ventures.

Mr. Dunham said a multi-building plan is "extraordinary challenging. The buildings are in terrible shape and the neighborhood is definitely transitional. It's going to require lots of capital investment just to get to the point where they are useful."

For this reason, one suitor may seem a long shot, but his vision got the URA neighborhood committee's nod for consideration.

Aaron Stubna, a barber from Bellevue who has studied filmmaking, seeks only the theater. He is trying to form a board to run a nonprofit 350-seat movie theater and live-music venue that would occupy most of the main floor. An art gallery would be the other piece, and a wine bar would fill one of two small storefronts within the building.

"I'm a 36-year-old with a fresh idea," said Mr. Stubna, who estimated needing $1.2 million to develop the Garden, adding, "My partner is doing the construction at cost."

He foresees combining some movie nights with a pre-movie concert in the theater.

"A ton of people with talent are dying for stage time," he said. "It would be maybe 15 minutes before a 7:30 movie."

The movie theater in his plan also would serve as an after-school training venue for neighborhood children to learn how to make movies.

The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation wants to guide its art-related vision of the entire block, said its president, Arthur Ziegler.

"We feel the entire block [that includes the Garden] should be one project," he said. "We see it as a place for film, lectures and other events, with some of the overflow from the Hazlett [Theater].

"We would like to unite the theater and the Masonic Hall in some synergistic way."

Mr. Dunham, who said he had no price tag yet, put together an all-star team that includes loft developer Eve Picker; Sara Radelet, director of the New Hazlett Theater; Charlie Humphrey, the director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers; architect Rob Pfaffmann and Ernie Sota, a developer of green buildings.

"We'd like to have people working there, living there, singing and dancing and showing movies there," Mr. Dunham said of the Garden. "Performance venues are becoming transformative elements within communities.

"We want to do the whole block. We think it has a synergy that would allow for a higher level investment. But not today."

Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626.



...


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07319/834056-53.stm

After years of neglect, house to get makeover by hospital

Thursday, November 15, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200711/20071115rdaeberli02_500.jpg
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette
Allegheny General Hospital will spend $2 million to renovate the former Aeberli building on the North Side.Allegheny General Hospital yesterday announced plans to restore the Aeberli building, a property that many North Siders had given up hope for after years of pleading on its behalf.

As a grand period structure anchoring a key corner across from the hospital, its survival was a neighborhood cause that got snagged in the financial disaster of the Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation. After a titanic expansion through the 1990s, AHERF capsized in 1998, and the resultant bankruptcy left the hospital "without funds to invest" in the Aeberli, said hospital spokesman Tom Chakurda.

The hospital has owned the former house-turned-funeral-home on North Avenue and Sandusky Street since the mid-1970s. It was two row homes joined in the 1920s by a wrap-around porch.

In 2000, the Mexican War Streets Society spared it from the wrecking ball by securing historic designation from the city, but by then, trees were growing from the gutters and part of the roof had fallen into the basement.

"It was such a degrading thing to see it like that, especially when such a large entity owned it," said David McMunn, a board member of the Mexican War Streets Society and the Central Northside Neighborhood Council.

He said various neighborhood groups united to prevail upon the hospital in an October letter.

Exterior renovation is expected to begin this month, said hospital spokesman Dan Laurent.

The entire renovation is estimated to cost $2.5 million, with some first-phase funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Many period details will be saved or restored, including railings, doors, window hardware and moldings.

The hospital may use the building for administrative offices and possibly retail space, such as a coffee shop, said Mr. Laurent.

Built during the Civil War in the Second Empire style, it got its name when William Aeberli bought it in 1909. It was the family home, and then its funeral home business for most of that century.

"Renovation of the Aeberli building is a significant investment in the future of this community and another tangible expression of AGH's deep and long-standing commitment to the North Side's vitality and progress," said Connie Cibrone, AGH president and chief executive officer.

Some of the building's value is attached to its location, said Ellis Schmidlapp, the principal architect on the first phase.

"A corner property is always a bit more significant than ones inside, and porches provide visual interest," he said.

The restoration will give each of the homes its own porch. The Second Empire half will keep its wrap-around porch and the mate will get to keep the brick pillars and heavier cornice, he said.

Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626.

[hyperion1110]

It's wonderful to see some good going to happen in old Allegheny City. The only real question is why did it take so long for the momentum to build there (yes, I know about the legal fight over the theater)? From North Avenue, you have the most spectacular view of Downtown rising over West Park. That view alone should make this area an urban paradise, once all the blight has been dealt with.

[UrbaniDesDev]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/totino1114.aspx

$60M Chelsea moves forward on Centre, to bring Oakland's first rental units in 30 years

The Chelsea, a $60 million mixed-use project planned for the corner of Center Ave. and Craig St. in Oakland, is moving forward. Located on a 1.4-acre site that currently houses a Pittsburgh Parking Authority lot, the 17-story project will feature 300 rental units, commercial space and parking for 450 cars.

Project developer Guy Totino of Polaris Real Estate Equities is in the process of resolving zoning issues and variances with the city. “The city is very supportive. We’ve met with both neighborhood groups in Oakland and they’re both very supportive. It’s a question of how it’s going to get done, not whether it’s going to get done,” says Totino.

Units will include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, as well as loft-style studios. “The last new rental project built in Oakland was probably thirty-plus years ago. It’s an excellent site for mixed-use. The city has targeted it for residential. Oakland is vibrant, very dense and growing. The use complements the area,” adds Totino. “We've designed it to be very respectful of the streetscape, to make the retail fit the area. We’d love to attract some grocery use and a coffee shop—it’s a destination neighborhood.”

The project, which will have a Centre Ave. entrance, will continue onto N. Dithridge and Craig Sts. “It’s a corridor experiencing tremendous commercial growth, with everything that UPMC and CMU are doing. It’s taken us three years; we've had a lot of stamina. It fills a tremendous need,” adds Totino, who says that The Chelsea will be designed by MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni Architects. Contractor is Massaro Corporation. The 24-month project is expected to break ground during the summer of 2008.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Guy Totino, Polaris Real Estate Equities



Photo courtesy of Polaris Real Estate Equities

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2086/oaklanddev_300.jpg



AAAH
This is great. A very urban, dense building will finally take over this major intersection. This will undoubtedly impose a standard on the future of this neighborhood. I believe this will establish North Oakland as a real player in the continued advancement of the entire "East Side". It looks great, atleast as a far as it's density and keeping the street face, the facade looks a little cliche, but it does seem to pay homage to the older large residential building near by. This intersection has long been an eyesore. Hell, face it, it's a pit. This will tie a lot of the disjointed neighborhoods in the the East Side tighter together. Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Shadyside and oakland seem to becoming a seamless urban region, each with their own identity but will nolonger have the gaps that are now between their centers. Center Avenue is becoming a real gem of a destination after long being a rather dismal drive. This is where that filthy old Giant Eagle was, right?

[UrbaniDesDev]

Penguins Officials Debut New Sketches Of Arena

http://kdka.com/sports/Penguins.arena.sketches.2.566854.html

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―

Officials with the Pittsburgh Penguins have unveiled updated sketches of the new arena in the city's Uptown neighborhood.

The arena will include all of the best features from arenas around the country and will seat more than 18,000 fans. It will also have a glass atrium and open-air concourses so fans won't miss any part of the games.

The outside of the structure will be designed to blend in with existing buildings on Centre Avenue.

The arena is slated to open in 2010.

http://image.cbslocal.com/320x240/arena1.gif
http://image.cbslocal.com/320x240/arena3.gif
http://image.cbslocal.com/320x240/arena2.gif

Be sure to watch the video report on the linked page ... they mention a potential hotel! :)

I am sorry, but this building just appears to me to be very unispired. The Fifth Avenue facade is particularly bland. I hope they do better

[UrbaniDesDev]

The laws changed right after Allegheny City was forcibly annexed.

What did Philly do to impose itself on it's region? Didn't they incorporate their region as Philadelphia County in some way and was it a beneficial move to their area?

[UrbaniDesDev]

Did we change formats a bit here? It seems we jumped to 149 pages. Pittsburgh is one of the most active in the City Compilations thread :banana:

[UrbaniDesDev]

Everyone's favorite developer!


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/search/s_538158.html

Hidden Valley expansion cost pegged at $1 billion
By Joe Napsha
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, November 15, 2007


SOMERSET -- The Buncher Co. today unveiled a 30-year, $1 billion master plan designed to improve and substantially expand the Hidden Valley Four Seasons Resort in Somerset County.
The Squirrel Hill-based developer's plans call for the addition of up to 1,800 units of new housing, including single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses.

About 600 of those units would be in a planned new gated community called Paradise Springs.

The company also is planning shorter-term improvements to Hidden Valley's ski slopes and ski lodge that it hopes to complete before reopening the resort for the upcoming ski season on Dec. 15, said Thomas J. Balestrieri, its CEO, at a morning news conference.

[Evergrey]

updates from the Biz Times:

1. Westinghouse has increased the square footage of its new Cranberry HQ from 775,000 to 915,000 sq. ft. That's bigger than One PPG Place, Fifth Avenue Place and Dominion Tower. Westinghouse plans on hiring 1,300 people this fiscal year after adding 800 each of the last two years.

[Evergrey]

Western Pennsylvania
Reaps Rewards of
Nuclear Power Renaissance

A huge Westinghouse campus may grow larger in scope.

http://www.siteselection.com/features/2007/sep/pennsylvania/images/pg778a.jpg
Westinghouse Electric's projected growth is the driver for the company's huge new corporate campus to be developed in Cranberry Woods, north of Pittsburgh.

by JOHN W. McCURRY,
john.mccurry bounce@conway.com

The pending rebirth of the U.S. nuclear power sector has its leading supplier in all-out expansion mode. Westinghouse Electric Co., which has built 62 of the country's 104 nuclear power plants and about 40 percent of the approximately 440 around the globe, needs a much bigger headquarters campus to accommodate projected growth. Westinghouse, which delivered the first full-scale nuclear power plant in Shippingport, Pa., in 1957, will benefit in a major way from the U.S. industry's expansion: Utility companies have chosen Westinghouse to build 12 of the 28 plants now in the application process.
Westinghouse's global reach is expanding, too. The company signed multi-billion-dollar contracts on July 24 to provide four nuclear power plants in China, the first-ever deployment of advanced U.S. nuclear technology in that country. Westinghouse, which was acquired last year by Toshiba Corp., says the China projects will create or sustain at least 5,000 jobs for it and its consortium partner, The Shaw Group.

Expansion Need Sparks Seven-State Search

When Westinghouse realized its projected growth would exceed the capacity of its current 550,000-sq.-ft. (51,000-sq.-m.) headquarters in Monroeville, Pa., it embarked on a quest to find the right site with two main criteria in mind:

"We first had to decide if we would stay or relocate, and we looked first to the areas where we had existing sites," says Russ Bussard, Westinghouse's facility manager for the project. "That meant Pennsylvania, Connecticut, the Carolinas, Maryland, Georgia and Virginia. These were states with existing operations or we felt that with our potential new customers we would benefit from having a presence nearby."
Bussard says Pennsylvania became the state of choice following the passage of legislation last November allowing for special strategic development areas (SDA). These areas qualify for tax breaks for companies committing to create or maintain 500 or more jobs or making an investment of at least $45 million within three years.
"The legislation narrowed it to Pennsylvania," Bussard says. "Then we had to decide whether to remain in our existing location and expand or move and build a new facility."
Westinghouse selected the Cranberry Woods office park for its new campus. The site is full of logistical advantages. Cranberry Woods is a northern suburb of Pittsburgh, about 15 miles (24 km.) north of downtown and about 10 miles (16 km.) from Pittsburgh International Airport. The business park is adjacent to I-79 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Site Offers Flexibility For Future Growth

Westinghouse's new headquarters campus will be a three-building, 772,000-sq.-ft. (72,000-sq.-m.) office complex that will be owned by Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II and will be developed by Trammell Crow Real Estate Development & Investment. CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh represented Wells in the deal.
"There is significantly more space to expand and most importantly, it gives us the option to expand in phases," Bussard says. "We are able to go a little longer for the second construction phase and that allows us to understand how many people we will build for here."
The first phase is a five-story, 410,000-sq.-ft. (38,000-sq.-m.) office building that will house 1,600 employees. That building is due to open in April 2009. Bussard says planning for the second phase will begin near the end of this year or in early 2008. That phase, which involves two smaller buildings to be connected to the larger main building, is slated for completion in June 2010.
Westinghouse has an option on a 25-acre (10-hectare) adjacent parcel to construct a fourth building if necessary. Following completion, Westinghouse will occupy the property under a 15-year lease with Wells. The new campus could ultimately swell to 1.2 million sq. ft. (111,500 sq. m.)
The complex will likely be designed to achieve LEED certification as a green development project, making it one of the largest private-sector green properties in the U.S. The project is also believed to be the largest Class-A suburban office built-to-suit project in Pennsylvania history.
"The facility is designed for approximately 3,200 people," Bussard says. "We have the opportunity to expand to 3,600 people and we currently have 1,900 at our present location."
Westinghouse has hired 800 people in the last two years and will hire 1,300 this year. A third of these will be moving into the company's Pittsburgh-area operations. Most of these positions are engineering jobs, some are in procurement and others are in project management.

HR Aspect Provided Interesting Challenges

Staying in Western Pennsylvania also avoided the colossal disruption that would have come in moving to another state. The Staubach Company advised Westinghouse during its search, which began in late 2005. Staubach's Drew Saunders, senior managing director in the firm's New York office, says the search was an unusually interesting project. Saunders was the lead Westinghouse liaison for Staubach and project coordinator.
"Westinghouse is expecting 30 percent attrition over the next several years and is going to hire a ton of people."
Another issue for Westinghouse was whether to keep its operations at one site, or to develop a dual hub, with some of the functions moving to another location, possibly out of state. Saunders says Westinghouse never considered moving all of its operations from the Pittsburgh area. The apt code name for the undertaking was "Project Growth."
"It quickly became apparent that if we were going to keep everything in one place, Pittsburgh was the place to do it," Saunders says. "Westinghouse couldn't risk losing the expertise of the Pittsburgh area."
Westinghouse's projected attrition is a legacy of the last major hiring surge in the 1970s during the last major period of nuclear power plant construction. Many of those hires are at or near retirement age. These employees were retained during subsequent downsizings to keep their experience and expertise, Saunders says.
"We did look at seven states, but the decision came down to keeping everything in Pittsburgh or to creating a second hub in the Charlotte area and moving 1,000 to 1,500 employees there and keeping 2,000 in Pittsburgh," Saunders says. "A division headquarters would have been moved to Charlotte. We priced the full occupancy cost analysis of relocating those employees, training new employees, incentives and capital costs and at the end of the day, Pittsburgh was very competitive. It wasn't the cheapest – it was slightly more expensive than Charlotte – but the executives at Westinghouse ultimately made the decision that the business disruption of moving to Charlotte wasn't worth the risk."
When Pittsburgh became the choice, it was a matter of either expanding its current facility at Monroeville or moving up to Cranberry Woods, Saunders says. Infrastructure constraints eliminated a Monroeville expansion.
"There is a need for deck parking and to get that many people in and out of the site," Saunders says. "Really, that's why we ended up in Cranberry."
Project Growth presented a variety of challenges, which made the effort especially interesting, Saunders says.
"We were driving off of headcount projections and there was the acquisition by Toshiba during the middle of the process. Toshiba was a new ownership we needed to get updated and to explain what we were trying to accomplish. Westinghouse still doesn't know exactly how many people they are going to hire. I wouldn't be surprised if these buildings grow before they are completed. It teeters on how many nuclear plant orders they get."
The Staubach effort was directed by two other key people in addition to Saunders. Jay Koster, a Staubach senior managing director who heads the firm's financial services arm, led the real estate negotiations, and Ann Woessner, a senior vice president in Staubach's Dallas office, led the incentive negotiations with the involved states.
Joe Oglesby, a Wells senior vice president, was Wells' lead in the deal, which adds significantly to the company's growing Pennsylvania presence.
"This is our third asset in the Greater Pittsburgh area and our first build-to-suit," Oglesby says. "Westinghouse is a global name and we're glad to be involved with them in meeting their expansion needs by building a first class campus for them."

[Johnland]

AAAH
This is great. A very urban, dense building will finally take over this major intersection. This will undoubtedly impose a standard on the future of this neighborhood. I believe this will establish North Oakland as a real player in the continued advancement of the entire "East Side". It looks great, atleast as a far as it's density and keeping the street face, the facade looks a little cliche, but it does seem to pay homage to the older large residential building near by. This intersection has long been an eyesore. Hell, face it, it's a pit. This will tie a lot of the disjointed neighborhoods in the the East Side tighter together. Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Shadyside and oakland seem to becoming a seamless urban region, each with their own identity but will nolonger have the gaps that are now between their centers. Center Avenue is becoming a real gem of a destination after long being a rather dismal drive. This is where that filthy old Giant Eagle was, right?


I couldn't have summed it up better myself. You hit all the points well. This project will fill a hole along Centre Ave that was there for waaaay tooo long. And it does seem to pay homage to some of the grand old apartment buildings of this neighborhood, which is sort of like Pittsburgh's little chunk of pre-War Manhattan in that respect. Regarding replacing the old Giant Eagle, it actually will sit across Craig St from that former store.

[UrbaniDesDev]

Regarding replacing the old Giant Eagle, it actually will sit across Craig St from that former store.

Ok that makes sense. I now wish I owned that lot where the GE was

[Evergrey]

This link has renderings of the Glass Lofts at Penn and Fairmount. They're too big to post here. It's an 18-unit green development. I noticed demolition of the existing crappy structures on the site has begun.

http://friendship-pgh.org/classified/view/id/417

[UrbaniDesDev]

The Glass Lofts

18 Loft Condominiums For Sale

A new ‘green’ building in Pittsburgh in the heart of the Penn Avenue Arts District. Located at Penn Avenue and Fairmount Street with parking in the rear and private internal garages are available.

Lofts range from 845 sq. ft. to 1,873 sq. ft. Many lofts are two stories.
Price ranges from $180,000 to $330,000. Special financing available for qualified buyers

NO TAXES! Byers pay no local or state income and real estate taxes through 2010! Property is in a K02 zone. See K02.newpa.com for more information.

Lofts available in Summer 2008

Lofts Feature:


Balconies
Full Baths
Full Kitchen
Laundry Hook-ups
Many lofts feature two-stories
Many lofts feature skylights
Every unit is visitable


Project Features:

Parking and Indoor Private Garages Available
Flexible Common Room Available
‘Green’ building features high efficiency heating and cooling and environmental low-impact materials.
Modern architecture by Arthur Lubetz Associates Architects
Restaurant on ground floor
Artist studios on ground floor
Located near Pittsburgh Glass Center, Dance Alloy Theater, Quiet Storm Coffeehouse, Whole Foods, Borders, Trek, Giant Eagle Market District, Shadyside Hospital, West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh Montessori School, Waldorf School, Children’s Home and the new Children’s Hospital.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/GlassHouse.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/GlassHouse2.jpg

[Evergrey]

cool... maybe we can go another decade without anything built on those parking lots... some development "boom" these stadiums have generated (the half-billion dollar garage/casino does not count)

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_538772.html

Rendell says amphitheater funding for Steelers could be lost

By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, November 19, 2007


Since the Pittsburgh Steelers have abandoned a plan for a proposed amphitheater and a companion entertainment complex on the North Shore, $10 million in state funds for infrastructure improvements there may be directed to other purposes, Gov. Ed Rendell said today.
The team and Columbus-based developer Continental Real Estate Cos. had been working with Cordish Co. of Baltimore to develop the project that was to be known as to be known as North Shore Live!

However, officials said in October they now were looking toward alternative development plans for the property involved, currently a parking lot near Heinz Field.

"As with our Capital Redevelopment Assistance Grants, the grantee has a certain amount of time to use it or lose it," Rendell said when asked about the project.

"They are precariously close to losing it," he said of the capital budget funding request.
So far, neither the team or Continental have asked for an alternative use for the funds, Rendell said.

If they don't, he said, "It will be taken back and used for other projects."


Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.

[PA Pride]

^I wonder what they are waiting for?

[cdc]

As I was going to see the new dino exhibit at the natural history
museum yesterday I noticed a legal notice for a second hearing posted
at the old Exxon station next to the bridge over Boundary Street.

I didn't have time to read it in detail, but it basically said that
the property owner is working on getting a zoning variance to build an
eleven story hotel on that site. So it looks like the owner is slowly
making progress on the legal issues relating to this:

Upscale hotel in works for busy Oakland university, museum corridor
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2006/09/18/story3.html

Seems like a good spot for a hotel (to capture CMU and museum business).

[PittPenn 03]

As I was going to see the new dino exhibit at the natural history
museum yesterday I noticed a legal notice for a second hearing posted
at the old Exxon station next to the bridge over Boundary Street.

I didn't have time to read it in detail, but it basically said that
the property owner is working on getting a zoning variance to build an
eleven story hotel on that site. So it looks like the owner is slowly
making progress on the legal issues relating to this:

Upscale hotel in works for busy Oakland university, museum corridor
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2006/09/18/story3.html

Seems like a good spot for a hotel (to capture CMU and museum business).

This is great! I either totally forgot about it, or totally missed this project. I love seeing the fringes of Oakland filling up and going vertical.

[Evergrey]

11 stories... up from the initial 6 stories in the article...

let's just hope the architectural design standards are a little bit higher than the usual Marriott or Hampton that gets plopped down around here... and let's hope that the Schenley Farms NIMBY coalition doesn't come down the hill to kill this project lol

[PA Pride]

This is great! I either totally forgot about it, or totally missed this project. I love seeing the fringes of Oakland filling up and going vertical.

Amen brother!

[Evergrey]

Charlie Batch gets $480k in state aid for redevelopment of Homestead Bakery. It will include residential and retail.

WYkySwXqZi4

[JackStraw]

11 stories... up from the initial 6 stories in the article...

let's just hope the architectural design standards are a little bit higher than the usual Marriott or Hampton that gets plopped down around here... and let's hope that the Schenley Farms NIMBY coalition doesn't come down the hill to kill this project lol

Very true, No reason to have the average marriot that sprout around the airport or Moronville added to Oakland. 11 stories sound excellent. I would love to see Oakland go more verticle and feel more urban than it is now.

[Evergrey]

btw, JackStraw... I am very disappointed at the absence of exterior lighting on the Cathedral of Learning... most days it's totally dark... but if the football team wins (a rare occurance)... they'll light the top of the building in gold... it's still quite minimal... I would love to see this landmark get a good lighting treatment... what do you think?

these are flickr photos (not mine)

football win lighting scheme
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/97/269763487_9b183c42cd.jpg

[JackStraw]

I am sorry, but this building just appears to me to be very unispired. The Fifth Avenue facade is particularly bland. I hope they do better

I kind of agree with you. I am more interested in the projects that will be going around uptown and the hill after the Arena gets going. This is a great project to get the ripple of redevelopment started in some of the worse areas. I hope this does the same to these areas that Coors field did to Lodo in Denver.

Also, word on the street is the project is probably going for LEED certification.

[JackStraw]

btw, JackStraw... I am very disappointed at the absence of exterior lighting on the Cathedral of Learning... most days it's totally dark... but if the football team wins (a rare occurance)... they'll light the top of the building in gold... it's still quite minimal... I would love to see this landmark get a good lighting treatment... what do you think?

these are flickr photos (not mine)

football win lighting scheme
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/97/269763487_9b183c42cd.jpg

I think the lighting of the Cathedral is dull and unimaginative. There is so much gothic architectural elements that can be brought out, and arn't.

[Evergrey]

I kind of agree with you. I am more interested in the projects that will be going around uptown and the hill after the Arena gets going. This is a great project to get the ripple of redevelopment started in some of the worse areas. I hope this does the same to these areas that Coors field did to Lodo in Denver.

Also, word on the street is the project is probably going for LEED certification.

I'm not holding my breath. The North Shore stadia were supposed to usher in a development boom... and what do we have after 6 years? Calico Jack's Cantina... one hotel... the death of Hi-Tops... a couple bland office buildings that relocated jobs from downtown...

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_538812.html

Change in plans could cost Steelers $10M

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, November 20, 2007


The Steelers are working on alternative ideas for development on the North Shore now that they have scrapped plans for a proposed amphitheater and a companion entertainment complex adjacent to Heinz Field.
But they may have to seek other sources for state funding to replace the $10 million in infrastructure improvements originally sought for the project, Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday.

The team and Columbus-based developer Continental Real Estate Cos. had been working with Cordish Co. of Baltimore to develop the project that was to be known as North Shore Live!

As envisioned, the amphitheater -- topped by an open, glass roof -- would have been ringed by night clubs and other entertainment-themed outlets, and built on vacant land serving as the Gold parking lot near Heinz Field.

In October, the Steelers said they were withdrawing an application for the $10 million in funding under a state Infrastructure and Facilities Improvement Program, now that those plans have changed.
Mike Hart, the team's director of business, said that PSSI Stadium Corp., the company that operates Heinz Field, advised the Pittsburgh Stadium Authority and the state that discussions are under way with other developers for the site.

The Stadium Authority owns the land between Heinz Field and PNC Park, and Continental was selected by the Pirates and Steelers to be the master developer there.

"We have withdrawn the original request for funding under the IFIP program as we re-evaluate our plans for developing an entertainment venue on the North Shore adjacent to Heinz Field," said Barry Ford, president of development at Continental, in a statement Monday.

"We are currently working with HOK (the architect for Heinz Field) and PSSI Stadium Corp. to develop an outline for a year-round multipurpose entertainment facility.

"We are pleased with our progress to date and intend to present a new version of our plan by year's end," Ford said.

When asked about the project funds yesterday, Rendell said, "... The grantee has a certain amount of time to use it or lose it."

So far, neither the team nor Continental have asked to use the funds for an alternative project, Rendell said.

If they don't, he said, "It will be taken back and used for other projects."




Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07324/835308-55.stm

Steelers' Batch plans housing at old bakery in Homestead

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200711/20071120ds_batch_330.jpg
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch and Gov. Ed Rendell pose for pictures after yesterday's announcement in Homestead.

Charlie Batch called it a dream come true. Only this time he wasn't talking about quarterbacking the hometown Steelers at Heinz Field.

Instead, Mr. Batch was fired up about converting a historic bakery in his hometown of Homestead into loft apartments and commercial and office space with the help of a $480,000 state grant.

Gov. Ed Rendell was in Homestead yesterday to award $4.8 million in state Housing Finance Agency Homeownership Choice Program grants for Mr. Batch's project and six others in Allegheny, Westmoreland and Butler counties.

At a news conference, Mr. Rendell said the state funding will leverage almost $30 million in private investment in the projects, five of which are in Allegheny County and one each in Westmoreland and Butler counties.

In Homestead, Mr. Batch is planning to convert the former Homestead Bakery into 16 loft apartments and six commercial spaces -- two for restaurants, three for retail and one for office.

Plans call for nine one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $1,000 to $1,375 a month. Mr. Batch's company, Batch Development Co. Inc., already has secured a letter of interest from one company to lease 1,000 square feet of retail space.

Mr. Batch hopes to get started on the redevelopment soon. It will be his first commercial venture. Until this time, he has worked on rehabbing housing in other parts of Homestead.

He said he sees the project as a way of giving back to his hometown while building off the success of The Waterfront mixed-use development adjacent to the old bakery. One bakery building dates to the 1880s.

"This is first and foremost my hometown so this is exciting for me," he said. "But I think that The Waterfront has been so great to this area. This is a way for the next phase of it to tie the local community into The Waterfront. This is a great project to be able to make that happen."

While Mr. Batch is concentrating on the bakery project at this point, he's not ruling out more development ventures.

"Anything's a possibility," he said. "I'm excited to get this piece going and then we'll see what happens."

Other state housing grants announced yesterday were:

• $1 million for construction of more than 30 single-family houses over three phases on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District. The two-, three-, and four-bedroom houses will range in price from $135,000 to $180,000. The total development cost is $7.7 million.

• $1.3 million for construction of 18 houses in Homestead and seven in Munhall. The two-, three- and four-bedroom homes will cost from $55,000 to $130,000. Total development cost is $6 million.

• $1 million for construction of 22 three-bedroom houses and three four-bedroom houses on South Sixth Street in Jeannette. The houses will be built over three phases with all completed by December 2010. Total development cost is $8.2 million.

• $250,000 to help convert the Beneficial Building on Carson Street on the South Side into six studio apartments and commercial and office space. Total project cost is estimated at $3.3 million.

• $260,500 to rehabilitate two residential and commercial buildings on Ardmore Boulevard in Forest Hills. Total renovation costs are estimated at $875,060.

• $335,000 to build six homes in Butler as part of a larger project that also involves renovation of 46 apartments. Total costs are expected to reach $900,000. The new homes should be finished by next summer.

Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07324/835306-53.stm

Roosevelt details why Schenley may close

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Saying he wants others "to wrestle with the same facts I'm wrestling with," Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt yesterday released hundreds of pages of documents to support his recommendation to close the Pittsburgh Schenley High School building.

Joining Mr. Roosevelt at a morning news conference were architects, engineers and environmental specialists whose firms had produced some of the reports detailing problems at the Oakland school. Mr. Roosevelt invited them to the microphone to answer questions.

Mr. Roosevelt and the consultants said the building is filled with asbestos, the mechanical systems obsolete and the problems intertwined; the systems can't be repaired without addressing the asbestos, used as a binding agent, insulator and fire retardant. In an Oct. 19 letter to Mr. Roosevelt, the Downtown architectural firm Astorino urged the district to make a speedy decision about what to do with the school, students and 91-year-old historic building.

"These particular issues that we have addressed are causing safety hazards for the students and because of that, we do not recommend that you go beyond this current school year without doing extensive renovations to the building," wrote Dennis L. Astorino, the firm's chief executive officer and one of the consultants who attended the news conference.

A week after Mr. Astorino wrote that letter, Mr. Roosevelt told school board members in closed-door meetings that he wanted to close the building at the end of the school year and send the 1,100 students to three other locations, including two new, themed schools configured for grades six through 12.

He publicly announced the plans Oct. 31, saying the district couldn't afford $64 million -- mid-range of six estimates the district received since 2003 -- to overhaul the school. The news touched off a firestorm.

Critics have questioned Mr. Roosevelt's renovation estimates and the speed with which he's moving, expressed doubt about the district's efforts to find money to repair the building and called the asbestos issue a smokescreen for plans to sell the building to the University of Pittsburgh or UPMC, something the district denies.

By the end of last week, Mr. Roosevelt had proposed moving Schenley's current students to a single location in Shadyside in fall 2008 and letting them stay together until graduation. That would allow him to close Schenley's building at the end of this school year, phase out the school over three more school years and gradually build the new themed schools.

If Mr. Roosevelt hoped to calm the waters by releasing documents to show he's acting on the advice of outside experts and been left with few options, the critics weren't immediately ceding any ground.

Nick Lardas, a Schenley graduate whose Oakland contracting company works on historic buildings, said the building's fate is just one issue. He said Schenley supporters are upset that Mr. Roosevelt has proposed dismantling one of the city's best-performing high schools for an "experiment" in 6-12 schools.

Mr. Roosevelt said the documents would be provided to leaders of the "Save Schenley" movement. Some documents were posted on the district's Web site at www.pps.k12.pa.us.

One diagram of Schenley's third floor showed dozens of red marks where asbestos was found during a 2002 survey by AGX Inc., an environmental consulting firm in McCandless.

"It's in every wall, in every ceiling, on every floor," and more prevalent in Schenley than other district schools, the district's chief operations officer, Richard Fellers, said yesterday.

As far back as November 2005, Mr. Fellers said in a report that "ceiling and wall plaster (particularly on the upper floors) is falling away from surfaces on a recurring basis" and warned that the problem could worsen.

As officials tell it, that's what happened. After a ceiling collapse in a stairwell last summer, the district spent $750,000 to repair 10,000 worn areas of plaster building-wide.

The district yesterday said the installation of new windows in 2005 has reduced ventilation, contributed to humidity and weakened the plaster. Mr. Fellers said the city's Historic Review Commission insisted on that type of window to preserve Schenley's appearance, a point the commission wasn't able to address yesterday.

Mr. Roosevelt yesterday released six renovation cost estimates, the highest an $86.9 million proposal from L. Robert Kimball & Associates in 2005. That proposal included $500,000 for refurbishing an organ. Ryan M. Pierce, the Downtown firm's vice president and market sector leader, said the proposal was not only a renovation but a "restoration" of the building.

Astorino last year proposed $64.4 million for various work, including new mechanical systems and removal of asbestos. But the firm said it could do a more limited project, encapsulating asbestos rather than removing it, for $42.4 million or $37.8 million, depending on whether air-conditioning was included.

Documents showed the $42.4 million option was endorsed by the Schenley task force Mr. Roosevelt established in 2005. The group said the district could push the bottom line lower by selling the former Reizenstein Middle school building in Shadyside and leveraging $1.5 million in historic tax credits.

In another document, however, the district says it didn't want to sell Reizenstein and found the historic tax credits unfeasible. The document said the district also considered and rejected the idea of letting a developer build offices or residential units atop the school.

Mr. Roosevelt said he fears that a partial renovation merely would mean doing more work down the road. Two Kimball executives said they doubted a partial project would be feasible now anyway because the falling plaster would prevent the asbestos from being encapsulated.

The district is spending $10,000 a month to inspect the building and check the air for asbestos.

So far, Mr. Roosevelt said, the air quality is fine and the building safe for students.

Joe Smydo can be reached at jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_538806.html

Tunnel digger assembly begins today

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2007-11-19/1120pbore-a.jpg
Workers prepare a tunnel-boring machine that will carve the first of two tunnels connecting Downtown with the North Shore.
Philip G. Pavely/Tribune-Review

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/video/2007_pdfs/GX-Northshore4-11-20.pdf

By Jim Ritchie
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, November 20, 2007


A 1.2 million pound machine that will bore a tunnel beneath the Allegheny River is expected to be lowered today 55 feet below the surface of the North Shore near PNC Park.
The three sections of the tunnel-boring machine will be linked and then tested before it begins carving out the first of two tunnels connecting Downtown with the North Shore, as part of Port Authority's $435 million T subway extension.

"They'll do some test-boring and try to advance the machine about 60 feet," said Winston Simmonds, the authority's rail operations-engineering manager. "They'll stop through the holidays, and in the new year they'll advance the machine another 150 feet, install the rest of the trailing gear and in mid-January, that's when mining in earnest will start."

When completed, sometime in 2011, the 2,400-foot twin tunnels will extend the transit agency's T light rail system from Gateway Station Downtown to the developing North Shore, adding two stations near PNC Park and Heinz Field.

The tunneling project, publicly derided amid concerns about cost and safety, will not start with the fanfare of a major regional improvement project.
"Hopefully, the concern would be turned into responsible response and management by the entity building it," said Peter Tarkoy, a tunneling expert who owns GeoConSol, a Sherborn, Mass., consulting firm.

"Underground projects are at the mercy of the natural conditions, and you can't define them 100 percent. You can only do some borings in the ground and test those ... and if there's a lot of loopholes in the contract, then of course the contractor is going to take advantage of it."

Port Authority has cut the project's size because of rising costs. To address safety issues, the authority has inspectors to monitor the work.

Pushed by previous generations of politicians, those in office now acknowledge they'd rather extend the T to Oakland or Pittsburgh International Airport. They chose not to halt the work for fear of losing federal money, which accounts for 80 percent of the $435 million projected cost.

"If Dan (Onorato) had been county executive at the time, he might have selected a different project," said Kevin Evanto, spokesman for the Allegheny County chief executive. "Yet this project can be something very positive and successful for the region."

Port Authority awarded a $156.5 million first-phase contract to build the tunnels to North Shore Constructors, a joint venture of West Mifflin-based Trumbull Corp. and Obayashi Corp. of San Francisco.

This leg of the T is projected to serve more than 14,000 passengers a day, or more than 4 million a year. The agency serves about 240,000 riders on an average day.

The tunnel-boring machine is expected to cut through about 20 to 30 feet of dirt and rock daily.

The starting pit is at the intersection of Reedsdale Street and Mazeroski Way. The tunneling will end beneath Stanwix Street, not far from Fort Duquesne Boulevard. The machine will make a U-turn and dig a second tunnel back to the North Shore.



Jim Ritchie can be reached at jritchie@tribweb.com or 412-320-7933.

[JackStraw]

I'm not holding my breath. The North Shore stadia were supposed to usher in a development boom... and what do we have after 6 years? Calico Jack's Cantina... one hotel... the death of Hi-Tops... a couple bland office buildings that relocated jobs from downtown...

I hate our north shore planning. I for one think that Heinz field could have been put in a different location. I compare a lot to Denver since I lived there for a while. They had Invesco about 2 miles from downtown. Why take up valuable space with acres full of parking next to the city center. It could have been built on a brownfield somewhere and had the exact same benefits. You bring 60,000 people down to an area 8 times a year, maybe a couple more times with big concerts. This space could be used for other redevelpoment projects to help bring in more office space, apartments, lofts, and retail on the north shore. I like baseball parks near the city center and PNC was perfect. However it didn't help at all in revitalizing the north shore. If you look at Coors field in Denver, Lodo (lower downtown) was a old run down area. Once Coors field came in everybody wanted to be in Lower Downtown, and now it is trendy and nice.

I still think the Pen's arena will help out more. One since the pens are planning to contribute to redevelopment around the new arena in a hotel, residential buildings, and retail. It seems as if Pittsburgh is trying to capitalize of this project. The one problem with the north shore is they just pretty much took a existing stadium and put in two newer ones not thinking about anything further from that. It seems (as of now) that the redevelopment of uptown will be largely considered in this project.

[JackStraw]

It would be great if they could save Shenley highschool, but asbestos can cause a major problem with doing renovation projects. The cost alone of demolishing the asbestos laced areas is real high.

The cheapest way would be to conceal the asbestos. Just leave it where it is and figure out innovative ways to update the mechanical/electrical systems without touching the asbestos laced areas.

[JackStraw]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_538812.html

Change in plans could cost Steelers $10M

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, November 20, 2007


The Steelers are working on alternative ideas for development on the North Shore now that they have scrapped plans for a proposed amphitheater and a companion entertainment complex adjacent to Heinz Field.
But they may have to seek other sources for state funding to replace the $10 million in infrastructure improvements originally sought for the project, Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday.

The team and Columbus-based developer Continental Real Estate Cos. had been working with Cordish Co. of Baltimore to develop the project that was to be known as North Shore Live!

As envisioned, the amphitheater -- topped by an open, glass roof -- would have been ringed by night clubs and other entertainment-themed outlets, and built on vacant land serving as the Gold parking lot near Heinz Field.

In October, the Steelers said they were withdrawing an application for the $10 million in funding under a state Infrastructure and Facilities Improvement Program, now that those plans have changed.
Mike Hart, the team's director of business, said that PSSI Stadium Corp., the company that operates Heinz Field, advised the Pittsburgh Stadium Authority and the state that discussions are under way with other developers for the site.

The Stadium Authority owns the land between Heinz Field and PNC Park, and Continental was selected by the Pirates and Steelers to be the master developer there.

"We have withdrawn the original request for funding under the IFIP program as we re-evaluate our plans for developing an entertainment venue on the North Shore adjacent to Heinz Field," said Barry Ford, president of development at Continental, in a statement Monday.

"We are currently working with HOK (the architect for Heinz Field) and PSSI Stadium Corp. to develop an outline for a year-round multipurpose entertainment facility.

"We are pleased with our progress to date and intend to present a new version of our plan by year's end," Ford said.

When asked about the project funds yesterday, Rendell said, "... The grantee has a certain amount of time to use it or lose it."

So far, neither the team nor Continental have asked to use the funds for an alternative project, Rendell said.

If they don't, he said, "It will be taken back and used for other projects."




Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

I was actually going to post a question if anybody has ever heard about what was happening with North Shore Live. Thanks for the article. I am really hoping for a entertainment center like this. We need something that can host good bands in venues that need to be 5 thousand or so. I read an article when I moved back about how bands like the Decembrants, Modest Mouse, the Shins, and so many more skip Pittsburgh because we don't offer venues for these kind of shows.We can get Def Leopard to Star Lake though!


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/music/pop/s_502573.html

There is the article I was talking about. It is kind of old, but atleast I am not mentioning articles with no back up.

[Evergrey]

I hate our north shore planning. I for one think that Heinz field could have been put in a different location. I compare a lot to Denver since I lived there for a while. They had Invesco about 2 miles from downtown. Why take up valuable space with acres full of parking next to the city center. It could have been built on a brownfield somewhere and had the exact same benefits. You bring 60,000 people down to an area 8 times a year, maybe a couple more times with big concerts. This space could be used for other redevelpoment projects to help bring in more office space, apartments, lofts, and retail on the north shore. I like baseball parks near the city center and PNC was perfect. However it didn't help at all in revitalizing the north shore. If you look at Coors field in Denver, Lodo (lower downtown) was a old run down area. Once Coors field came in everybody wanted to be in Lower Downtown, and now it is trendy and nice.

I still think the Pen's arena will help out more. One since the pens are planning to contribute to redevelopment around the new arena in a hotel, residential buildings, and retail. It seems as if Pittsburgh is trying to capitalize of this project. The one problem with the north shore is they just pretty much took a existing stadium and put in two newer ones not thinking about anything further from that. It seems (as of now) that the redevelopment of uptown will be largely considered in this project.

That's exactly the way I feel. A baseball stadium is great for an urban environment; a football stadium is not. Baseball stadiums have sporting events 81 days a year (and almost half the days from April through September). The architecture of PNC Park fits better into the urban context as well.

Heinz Field actually is used about 17 days a year if you count Steelers preseason and the small crowds that turn out for the pitiful Pittsburgh Panthers. Add in a couple Kenny Chesney concerts and it's still a gigantic empty monolith 99% of the time. It's basically a huge dead zone in the urban core. Go over to the area around there most days.. not a soul in sight... just vast desolate parking lots (that the Steelers' are failing to develop).

Also, I think PNC Park is not living up to its potential as a "development-generator" due to the eternal ineptitude of the Pirates organization. Some might say that's crazy... but think about this.... The Pirates bring out like 18,000 masochistic idiots every game to watch their inferior product... if you gave Pittsburgh hope of competitiveness... even just a .500 team for the first time in generations... you could probably increase the average attendance by at least 50%. If you had a perennial contender... you could possibly run a sell-out streak like the Indians did in Cleveland back in the 90s (especially since PNC Park is so small). Considering how starved Pirates fans are for anything resembling quality baseball... I think fans would turn out in droves. So you put a decent product in PNC Park... and that increases the number of people who visit the North Shore dramatically. This helps support existing and future businesses in that area. Hi-Tops even came out and blamed the Pirates' poor performance for their closure (though they did have an exorbitant lease).

Considering Pennsylvania's taxpayers shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars for PNC Park, I think it's really repulsive that the Nuttings have not reciprocated this generous corporate welfare with an attempt at competitiveness.

To be honest about the North Shore though... despite the missed opportunity with Heinz Field and parking lots... that key area was already severely limited by the web of elevated expressways that crisscross the North Shore and divide it from the rest of the North Side. The area between the riverfront and the east-west expressways is very very tiny. And then you have 279 slicing between the stadiums. I fear that the presence of these superhighways may be a deterrent to high-quality development there... especially the proposed residential elements.

[Evergrey]

I was actually going to post a question if anybody has ever heard about what was happening with North Shore Live. Thanks for the article. I am really hoping for a entertainment center like this. We need something that can host good bands in venues that need to be 5 thousand or so. I read an article when I moved back about how bands like the Decembrants, Modest Mouse, the Shins, and so many more skip Pittsburgh because we don't offer venues for these kind of shows.We can get Def Leopard to Star Lake though!


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/music/pop/s_502573.html

There is the article I was talking about. It is kind of old, but atleast I am not mentioning articles with no back up.

Re: Cordish Entertainment Center. Although details were vague, I was not terribly excited by the Steelers' initial plans. I thought it seemed to be too much like a Station Square... which we have across the river... basically a bland corporate chain entertainment complex (Cordish is famous for these in Baltimore, Louisville, etc). It was also supposed to include a Nascar-themed restaurant. However, i was excited about the possibility of a desperately-needed 5,000 seat music venue.. until I read it was going to be 95% FREE programming... meaning Modest Mouse wouldn't be playing there.

Basically the decline of Pittsburgh's ability to attract national touring acts stems from the lack of quality mid-sized venues, lack of LiveNation-owned venues (they prefer to promote at their own places so they can make more money, i.e. Cleveland's House of Blues), lack of a LiveNation office (we've been consolidated into the Cleveland office, which is headed by a guy who is openly hostile to Pittsburgh), etc. Despite the common whining about population decline and old people... there still are a lot of young people here (100,000 or more college students in the metro)... and I'm quite sure there's more young people here than in concert-mecca Austin... which is half our size... so I believe the market exists. Cleveland is lucky to have relatively large cities like Akron and Canton nearby to draw from for its concert market power. Pittsburgh is instead encircled by very small cities like Wheeling and Johnstown.



BTW, the Decemberists were supposed to play Pittsburgh but cancelled their entire tour due to an illness.