PITTSBURGH | Rundown [Archive] - Page 33

UrbaniDesDev

12-22-2007, 12:19 PM

A nice read from Pop City

Transportation Key to World-Class Pittsburgh
By: Chip Walter

December 19, 2007
I love Pittsburgh. I loved it when I lived in Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles and I love it even more now as a full-time resident. But one of our city’s shortcomings is the region’s failure to create a world-class public transit system.

By world-class, I mean an integrated, extensive, easy-to-use light rail system that branches out in all directions. Public transit is among the essential vitamins and minerals of healthy urban centers. Without an ability to move lots of people of every stripe all around fast and efficiently great cities cannot be great. I’m thinking of Paris, Chicago, London, New York, Boston. They need their trolleys and subways, metros and tubes or they would atrophy, and their citizens would shrivel up too. For people of all kinds to flourish in any city, they have to be mobile. Mobility is power.

Allegheny County’s Port Authority regularly takes a lot of abuse and it’s not my purpose here to heap any more on it. Actually, some recent studies show that the region’s transit system isn’t a complete train wreck. The 2007 Urban Mobility Study found that PAT moves more than 70 million riders a year, including half of the downtown work force that makes its way in from the suburbs each day. This despite recent cutbacks in service. In 2005 this did motorists the favor of saving them more than 1.8 million hours in travel time, and transit users another $33.8 million in fuel and related costs. That ranked Pittsburgh 29th in highway savings and 37th in congestion among the nation's 85 largest cities, right around the middle of the pack.

This is all good news, but saying that transit here isn’t bad isn’t the same as saying it’s great (and we do want to be great, don’t we?).

The question is: how do we get great? For starters don’t stand pat. This seems to be our current strategy. When announcements were made about the new light rail spur being built under the Allegheny to the North Shore, the Port Authority also announced that they had no additional plans to build anything else, anywhere. There was hardly been a peep about public transit in the mayoral race, and despite plan, after plan for the past 30 years, we’ve made only incremental improvements. My suggestion: develop a real people-centered vision for public transit in this region and get moving.

We have a few assets to work with: Two light rail lines, for example, that run to the south and have thousands of loyal customers. It’s lopsided (we have nothing comparable running to the east, west or north), but it’s upgraded and it works. Our subway is small but it’s well designed, the stations are safe and user friendly, and it runs free of traffic (unlike buses) -- a nice hub if we can grow it some spokes. The spur to the North Side, maligned as it is, will soon give the city access over both the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers for the first time since the old trolley system was running in the 1960s. We will need that to build a truly extensive light rail network.

We also have Maglev, which after years of near asphyxiation, looks like it could rise from the dead. The Federal Railroad Administration has been reviewing an environmental impact statement that may position Maglev Inc. to proceed with the first 15 miles of a national demonstration project that could link downtown with the airport.

Recently a ray of political vision even emanated from Harrisburg when the governor and state legislators pounded out a compromise called Act 44 to create a fund that could feed over $400 million dedicated dollars statewide in the next 10 years into mass transit. Keep in mind this has to support 73 public transit systems, but it’s a long, long trolley ride better the nothing it replaces. And it may at last stop the weeping and gnashing of teeth that emanate perennially from PAT’s offices around budget time.

What can we do with these assets? Here are some ideas to get the discussion started.

Low Hanging Fruit

Must every transit initiative become a mission to Mars? What if we kept projects as simple as possible; and modular so that later they can easily be connected, like Legos. Tap some of the state’s $400 million to jump-start efforts that utilize current (read low-cost) rail right-of-ways to create a transit line between Pittsburgh, Oakmont and Greensburg. A project like that would accelerate the resurrection of riverside communities from the Strip to North Versailles as well as buttress neighborhoods around the new $600 million Children’s Hospital. A similar project could see the creation of light rail service from Station Square through Southside and Southside Works to Homestead’s Waterfront and eventually to Kennywood and McKeesport. These are no-brainers and both corridors are growing. Another possibility is to run a low-cost line through Panther Hollow that connects Oakland, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon with the high tech sector along Second Avenue. And all of these complement bike paths that already exist.

Steal from San Francisco

If you’ve been to the Bay Area, you may have noticed a very cool trolley system that runs back and forth along San Francisco’s embarcadero (downtown waterfront). Nothing fancy – just trolleys running back and forth ferrying people as if they were in an amusement park. Let’s do the same thing in Oakland, right down the middle of Fifth Avenue from Craig Street to Carlow College -- just two connected trolleys running west to east, east to west, shuttling thousands of patients, students, nurses, researchers and other professionals all around Oakland every day. This is one of Pittsburgh’s few true boulevards, so there’s room for a single line. Charge a 50¢ a trip to defray costs. Ask UPMC to chip in. Imagine the parking and traffic relief this would deliver.

Build the Spine Line for Godssakes

City fathers have been talking about building a subway to the east of downtown since Pittsburgh was the Silicon Valley of the Industrial Age 100 years ago. Leverage some of the state money to resurrect plans to extend the downtown subway through the Hill District into Oakland and eventually to Shadyside, Squirrell Hill and a rejuvenated East Liberty where it would link with the current busway.

The spine line is empathically not low hanging fruit. I realize this. It’ll be expensive and complex, but how can we not have a major transit line running between the city’s two largest population, business and academic centers. Oakland is vital not only to the intellectual life of Pittsburgh, but as one of the nation’s largest research centers, the intellectual life of the nation. There is also the rejuvenation of the Hill District to keep in mind. And the thousands of students who live in Oakland need a proper transit system that can easily link them to downtown’s stores, sports venues, growing housing and cultural venues. Enough hand wringing. This isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity.

Finally – MagLev, or Something

We desperately need a transit link between downtown and the airport. Every city worth its salt does. Maglev, as currently envisioned, could, some day, solve this problem. But if it doesn’t, we must build light-rail line either from the South Side, through the Wabash Tunnels and parkway west corridor, or from the North Shore and down the Ohio. Whatever is easier and cheaper. The advantage of Maglev is it potentially makes the region a technology and manufacturing center for a reinvigorated rail industry. The downside is Washington politics and federal bureaucracy. But that’s always an issue.

I don’t underestimate the complexity of these suggestions. But if it were easy, everyone would do it. The difference between talk and walk is the difference between Boston’s high functioning public transit system and Pittsburgh’s merely average one. This isn’t simply about convenience. History shows that light rail systems are an investment in the future. They don’t sap money (our current point of view); they create growth and improve the quality of urban life. While they’re at it, they reduce traffic, urban sprawl, and pollution. Most importantly, they empower people, broaden their worlds, and the dreams they can dream. Ask Portland, Seattle, Washington DC, even Dallas or, for that matter, anyone in town who is looking for a more civilized way to get from point A to point B.

Note: To see County Executive Dan Onorato's proposed transportation plan, click here.

You can access the 2007 Urban Mobility Report by clicking here.
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Chip Walter's latest book, Thumbs, Toes and Tears – And Other Traits That Make Us Human, is available in local bookstores as well as at Amazon.com and other online retailers. He’s currently working on his next book about why we make the choices we make.

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Captions:

Transportation exhibit at the Heinz History Center

Wood Street Station lobby

Early rush hour on the parkway

Port authority bus

Under ground

Hitching a ride

All photographs copyright Brian Cohen
http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/transportation1212.aspx?utm_campaign=Going%20Mobile&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=read%26nbsp%3Bmore

Tombstoner

12-22-2007, 12:47 PM

Teleropa got shut down in Oakland. I found this out after being out of town after 3 years. Seriously, If you don't understand the impact of the city's most influential cultural store being shut down for major retail I understand. Go to the Pittsburgh Mills! This really pisses me off. This shows that Oakland has sold out to Pitt University. That it wants nothing to do with individual independent store owners, and that Pitt ownes everything for the chain stores that it wants. Bravo Pitt! Yes, a Verizon will be implace!

I came back Christmas shopping this Holiday Season and was wishing to buy my brother a good old Grateful Dead T in Oakland. However,,,,,,,,,,,, Shut down...... Sold for another chain store hope to be coming. These little things like this are making us young professionals bail Pittsburgh and head to other places. I left for about three years to Denver, and Cd stores there were filled with young people, bongs and glass pipes (oh my God, I said Bongs in Pittsburgh), and good music in the city's store. I am getting sick of these places being kicked out of Pittsburgh. It is about time young people get a right to speak in this town.

Actually, I give up. I am moving away again. I am going to Seattle.

Lucky Seattle... (and dude, if you lay off the bong a bit your language skills might improve).

Johnland

12-22-2007, 01:35 PM

JackStraw

12-22-2007, 01:41 PM

JackStraw

12-22-2007, 01:44 PM

Lucky Seattle... (and dude, if you lay off the bong a bit your language skills might improve).

Also, there is no need to be a prick. I am talking about Pitt university buying up all of Oakland's independent stores, and turning it over for chain stores. However, you can't seem to comment on that and have to hit personal attacks. Yes I went down there to buy bongs when I was in High School and College. I don't anymore. I am a professional that doesn't need that anymore. However, living in a city where cultural shops like these are looked at as horrible, and closed down for chain stores helps say something.

There is also no need to write with perfect spelling and grammer in a message board to have people like you come and try to pick it apart. I am an engineer that is horrible at spelling. However, I can do differential equations and thermodynamics.

Anyways, This is not city-data.forum. This board is talking about Pittsburgh compilations.

JackStraw

12-22-2007, 01:51 PM

That is cool reading that Maglev could possibly rise from the dead. I just don't see it happening for decades.

PA Pride

12-22-2007, 06:04 PM

Jackstraw: As I recall, Teleropa was shut down as part of operation pipe dreams, a federal program to shut down paraphanelia stores.
Article: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/ongoing/pipedreams.html

So I don't think that was a city of Pittsburgh or Univ. of Pitt thing, I think it was a federal thing.

EventHorizon

12-22-2007, 06:09 PM

hyperion1110

12-22-2007, 07:14 PM

Yep - like pedophile settlement lawsuits.

Please leave comments like this elsewhere. They're not welcome here.

hyperion1110

12-22-2007, 07:24 PM

Mayan space portal of happiness and light planned for Point State Park in 2012

http://pointoflight.com/htmlpages/PghMaya.html

A couple gems from this website written by a 100% serious person:

What Can Pittsburghers (and anyone else) Do To Be A Vital Part Of This Grand Planetary Evolutionary Shift?

I think all of this will do wonders for real estate value. I'm just hoping for some street level retail/benches or something around the base of this portal to activate the area.

Nothing paints the city are positive more than some kind of light portal thingy. And, as strange as this might sound, if word of this actually spreads, I think Pittsburgh could very well become the hippie capital of the world. Take that, San Francisco! :D

AaronPGH

12-22-2007, 07:46 PM

And, as strange as this might sound, if word of this actually spreads, I think Pittsburgh could very well become the hippie capital of the world. Take that, San Francisco! :D

Don't worry...I am already planning a lunatic-fest for NYE 2011 at the point with all of my insane friends from elsewhere. :P We are thinking glow sticks, alcohol, tin foil costumes....etc. We'll see if people are still interested four years from now though. haha

PA Pride

12-22-2007, 10:39 PM

^Aaron, isn't just about every party you plan a lunatic-fest by the end of the night?

chucka

12-22-2007, 10:55 PM

I took a few photos of the 3 PNC building and surrounding area.

The steel is starting to rise:
http://lh4.google.com/chuck.alcorn/R22UX7M3OlI/AAAAAAAAEpI/ucK1evjZAjQ/IMG_3655.jpg?imgmax=512

http://lh4.google.com/chuck.alcorn/R22UZ7M3OrI/AAAAAAAAEp4/oCGAM-Ch1kk/IMG_3661.jpg?imgmax=512

Candy Rama is gone, construction will soon start on the apartments and new YMCA:
http://lh4.google.com/chuck.alcorn/R22UY7M3OoI/AAAAAAAAEpg/PU0Yd9dcQcM/IMG_3658.jpg?imgmax=512

PHLF's development of new apartments:
http://lh5.google.com/chuck.alcorn/R22UZLM3OpI/AAAAAAAAEpo/6K4gEEwc0Wo/IMG_3659.jpg?imgmax=512

UrbaniDesDev

12-22-2007, 11:22 PM

It was late at night. Look, I don't even smoke any more and gave that up years ago. However, I am looking at this city on a perspective after being out west. You see the things that attract young people, and make a city thrive for young professionals. I move back to Pittsburgh, knowing that this city is a great city with a strong urban core. However, every friend I have moved away to Seattle, Denver, Austin, N.Y., Boston, and others. They close down anything cool, and everybody that I work for is a old, and very conservative thought, Rush Limbaugh listening person. The suburbs seem to be the thriving areas. I took a real chance with coming back to Pittsburgh, and now I am feeling that I am regretting it.

I do understand what you're saying JS. I moved here from Miami Beach a few years ago, before that I was in Manhattan and I could go on. It is not Seattle, Austin or SF (maybe Denver). I still get the urge to chuck it all and leave. It can be very frustrating here. I do believe there is a great future here and it has come a long way and it will be getting even better. That said, it can be a real bore. The nightlife here has dropped off significantly since I moved here. It has always seemed to go in waves here. For awhile there was an amazing selection of things to do then evreything changes. It seems we are always saying, well this is the turning point, and if we just get this it will be great. The fact is, it is very homogenized here and most people are from here, grew up here and outsiders will always be outsiders. Frankly, I am currently eyeballing New Orleans

PA Pride

12-22-2007, 11:31 PM

^Dang! What's up with the wave of pessimism here lately?!? Is this cold winter weather getting to you people?? haha.

hyperion1110

12-22-2007, 11:33 PM

I do understand what you're saying JS. I moved here from Miami Beach a few years ago, before that I was in Manhattan and I could go on. It is not Seattle, Austin or SF (maybe Denver). I still get the urge to chuck it all and leave. It can be very frustrating here. I do believe there is a great future here and it has come a long way and it will be getting even better. That said, it can be a real bore. The nightlife here has dropped off significantly since I moved here. It has always seemed to go in waves here. For awhile there was an amazing selection of things to do then evreything changes. It seems we are always saying, well this is the turning point, and if we just get this it will be great. The fact is, it is very homogenized here and most people are from here, grew up here and outsiders will always be outsiders. Frankly, I am currently eyeballing New Orleans

But is New Orleans the focal point of the world's spiritual light??? I tell ya...people will be coming here by the dozens for that 2012 thing! :banaride:

hyperion1110

12-23-2007, 12:28 AM

PA Pride

12-23-2007, 03:09 AM

^My cousin has rented out of a beautiful old victorian house for 8 years at the corner of Dithridge and Centre (i think...). They are about to tear it down and I think this is what is going to be built there.

Actually not a bad idea, because across the street and next to these houses are highrise buildings, so it will be in context with the street.

Evergrey

12-23-2007, 04:21 AM

PittPenn 03

12-23-2007, 09:25 AM

*now back to your regularly scheduled "woe is me, I live in Pittsburgh" whinefest*

But come on now, the grass is always greener anywhere else...

Johnland

12-23-2007, 01:59 PM

Okay, maybe I missed the boat on this one a while back...or I just forgot about it. But Renaissance 3 Architects has on their website some (really horrible) renderings of a 56 unit condo tower to be built on Dithridge St in Oakland.

Here's a picture:

http://www.r3a.com/download/dithridge-1-large.jpg

After looking at Renaissance 3 Architects website for this project, the best I can figure is that it is going in mid-block between Centre Ave and Bayard St. If it is, then it will be located directly across the street from a house I lived in for 4 years right after college. I believe that house is still there last I checked Google Street finder map. I rented the 3rd floor. That house is sort of a Queen Ann shingle style, more or less. An older highrise condo was next door. On the other side is some church facility. At the corner of Bayard and Dithridge, the Scientologists built a horrible little suburban church. And now this 10 story condo. Times have really changed for this block. In the early 80's, there was just the one high rise condo, the rest of the block was lined with tightly packed older homes, most of which were cut into apartments for students. In summer, when the universities emptied out, the people who stayed on in the neighborhood seemed to have one season-long party session. It was quite a fun time. Howver, I can see how that corner of Oakland is now changing over to higher uses. The location was absolutley one of the best spots to live in Pittsburgh. Close to Pitt, CMU, museums, Shadyside, Sq. Hill, all the bus lines..I could go on.

PA Pride

12-23-2007, 09:22 PM

^Sounds like fun John. I know that area well and you are correct; It is a very dense, happenining place.

As for the location on Dithridge: I can't really tell. We'll have to wait and see where exactly this thing is supposed to be built.

hyperion1110

12-23-2007, 10:38 PM

Maybe some people are actually starting to use their thinking caps...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_544160.html

Allegheny Valley commuter rail gains ground
By Liz Hayes
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Sunday, December 23, 2007

After years of barely chugging along, the planning process for a proposed Allegheny Valley commuter rail has kicked into high gear.

The Westmoreland County Transit Authority on Thursday agreed to pay a contractor $500,000 to study the feasibility of offering commuter rail services from New Kensington to Pittsburgh, as well as from Greensburg to Pittsburgh.

The day before, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a 2008 budget that includes a $1 million earmark for commuter rail projects in Allegheny County.

Christina Stacey, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, said about half that money is intended for planning and development of the Allegheny Valley rail line. The other half will go to the Mon Valley.

Stacey said the budget already was passed by the Senate and is awaiting President George W. Bush's signature.

State Sen. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, has long been a crusader for the Allegheny Valley commuter rail project.

"We need another way into Pittsburgh," Dermody said, pointing to the past year's construction hassles on Route 28 and PennDOT's plans to continue rehabilitating the expressway for several years.

Dermody, along with numerous local officials up and down the Allegheny River, for years has been searching for funding to launch a full study that will determine whether a commuter rail is possible.

Dermody and Westmoreland County Transit officials said the feasibility study will look at ridership, operation details, cost, station locations and condition of existing railroad tracks.

"Obviously, we don't want to invest millions until we're sure it works," Dermody said.

The cost of the New Kensington-to-Pittsburgh line has been estimated to be at least $140 million.

Proponents are interested in using tracks owned by Allegheny Valley Railroad, a Verona-based freight company.

Railroad President Russell Peterson said he is interested in having commuter trains run on his tracks.

"It was in 1998 that the Allegheny Valley Railroad Co. first made the lines in New Kensington available to the public," Peterson said. He said a study at that time found there were no "fatal flaws" to developing a commuter line.

Peterson's company earlier this month was awarded a $1 million grant to improve a bridge over the Allegheny River between Pittsburgh and Millvale.

Peterson said the work will replace old timber and rails and improve a junction on the bridge that connects two rail lines. The total work will cost about $1.5 million, with the railroad kicking in the remaining half-million dollars, Peterson said.

"The repairs will be improvements that last 25 years," Peterson said.

Since the bridge connects two routes, one linking Pittsburgh, Butler and Buffalo, N.Y., and the other running from New Kensington to Pittsburgh, Peterson said it will allow for the continued growth of his freight business.

"Our freight traffic continues to grow as more companies shift from trucking," he said. "As fuel costs go up, more companies consider rail."

Peterson estimated shipping products by train uses about 30 percent less fuel per mile than truck traffic.

Although the work is not being completed for the proposed commuter train, Peterson said the repairs are being made to tracks the line would use.

Peterson said it's about time the city goes back to some type of commuter rail system.

"We were the last to lose our trolleys, and we'll be the last to get them back," he said. "If one were to travel to almost any other major city in the U.S., you'll find commuter rails are more developed."

Dermody said a commuter rail would offer a good alternate to Route 28, which he said is limited in how much it can be expanded to accommodate increased traffic.

"You can't widen Route 28 -- it's between a river and a mountain," he said. "We need another way."

Liz Hayes can be reached at lhayes@tribweb.com or 724-226-4680.

Evergrey

12-26-2007, 09:49 PM

nothin' goin' on in Pittsburgh... go away!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_544492.html

Workers busy in region's building boom

By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

At age 46, David Leehan might seem a little old to be an apprentice.
The resident of Cambridge Springs in Crawford County is one of 240 ironworker apprentices alternating between classes at the Iron Workers Local No. 3 training center in the Strip District and jobs across Western Pennsylvania.

With dozens of construction projects under way and planned in the region, Leehan is confident the temporary cut in pay -- compared to wages he earned for 27 years working in natural gas, marine and other industrial construction -- will be worth it.

"If you're a good ironworker, you can make a name for yourself," said Leehan, who is pursuing the training because a union job will offer a pension and better benefits. "I'll probably keep working until I'm 65 or 70."

With the proliferation of office, hospital and university construction, the North Shore Connector work, planned upgrades to industrial plants, and drawing boards holding designs for a hockey arena and casino in Pittsburgh, industry watchers say ongoing construction is the busiest since the "Plan B" convention center-stadiums building of the late 1990s.
The value of annual construction in the region in recent years has averaged about $2.5 billion, said Jeff Burd, president of Ross-based construction consulting firm Tall Timber Marketing Group. This year, that figure is $3.5 billion.

"Other than the very, very height of Plan B, this is the highest level of construction we've approached in 20 years," Burd said.

Among the big projects are PNC's $179 million "green" office tower and hotel-condo complex Downtown; nearly 1 million square feet of headquarters for Westinghouse Electric Co. in Cranberry; and the $625 million, five-building Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville.

Less evident to casual observers, but making boilermakers popular, are upgrades to power stations in Masontown, Cheswick and Shelocta. That's in addition to U.S. Steel's November announcement that it will invest $1 billion in its Clairton coke works over the next several years, plus numerous ongoing state and local highway projects.

For the 20,000 workers represented by the region's 19 trade unions, this means a reversal of the 20 percent unemployment rate of just 18 months ago, said Rich Stanizzo, business manager for the Building and Construction Trades Council.

"In the past six months, all of the trades are between 95 and 100 percent employed," Stanizzo said. "If we're lucky, we're hoping it will last four or five years, depending on what happens in the economy."

Few observers said they see any immediate upward wage pressure, because union workers -- who make up most of the nonresidential construction work force here -- have multi-year contracts that lock in wages.

"You're tending to see planned overtime, and (night) shift work," Burd said. "With all the work that's going on right now, I'm sure a lot of these guys are feeling underpaid."

To bring more able-bodied men and women into the pipeline, trade groups have stepped up advertising and marketing of their training programs -- basically free to qualified applicants.

Jason Fincke, executive director of the Builders Guild of Western Pennsylvania, said he and his colleagues have been to 15 career fairs in six weeks, from Oakland's Schenley High to schools in rural Beaver County.

The number of apprentices in the 17 programs across 23 building trades has doubled since three years ago, Fincke said, with between 700 and 1,000 individuals enrolled.

Jason McGrorey, 22, of Erie, an ironworker apprentice taking a quick break from his structural-steel class last week, said he has experienced one of the big rewards of his field -- walking through Presque Isle Downs & Casino, fabricated with steel from an Erie company where he worked.

"You feel like you've accomplished something," he said, "especially when you can go to these places when they're finished."

Bonnie Pfister can be reached at bpfister@tribweb.com or 412-320-7886.

Evergrey

12-26-2007, 10:01 PM

Pittsburgh is getting its first Jamba Juice! Maybe now we'll be able to capture a little bit of that Seattle/Denver "cool"...

On a more serious note... this article is about the resurgence of Uptown... led by Duquesne University's Power Center development.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_544467.html

Forbes Avenue a work in progress

By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Dwight Mayo is the type of individual who can improve a neighborhood.
When he decided to locate his Transportation Solutions Corp.'s maintenance building from Washington Boulevard in East Liberty, he considered city and suburban locations before deciding on the 1900 block of Forbes Avenue, in the city's Uptown area.

As a result, about 22 of his more than 100 employees are working in a new 9,900-square-foot building on a site once occupied by three vacant structures.

His company operates about 90 shuttle buses that provide transportation to employees of such operations as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, senior care facilities and day care centers. Users park their autos in various locations, and the buses take them to work.

"I selected the Forbes site because I wanted to be in close proximity to my major clients," said Mayo, Transportation Solutions president.
Mayo, who has dispatchers, mechanics, managers and some shuttle drivers operating at his new maintenance building and office on Forbes, is one of a growing number of companies, organizations and individuals who have decided to locate or expand in the Forbes corridor.

Dr. Francis Hurite is another one.

He decided to consolidate his practice -- Everett & Hurite Ophthalmic Association -- from two locations into one.

Hurite said he decided to buy the building that once housed the Program for Offenders Inc. at 1835 Forbes for $1.85 million and renovate the facility.

The firm's business and clinical offices in the Mercy Ambulatory Center of Mercy Hospital were closed and moved to the new site.

Other new occupants of the corridor are the Laborers' District Council of Western Pennsylvania and the Laborers' Combined Funds. They relocated in May to the Forbes-Pride Building at 1425 Forbes Ave..

Perhaps the most noticeable development along Forbes is work by Duquesne University.

One example is the $35 million Power Center that is scheduled for a formal opening in January. It's the first of a number of developments the university envisions on a two-block area of Forbes acquired by Duquesne over a period of years.

"We want the opening to be part of Pittsburgh's 250th celebration," said Steve Schillo, Duquesne's vice president for management and business, referring to the city's anniversary in 2008.

Next year also is Duquesne's 130th birthday, he said.

The first level of the 125,000-square-foot building, off Watson Street, houses a Barnes & Noble bookstore, as well as mechanical and maintenance systems.

The main entrance off Forbes houses the second floor of Barnes & Noble, the Red Ring restaurant (to be operated by the university) and a combination deli and Jamba Juice Bar outlet. Within Barnes & Noble will be a second Starbucks on campus.

Other features include a fitness center with aerobic studio, cardio machines and classroom on the second level. The third level has a gymnasium with full-sized basketball/volleyball court and other studios.

A mezzanine between the third and fourth floors will provide a walking/jogging track along the perimeter that overlooks the basketball court.

The fourth level will have another gym with a basketball/volleyball court, two racquetball courts, studios and a free weight training room.

The fifth floor will provide a ballroom with a pre-function area, balconies and kitchen. This level will provide the connection to the rest of the campus via the Frank and Florence Sklar pedestrian walkway.

"Sstudents and faculty will use the activities in the building, and we look forward to many Downtown employees and residents visiting the bookstore," Schillo said.

Duquesne's plans for the corridor include academic facilities, student housing and retail.

Those elements are included in university's 10-year campus master plan approved by the city in 2004.

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

PA Pride

12-26-2007, 10:38 PM

^Could the fifth/forbes corridor through uptown become a hot new neighborhood? I think possibly so...

Evergrey

12-26-2007, 10:47 PM

^Could the fifth/forbes corridor through uptown become a hot new neighborhood? I think possibly so...

Its location is awesome when you think about it... right between Downtown and Oakland and across the river from SouthSide... and hosting Duquesne University. The new arena and associated development should be a huge boost to Uptown as well.

I think the city needs to make an effort to "soften" the harsh edges caused by the heavily-trafficked Fifth, Forbes and the Blvd of the Allies on its southern edge. A Downtown-Oakland LRT line could help relieve Uptown.

Unfortunately, much of its historic building stock has been lost or is in disrepair. The city has finally cracked down on a guy from Carnegie that has bought up many properties in Uptown and converted them into illegal parking lots. The old hulking Fifth Ave. High School is mostly empty, I believe, and could be a great adaptive reuse project if the economics are right... it could be a residential conversion like the schoolhouse in Deutschtown.

PA Pride

12-26-2007, 11:03 PM

Good points Evergrey. I agree with everything you said.

However, I think that while there are a lot of "missing teeth" gaps throughout that area, there is still quite a collection of nice old townhouses and large commercial/educational buildings that could be renovated and make that a hot location.

AaronPGH

12-27-2007, 12:53 AM

I think the empty lots in uptown could potentially turn into a positive. It's much cheaper to build new on a blank property than to rehab. We could see some nice infill if it takes off!

hyperion1110

12-27-2007, 05:50 AM

Ravenstahl looks like even more of an idiot after this one. But, kudos to UPMC for doing the right thing...in the end, at least.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07361/844779-85.stm

UPMC drops tax credit bid
Goes forward with pledge of $100 million to Promise

Thursday, December 27, 2007
By Matthew P. Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Citing the controversy that has embroiled its $100 million pledge for a city high school scholarship program, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said yesterday it was dropping its request for a tax credit in exchange for its commitment to the Pittsburgh Promise.

UPMC officials announced the pledge to the scholarship program on Dec. 5. UPMC said it would give $100 million over 10 years to fund the Pittsburgh Promise, an effort by the city and the Pittsburgh Public Schools to ensure that all graduates have the money needed to go to college.

Several days after the much ballyhooed announcement, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on Dec. 17 asked City Council to ensure that if UPMC was ever required to make payments to the city, it would get what a proposed resolution calls a "tax credit equal to certain payment which may be made by UPMC to the Pittsburgh Promise."

His request generated controversy and drew immediate criticism from City Council members who balked at the idea of giving the medical giant a tax break. There was no mention of a tax credit or tax break at the time UPMC made its pledge to the Pittsburgh Promise.

Last week, the city school board, in an 8-1 vote, voted to give UPMC possible tax credits in exchange for its commitment. But city council members have balked at passage and called for a public hearing on the matter.

In a statement yesterday, however, UPMC said it was waiving the tax-break condition and would make its initial $10 million contribution and $90 million in matching donations to Pittsburgh Promise.

Jeffrey Romoff, UPMC president and CEO, said UPMC was waiving the provisions of its commitment that would have required City Council approval.

"The initial outpouring of enthusiastic support for The Pittsburgh Promise speaks to its immense value to the community and our children," Mr. Romoff said. "With our decision to move forward without requiring City Council approval, we ask that everyone refocus attention on what is truly important -- building and sustaining widespread and financially significant public support for The Pittsburgh Promise, which is essential for the program's success."

By removing its requirement for Council approval, UPMC believes it has eliminated the source of controversy surrounding its commitment, UPMC's statement said.

"We believe it is more important to move forward with the program than to worry about a hypothetical situation, which is highly unlikely to arise," UPMC general counsel Robert Cindrich said in a statement.

Mr. Ravenstahl could not be reached for comment.

UPMC said it would continue contributing to the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund, which the city established to seek money from nonprofits to bolster its finances. UPMC said it has given $1.5 million annually for three years and will give another $1.5 million in 2008.

UPMC said it could withhold its contribution to Pittsburgh Promise if the hospital system encounters a deficit in any year. UPMC earned a record $618 million in fiscal 2007.

"We encourage business leaders, foundations and individuals to join us in attaining the dual objectives of The Pittsburgh Promise: making higher education achievable for Pittsburgh's public school students and their parents, and enhancing the growth, stability and economic development of the City by providing a substantial incentive for families with school-aged children to reside in the City," said Mr. Romoff.

Matthew P. Smith can be reached at msmith@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1738.

Evergrey

12-27-2007, 07:08 AM

yay... looks like the bad PR finally cracked UPMC...

anyways... here is an article about a key piece of property downtown

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07361/844729-53.stm

County to seek proposals for Smithfield St. office building

Thursday, December 27, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In October, a panel of experts envisioned the One Smithfield Street office building, Downtown, as an "iconic theater complex" that would include a relocated Pittsburgh Playhouse.

Now, Allegheny County will give potential developers a chance to carry out that vision -- or another -- for the prominent piece of real estate located at the north end of the Smithfield Street Bridge.

After gauging interest in the property earlier this year, the county's Industrial Development Authority plans to seek formal proposals next month from anyone with an interest in redeveloping the building and an adjacent parking lot.

The decision could open the door for Point Park University to make a pitch for the property, either as a means of expanding its Downtown campus or to fulfill the vision of the panel of experts from the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute.

The panel recommended in October that Point Park acquire the building and make it the new home of the Pittsburgh Playhouse, now based in Oakland, as part of a theater complex that would serve as its front door.

Whether the university will bid for the real estate remains to be seen. Mariann Geyer, vice president for university advancement, said One Smithfield Street is "an idea on a list but that's about it."

Ms. Geyer said no decisions on potential acquisitions will be made until the spring, when Point Park completes a master space planning process that will help to guide its destiny.

"It remains a potential location on our list. We haven't ruled in or out any of those [potential sites] at this point because we're still working through the master space process," she said.

Point Park also may have an interest in the YMCA building on the Boulevard of the Allies, which is up for sale now that the Downtown Y has cut a deal to move to the former G.C. Murphy store on Fifth Avenue once it is redeveloped in late 2008 or early 2009.

Ms. Geyer would not comment on whether Point Park has made an offer on the YMCA building. She said the university may have something to say after the first of the year.

She added that Point Park has been concentrating much of its focus on the Wood Street corridor, where most of its main academic and residential buildings are located, and she expects that to remain the case into the future.

The university currently is the second largest real estate owner Downtown, with 14 properties under its control.

One developer who definitely intends to submit a proposal for the property is Ralph Falbo, who developed the 151 First Side condominium tower, Downtown.

Mr. Falbo has plans to erect another building with about 120 condominiums and a boutique hotel with about 80 rooms in the parking lot. There also would be underground parking. He would keep the office building intact.

"We think we're the best people to do the job. We've already done it. We'd like to do it again. Plus, we think we've got a really nice proposal," he said.

Mr. Falbo was one of four developers to respond to a request for qualifications issued by the county earlier this year relating to the One Smithfield Street property.

The county has not released the names of the other developers, but Economic Development Director Dennis Davin has said their plans involved condos or apartments.

At the same time, the county, which purchased the property for $8.2 million in 2004, has heard from others with interest in the site.

Bob Hurley, deputy director of development and business development for the county's Economic Development Department, said the interest in the property was "probably better than we anticipated."

The county is looking for the "highest and best use" for the property, Mr. Hurley said. Developers also must account for the county employees in the building -- whether they would stay or be relocated. Many county human services agencies are housed there.

Mr. Hurley said the county hopes to make a decision on a developer by early spring. If none of the proposals is to its satisfaction, it could end up keeping the status quo, he said.

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

JackStraw

12-30-2007, 07:20 AM

Nothing paints the city are positive more than some kind of light portal thingy. And, as strange as this might sound, if word of this actually spreads, I think Pittsburgh could very well become the hippie capital of the world. Take that, San Francisco! :D

Swwweeeeettttt!!!! Lets move Dulcineas 100th monkey, Cervantes, Quixotes, and Sanchoes broken arrow here, and I will feel at home!

AaronPGH

12-30-2007, 06:39 PM

yay... looks like the bad PR finally cracked UPMC...

I ended up going to the city council holiday party friday night (what an experience) with my good friend who works on the budget team. From what I heard from talking to a couple council people and aides there (who had alcohol in them and loose lips), it was actually NOT UPMC that asked for the tax credit in the first place! Yarone Zober is supposedly the person that jumped too quickly and asked for that for them. He is the person that has been spearheading this whole thing from the beginning I guess.

Evergrey

12-30-2007, 08:12 PM

Which explains why he "scolded" Council when they objected to the hypothetical tax break...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07364/845137-85.stm

Construction boom brings big demand for workers

Sunday, December 30, 2007
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Although transportation spending attracts public attention because it affects travel, commercial spending for new and ongoing projects in the region is at a record pace.

The Majestic Star Casino ($450 million) on the North Shore, a new Children's Hospital ($625 million) in Lawrenceville and a new Pittsburgh Arena ($290 million) for the Penguins in the Uptown area amount to more than $1.3 billion in construction in Pittsburgh.

Then there's the 23-story Three PNC Plaza ($178 million) and Millcraft Industries housing and retail projects ($102 million), both Downtown; Bakery Square ($113 million) in Larimer; plus hotels, office buildings and parking garages at the Pittsburgh Technology Center, SouthSide Works and elsewhere.

Mostly privately funded capital projects being built in the city alone could eclipse $2 billion in 2008, officials have estimated.

Mike Welsh, business agent for the Greater Pennsylvania Regional Council of Carpenters, characterized the activity as part of the region's biggest building boom since the 1990s, when Heinz Field, PNC Park, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Fort Duquesne Bridge repairs and South Hills light-rail rehabilitation were under way at virtually the same time.

He said the trades union currently has about 1,000 apprentices, from "heavy highway" workers to pile drivers.

When the Building and Construction Trades Council members are included, up to 13,000 union workers will be engaged in such jobs as wiring, plumbing, finishing walls and laying floor tile.

"Employment is going to grow," Mr. Welsh said. "It helps make up for the slowdown in the residential building market and plants cutting back or shutting down."

Some of the other high-cost, high-impact new or recently begun projects include:

• A permanent Meadowlands casino and hotel in Washington County, $155 million;

• U.S. Steel Corp. improvements at the Clairton Works, $1 billion over several years;

• New Westinghouse Corp. headquarters and office complex in Cranberry, $164 million;

• Emissions controls at Allegheny Energy's Hatfield Power Plant in Greene County, $550 million;

• Duquesne Light Co.'s refurbishing and upgrades to its power distribution system, $500 million; and

• North Shore, South Side, Pittsburgh Technology Center and Downtown hotels by Kratsa Properties, of Harmar, $80 million.

Other major projects are pending, including the largest potential development in Cranberry's history, The Summit at Cranberry, a joint enterprise by the Simon Property Group and Lauth Property Group.

The firms are trying to close a funding gap in nearly $80 million worth of transportation improvements necessary to gain approval for the shopping-residential-office complex that would span Route 228 from Route 19 in Cranberry to Myoma Road in Adams.

PA Pride

12-30-2007, 09:35 PM

^That is a lot of construction!

Let's hope we get sexy construction workers:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DdLmyMUjXAM

Tombstoner

12-30-2007, 09:42 PM

^That is a lot of construction!

Let's hope we get sexy construction workers:

Let's hope we get some sexy construction!

PA Pride

12-30-2007, 10:06 PM

^Yeah, that too! hhaha. i was trying to embed a youtube video and couldnt figure it out. The best i could do was a link...

hyperion1110

12-30-2007, 10:19 PM

I ended up going to the city council holiday party friday night (what an experience) with my good friend who works on the budget team. From what I heard from talking to a couple council people and aides there (who had alcohol in them and loose lips), it was actually NOT UPMC that asked for the tax credit in the first place! Yarone Zober is supposedly the person that jumped too quickly and asked for that for them. He is the person that has been spearheading this whole thing from the beginning I guess.

The whole thing sounded so student...I knew it had to come from the Ravenstahl camp. It's infuriating that this yutz is our mayor!

hyperion1110

12-30-2007, 10:32 PM

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07364/845428-85.stm

This is another example of stupidity from the county and state governments. If they took half of this money to those projects and used it for mass transit, we could build light rail to Oakland and to PIT, easily. Don't these people realize that road traffic is going to significantly decline over the next 20 years, what with the price of gas and all???

hyperion1110

12-30-2007, 10:42 PM

This is a great article...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07364/845122-85.stm

The Pittsburgh Promise's first lesson
Sunday, December 30, 2007
By Brian O'Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There's an excellent chance the next generation of Pittsburghers won't grow up to be as dumb as the current ruling class appeared to be for the better part of a week.

The Pittsburgh Promise is back on track and will provide $5,000 grants for college tuition to city high school graduates beginning next spring.

The ugly spat between City Council and UPMC is over. Everyone is playing nice again. There's no more tussling over credits for a city tax that doesn't exist and isn't likely to exist anytime soon.

Before we leave that dustup in the rearview mirror, we ought to step back and see what got everyone so riled.

The city's largest employers, the hospitals and universities, are largely exempt from what small businesses have to pay city hall. As nonprofits, they don't pay property or payroll taxes. What's weird is that people didn't seem to care much about that until UPMC -- which stands for either the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center or a Uniquely Prosperous Mega Corporation, depending upon whom is speaking -- pledged up to $100 million to The Promise.

UPMC figured that was enough. So it asked that, if new taxes are imposed in the next 10 years, it could get credit for what it would pay to the Promise. The reaction against that idea was so swift and furious that, early last week, UPMC said it didn't need the tax credits.

The arguments were as fierce as the premise was unlikely. References during the debate about what the city would get if UPMC paid property taxes were a bit like that old "Saturday Night Live'' sketch that asked, "What if Napoleon had a B-52 at the Battle of Waterloo?" Nonprofit hospitals don't pay property taxes. Not here, and not anywhere else in America. Some cities get "Payments In Lieu Of Taxes,'' but few of these PILOTs have flown straight for very long.

Pittsburgh used to get more in PILOTs but, in 1997, the state Legislature unanimously approved something called Act 55. That law still protects nonprofits from legal challenges, and so we now have this voluntary system that shields them from even having to say how much (or how little) they kick in.

Is it possible to overturn this law that works in nonprofits' favor? In theory, yes, but there's no movement to do so in Harrisburg. If a serious bill ever came up, nearly every hospital, university, foundation and charitable farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in Pennsylvania would line up to keep things pretty much as they are.

Spokesmen for organizations such as the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania argue that Act 55 reduces costly lawsuits by making the rules clear and uniform. The hospital association points out that Pennsylvania is the only large state without public hospitals, and so they must act as the safety net for the poor and uninsured. The association of nonprofits says about one out of every nine workers in Pennsylvania is employed by a nonprofit, and they make about 11 percent of the state's total wages.

Applying a single tax to such a diverse group not only would be difficult, it would spark court fights.

So what do you do when the hospitals and universities are regional economic engines, but Pennsylvania's fractured governmental system makes it tough on whoever hosts them?

State Rep. Bob Freeman, a Democrat from Easton, has introduced a bill that would redirect state money to compensate communities with high levels of tax-exempt property. It would take money generated from the current 18 percent tax on wine and liquor, which now goes into the general fund, and spread it among communities from Meadville to Gettysburg with high levels of tax-exempt property.

Pittsburgh would get the maximum $24 million each year, more than five times what the city's dozens of nonprofits currently contribute combined. Spokesmen for the hospital and nonprofit associations say they like Rep. Freeman's bill.

Such a redirection of money would amount to less than 1 percent of the state budget. Rep. Freeman thinks that with Ed Rendell -- a former Philadelphia mayor -- in the governor's mansion, there should be an unusually receptive ear. But before we begin that conversation, let's finish this one.

Now that UPMC has pledged up to $100 million to the Promise over 10 years, who's next? The health giant says it will put up a buck for each $1.50 everyone else contributes.

Well, let's see. The University of Pittsburgh's endowment is around $2 billion and Carnegie Mellon University's is about $1 billion. The city hosts those non-profits, too.

One-tenth of 1 percent of $1 billion is $1 million. I'm just saying.

Johnland

12-31-2007, 12:33 PM

[/B]http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07364/845428-85.stm

This is another example of stupidity from the county and state governments. If they took half of this money to those projects and used it for mass transit, we could build light rail to Oakland and to PIT, easily. Don't these people realize that road traffic is going to significantly decline over the next 20 years, what with the price of gas and all???

There is obviously a ton of money available.....for road work. It is alot of money when you add up the projects under way or planned for the near future. Much of it is necessary maintance, which thankfully is being done.

However, it does underscore our society's penchant for roads and cars. Other regions are building systems from scratch, or expanding existing systems. Pittsburgh ought to put in place the glaring missing piece of it's tiny little system - the Oakland line. That would have to compliment ridership on the South Hills line, I would think. I just forsee a devastating urban malady looming for Oakland the longer it lacks rail service, but continues to grow as an economic powerhouse for the region - namely the need for parking for all those thousands of students and workers who trek in daily. Scarce land in Oakland will by default be devoted to parking garages.

hyperion1110

12-31-2007, 02:34 PM

[/B]

There is obviously a ton of money available.....for road work. It is alot of money when you add up the projects under way or planned for the near future. Much of it is necessary maintance, which thankfully is being done.

However, it does underscore our society's penchant for roads and cars. Other regions are building systems from scratch, or expanding existing systems. Pittsburgh ought to put in place the glaring missing piece of it's tiny little system - the Oakland line. That would have to compliment ridership on the South Hills line, I would think. I just forsee a devastating urban malady looming for Oakland the longer it lacks rail service, but continues to grow as an economic powerhouse for the region - namely the need for parking for all those thousands of students and workers who trek in daily. Scarce land in Oakland will by default be devoted to parking garages.

I agree with most of what you're saying, except for the part about the garages. I don't think they'll sacrifice space in Oakland for parking garages...I think they'll continue to mothball the Hill and Uptown further. But, either way, the end result is the same. Perhaps Pitt, CMU, Carlow, and Chatham could get together and make a monorail, circulating traffic between the campuses, and, by extension, Oakland and Squirrel Hill/Shadyside? Then, you'd only need to connect through Uptown to connect the system to the T. Maybe Duquesne, Robert Morris, Point Park, and the Art Institute could kick in?

Johnland

12-31-2007, 04:06 PM

I agree with most of what you're saying, except for the part about the garages. I don't think they'll sacrifice space in Oakland for parking garages...I think they'll continue to mothball the Hill and Uptown further. But, either way, the end result is the same. Perhaps Pitt, CMU, Carlow, and Chatham could get together and make a monorail, circulating traffic between the campuses, and, by extension, Oakland and Squirrel Hill/Shadyside? Then, you'd only need to connect through Uptown to connect the system to the T. Maybe Duquesne, Robert Morris, Point Park, and the Art Institute could kick in?

I've read about the creep who has been creating vacant lots to use as parking lots in the Hill. The thing is, I know the Hill has sunk to an extreme level of decreptitude, but it's location actually gives it gentrification potential. Not that I want to see local residents forced out, but rather an overall uplifting of the Hill and Uptown neighborhoods to be cohesive parts of the city. They are largely economic no-man's land between bustling Oakland and Downtown. If the day ever comes (and I realize it may be a long way off) when population growth is increasing, the Hill could theoretically become a good neighborhood. It's already a great location. The housing stock contains some of the oldest homes in the city. It could be restored.

Grego43

12-31-2007, 04:39 PM

Perhaps Pitt, CMU, Carlow, and Chatham could get together and make a monorail, circulating traffic between the campuses, and, by extension, Oakland and Squirrel Hill/Shadyside? Then, you'd only need to connect through Uptown to connect the system to the T. Maybe Duquesne, Robert Morris, Point Park, and the Art Institute could kick in?

I would disagree with installing a unique transport system in Oakland. The key to high ridership is single-seat, or at least single-system connectivity. LRVs could circulate around Oakland and integrate into a larger system. If someone from the South Hills, for instance, has to catch a bus to a T station, take the T to Oakland, then jump on another mode of transit...you'll lose a lot of potential riders. Keep it simple, go where people want to go everyday, and you'll have huge ridership. Witness the Light Rail systems in Portland, St Louis, Denver, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake.

Examples of where systems don't work so well: Miami, where to get around the CBD from Metrorail, one must transfer at one of two stations to the MetroMover, a slowwwwwwww circulator, or a bus. JFK airport, where you take the Skytrain to either the LIRR Jamaica station, or the Howard Beach subway, but when you get to the city, you transfer again to subways or buses.

While I'm bloviating...One mile tunnels under a river to the tune of nearly 1/2 BILLION DOLLARS is sure sexy...but a total waste of money. (sorry but I can't resist) No matter what people say, the Northshore is not the way to get the T to PIT...you would still need to cross back over the Ohio. The way to PIT is from Station Square...

Johnland

12-31-2007, 11:46 PM

While I'm bloviating...One mile tunnels under a river to the tune of nearly 1/2 BILLION DOLLARS is sure sexy...but a total waste of money. (sorry but I can't resist) No matter what people say, the Northshore is not the way to get the T to PIT...you would still need to cross back over the Ohio. The way to PIT is from Station Square...

I've always thought in terms of a line heading to Oakland from Downtown through the Hill District. But a line connecting to Station Sq. , going through the South Side, across the river on a bridge into Oakland could work. It would connect Oakland, the economic engine neighborhood, with South Side, the entertainment and shopping neighborhood. Just another pipe dream, but still....

hyperion1110

12-31-2007, 11:55 PM

I would disagree with installing a unique transport system in Oakland. The key to high ridership is single-seat, or at least single-system connectivity. LRVs could circulate around Oakland and integrate into a larger system. If someone from the South Hills, for instance, has to catch a bus to a T station, take the T to Oakland, then jump on another mode of transit...you'll lose a lot of potential riders. Keep it simple, go where people want to go everyday, and you'll have huge ridership. Witness the Light Rail systems in Portland, St Louis, Denver, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake.

Examples of where systems don't work so well: Miami, where to get around the CBD from Metrorail, one must transfer at one of two stations to the MetroMover, a slowwwwwwww circulator, or a bus. JFK airport, where you take the Skytrain to either the LIRR Jamaica station, or the Howard Beach subway, but when you get to the city, you transfer again to subways or buses.

While I'm bloviating...One mile tunnels under a river to the tune of nearly 1/2 BILLION DOLLARS is sure sexy...but a total waste of money. (sorry but I can't resist) No matter what people say, the Northshore is not the way to get the T to PIT...you would still need to cross back over the Ohio. The way to PIT is from Station Square...

I wasn't advocating for a system like light rail in Oakland, though I think that would be one way to go. Other than morning and evening rush hour, most bus traffic in Oakland is intra- and inter-university travel by students and employees. That said, a monorail-type system like WVU operates would be an idea for the near term. And, it could be designed in such a way as to be integrated with a light rail system passing through the neighborhood.

At any rate, it was just a thought. I'm not even sure if it would work. But like the guy said in the Post-Gazette, there are billions of dollars just sitting in Oakland...let them spend a little of it. To be fair, though, Pitt kicks in a LOT more money than CMU does, in pretty much every capacity. Transportation, jobs, infrastructure upgrades, etc.

Tombstoner

01-01-2008, 12:46 AM

But like the guy said in the Post-Gazette, there are billions of dollars just sitting in Oakland...let them spend a little of it. To be fair, though, Pitt kicks in a LOT more money than CMU does, in pretty much every capacity. Transportation, jobs, infrastructure upgrades, etc.

Unfortunately, NO university spends its endowment. The whole idea is to accumulate endowment. 'To what end?' I hear you say... To have a big endowment. Even schools that get big props for "spending" their endowment to increase lower/middle income student access are really only spending the tiniest fraction of the yearly gains/interest they make on their nesteggs--they don't touch the principal. Big endowments must be popular...I certainly get enough spam promising to increase mine. :haha:

hyperion1110

01-01-2008, 05:03 PM

Unfortunately, NO university spends its endowment. The whole idea is to accumulate endowment. 'To what end?' I hear you say... To have a big endowment. Even schools that get big props for "spending" their endowment to increase lower/middle income student access are really only spending the tiniest fraction of the yearly gains/interest they make on their nesteggs--they don't touch the principal. Big endowments must be popular...I certainly get enough spam promising to increase mine. :haha:

Haha...okay...I have no answer to that other than to concede defeat :)

themaguffin

01-01-2008, 05:33 PM

North shore to the airport was already outlined a few years ago. When (probably a long, long time from now) it expands, the possible route (or maybe a variation of it) is planned more or less.

Grego43

01-01-2008, 09:39 PM

Black-n-Gold

01-02-2008, 12:54 PM

A huge problem with the Port Authority, and we discussed this ad nauseum previously so forgive me, is their lack of a comprehensive plan. They operate their capital program on a piecemeal basis: finish one project, wait 5 or 10 years, then start planning another.

I think most of that blame is on the County leadership and not with the Port Authority. Most of the big projects they undertake are at the direction of the County Council / Executive. In fact, the Port Authority was working on a light rail connection from Downtown to Oakland when they were directed by the County to stop looking at that and develop a connection to the North Shore (to connect to the soon to be built stadiums). Once that decision was made, it is very hard to reverse because of the nature of Federal funding, etc. This article provides an overview:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07280/823259-147.stm

Also, because most mass transit projects would require federal funding, any master plan for the Port Authority would have to be developed in concert with the region's Metropolitan Planning Organization (The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission for Allegheny County). In fact, the current strategic plan includes a section on mass transit:

http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/Portals/Capital/VisionStudy/index.html

Finally, the Port Authority is currently in the midst of a comprehensive review of its routes, costs, etc.

http://county.allegheny.pa.us/news/2007/ct270719.asp

Grego43

01-02-2008, 02:35 PM

Thanks for the info, B-n-G.

Johnland

01-02-2008, 02:52 PM

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07280/823259-147.stm

"That Oakland and Downtown should be better linked by mass transit; that the subway extension to the North Shore is a waste of money; and that the northerly portion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway is dead."

What?

First, regarding Oakland-Downtown, that's what the Port Authority tried to do until politicians stopped it. In the 1990s, the transit agency had already climbed the first several steps toward securing federal approvals and funding commitments for a light-rail line connecting the two urban centers.

But the county's last board of three commissioners, who served before the new county executive form of government took effect, derailed the authority's efforts. As a result, years of work, money and promise were wasted in what would have been the next logical expansion of the transit system.

No city mayor or county official since then has asked or directed the authority to resurrect what was once called the "Spine Line" to Oakland, now at least a $1 billion-$2 billion undertaking that would take 15 years to plan, design and build, even if it were to get back on the federal list of projects competing for limited funds."

The above excerpt from the Post-gazette article mkaes me recall some of the general comments people made back at that time. Just observations of people I knew at the time, but generally along the lines of the purely-polical rooted reasons for the scrapping of the Oakland line from Downtown. I forget all what was said (it's been so long now), but basically it was pure politics that killed it. Not sure how true or accurate, but the Post-Gazette article seems to bear that out.

Grego43

01-02-2008, 06:52 PM

I wonder how much influence the North Shore land owners, including the Pirates & Steelers, had in pushing the current alignment instead of the Oakland/East end plan. Where in the hell was Pitt, CMU, Duquesne, et. al. while this was being killed?

tooluther

01-02-2008, 07:59 PM

There were no North Shore land owners at the time, just the stadium authority. Keep in mind the whole project was almost killed almost 15 years ago now.

The North Shore line still maintained life IMO thanks to the "downtown plan". The DT plan outlined very early the location of PNC park and an expansion of the spine line to what the hoped would be spin off development. Unfortunately it looks like we ditched the antiquated county commissioner system just a little to late to push through the spine line. I don't think it was an either or decision, it was just a massive f* up by the county republicans at the time.

I think the North Shore connector helps to expand the idea of downtown being more than just the Golden Triangle. If the Convention center station hadn't been cut, the three largest developable areas in the "greater Downtown" would have had light rail access very close by (SEA land on the North Shore, old IC Light Amp. site at Station square, and Buncher land next to the convention center).

BTW, have you guys ever seen the original Spine Line plan and how it would have lined up with 5th and Forbes…its crazy. There would have been a second subway line running through the Golden Triangle before turning at Stanwix and heading on its current alignment.

Grego43

01-02-2008, 10:16 PM

Here is a 1993 Spine Line Corridor Study:

http://www.briem.com/files/spineline1993.pdf

Evergrey

01-03-2008, 11:50 AM

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08003/846223-51.stm

As we look ahead with hope, we also look back at improving restaurant scene

Thursday, January 03, 2008
By China Millman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The year 2007 was an exciting one for Pittsburgh-area restaurants. Gourmet Magazine listed Bona Terra as one of the best farm-to-table restaurants in the country. Nemacolin's flagship restaurant Lautrec received five diamonds from AAA, one of the highest possible honors for a restaurant. And the illustrious James Beard Organization, which annually recognizes four small regional restaurants, named Primanti Bros. an American Classic, "a slice of American culinary history."

While Pittsburgh restaurants have new obstacles to face -- an additional 10 percent tax on alcohol and an economy that may be teetering on the edge of recession -- there are reasons to hope the local restaurant scene will only grow more interesting, accomplished and successful this year. But first, let's take a look at this past year in restaurants.

The team behind Sonoma Grill opened Seviche just across the street in February. The view of the stylish open kitchen can be mesmerizing as line cooks deftly construct dishes whose inspirations extent from Latin America to Southeast Asia. Seviche, a technique in which fish is "cooked" by the acid of citric juice, is used to wonderful effect.

Tusca Mediterranean Tapas is a welcome respite from the chains that dominate the SouthSide Works. Here, tapas stray from traditional Spanish dishes -- they are large enough to share and Greek and Italian influences are common.

Costa del Sol is another restaurant that interprets the title "tapas" loosely, though there are clear Spanish influences at this new Shadyside restaurant, such as the wonderful paella for two. BYOB for now, the restaurant also has a lovely bar area that the owners plan to make use of as soon as they secure their state liquor license.

Speaking of state liquor laws, despite all of the irritating hurdles, Pittsburgh is starting to see its fair share of serious wine restaurants: Pittsburgh wine aficionados had long anticipated the June opening of Mio Kitchen and Wine Bar in Aspinwall. Sommelier Alan Uchrinscko has a national reputation in the wine industry and his wine-pairing abilities live up to the buzz.

Robin Fernandez, along with several other partners, has opened Manny's, a new Downtown destination for fine dining. One special feature of Manny's restaurant? An elegant wine and cheese bar that will offer daily selections of wines by the glass as well as domestic and international cheeses.

Though it cannot escape that dreaded chain-status, The Capital Grill has been very successful at wooing Pittsburgh steak lovers, and many of those steak lovers are Cabernet lovers as well. The glass-enclosed wine cellar is a stunning focal point to the room, the by-the-bottle list is varied and unique, and well-stocked connoisseurs can store bottles in private "wine lockers" at the restaurant.

Bistros were a popular theme this past year, with both Legume and Palate opening in May. Legume offers some of the most authentic bistro-style dining I've experienced this side of the Atlantic. Palate Bistro is a little more upscale, though you can expect some changes in the new year as Chef Ryan Racicot has departed from the restaurant. Owner John Valentine is currently reworking the concept along with Chef/consultant Scott Fetty, of the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute faculty and a member of the American Culinary Federation Culinary Team USA, which will travel to Erfurt, Germany, in October to compete in the IKA -- also known as the "culinary Olympics."

Some restaurants are a bit more difficult to categorize. Mojo Bistro started out as a cafe but has developed into a restaurant. The decor is coffee-shop cute but the food is primarily influenced by the owner's southern roots and Chef Dave McCartan's interest in Asian cuisine.

Muriel's offerings range from quesadillas to grilled pork porterhouse, and I'm told that the brunch is outstanding. This eclectic new eatery is already a backbone of North Side dining.

Italian remains a Pittsburgh favorite: Geno's Restaurant in Lawrenceville is a deli by day that becomes a white-tablecloth Italian restaurant by night. Some additional entries include Amici Ristorante on Route 51 and Joseph Tambellini's in Highland Park.

As Pittsburgh palates grow more adventurous, there's a market for more diverse food choices as well. Thai Tom Yung Kung opened early this year in Edgewood, an area that currently has only one other Thai restaurant.

Tana Ethiopian cuisine opened just in time to make it into this article. Pittsburgh's second Ethiopian restaurant is located just around the corner from its first (Abay).

Of course, as new restaurants open, others close.

One restaurant that will certainly be mourned is Chesterfield's in North Huntingdon. This popular family restaurant closed Oct. 22, and the building has been sold to Walnut Capital Development.

The word is still out on the Hot Metal Grille -- according to the restaurant's Web site the restaurant is closed for renovation and will re-open, but the phone number has been disconnected and an e-mail query was undeliverable.

If a restaurant that you loved is missing from this list, I'm sorry. It's a melancholy fact that it's much harder to track down restaurants that have closed than those that have opened. All that's left is a disconnected phone number. In some cases, health department inspectors will show up for an inspection only to find the doors and windows shuttered.

Sometimes, owners retire, move or simply want to try something new. Sometimes locations prove to be a problem, or high turnover diminishes the possibility of success. And sometimes restaurants close because they simply aren't very good. Though it's always a little sad when a business fails, the best we can hope for is that more, better restaurants will open in their places.

In fact, several restaurants that closed in the last year have already been replaced by new restaurants, though only time will tell whether they will live up to the long-standing reputations of their predecessors.

Tambellini on 51 (which is no longer owned by the Tambellini family) became Amici. LaForet closed but Joseph Tambellini's (different Tambellini family than the previous) opened in its space.

I'm currently anticipating the opening of Tamari Restaurant and Lounge in Lawrenceville this spring. The restaurant will serve sushi and other Asian-inspired dishes re-interpreted and mingled with Latin American cuisine. This exciting concept will be matched by a modern space featuring two levels, a courtyard and an open grill.

Bona Terra, 412-781-8210; Lautrec, 866-344-6957; Sonoma Grill, 412-697-1336; Seviche, 412-697-3120; Tusca Mediterranean Tapas, 412-488-9000; Mio, 412-781-3141; Manny's, 412-281-6290; Capital Grille, 412-338-9100; Legume Bistro, 412-371-1815; Palate Bistro, 412-434-1422; Mojo Bistro, 412-761-2828; Geno's Restaurant, 412-781-3432; Muriel's, 412-322-0476; Amici Ristorante, 412-481-1118; Joseph Tambellini's, 412-665-9000; Thai Tom Yum Kung, 412-731-0740; Tana Ethiopian Cuisine, 412-665-2770; Costa del Sol, 412-682-1481.

Restaurant critic China Millman can be reached at cmillman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1198.

PittPenn 03

01-03-2008, 06:44 PM

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/12/31/daily17.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Thursday, January 3, 2008 - 10:06 AM EST
Software firm relocating to Hays
Pittsburgh Business Times
EmsCharts Inc., a medical software firm, said Thursday it will relocate to the Hays neighborhood of Pittsburgh from West Mifflin as of Jan 14.

EmsCharts provides electronic patient data collection and management solutions to ground EMS and air medical services. The company, which employs 10, helps connect first responders to hospitals, state and local reporting agencies and has 600 clients in 34 states.

EmsCharts President Pete Goutmann said the company will move into the renovated former Hays elementary school, which is owned and partially occupied by Dagostino Electronic Services Inc., a privately held company that develops communications systems for voice, data and video networks.

EmsCharts is currently located at the main terminal building of the Allegheny County Airport.

GeneW

01-04-2008, 01:18 AM

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_545752.html

Don Allen dealership is being sold

By Joe Napsha
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, January 3, 2008

Don Allen Auto City, a longtime Pittsburgh auto dealership in Shadyside, said Thursday it is selling the business and seven-acre parcel of property along Baum Boulevard that houses the dealership.

The Chevrolet, Buick, GM, Pontiac and Mazda dealership will be sold in a deal separate from the real estate, said David Voelker, company president. The liquidation sale will begin next week, Voelker said in a statement.

Voelker declined to disclose details of the pending sales, which he expects to complete in four to six weeks.

Market factors caused the family to sell the dealership, which has been in the family for 50 years, Voelker said.

"Today, the majority of car sales occur in suburban locations situated on or near major roadways, offering the convenience of being able to shop at multiple dealerships ... which puts us at a significant disadvantage," Voelker said. The company's main building, a three-story structure built in 1922 as a manufacturing plant, is not well-suited to be a showroom and service center, which results in higher costs.

Voelker made the announcement yesterday to give the company's 80 employees adequate notice of the pending sale, said spokesman Jeff Worden. Don Allen will work with local trade organizations and other dealerships to help with the placement of its employees, Voelker said.

Customers who require service or are owed parts for vehicles should contact Don Allen's service center. Customers who have cars on order will receive those vehicles at the negotiated price, Voelker said. Third-party warranties sold at Don Allen will be unaffected by the sale of the dealership, and all manufacturer warranties will be honored at authorized dealers, he added.

The company wants to keep intact its seven acres of property at the intersection of Baum Boulevard and Liberty Avenue, Voelker said. That site "is highly attractive amid the revitalization that is occurring in the Baum-Centre corridor," Voelker said.

The property is near UPMC Shadyside hospital, which is located at 5230 Centre Ave. UPMC, however, is not buying the site, said Frank Raczkiewicz, a UPMC spokesman.

Joe Napsha can be reached at jnapsha@tribweb.com or 412-320-7993.

Anyone know what might be going into this site? That's a big piece of property in a very visible site. I like that building and would like to see it preserved.

Johnland

01-04-2008, 02:24 AM

Evergrey

01-05-2008, 03:23 PM

don't screw this up

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_545938.html

Shadyside dealership sale opens development window

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, January 5, 2008

Its location at the prime intersection of Baum Boulevard and Liberty Avenue at the edge of Shadyside makes the Don Allen Auto City property a prime site for a variety of potential new uses, real estate experts said Friday.
Retail, residential, a hotel or a combination thereof are the most likely choices, said experts on the day after the Voelker family announced plans to sell their well-known dealership and seven-acres of property in separate deals to as-yet unidentified buyers.

"A multi-use development is a good possibility," said Greg Broujos, broker with NAI Pittsburgh Commercial, a Downtown-based commercial real estate firm. "I think the most likely uses would be retail, office, and some kind of high-end condominiums and maybe a hotel."

"There's no doubt it's a wonderful site, and there would be a lot of potential players who could go there," said Edward P. Doran, of GVA Oxford, the commercial real estate arm of Oxford Development Co.

Names of potential buyers who might be interested in developing the property could include Walnut Capital Partners of Shadyside, several experts said.
Officials of Walnut Capital could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Two other local developers involved in other projects in the Baum Boulevard-Centre Avenue corridor -- Kratsa Properties and the Mosites Co. -- said they are not involved in the pending transactions.

Kratsa, whose forte is hotel development, owns an eight-acre site along Baum that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center once considered for a major expansion of its Hillman Cancer Center.

After UPMC dropped plans to buy the site last year, Kratsa and other owners of the property said they would pursue their own plans for the site, which include a hotel, commercial space and parking.

Mosites is developing the Eastside complex in East Liberty.

Several experts said they still believe that some type of health care business use might come to the site even though UPMC ruled itself out as a potential buyer Thursday.

'I can't see an office use, but a better use might be health care," said Tom Sullivan, broker with Pennsylvania Commercial Real Estate.

Sullivan and City Councilman Bill Peduto said members of the Voelker family might be interested in a joint venture with a buyer, noting that they were involved in the development of the Marriott Residence Inn near their dealership.

"I would be very surprised if they just walked away understanding that the great value of that land, although it may not be as a car dealership," said Peduto, whose district includes the site.

Peduto said the property represents probably the largest block of property available for new development "right smack in the middle" of the Baum-Centre corridor.

But whatever changes are envisioned, Peduto said it incumbent on the Voelker family and-or the new owners of the property to share their plans with community leaders, including such groups as Shadyside Auction Coalition and the Baum-Centre Corridor Initiative.

In his announcement Thursday, David Voelker, president of Don Allen Auto City, said that the dealership sale should be completed within four to six weeks.

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

Gilamonster

01-07-2008, 02:17 AM

As this is my first post in this forum, I would like to give my proverbial 2 cents on a few of the developments around the 'Burgh:

Three PNC
-Glad to see the steel rising above ground now. I don't think people realize how much of an impression this building is going to make on that corner especially when the park is completed in front.

Point St. Park renovation
-I'm 50-50 on this one. It certainly needed freshening up, but I'm personally not a fan of them filling in the foundations of the old fort (and I am by no means a preservationist) Also, sounds like the park is going to become...how can I put this..."prissy"? I'm referring mainly to an article in the PG about how the 3 rivers arts festival and other events may not be allowed to operate there or only for shorter lenghts of time as to not "ruin" the grass.

"The Garage"...Oh yeah there will be a casino there too.
-I agree with all the previous posters. What an ugly monstrosity. It still won't be the ugliest hulking mass on the riverfront. My pick for that award still goes to the county jail.

North Shore Connector
-I like the project from an engineering and construction standpoint. Also, it sets us apart a bit as I would guess many cities our size don't have an underwater tunnel, even for cars. However, I still think it is a waste of money and track and think PAT's estimated ridership is a joke. I'll bet a lot of the riders on non-Steeler/Pirate game days will be casino players so in some small way the casino is a small justification for the connecter. Of course PAT knew nothing of the casino when planning this pork party.

The new Pens Arena
-As a huge sports fan, I am anxiously awaiting this project and am thrilled that there is a web cam for the project. Demolition of the old Central Medical building is supposed to start this month and be completed by May. My best guess is this will be an old fashioned wrecking ball or "top down" deconstruction and not an implosion. Anybody know for sure?

PA Pride

01-07-2008, 03:08 AM

^Can't answer your arena question, Gila but those are some interesting opinions on the other projects. Pork party?!? hahaha....
Feel free to join us in discussion of Pgh stuff in this thread.

Welcome to the forum.

tooluther

01-07-2008, 02:35 PM

As this is my first post in this forum, I would
Point St. Park renovation
-I'm 50-50 on this one. It certainly needed freshening up, but I'm personally not a fan of them filling in the foundations of the old fort (and I am by no means a preservationist)

The old "bastions" were an artistic inversion of the way the fort looked. There was nothing historically accurate or sensitive about them. The new park design actually does a better job of delineating the true fort layout and dimensions.

I got to take a tour in August of the front potion. IMO the new park design looks fantastic. Potential management issues, as you mentioned, aside.

Gilamonster

01-07-2008, 02:58 PM

Thanks for the welome PA Pride. I'm looking forward to seeing what they did to the Point. And thanks tooluther for the info. I just read that the city side of the park will be open in June of this year and the rest of the park will open by the end of the year.

PA Pride

01-07-2008, 06:28 PM

By the way, Gila: Did you click on page 1 of this thread? There is a really nice up to date summary of all big projects with pics/renderings .

Grego43

01-07-2008, 07:25 PM

Point St. Park renovation
-I'm 50-50 on this one. It certainly needed freshening up, but I'm personally not a fan of them filling in the foundations of the old fort (and I am by no means a preservationist) Also, sounds like the park is going to become...how can I put this..."prissy"? I'm referring mainly to an article in the PG about how the 3 rivers arts festival and other events may not be allowed to operate there or only for shorter lenghts of time as to not "ruin" the grass.

Welcome Gila...

I understand your concern about limiting events in the park, but I see the other side as well. PSP was getting very tired and worn, and the lawns seemed to be horrible shape most of the time. I would love to see PSP become an elegant, manicured front yard for the city...yet it should remain inviting, functional, and most importantly, accessible to all. It has been done before...witness Millennium Park/Grant Park in my second favorite home town, Chicago.

http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/index.html

Cheers.

AaronPGH

01-07-2008, 09:20 PM

In other news, my friend linked me to the weirdest blog I've ever read about Pittsburgh in my life. :haha:

http://cultlord.com/

Evergrey

01-08-2008, 06:06 AM

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08008/847497-85.stm

Duquesne U. opens $35 million rec center

Tuesday, January 08, 2008
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As a new semester started yesterday, students at Duquesne University not only cracked open new books and adjusted to new class schedules. They got to break in a new building.

Duquesne officially opened its $35 million Power Center yesterday morning, enlivening a once run-down section of Forbes Avenue and providing students, faculty members and staffers with a state-of-the-art recreation center, Barnes & Noble bookstore, and skywalk, some 81 feet above ground, to the main campus.

"This is sweet," gushed Sabrina Haines, a 20-year-old junior from Harrisburg, as she checked out a fourth-level basketball court, one of two in Power Center, named after the Rev. William Patrick Power, Duquesne's first president.

The bookstore features a cafe and two levels, with one reserved for textbooks and the other for popular fare. It's larger than the one operated by Barnes & Noble for Point Park University on Wood Street but smaller than the one that closed at the end of 2006 on Smithfield Street.

Still, John Kachur, the manager, likes to refer to the store as "Downtown's neighborhood bookstore."

For students, Power Center is light years ahead of the cramped and less than ideal quarters in the A. J. Palumbo Center.

Besides the two full-sized basketball courts, the new building features a three-lane indoor track, weight equipment, treadmills, stationary bikes, racquetball courts, lounges, locker rooms, big-screen plasma TVs, and classroom and aerobics space.

Duquesne President Charles Dougherty said the university undertook the project, part of a long-range master plan, to stay competitive in recruiting students. He said they have come to expect such state-of-the-art amenities.

In addition to the bookstore, two more retail outlets will soon be opening at street level. One will be a Red Ring restaurant and other a Jamba Juice bar.

On the top level of Power Center, which rises the equivalent of eight floors, is 7,500 square feet of conference and ballroom space with spectacular but seldom seen views of the Downtown skyline.

Power Center, coupled with new lighting, spruces up a section of Forbes Avenue in Uptown that only a few years ago was populated by deteriorated row houses, warehouses and parking lots.

Yesterday, students said they liked what they saw as they toured the center during breaks.

"I think it's awesome," said Nick Cicci, 21, a senior who had joined a gym on the South Side because he didn't like the recreation space in the Palumbo Center. He said that will change now.

"This makes it feel like a real college atmosphere," he said.

Marc Willner, 20, a sophomore pharmacy major, said the Palumbo Center featured "20-year-old equipment that was broke. It was pretty gross." He said he was "pretty impressed" with Power Center.

"You definitely can show this off," he said.

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

cdc

01-08-2008, 05:39 PM

oakland update:

Looks like the dead hotdog stand in Schenley Plaza is being
relaunched as a Gyro/Salad/etc. stand. Workers were installing
new red menu letters around the top of the stand today.

I guess we'll see if the Plaza can support it. I also wonder
when/if they'll ever break ground for the full-service Atrias
they are supposed to build in the fenced in area near the
carousel.

Evergrey

01-08-2008, 10:49 PM

I saw that too, cdc. I believe the new kiosk will still serve hot dogs as well... as "hot dog" is still present on the signage. I don't know what to think about an Atria's in Schenley Plaza... never been to one... and not sure how it may positively or negatively impact the area.

Anyways... Market Sq.'s retail component is improving:

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/marketsq0109.aspx

Commercial leases filling up in Downtown Pittsburgh's Market Square

From fitness to jewelry, Downtown’s Market Square is being energized by several new businesses.

SHAPE Fitness Center, Downtown's first personal functional training facility, recently opened on Market St. above Bruegger’s. Teaching safe exercise techniques, SHAPE offers personal and group training, nutritional counseling and even belly dancing classes.

Adding to Downtown’s fitness offerings is Gold's Gym, opening this week at 100 Forbes Ave. The two-story facility houses on-site parking, aerobics rooms, weight machines, and a sauna.

This month, Amy Epstein Jewelry opened at 433 Graeme Street B, adjacent to Camera Repair Service. Carrying pieces crafted in Israel and France, children’s jewelry, and items made from fresh water pearls and hand blown glass, the shop is decorated with 100-year-old barn doors and hand-me-down handkerchiefs. “This area is up and coming. The YMCA is coming in and PNC is building here. I’m in a really cute ground level store,” says owner Amy Epstein, who worked with Anthropologie decorator Tiffany Pomarico on the boutique's design.

In November, MixStirs Café opened at 431 Market St. “There’s great foot traffic from PPG and they’re open on Saturdays and Steeler Sundays. In the spring they're putting in micro doors. Fifty-percent of the façade will open into the Square. It’s really going to spruce up that corner,” says Sean Luther, with Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, who adds that 59 residential rental units are also available in the Square. “There’s almost no rentable commercial space in Market Square."

In other news, Crazy Mocha Coffee Company is completing its Two PPG Pl. location and Lubin and Smalley Florists resigned its lease at 8 Market Sq.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Amy Epstein; Sean Luther, PDP

Photograph of Amy Epstein Jewelry copyright Brian Cohen

Evergrey

01-08-2008, 10:55 PM

So many exciting elements to this new development

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/du0109.aspx

$35M Power Center opens along Forbes Ave. at Duquesne University

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2092/duquesne_300.jpg

On Jan. 7, just in time for the first day of its second semester, Duquesne University opened the new $35 million Power Center

Located at the corner of Chatham Sq. and Forbes Ave., the 130,000-square-foot multipurpose facility marks the first phase of Duquesne’s campus master plan, the university's comprehensive 10-year development strategy.

Duquesne’s first new construction in twenty years, the Power Center houses a two-story Barnes & Noble Booksellers, three-story 80,000-square-foot recreation center and a Starbucks. Named for Duquesne’s first president, the facility also boasts a 7,500-square-foot conference/ballroom, balcony and full-service kitchen.

“This is a very important day in our history. It significantly expands recreational opportunities for our existing students and gives us a showcase for recruiting students of the future," says Duquesne University president Charles Dougherty. “There’s a throng of students coming and going over there. People were already working out there today at eight-thirty in the morning, right when we opened."

The center’s green building elements include controlled lighting, carbon dioxide sensors, waterless urinals, and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.
“We expect to be LEED certified, probably at the Silver level,” adds Dougherty, who says that the region's first Jamba Juice will open at the Power Center within the next ten days, along with the Red Ring restaurant. DRS Architects designed the five-story project; contractor is Gendeco.

The Power Center is connected to Duquesne’s recently dedicated Sklar Skywalk, Pittsburgh’s highest pedestrian bridge. The $3 million 138-foot skywalk links the Power Center to the Duquesne Union and Forbes Ave. parking garage.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Charles Dougherty, president of Duquesne University
Image courtesy Duquesne University

PA Pride

01-08-2008, 11:24 PM

I think that power center is a handsome structure, especially with the very high footbridge, but it looks very alone standing there as it does... I just hope the university has a plan to infill around it some other like minded structures.

edncc1701d

01-09-2008, 05:50 AM

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08009/847770-53.stm

Plans for Oakland hotel unveiled
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Booking a room for graduation weekend might soon become easier with a proposed 225-room, 11-story hotel on Forbes Avenue between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

If built according to current plans, the Museum Park Hotel would be the tallest structure in the immediate neighborhood, where other buildings are six stories or less.

The hotel, which would overlook Junction Hollow, would open much of its first two floors to the public, with a lounge, restaurant and alfresco dining on the first floor, and a spa, exercise facility, salon and meeting rooms on the second. Rooms would take up the top nine floors, and an all-valet two-story parking garage would be underground.

Currently, the building site is a gas station next to the Graphic Arts Building. The hotel's backers say the site could be put to better use.

"We've really made a point of making this a building that people in the neighborhood are going to use," said Sara Kroloff, a project manager for design firm Burt Hill who presented preliminary plans to the city's Contextual Design Advisory Panel yesterday. "It's something that starts to fill in what really is a void in a very exciting part of town."

The hotel would be operated by Concord Hospitality Inc. under a flag, or hotel brand, that has yet to be determined. The building could open as early as the spring of 2010, according to architects.

The hotel would be the seventh in Oakland.

Evergrey

01-09-2008, 02:25 PM

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_546535.html

URA considers 3 city projects

By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Urban Redevelopment Authority board of directors will consider Thursday whether to give a $600,000 state grant to the developer of luxury condos in the former Union National Bank building, Downtown.
The grant would be used to offset the cost of replacing a utility vault in The Carlyle, the $15.6 million redevelopment of the century-old building at Fourth Avenue and Wood Street, according to the board's agenda.

Columbus, Ohio-based E.V. Bishoff Co. purchased the 21-story structure from National City Bank Corp. in 1997. Construction began in March to convert the building into 60 condominiums, ranging in price from $215,000 to $400,000 per unit, not including the penthouse. Twenty-nine units already are under contract.

The marble-pillared, first-floor space will be converted to retail or commercial use.

Expected to open by October, The Carlyle would feature a doorman, valet parking, an exercise room, home theater with cinema-style seating and a billiard parlor.
The URA would pass through a "Growing Greener II" grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development to E. V. Bishoff. The work includes replacing the sidewalk, relocating a storm sewer, installing new electric connections and replacing concrete, steel and block work.

E.V. Bishoff President David Bishoff did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

The URA will also vote whether to execute a deed for The Soffer Organization to acquire land at SouthSide Works for a Pittsburgh version of Munich's Hofbrauhaus.

Construction is expected to begin in May on the German-style beer hall and restaurant, between the Cheesecake Factory and the Monongahela River. The third Hofbrauhaus in the United States is scheduled to open by early 2009.

The authority also will decide whether to approve a $700,000 contract for landscape architectural design on the South Shore's Riverfront Park. The contract with Environmental Planning and Design LLC would be paid from a combination of state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources funds and private foundation money.

Bonnie Pfister can be reached at bpfister@tribweb.com or 412-320-7886.

Evergrey

01-09-2008, 02:49 PM

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08009/847716-85.stm

Casino targets May 2009 opening

Design changes appease critics

Wednesday, January 09, 2008
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh's Majestic Star casino is expected to open on May 1, 2009.

Ed Fasulo, the casino vice president and general manager, said yesterday that date is subject to construction delays or other factors that could impact the schedule.

Businessman Don Barden broke ground on his $450 million North Shore casino Dec. 11, after nearly a year of delays.

Workers are on a very tight 16-month construction schedule to complete the city's lone slot machine casino.

So far, the work is off to a good start, Mr. Fasulo said.

The casino work has claimed one casualty so far -- the closing of the North Shore riverfront trail at the site of the construction.

Spokesman Bob Oltmanns said the casino needed the space for construction staging and other activities.

Mr. Oltmanns said the trail would reopen and there would be full access to it once the casino opens.

City transportation planner Sidney Kaikai said he is working with Bike Pittsburgh and Friends of the Riverfront to try to devise a safe detour for trail users around the casino site during construction.

The casino's architects also have reworked the appearance of the casino's much-debated parking garage, mostly satisfying previous concerns from a group that advises the city planning commission on building design.

The entire building will be stained light buff to match its cast stone base, rooftop mechanical equipment will be screened and a curving, perforated metal screen will be extended around all four sides of the garage.

In previous plans, a 59-foot-tall garage wall facing Mount Washington and the West End Bridge was left plain concrete, drawing objections from the Contextual Design Advisory Panel. But the silvery screen that now will face south will mirror its surroundings, making the building attractive from all sides, members said at a meeting yesterday.

"They're picking up the color of the sky and the color of the hillsides and the surrounding environment and it's breaking up the building's mass," said Bill Kolano, a panel member who runs an East Liberty design firm. "It's a very good architectural device."

Staff writer Amy McConnell Schaarsmith contributed. Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First published on January 9, 2008 at 12:00 am

cdc

01-09-2008, 03:34 PM

PA Pride

01-09-2008, 05:46 PM

a curving, perforated metal screen will be extended around all four sides of the garage.

Sweet! The garage will still be a hulking mass, but at least they agreed on 4 sides of screening. That's the least they could do.

Gilamonster

01-09-2008, 08:22 PM

Who are these critics of the casino garage who are appeased by the screens and concrete staining? I believe most of the negative comments I have heard about this garage are from the sheer size of it.

Johnland

01-10-2008, 01:26 AM

Who are these critics of the casino garage who are appeased by the screens and concrete staining? I believe most of the negative comments I have heard about this garage are from the sheer size of it.

Yes, it was the hulking mass of the stupid thing that I objected to. So they are going to stick on some crap to cover it up. A piece of shit design still stinks no matter what you dress it in.

xyagentguy

01-10-2008, 02:37 AM

Yes, it was the hulking mass of the stupid thing that I objected to. So they are going to stick on some crap to cover it up. A piece of shit design still stinks no matter what you dress it in.
I think it's fine. It's really no bigger and actually smaller than a couple other garages on the same shore. They are going to paint it and use decorate screening on every side now.

I'm not exactly sure what people want. Is it perfect? No. But it'll do. I think the new renderings look acceptable.

tooluther

01-10-2008, 05:08 PM

[QUOTE=Evergrey;3268692]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/marketsq0109.aspx

Commercial leases filling up in Downtown Pittsburgh's Market Square

;)

marinog

01-10-2008, 05:16 PM

Hotel, offices, condos planned for Don Allen site
Thursday, January 10, 2008
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A development partnership with offices in Pittsburgh, Chicago and Fort Myers, Fla. announced plans today for a major redevelopment of a three-block area on the Shadyside-Bloomfield border, replacing the Don Allen Auto City site with a mix of townhouses, condominiums, a 120-room hotel, office, medical and retail space.

DOC-Economou, which is also planning a $48 million hotel-condo-retail project on the Souith Side, unveiled its plans for the property along Baum Boulevard and Liberty Avenue a week after the family that owns Don Allen told employees about its plans to sell the 7-acre auto dealership.

"The Baum-Liberty site is located in two of Pittsburgh's premier neighborhoods -- Bloomfield and Shadyside," said Phil Hugh, a principal with DOC-Economou and originally from Fairchance, Fayette County. The spot is "a perfect area for an upscale mixed-use development like this."

The development, spanning three blocks, will include 350,000 square feet of "boutique" retail, 58,000 square feet of street-level "commercial" retail, 300,000 square feet of office and medical space and a 120-room hotel with the upper levels reserved for 150 condos and townhomes. Parking will be on the lower levels, mostly underground.

A park will also be part of the new project.

marinog

01-10-2008, 05:18 PM

http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/pg/08010/848187-100.stm

Sorry, forgot to post the link for above

hyperion1110

01-10-2008, 05:28 PM

chucka

01-10-2008, 06:08 PM

Baum-Liberty
They have renderings:

http://doceconomou.com/baum-liberty/

Media Kit (http://doceconomou.com/baum-liberty/images/baum-liberty_media_kit.pdf)

http://lh4.google.com/chuck.alcorn/R4ZftrM3OuI/AAAAAAAAEqk/kUacg8m6gzk/baum-liberty_media_kit_Page_3.jpg?imgmax=640

http://lh3.google.com/chuck.alcorn/R4ZfubM3OvI/AAAAAAAAEqs/OGEt0Z0pHo0/baum-liberty_media_kit_Page_4.jpg?imgmax=640

http://lh6.google.com/chuck.alcorn/R4ZfvLM3OwI/AAAAAAAAEq0/YxWhoF4wDLo/baum-liberty_media_kit_Page_5.jpg?imgmax=640

I think it looks great.

PA Pride

01-10-2008, 06:19 PM

that looks pretty upscale!
Can't wait to see it built there. How far is this from where you live Evergrey?

hyperion1110

01-10-2008, 06:26 PM

I really think this development will be amazing. After this, I think development needs to move up center avenue. It's kinda rundown for about 2 blocks, right as it runs into North Oakland. Once that area is redone, you will have a giant, contiguous, upscale-but-not-gentrified urban landscape from Oakland through Bloomfield, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, and into East Liberty.

The East End of the city is really coming back in a big way. We just need to spread this momentum elsewhere in the city.

Evergrey

01-10-2008, 06:30 PM

I live just a few blocks away from this development

I'm suprised we're learning about this so quickly after the press release about Don Allen closing and selling the property... what a huge project... it will transform a rather desolate automobile-corridor landscape into a dense urban streetwall... this certainly fits into Peduto's Baum-Centre corridor plan that called for high-density development

here's a couple more links about this development:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_546833.html

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/01/07/daily31.html?surround=lfn

hyperion1110

01-10-2008, 06:52 PM

Pittsburgh seems to buck every national trend. Housing market plummets, Pittsburgh stays strong. Credit crunch slows developments, they accelerate in Pittsburgh. And before anyone brings up many of the troubles we face, I'm aware. Just let me revel in this for a bit...

On a somewhat related note, these Hill residents making these demands for the new arena are really ticking me off. I understand that this arena is nominally Uptown. But, honestly, this is arena is functionally downtown. It's quite far from the Hill proper. But, all that aside, what right to these people have to demand taxpayer money to control for their own pet projects??? We sink enough money into that place already. If they want to improve their neighborhood, tell them two stop selling crack and get real jobs!

Rant concluded.

chiaroscuro

01-10-2008, 08:24 PM

Anyone able to read the text on the Baum-Liberty site plan drawing?

themaguffin

01-10-2008, 08:32 PM

Let's face that site is an incredible location. There's no way it would have been on the market long.

PA Pride

01-10-2008, 10:50 PM

Anyone able to read the text on the Baum-Liberty site plan drawing?

Hey dude: Click on the link right above that rendering that says "Media Kit". It opens as a PDF and is larger and readable.

Johnland

01-11-2008, 12:36 AM

I will definitely look at this Baum-Liberty site when I consider moving back to Pittsburgh. I've already been eyeing those great old houses in Friendship. But maybe a new condo in that same neighborhood would be the perfect choice....

Evergrey

01-11-2008, 12:45 PM

more on the Don Allen site

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08011/848413-85.stm

Major development riding at Don Allen site

Friday, January 11, 2008
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was early 2006 when developers Phil Hugh and John Economou first sat down with the owners of Bloomfield's Don Allen Auto City and discussed what to do with one of the most valuable plots of real estate in Pittsburgh's East End.

"They wanted to look at other options," Mr. Economou said. But, also, "they wanted to do right by the city of Pittsburgh."

The result, 19 months later, is that Mr. Hugh and Mr. Economou now have an agreement to assume majority control of the dealership's seven-acre, three-block swath at the nexus of Shadyside, Bloomfield and East Liberty. Their plan, unveiled yesterday, is to tear down the Don Allen buildings and fill the space along Baum Boulevard and Liberty Avenue with a mix of townhouses, condominiums, a 120-room hotel, and 700,000 square feet of office, medical and retail space.

As proposed, the project is expected to cost $220 million-$230 million and take as long as four years. Pending city approval, it would become the biggest mixed-use development currently under way in the East End, bigger even than Walnut Capital Partners' $113 million transformation of an old Penn Avenue Nabisco bakery into a shopping-residential-hotel complex. It joins a slew of other developments to hit that part of the city, from the Hillman Cancer Center on Baum to Eastside, a Centre Avenue retail complex anchored by organic grocer Whole Foods.

For Mr. Hugh and Mr. Economou, both principals with the development team known as DOC-Economou, this is their second major project in the Pittsburgh area. Just last month the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority sold DOC-Economou an acre in the SouthSide Works complex on the South Side for a $48 million luxury hotel-condo-retail project scheduled to open in summer 2009.

Their South Side complex will be built with private money, but Mr. Hugh and Mr. Economou acknowledge they hope to secure public financing to assist with Bloomfield, although they were not willing to specify what type or how much.

"We certainly want to have open lines with local and state officials to see what options are there to produce the best possible project," said Mr. Hugh, who is originally from Fairchance, Fayette County.

DOC-Economou is a joint venture of two separate real estate operators, Fort Myers, Fla.-based Development Opportunity Corp., founded in 2005, and Economou Partners, a firm based in the Chicago area and founded in 1989. The joint venture also has an office in Pine. The venture's recent projects in other parts of the country include The Residences on Water, a mixed-use project in Milwaukee slated to open this spring and the renovation of a Fort Myers Holiday Inn. DOC, on its own Web site, also lists a Hotel Indigo and Dunkin' Donuts in Fort Myers, along with a hotel in Slippery Rock.

Mr. Hugh, who attended Allegheny College and grew up near Uniontown, said he "always wanted to come back to the city. Pittsburgh is a special place and there is a lot of opportunity in the city."

His connection to the Voelker family, which controls the Don Allen dealership, was through his attorney Brenda Yurick, who also happened to represent the Voelkers. Their first meeting was 19 months ago, and last week the family informed 80 employees that the dealership, in the Voelkers' hands for 50 years, would be sold due to a crush of competition from suburban dealers.

Despite the sale, though, the Voelker family will become a minority partner in the new development, confirmed Mr. Hugh and Mr. Economou.

The DOC-Economou partnership intends to spend $18 million buying the dealership, a contiguous home at 466 South Atlantic Ave. and a site at 5425 Baum owned by The Children's Home. The entire project, including the real estate purchases, will cost $220 million to $230 million and may take a total of four years to complete, built in phases to minimize the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.

Spanning three blocks, the development will include 350,000 square feet of "boutique" retail, 58,000 square feet of street-level "commercial" retail, 300,000 square feet of office and medical space and a nine-story, 120-room hotel with the upper levels reserved for 150 condos and townhomes. Between 1,200 and 1,500 spaces of parking will be on the lower levels.

The goal is to start site preparation work this summer, pending city approval.

Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.

...

these are the same developers that are doing this mixed-use project at SSW:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/austindaniel/SouthsideWorksmixeduse.jpg

AaronPGH

01-11-2008, 01:19 PM

Such amazing news! I didn't expect an announcement this fast......awesome!

Evergrey

01-11-2008, 07:50 PM

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/01/07/focus1.html?b=1199682000^1570680

Friday, January 4, 2008

Meet the new neighbors

Office tenants lag behind retail stores when it comes to new mixed-use projects

Pittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley

http://cll.bizjournals.com/story_image/106939-400-0.jpg
Joe Wojcik
Millcraft Industries has had a retail-before-office experience at its Piatt Place development, Downtown, which houses two restaurants but no office tenants yet.

Lori Moran waited a year to be able to pour some "gravy" on the highly successful Trader Joe's store she helped draw to the Village of EastSide.

While the region's first Trader Joe's opened at the East Liberty shopping center last November, the rest of the building -- including retail space on the ground level and office space upstairs -- remained vacant.

Ballymoney & Co. Inc., which owns the center, only recently signed tenants for the rest of the building.

Relax the Back will take about 3,000 square feet next to Trader Joe's. And Children's Community Pediatrics, the office practice of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, will take 5,000 square feet of office space upstairs.

To Moran, the lag between the time it took to get the right office tenant to match a now thriving grocery store was in keeping with the project's expectations.

"We weren't focused on that," she said of the office leasing. "Our first focus was first-floor retail."

"It was gravy," she said of the project's office space.

Throughout the city, mixed-use developments have opened with a retail splash followed by the echo of empty space that's come from offices sitting vacant long after stores and restaurants are open.

Along with Ballymoney's project, the majority of the SouthSide Works had opened its retail before it leased much of its office space. Downtown, Millcraft Industries has opened two high-profile restaurants -- The Capital Grille and McCormick & Schmick's -- in its redevelopment of the former Lazarus department store, now called Piatt Place. Yet even though the renovation plans were announced in December 2005, no office leases have been signed.

Jeremy Kronman, an executive vice president who specializes in office leasing for CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, emphasized that major office leasing announcements are on the way for Piatt Place. He expects a similar leasing lag time will happen at Bakery Square at EastSide. There, Walnut Capital Partners is redeveloping the former Nabisco bakery next door to BallyMoney's center into a mixed-use development comprising 216,000 square feet of office space and 121,000 square feet of retail, along with a 110-room hotel.

"We came in at the same time," said Kronman of working on office leasing for mixed-use projects. "But the life cycle of an office building transaction, especially a big one, is much longer than a retail lease."

He estimated that a retailer can commit to a lease and be open and operating within six months. But an office tenant can take two or three years.

Ed Gould, the business services director for Children's Community Pediatrics, said it took more than a year between exploring locations, deciding on one, then negotiating a lease, building out office space and then moving in and opening for business.

"There was a lot of going back and forth," Gould said. "A lot of that had to do with the fact that it was a mixed-use building and it was in a retail center."

Negotiations are far more complicated than financial terms, Gould said.

Delivery times for the stores were negotiated, as was trash disposal. As always, a primary issue to be hashed out was parking.

"One of our chief concerns is if you go to a strip mall, it's open parking -- catch as catch can," he said. "We wanted to have some defined parking, so moms knew they aren't chucking kids through moving lanes of traffic."

Children's Community Practice was able to establish eight nearby parking spaces specifically for pregnant women and mothers of newborns and moved in a month ago, operating an office in space developed with plenty of environmentally sensitive materials and other green components.

Russ Jenkins, who observed plenty of mixed-use developments as an official with the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority and now serves as a leasing associate with Johnstown-based Zamias Services, said that where to put the cars can become a predominant issue in such projects.

The integration of uses can mean the difference between success and failure, he said.

"From a leasing perspective, design is critical," he said. "The placement of parking is even more critical in that sense because you can't have your office employees parking in the prime retail spots."

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

Evergrey

01-11-2008, 11:53 PM

KDKA reports the Steelers will unveil major plans for the North Shore parking lot next to Heinz Field. They are working with entertainment giant AEG and HOK architects to build a 2,000-3,000 music venue and nightclub designed to attract top-flight music acts. (this is what I've been hoping for! must better than the previous amphitheatre plan) KDKA also reports plans for a "waterfront hotel" on the North Shore... not sure if that's anything we've heard about already... or if it's related to the Steelers' development.

http://kdka.com/video/?id=35793@kdka.dayport.com

http://kdka.com/steelers/Steelers.Entertainment.Venue.2.628055.html

Steelers To Build North Shore Theater-Nightclub

Reporting
Andy Sheehan

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The season may be over for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the games are just beginning off the field.

The team ownership has some major entertainment plans in the works right next to Heinz Field.

KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan has learned the Steelers have formed a partnership with an entertainment giant AEG to build another type of venue described as a theater-nightclub to bring top flight music acts to the North Shore.

They've enlisted stadium architects HOK of Kansas City to design it.

AEG operates several venues across the country, including the Nokia Theater adjacent to the Staples Center in Los Angeles and another Nokia Theater in mid-town Manhattan.

And although the Steelers venue is expected to be considerably smaller than those places - the building will be able to accommodate between 2,000-3,000 patrons and even host larger outdoor shows in the summer.

Sources say the Steelers and AEG will foot most of the bill with some expected help from the state.

Four years ago, the Steelers were awarded $4 million from the state to build an amphitheater on the site. When those plans fell through, the Steelers gave that money to the Sports and Exhibition Authority to building a parking garage. The Steelers aren't commenting but indications are they'll want that money back to complete this project

The club-theater will also go a long way to making the North Shore a year-round entertainment destination. The concert dates will help nearby bars and restaurants which are often packed on Steeler or Pirate game days but not so much when the stadiums are dark.

And the North Shore development keeps getting new players. Additional plans are in the works for a new hotel on or near the waterfront.

Like the Steelers theater, those plans are also expected to be announced very soon.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

...

btw, WTAE's Andrew Stockey reports on Duquesne University's brand new Power Center:

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/14997252/index.html