[AaronPGH]

Yeah I love it! I like the reversal of the "old fart" loft styles we've seen here. So sick of all the cherry/dark wood cabinets and suburban home looking kitchens with bland granite counters, etc.

The brightness of the interior is awesome.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_617774.html

Auditor General to probe sale of State Office Building

By Kim Leonard
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 25, 2009

State Auditor General Jack Wagner said this afternoon that he'll conduct a special investigation to try to prevent the sale of the State Office Building to a development company that already is a major player in Downtown revitalization.

The state's Department of General Services plans to sell the 16-story building in Gateway Center for $4.6 million to Millcraft Industries Inc., and move 800 workers there to leased quarters at three other buildings.

The department has said the state would save $14 million, and renovations to the current State Office Building would cost almost $65 million.

At a news conference, Wagner said his Office of Special Investigations will collect all information on the sale and move of 22 state agencies to other parts of Downtown. That will include leasing and other costs associated with the move, he said. He believes that in the first year, the state will pay out more than it will take in from the $4.6 million sale.

"It's a bad idea in terms of cost efficiency and in terms of the public knowing where to go for state services," Wagner said.

It's unclear what action he might take after the special investigation is completed in 60 to 90 days, he said, because the Auditor General's office has never taken any action to stop a sale of this kind.

New state offices, under the plan, would move to the Chamber of Commerce Building on Seventh Avenue, the 11 Stanwix Street building and Piatt Place on Fifth Avenue, which Millcraft is developing.

Millcraft affiliate River Vue Associates LP would acquire the State Office Building early next year, and possibly turn it into residential units with some hotel, retail or other spaces. Millcraft's bid was slightly above the $4.5 million minimum bid the state required.

Kim Leonard can be reached at kleonard@tribweb.com or 412-380-5606.


http://www.pbase.com/deadwing/image/86798218.jpg

[Minivan Werner]

Strange. Do they think there was some type of shady goings-on with this sale?

[PA Pride]

Strange. Do they think there was some type of shady goings-on with this sale?


I think the primary problem is that the critics of this sale are saying that they shouldn't sell the bldg in this current marketplace because they feel it is being sold at a "fire sale" price.


And Evergrey, don't try and pass off that dated picture on us. I see the Hilton paintjob underway.... :D I'm sure you've taken pictures since then.

[AaronPGH]

Damn, I dont care if it was shady or not. I really was happy to see Piatt take charge of this building. At least we know it would get done, and be done correctly probably.

[Evergrey]

Damn, I dont care if it was shady or not. I really was happy to see Piatt take charge of this building. At least we know it would get done, and be done correctly probably.

I agree. It may indeed be a "bad deal" for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania... $4.6 mil does seem a little cheap for such a prominent downtown property... right in front of the Triangle along Point Park... the assessed value is $14 mil I believe. While this mid-century turd of a building needs a hugely expensive overhaul... this is still a unique and stand-out property with loads of revenue-generation potential.

But this transaction is good for the city. This will be a $14 mil building hitting the city tax rolls. Millcraft/Piatt has been very bullish on Downtown... and has a track record of getting complicated mixed-use redevelopment projects done. And it's also good that Millcraft got it instead of Buncher IMO... who retracted their bid the first time around... Buncher specializes in warehouses and really awful blank low-rise office buildings (which abound in the Strip District)...

http://www.buncher.com/images/Buncher_x04.jpg

http://www.buncher.com/images/BuncherBusinessCenter.jpg

http://www.buncher.com/images/Lawrenceville.jpg

http://www.buncher.com/images/LibertyCommons.jpg

http://www.buncher.com/images/LibTechCenter.jpg

I've always hated the way this building mars the view from the West End Overlook... I should've known it's a Buncher development
http://www.buncher.com/images/GatewayViewPlaza.jpg

http://www.buncher.com/images/LibTechCenter.jpg

http://www.buncher.com/images/PennLiberty.jpg

www.buncher.com

[pj3000]

I've always hated the way this building mars the view from the West End Overlook... I should've known it's a Buncher development
http://www.buncher.com/images/GatewayViewPlaza.jpg


That entire stretch of riverfront along the Mon up to Station Square is awful.

[Johnland]

Yeah I love it! I like the reversal of the "old fart" loft styles we've seen here. So sick of all the cherry/dark wood cabinets and suburban home looking kitchens with bland granite counters, etc.

The brightness of the interior is awesome.

You're so right. I thought it was just me who hated those tired, "straight-off-The-Home-Depot-showroom-floor" kitchens.

[PA Pride]

Buncher makes good money, but damn they have some of the ugliest properties in Pittsburgh.

[Ditchdigger]

Did Buncher build that building, or are they just the current owner?

My earliest recollection of that building is of it being the H.J. Heinz Co. warehouse.

[Black-n-Gold]

Did Buncher build that building, or are they just the current owner?

My earliest recollection of that building is of it being the H.J. Heinz Co. warehouse.

I'm pretty sure J&L Steel owned it for a while too. Maybe even built it in the first place.

[Evergrey]

here's a view of the parking garage & casino

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/2009/0326/19020323_640X480.jpg
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/19019969/detail.html#

[Evergrey]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090326/ap_on_bi_ge/pittsburgh_housing_boom_1

Despite recession, Pittsburgh in a building boom

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer Ramit Plushnick-masti, Associated Press Writer 20 mins ago

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090326/capt.9bc60d30bc1a4553b13ef201c88aea3b.pittsburgh_housing_boom_pajl201.jpg?x=400&y=274&q=85&sig=qa.t8iIqYWUq4pCpQPt0.A--
Kathy Wallace is interviewed in her downtown Pittsburgh condominium Friday, March 6, 2009. While bigger cities like Miami and Phoenix struggle with mass foreclosures and stalled housing projects, Pittsburgh is enjoying something of a renaissance as developers pour some $4 billion into its downtown. Everything from new retail space, housing — and real estate values — are on the rise.
(AP Photo/Andrew Rush)

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090326/capt.8dfa60b380e14e59a53a62b3d50709ed.pittsburgh_housing_boom_pajl204.jpg?x=400&y=266&q=85&sig=Xie6KK6VEtCCJLkw6ClSiQ--
Casey O'Connor is interviewed in his new downtown Pittsburgh condominium Friday, March 6, 2009. O'Connor and his wife, Rubab, are moving to the newly-built condominium they purchased in Pittsburgh.
(AP Photo/Andrew Rush)

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090326/capt.1be59eaaa8a24624b200c0cf5d1d64c1.pittsburgh_housing_boom_pajl202.jpg?x=400&y=264&q=85&sig=j1vqwIfbSEvkMqnl8jpK0g--
Christopher Pretsch, portfolio manager at Staley Capital Advisers Inc., is seen in his apartment at Heinz Lofts Friday, March 6, 2009 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Pretsch is moving to Piatt Place, a newly built condominium complex in Pittsburgh.
(AP Photo/Andrew Rush)

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090326/capt.bc26f7595cfe44f396f85537eac44cab.pittsburgh_housing_boom_pajl205.jpg?x=400&y=264&q=85&sig=F7E9zyDIKMHMjl0k3zVKWQ--
The Heinz Lofts, an apartment complex in the former ketchup factory, in Pittsburgh, Pa. is seen Friday, March 6, 2009.
(AP Photo/Andrew Rush)

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090326/capt.491dce6f01014b88b2f73de5fd50d8c9.pittsburgh_housing_boom_pajl203.jpg?x=400&y=276&q=85&sig=PKn3aDCV06lk8BYqugGBjQ--
The construction site of a new apartment complex near Market Square is seen in downtown Pittsburgh on Friday, March 6, 2009.
(AP Photo/Andrew Rush)

PITTSBURGH – Six years ago, Kathy Wallace and her husband did something unusual in this former steel town: They sold their suburban home and moved downtown where few condos existed, there was no grocery store, and nearly everything closed at 5 p.m.

Now, thousands of others have joined the Wallaces, staking their posts between skyscrapers and office buildings in new condos and lofts as demand for downtown living here is on the rise.

While bigger cities like Miami and Phoenix struggle with mass foreclosures and stalled housing projects, Pittsburgh is enjoying something of a renaissance as developers pour some $4 billion into its downtown.

Roberta Brandes Gratz, author of two books on urban development, including "Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown," said Pittsburgh's development is "really genuine" and leads to long-term success.

"Those cities that leveled a major portion of their downtown for a single mall have more of a problem in this economy and for the next at least five years," Gratz said. "The reality is that Pittsburgh is something of a model."

The city once described by author Charles Dickens as "hell with the lid lifted," has construction on nearly every downtown corner. Thousands of people snake around scaffolding hanging off buildings — many of them 100-year-old structures being restored rather than demolished — rushing past detour signs and road blocks.

All the bustle will eventually lead to thousands of square feet of retail space including a new YMCA, a light-rail extension, a new hockey arena, a slots casino and a $5 million renovation of Market Square, a historic courtyard-type area ringed by restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

"The courtyards, the urbanity, the feel on the streets, that whole energy," Wallace says, standing behind the granite island in her kitchen in the condo she moved into in December, floor-to-ceiling windows across the room overlooking Pittsburgh's teeming Penn Avenue.

"It's new. It's an emerging neighborhood. It's never existed before, it makes it even more fun," she adds.

Since 2001, when Pittsburgh began actively working to bring residents downtown, the population has more than doubled, from barely 2,500 in 2000 to 5,174 in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Currently, there are almost 1,500 occupied downtown units, not including student apartments. Within five years, that number is expected to rise to nearly 2,700, only including projects already planned, said Patricia Burk, vice president of housing and development at the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

In cities such as Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix, homes have lost more than 20 percent of their value since 2006, and new construction has largely come to a standstill.

Here, however, developers say despite the shaky economy they have no qualms about building more units because they are selling what they have either on schedule or — in some cases — far faster than expected.

Lucas Piatt of Millcraft Industries is developing thousands of square feet of retail space in and around Market Square and planning another large "green" project nearby.

Of the 60 high-end, rooftop condo units in his first project, Piatt Place, 34 of the condos that range in price from $345,000 to $2 million are already under contract, he said.

In Market Square, there is a waiting list of at least 345 people for 46 lofts, Piatt said. The company will likely have a lottery to dole out the prized units that start at $700 a month for a one bedroom to up to $3,000 for a two bedroom with a study, he added.

Still, Piatt says he has to be creative to find financing for his plans now because of the recession. He has invested a lot of his own equity into projects and is trying to ensure he has space leased or sold before construction begins.

"I think the stars are aligned right now for Pittsburgh. You have so much development right now and so many people doing so much," Piatt said.

"It's organic, that's what's cool about it," he added. "You don't have one developer coming in from New York and building a mall and I think that's the way to make it sustainable."

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl believes residents must move downtown before more retailers will move in, so he has taken steps aimed at attracting them.

For example, a 10-year abatement program launched in July 2007 means condo buyers don't have to pay real estate taxes on the first $250,000 of their purchase, saving them up to $6,500 a year. In downtown, 241 units are taking advantage of the program.

Paris to Pittsburgh is a matching grant program that encourages restaurants and businesses to spruce up their facades and offer outdoor seating, one of the many amenities urban dwellers are seeking. And the city is also offering loans to turn upper-floor building space into lofts.

"I'm a firm believer that the downtown area is the core of the region and really the core of the city and for far too long that core has been a business hub," Ravenstahl said.

Just a few decades ago, Pittsburgh was written off as a has-been, a former steel town that would never be the center of business and industry it once was. Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright advised to "abandon it."

But now the city is home to large universities, research hospitals and a more diversified economy. Ravenstahl and others say since Pittsburgh didn't fully enjoy the boom years it isn't going bust now.

"We don't have the hangover because we didn't go to the party," Piatt said. "It's pretty solid."

And that is why Christopher Pretsch, a portfolio manager at Staley Capital Advisers Inc. who knows a bit about investing wisely, has bought a condo in Piatt Place.

Pretsch relocated to the Pittsburgh suburb of Cranberry from New York after the Sept. 11 attacks, but moved downtown two years later. At the time, there weren't many downtown condos so he rented a unit at the Heinz Lofts, an apartment complex in the former ketchup factory — he lives on the floor where Worcestershire sauce was once made.

The complex is across the river from the Strip District, a downtown-area neighborhood with an eclectic mix of mom-and-pop specialty grocery stores and restaurants. Over the years, Pretsch has seen downtown develop and people make better use of its amenities, from shows to bars.

"Five years from now," he said, "downtown Pittsburgh is going to look dramatically different than it looks now."

[PA Pride]

The casino itself looks pretty good. Probably looks cool when boating past.

[PA Pride]

Cool article. Downtown is really picking up steam. Amazing what an increased residential base can do to an area.

[UrbaniDesDev]

Strange. Do they think there was some type of shady goings-on with this sale?


Its the STATE office building
Isnt it a given?

[UrbaniDesDev]

That entire stretch of riverfront along the Mon up to Station Square is awful.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/UrbaniDesDev/GatewayViewPlaza.jpg

This has got to be the biggest waste of one of the most incredible sites in the country. I cant believe nothing hs even been proposed for this site.
Have you ever been to the parking lot at the base of the incline?
Breathtaking!!!

[gallacus]

This has got to be the biggest waste of one of the most incredible sites in the country. I cant believe nothing hs even been proposed for this site.

That's not entirely true. The Riverlife Task Force hired a "world renowned urban designer" from Germany to create preliminary designs for extending Three Rivers Park up and over the top of that building.

His idea, as described in this article by Pittsburgh Quarterly magazine (http://www.pittsburghquarterly.com/pages/library/2008spring/2008spring_110testing_waters.pdf) from Spring of 2008:

The building has one of the best views of Downtown and the Point anywhere, but few have ever seen it. A narrow railroad right-of-way is all that separates the building from the Ohio River. On the landward side, West Carson Street's incessant traffic makes for an unpleasant walkway. So, with a big building, no space along the river for a trail and a noisy highway on the rear side, Dreiseitl's team took the trail over the building. To achieve this, they designed a ramp that reaches a viewing platform on top of the building, which Dreiseitl — ever a German — envisions as a perfect setting for a beer garden.

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/8228/buncher.jpg

[UrbaniDesDev]

That is very interesting...
I've never seen that before...
but wtf is the attachment to that building?

[themaguffin]

With all do respect to that design, that building must GO.

In its place should be buildings that better make use of such prime space.

Height should not be an issue - there should be no NIMBYs to feel obstructed.
Traffic is one consideration, but it's not like the proposed Harrah's casino or some high traffic complex would be there - midrise apartments/condos and maybe an office tower would really makes sense.

[pj3000]

^ that design is ridiculous. Why expend all the effort and money to build on top of an awful building that is out of place in its riverfront location. Goofy German idea, at best.

There is not a more perfect site for potential development in Pittsburgh than this piece of property. For Pittsburgh, this is a relatively wide, flat stretch of riverfront land. This is THE spot.

[Evergrey]

Goofy German idea, at best.


:haha:


...

Tidbits from the Pittsburgh Business Times:

1. Cincinnati firm Al. Neyer is pursuing a mixed-use development in Downtown Pittsburgh. No details have emerged.
http://www.neyer.com/

2. Development group that the URA selected to build housing along Lawrenceville's Hatfield St. has dropped the project. URA is now in discussions with State College-based S&A Homes... who previously proposed a $5 million, 23-unit townhouse development at the site. S&A is currently building the 60-unit townhouse development Federal Hill in the Mexican War Streets area.

3. Article on new arena and how it may kickstart development in the Lower Hill / Uptown area. Rod Piatt will soon begin construction of a 147-room, $18 million hotel next to the arena. Mellon Arena will be torn down and replaced with surface parking pending the pursuance of mixed-use development. The 28 acres remain a "blank slate" due to the weak economy. Howard Hanna director of commercial real estate Peter Sukernek sees the arena, associated development, Crawford Square, Duquesne's expansion, etc. as expanding Downtown toward Oakland. "I'd love to see this go all the way into Oakland. That's where the future is."



...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09086/958787-100.stm

Firm gets more time to start N. Shore hotel, amphitheater

Friday, March 27, 2009
By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The city's Stadium Authority board unanimously agreed with a Columbus developer's request to extend construction deadlines for North Shore hotel and amphitheater projects, though it provoked warnings from board members.

Continental Real Estate won approvals to push back construction starting dates for a $25 million Hyatt Place hotel until June 30 and a $12 million entertainment complex until Aug. 1. Under previous agreements with the authority (which controls the city-owned land between the North Shore stadiums), the developers were supposed to begin building next month. They requested more time to secure financing and government approvals for the projects, authority staffers said.

Representatives from a union-backed neighborhood group called North Side United -- which has been trying to negotiate a community benefits agreement with Continental -- criticized the city agency for repeatedly siding with the developers. Though the board voted 5-0 to approve Continental's contract extensions, board members signaled some frustration with them. They also questioned whether the developers could finish the entertainment complex as promised by May 1, 2010.

"If this [approval] is given, we expect them to complete by the date we agreed to," state Rep. Jake Wheatley said.

Continental "better get on the stick, because we're kind of running out of patience. This is getting a little old for us," said the board's vice chair, Robert Ewanco.

Stadium Authority Director Mary Conturo said it is possible for the developers to complete the amphitheater project in the nine months projected (that is, from August of this year to May 1, 2010). "It's a tight schedule of course, but could be done," she said.

[Minivan Werner]

^ that design is ridiculous. Why expend all the effort and money to build on top of an awful building that is out of place in its riverfront location. Goofy German idea, at best.

There is not a more perfect site for potential development in Pittsburgh than this piece of property. For Pittsburgh, this is a relatively wide, flat stretch of riverfront land. This is THE spot.

Yep. On both sides of Carson too. There's line of empty warehouses and vacant lots with incredible views of the skyline and riverfront.

[PA Pride]

Howard Hanna director of commercial real estate Peter Sukernek sees the arena, associated development, Crawford Square, Duquesne's expansion, etc. as expanding Downtown toward Oakland. "I'd love to see this go all the way into Oakland. That's where the future is.".

Noyice.

[pj3000]

^ Right. So let's connect the two with a light rail line! So much more efficient, convenient, long-term cost effective, development-spurring, aesthetically-pleasing... and just plain cooler.

[Johnland]

^ Right. So let's connect the two with a light rail line! So much more efficient, convenient, long-term cost effective, development-spurring, aesthetically-pleasing... and just plain cooler.

Now's the time to really push the rail line between Oakland and Downtown. With hundred's of biliions of dollars now flowing for stimulus, rail connection to Oakland should have a good chance of funding (I would hope). Here in Tampa, every discussion of rail transit includes.."but of course, the desired urban densities that would support rail use don't yet exist". Pittsburgh is fortunate in that I think it does have the necessary urban density from Dowtown to Oakland. As mentioned above, the density is only getting stronger with the Arena and Duquesne U. developments.

[UrbaniDesDev]

Yep. On both sides of Carson too. There's line of empty warehouses and vacant lots with incredible views of the skyline and riverfront.

Thats exactly right. Both sides of Carson could be used. The tracks could be diverted away from the riverfront and go under the new development and open up the riverfront to the new development. Expensive, yes, but what site is more deserving?

[UrbaniDesDev]

Now's the time to really push the rail line between Oakland and Downtown. With hundred's of biliions of dollars now flowing for stimulus, rail connection to Oakland should have a good chance of funding (I would hope). Here in Tampa, every discussion of rail transit includes.."but of course, the desired urban densities that would support rail use don't yet exist". Pittsburgh is fortunate in that I think it does have the necessary urban density from Dowtown to Oakland. As mentioned above, the density is only getting stronger with the Arena and Duquesne U. developments.


The government is giving money to "shovel-ready" projects". So, the question is, why doesn't PAT have a 5 year goal, a 10 year goal, a 20 year goal etc. There should always be the next project on the boards. It should always be, OK, what's next. Instead, they have 1 project under construction, then they just fall back. Is there no one there with any vision? God knows they make enough! I never hear of them aggressively promoting the next big project. These people are incompetent

[PA Pride]

Imagine for a moment what will happen if a downtown-oakland lightrail extension ever actually gets built. What will Pittsburghers ever talk about after that?!? Nothing! We will be completely out of conversation.

[Evergrey]

the ever-contentious skyscraper signage issue... what do yinz think?

I tend to side with the favorable opinions in the latter half of the article... while there should be some caution... and I never want to see signage on a few key towers like PPG, Gulf, Koppers and many of the pre-war buildings... but skyscrapers are monuments to corporate might and capitalism... so advertising Pittsburgh's corporate cluster is not inherently distasteful... and I do think it is a visible representation of Pittsburgh's current economic vigor and the commitment of these firms to this place

The UPMC sign is similar to the Eye of Sauron though lol... due to the great height of U.S. Steel... it seems like you can catch a glimpse of the UPMC logo from all sorts of obscure nooks and crannies where hills block the other skyscrapers... I know a lot of people are angry about our tallest skyscraper getting signage... but that huge blank area at the top of U.S. Steel was just begging for neon

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09088/959089-53.stm

Signs of the times: Debate flashes on pluses/minuses of more businesses marking Downtown skyline with neon

Sunday, March 29, 2009
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's not a stretch to say Pittsburgh's skyline, the stuff of postcards, is starting to look a bit like the Vegas strip. Neon everywhere.

From UPMC to K&L Gates, just about every company, it seems, wants to strut its identity in red, white, blue or green across the iconic skyline.

To some, the names blazing across some of the city's tallest skyscrapers -- and some not so tall ones, as well -- are a sign of corporate heft, a blessing in a deep recession.

But to others, the rush to neon is akin to hanging dice from the rearview mirror of a Mercedes.

"There is a delicate balance between an urban area that appears vibrant and a city that looks like it's for sale -- and we are tipping to the latter," city Councilman William Peduto said.

"It's skyline graffiti. It will only worsen, believe me," added state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, a former city councilman who lost a battle to ban such signs after Mellon Bank became the first company to hoist one in 1994.

For a while, Mellon had the skyline to itself before being joined by Federated and FreeMarkets. Then came 2001, the opening of PNC Park and Heinz Field, with their grand vistas of Downtown, and things started to get crowded.

Since then, the city planning commission has approved 18 so-called high-wall signs -- those more than 40 feet above the ground -- for Downtown and the Strip District.

Of those, all but two have involved new signs or changes to existing ones on skyscrapers or hotels. They have included Citizens Bank, Highmark, Ariba (formerly Free Markets), Duquesne Light, UPMC and K&L Gates, which was just installed and took Ariba's spot.

There are more on the way. Reed Smith will be putting its name on the new Three PNC Plaza building. BNY Mellon will replace Mellon on One Mellon Center. And Equitable Resources has applied to put its logo on the former Dominion Tower building Downtown, its new corporate headquarters.

Mr. Peduto believes it's time to stop. He is thinking about proposing a moratorium to prevent other companies from adding their signatures to the skyline while the city considers new legislation regulating the signs.

"We shouldn't wait until the day every single building has lit advertising on it, which is what we're going to get to if we don't address this issue immediately," he said. "It gets to the point where the clutter destroys the skyline, and we are there."

Mr. Peduto's proposal got the backing of former planning commission chairman Tom Armstrong, who had called for a freeze several years ago only to see it go nowhere.

"I love well-designed neon as an element in the urban fabric. I simply think we erred in slathering it across the skyline," he said.

He argued that signs have diminished the architectural beauty of buildings like One Fifth Avenue Place, One Mellon Center and the USX Tower.

"I think the skyline was more elegant prior to this epidemic," he said.

Perhaps no sign has created a greater stir than the one UPMC festooned in 20-foot-high letters to the top of the USX Tower, Pittsburgh's tallest building.

One wag dubbed it the Eye of Mordor from the "Lord of the Rings" series, so ever present it is on the skyline. It can be seen from a jet flying over the city and a trail in the North Hills.

"I dare say you could see that from Chestnut Ridge [in the Laurel Highlands]," city council President Doug Shields said. "Not too many people are happy with it. It's brighter, bigger, more dominating in the skyline than any other identification sign."

Mr. Shields is among those who believe the UPMC lettering exposes a flaw in the current ordinance, which allows signs up to 2 percent of the building face.

The UPMC sign, at 1,900 square feet, is actually about half of the size allowed under the ordinance. But because the building face is larger than any other in the city, the sign could have been larger as well. At the minimum, Mr. Shields believes that should be addressed.

"Two percent of the Titanic is certainly different than 2 percent of the Good Ship Lollipop," he said.

But UPMC spokesman Paul Wood noted that the sign not only is half of what is allowed, but also is only about 60 percent as bright as it could be.

The health care giant, he said, decided to erect the logo as an "affirmation of UPMC's commitment to Pittsburgh and to the revitalization of Downtown."

He noted the move of UPMC headquarters to the USX Tower from Oakland not only filled vacant office space but brought 2,200 people into the Golden Triangle.

Together, the signs and logos dotting the city's skyscrapers are symbolic of a re-emerging Downtown and "an indicator that there's a promising future for the region," he said.

Other supporters see many of the same themes in the signs, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"When a corporation wants to put its name on a building, it's saying this is its home market and it's proud to be here. I think it's great," said Walnut Capital President Todd Reidbord, a planning commission member.

Mr. Reidbord said he sees "absolutely no reason" for a moratorium, adding that all of the signs that have been approved meet the requirements of the ordinance. The planning commission reviews all high-wall signs to ensure they meet the requirements of the law before they are approved.

"I personally think when they're well done and in good taste and go through the proper procedure, they're appropriate. I personally think they show a sense of vibrancy in Pittsburgh," Mr. Reidbord said.

Jeff Letwin, a former planning commission member, agrees.

"I think that tastefully done, well designed high-wall signs can bring some excitement to the city," he said.

Mr. Letwin said he likes some signs more than others, adding the key to consistency is design review through the planning process. He believes there may be room to tighten that a bit.

"You want to create a nice-looking skyline with some excitement but not just put any old sign up," he said.

Nonetheless, he, too, is opposed to a moratorium, as is Clifford Levine, a former planning commission member who was instrumental in crafting the current ordinance.

Mr. Levine, an attorney with expertise in zoning law, believes "the process has worked very well. There's a predictable and controlled way to address the sign requests. I think on the whole the signs tend to be understated because of the limitation of size."

He added, "I don't know it's good to say the first 40 signs [are OK] and that's it. I think if you decided it's good for one, then it's good for all."

On the whole, Mr. Levine likes what he sees on the skyline.

"I actually don't think the number of signs has negatively impacted the drama of the Downtown view and I think it has allowed a reasonable vehicle to highlight the number of significant businesses and firms that conduct business Downtown," he said.

"I think the signs frankly are presented in a classy manner. We don't have garish, loud, flashing neon signs for the companies."

While Mr. Ferlo would like an all-out ban, he said he's willing to compromise by prohibiting signs on the south side of buildings facing Mount Washington, a favorite vista for tourists to take in and photograph the skyline.

"You either have this appreciation of the ultimate view or you don't," he said.

The most recent company to make its imprint on the skyline is the law firm K&L Gates, which added its name to One Oliver Plaza.

Chairman Peter Kalis said the decision to erect the sign was part of a "global branding strategy." The Pittsburgh-based firm also has its name on buildings in Washington, D.C., and London, but not at the top of them.

In Pittsburgh, the sign "reinforces the firm's strong and historical relationship with the city of Pittsburgh," he said. While K&L Gates has offices throughout the world, Pittsburgh "is the epicenter of the firm," Mr. Kalis said.

"Every time you see K&L Gates portrayed on the Pittsburgh skyline, it's profoundly reinforcing of the values we cherish at the law firm because they are historical Pittsburgh values," he said.

In fashioning the sign, the law firm was looking for a "nice, clear and modern image that people will associate with our law firm." As you'd expect, Mr. Kalis likes the many corporate names stamped on the skyline.

It is a sign of "muscularity," he said, to be able to "project a number of successful corporate brands that identify their own futures with the city of Pittsburgh."

"I think it's a very positive reinforcing relationship," he said.

Although a few signs, such as Mellon and Federated, predated the opening of PNC Park, some see the North Shore ballpark as a prime culprit in the explosion of the neon, as corporations see an opportunity to get some face time with ticket holders and television audiences.

Mr. Kalis said the views of the skyline from PNC Park certainly didn't hurt in the decision making.

"Of course, we appreciate the Pirates putting as many fans in the stands as possible so they can enjoy the sign for two to three hours for 81 games a year," he said.

"I wish them a lot of extra-inning victories.

Post-Gazette photo illustration

n What is your favorite sign on a Downtown skyscraper? Look for a poll at www.post-gazette.com/polls
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3289/3113026779_0302669580_b.jpg

[Johnland]

The government is giving money to "shovel-ready" projects". So, the question is, why doesn't PAT have a 5 year goal, a 10 year goal, a 20 year goal etc. There should always be the next project on the boards. It should always be, OK, what's next. Instead, they have 1 project under construction, then they just fall back. Is there no one there with any vision? God knows they make enough! I never hear of them aggresively promoting the next big project. These people are incompetant

Sadly, I think you are right on every point. PAT has not kept up with the times regarding transportation. For a relatively small, compact and still dense city, you'd think the brains at PAT would seek to leverage off that. Other cities have been building systems from nothing, for God's sake. Sprawling Denver and Atlanta for example. But then, they seem to have city, regional and state governments that actually think about getting an staying ahead. Harrisburg has never struck me as wanting to be progressive about much.

[PA Pride]

Evergrey: I'm with you. I think signage is fine on many buildings. As long as they don't do PPG, Cathedral of Learning, Koppers, Gulf, maybe a few others.

[themaguffin]

I don't understand that either and somebody correct me if I'm wrong but years before the T opened in the mid 80s the next leg/direction should have been not only on the board but at at stage beyond stage one - maybe not construction but all transporation projects have many phases from initial design to environmental impact to right of way and many others, and yet nothing appeared to even be established.

Here we are 25 years later. Pathetic and yes incompetent.

As for the signs, I think it depends on the building and signage itself. I really don't see the need for a law firm on a building. Seriously - wow Reed Smith atop building - who gives a shit? Nobody knows who they are and nobody cares.

[Evergrey]

Reed Smith is one of the world's largest and most prestigious law firms... and it's headquartered here... in Pittsburgh. It's long overdue that ordinary Pittsburghers learn about the region's new economy as opposed to crying over long-dead heavy manufacturing firms.

[themaguffin]

We know who Reed Smith is.

Again, they are a law firm and nobody knows who they are and it doesn't do a lot for Pittsburgh to show off a law firm's name in such a manner.

It's not new to have a large even if prestigious law firm. Nothing against them, but it's like saying we have a pro football stadium - it's not unique, new or cutting edge. I don't even think it has to be something new economy related (but that would be preferred) as some old brands are classic and impressive to people.

[Evergrey]

Nothing against them, but it's like saying we have a pro football stadium - it's not unique, new or cutting edge.

This is not at all true. The largest law firms are almost all clustered in much larger cities with major international presence... NYC, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, DC, Boston. It's pretty unique for a city like Pittsburgh to have two of the largest law firms in the world headquartered here (Reed Smith and K&L Gates). Contrast this to mega-firm Jones Day... which has abandoned its long-time HQ of Cleveland (now known as its "founding city") in favor of DC. Pittsburgh should be proud that it is a major center of high-end legal activity and talent. And through these mega-firms, Pittsburgh has the opportunity to exert itself throughout the world. Perhaps you don't think legal services are "cutting edge"... but Reed Smith represents some of the most "cutting edge" companies in the world.

I just don't understand why you have this particular problem with a major international law firm headquartered in Pittsburgh putting its corporate logo up... yet it's apparently o.k. for a bank or insurance company or utility company???

[themaguffin]

But these are not the types of companies that you typically see on buildings because they are business services.

It's irrelevant to most people. I think that it's wonderful to have a couple big players, but it's not going to be relevant to most people.

As for what signs that I am "ok" with going up... For one, the Vegas thing does become an issue with too many signs, so the ones that are prominent should be a combination of iconic brands that remind people hey this is our home as well companies that might not be iconic but are relevant and has the same affect on people. If they signs need to explained (which the law firms would) then it's not that useful.

[PA Pride]

Reed Smith: (from wikipedia) The firm counsels 28 of the top 30 U.S. banks and 10 of the world's 12 largest pharmaceutical companies.[1] Their shipping practice has been designated among the most preeminent in the world, and their advertising law practice is regarded as among the legal industry’s finest.[2] [3] In addition to the United States, Reed Smith has offices in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Asia and the Middle East.


Reed Smith is one of the 15 largest law firms in the US and are the 29th largest law firm in the world. They are also the main tenant in the nations largest green mixed use building. I would say this is a company Pittsburgh can be proud of.

[KJLC]

I am definitely in favor of having corporate signs on downtown buildings. It shows people that downtown is vibrant. Whenever a sign is taken down it gives the impression that the building or company has also left Pittsburgh or gone bankrupt. Alternatively, when a sign goes up it gives the impression that downtown is getting stronger and a new company has moved in or expanded. These are not peep show neon signs, these are international corporate logos going up in the heart of Pittsburgh's business center. Go to New York City, Shanghai, London or Hong Kong and tell me how many logos you see. I would rather emulate those cities than a city like Prague, which is beautiful, but has very little business and income outside of tourism.

[Black-n-Gold]

It's not a stretch to say Pittsburgh's skyline, the stuff of postcards, is starting to look a bit like the Vegas strip. Neon everywhere.


Umm, that would be a HUGE stretch!

[Black-n-Gold]

.... and I never want to see signage on a few key towers like PPG...

I think you've missed the point of PPG - the building IS the sign. 100% coverage!!

and many of the pre-war buildings...

What about some red neon continually flashing in morse code?

[themaguffin]

My points were not because of pride or lack there of, but of making sense for the skyline that's all.

I get the significance of the firm.

[Gilamonster]

I'm all for the building top signs. To me, the more the merrier..literally. I like the corporate egoism atop the buildings as well as the lights eminating from the signs. And even with the sizable and most likely well lit casino coming on board in August, Pittsburgh's skyline and "light pollution" will not even be close to 1% of Vegas'.

[Tombstoner]

Reed Smith: (from wikipedia)

Reed Smith is one of the 15 largest law firms in the US and are the 29th largest law firm in the world. They are also the main tenant in the nations largest green mixed use building. I would say this is a company Pittsburgh can be proud of.

I dunno. Counseling 28 of the 30 top US banks may not be much to be proud of... Probably 25 of those 28 banks have proven themselves greedy and negligent; you have to wonder about the quality of the legal counsel they were getting. I'm only half-joking.

[DBR96A]

I like the dashes of red, green, blue and white that these signs add to the skyline. The extra colors make everything more pleasing to look at at night. Furthermore, they let people know that there is, in fact, business to be done in Pittsburgh, contrary to popular myth.

Nobody complains about the in-your-face signage in New York, Hong Kong or Tokyo, so why can't we have a few of our own in Pittsburgh? It's OK to be proud of our corporate citizens. :tup:

[acenturi]

Reed Smith: (from wikipedia)

Reed Smith is one of the 15 largest law firms in the US and are the 29th largest law firm in the world....

Actually,
http://www.ilrg.com/nlj250/

[Evergrey]

Actually,
http://www.ilrg.com/nlj250/

This is an outdated list... it's doesn't even include the now-merged K&L Gates (the list has Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham... which was the name of the law firm before merging with Seattle-based Preston Gates & Ellis in 2007)

can we get past this silly nitpicky law firm discussion?


...


anyways... yet another Pittsburgh feature from the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/business/01pitt.html?_r=1

The Greening of Pittsburgh

By CHRISTINE H. O’TOOLE

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/31/business/squarefeet600.jpg
Jeff Swensen for The New York Times

The 1915 Union Trust Building in Pittsburgh has been renovated with an eye toward energy efficiency.



In a contemporary retelling of Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare, Pittsburgh is finding recession-era advantages in a slow-growth legacy.

The city, which has lost half its population since 1950, had a well-chronicled change of character over the second half of the 20th century: from a center of the steel industry to headquarters for many large corporations to a much more diverse economy that encompasses health care, education, finance and technology.

As it shrank, the city had relatively little new construction compared with many United States cities. But it was in the forefront of the movement to conserve existing structures and clean up the contaminated industrial sites called brownfields, becoming a leader in the field of sustainable building. That is now serving Pittsburgh well during the economic downturn.

Describing the area’s rebuilt economy, the Allegheny County executive, Dan Onorato, said: “It’s clean, it’s shiny, it’s green. Slow, steady growth is our strongest asset.”

The city’s commercial real estate market is relatively healthy. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Pittsburgh earned the top ranking in Moody’s Investors Service’s quarterly “Red-Yellow-Green” report on the state of commercial real estate in 60 major United States cities.

Though the southwestern Pennsylvania metropolitan area is only the 22nd largest in the United States in terms of population, the city employed energy-efficient construction well ahead of larger cities. In 2005, Pittsburgh claimed more LEED-certified square footage — meaning it had met Leadership in Energy and Design standards for energy-saving designs and building techniques — than anywhere else in the United States. As other cities have caught up, Pittsburgh now ranks seventh nationally in the number of buildings with such certification, according to the local Green Building Alliance.

Founded in 1993, the alliance says it is the first nonprofit organization in the nation to encourage green commercial building. “There was no government-driven agenda here,” said Rebecca Flora, former director of the Green Building Alliance and now senior vice president of education and research at the national Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization that oversees the LEED program. “Pittsburgh’s doing green in a weak market city with existing building stock, and it’s done it without government programs.”

A number of century-old landmarks have been revived as energy-efficient buildings in the last decade, and several major projects, both new and retrofits, will open this spring.

Years before national environmental building standards were set in 2000, Pittsburgh began experimenting in sustainability as local architects, engineers and academics debated how to reuse old industrial sites.

“We were working on the Model T of green building," said the architect Bob Kobet of the discussions among early proponents of solar energy, weatherization and nontoxic design.

With innovations that would later become widely accepted, like a rooftop garden and photovoltaic roof panels, the local Green Building Alliance’s first project, in 1998, retrofitted a 100-year-old former soap factory and art gallery as office space for Conservation Consultants Inc. “Nonprofits became the test market,” said Ms. Flora, with local foundations underwriting new designs.

Working with advisers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, the alliance also provided technical advice for more complex renovations for other nonprofit groups.

In 1999, for example, Phipps Conservatory, a Victorian landmark at the entrance to a city park, began planning an energy-efficient expansion to blend with the century-old structure. A local architecture firm, IKM, preserved its signature fritted-glass dome with a $5.2 million below-grade welcome center. A 12,000-square-foot tropical forest exhibit deploys a radical roof venting system and geothermal tubes for passive cooling in a $7.5 million glasshouse. A solid-oxide fuel cell produces electricity from natural gas.

Two other public venues — the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center — incorporated energy efficiency in ambitious redesigns. The 1.5-million-square-foot convention center, designed by Rafael Viñoly in 1999, was completed in 2003. Its swooping riverfront design uses natural ventilation and illuminates a exhibition hall entirely through its windows and skylights.

The Children’s Museum sought to blend a historic 1897 post office with a 1939 planetarium that had stood vacant since 1991. The solution — a glass lantern shape that appears to float between the grand older structures — reused original materials, like terrazzo, marble and copper. In 2006, the design won awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Institute of Architects.

Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate for the PNC Financial Services Group, the nation’s fifth-largest bank, was a green building skeptic until 1998. Steel girders were already rising along the Monongahela River for Firstside Center, the bank’s 650,000-square-foot operations center, when Ms. Flora met with Mr. Saulson to suggest making the structure a sustainable building.

“At the end of the meeting, I had committed to make Firstside into a green building,” Mr. Saulson said. “It seemed like the right thing to do. As a company, we embrace new ideas and innovation.”

Mr. Saulson says that PNC now has more buildings certified as environmentally friendly than any other company in the world. Fifty-five have achieved LEED certification, and 15 more are in the pipeline, including the new 780,000-square-foot headquarters at Three PNC Plaza in downtown Pittsburgh.

Mr. Saulson said the green investment was cost-effective. He said that suppliers had quickly responded to the demand for sustainable supplies like low volatile-organic-compound paints, energy-efficient window walls and sustainably harvested plywood at a competitive price. “We’re building our branches as LEED-certified buildings for $100,000 less than one of our major competitors is building the same size branch that’s not green,” he said.

As sustainable building gathers national momentum, 41 more LEED projects are expected to open in southwestern Pennsylvania in 2009. Among the largest is the new 1.5-million-square-foot Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, opening May 2 in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. The $625 million campus, which overlooks the Allegheny River, will have two green-certified buildings among a half dozen.

Consol Energy Center, the planned home of the Pittsburgh Penguins beginning in the fall of 2010, intends to be the National Hockey League’s first green arena, with seating for 18,000. The design includes a glass-walled atrium and ventilation that admits natural air.

Twenty miles north of the city in Butler County, the Westinghouse Electric Company hopes to attain LEED status for its 825,000-square-foot Cranberry Woods center. Owned and built by Wells Real Estate Funds, the headquarters and technology center will open the first of three buildings in June.

Federal historic tax credits have aided green renovations at two other city sites. The Union Trust Building, a 1915 downtown structure with a Flemish Gothic exterior and rotunda capped by a stained-glass dome, expects to gain LEED certification for $10 million in energy-saving renovations by its owner, the Mika Realty Group of Los Angeles.

In the city’s densely populated East End, Bakery Square, the former home of a Nabisco plant, is to reopen in 2010 with about 380,000 square feet of mixed-use retail and office space. The $113 million project will be crowned with a 75-kilowatt solar panel array. Though Pittsburgh’s cloudy winters limit sun-generated power, it will provide 1.5 percent of the projected energy use for the site and save $6,000 a year.

“Pittsburgh has a legacy of really beautiful public venues that have become green and accessible,” said Ms Flora of the Green Building Council.

[Evergrey]

speaking of Bakery Square...

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/bakerysquare0401.aspx

ULI giving behind-the-scenes look at $150M Bakery Square development

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%20152/bakerysq_300.jpg

On April 7, the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Group will host a site study at Bakery Square on Penn Ave from 6 to 8 p.m. Representatives from Walnut Capital, Astorino, and the URA will be on hand to discuss the unique aspects of converting a former bakery to mixed use development.

Bakery Square is a $150 million redevelopment of the historic Nabisco factory building. When completed, the site will feature 175,000 sq. ft. of retail on two floors, more than 200,000 sq. ft. of office space, a 110-room Marriott SpringHill Suites Hotel, a fitness center, and a parking garage.

The project is nearing completion; the first office tenants are scheduled to move in this fall, and retailers should be moving in early next year. The hotel is also scheduled to open in early 2010.

“Everything is on schedule and everything has gone smoothly so far,” says Todd Reidbord of Walnut Capital Partners.

The day after the site study, on April 8 at 11a.m., developers will hold a broker reception. geared towards real estate industry professionals, which will feature a tour of the site.

“It’s a great location and we’re excited to talk about it,” says Reidbord.

To receive Pop City free every week, click here.

Writer: Rob Cullen
Source: Todd Reidbord, Walnut Capital Partners, Andrew Miller, CB Richard Ellis

Image courtesy CB Richard Ellis


...

speaking of green buildings...

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/eastlib0401.aspx

$12M mixed-used development to start construction at 5801 Penn

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%20152/eastlibertyplace_URA_300.jpg

Residents of East Liberty will soon see construction work taking place at a high-visibility neighborhood corner.

On April 7, ground will be broken on 5801 Penn, a much-anticipated mixed-use development that will house 54 one- and two-bedroom apartments and 11,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Situated at the western gateway of Penn Ave.’s business district, the mixed-income, four-story project will seek LEED certification. Architect firm Strada and contractor Sota Construction Services are both known for their expertise in sustainable design and construction.

Marking the area’s fourth major redevelopment project spearheaded by The Community Builders, Inc. (TCB), the $12 million project is being developed in collaboration with East Liberty Development Inc. and the Coalition of Organized Residents of East Liberty.

“It’s designed to accommodate a variety of sizes of users and up to three restaurants. We’re targeting neighborhood serving businesses,” says Tamara Dudukovich, with TCB, which will manage and lease the units, and move its offices into the space. “We’d love to have a coffee shop and ice cream store—things that are destinations and a nice fit for a residential community. We have a signed letter of intent from a laundromat.”

Original residents of the site’s high-rises will be given priority for the units, which will be completed by summer 2010. Financing is provided by loans from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, PHFA, Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, and private equity. Next up for TCB is design planning and financial packaging for 5800 Penn Ave., which calls for 75 apartments and/or condos and 24,000 square feet of commercial space.

A ground breaking at 5801 Penn will be held on April 7 at 11a.m. To R.S.V.P., contact Pat at 412-365-0665, x123.

To receive Pop City free every week, click here.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Tamara Dudukovich, The Community Builders; Megan Stearman, URA; Lissa Rosenthal, Relish Public Relations

Image courtesy URA

[PA Pride]

What's with that NY Times article? No mention of "hell with the lid off" or "Abandon it"? Geez, they are slacking.

[Evergrey]

What's with that NY Times article? No mention of "hell with the lid off" or "Abandon it"? Geez, they are slacking.

ah... but it did feature the obligatory "Pittsburgh lost half its population" line...

[PA Pride]

ah... but it did feature the obligatory "Pittsburgh lost half its population" line...

Good point. I guess this article passes muster then. I would've at least liked to have seen a "steel city" reference or two though.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_618659.html

Pittsburgh vote upcoming for Target


By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Pittsburgh City Council could vote in about three weeks on a financing plan for a proposed Target store in East Liberty, which received support at a public hearing Tuesday.

The city has been asked to approve $2 million in tax-increment financing bonds for the proposed Target store, which may not open until 2011. Allegheny County Council and the Pittsburgh School District approved the financing plan in February.

"It's imperative that we approve the TIF because it is critical to the development and what it will mean to the East End," said Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess, who represents District 9, which includes Homewood-Brushton, Larimer and Point Breeze.

Tax-increment financing allows property-tax dollars generated by a development to be used to pay off bonds issued for construction, generally for road, sewer and improvements, usually over 20 years.

The tax benefits to the city, school district and county will be increased annually by $71,391, said Robert Rubenstein, director of economic development for the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Once the bonds for the $2 million have been paid off, real estate taxes will reach $285,000 -- an increase of about $240,000, he said.

Total cost of improvements, which includes sidewalks and a roadway, is $7 million, Rubenstein said. The money will come from the $2 million proposed financing, $2.5 million from bonds approved for the Bakery Square project in East Liberty, $500,000 from the city, and $2 million from the state.

The improvements will include reversing one-way traffic on Penn Circle East and South, said Mark Minnerly, real estate director for the Mosites Co., developer of the project. Without a two-way road, retailers such as Target would not be interested, he said. Target would guarantee payment on the bonds if it builds a store there, he said.

Mosites has said Target has signed a letter of intent to locate a 146,000-square-foot, two-level store there. A spokesmen for Target could not be reached yesterday, but the retailer has said it continues to have an interest in East Liberty.

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

[Evergrey]

I don't really care if Dowd is right that the city should retain the tow pound at a different site... I'm just glad the tow pound is leaving the Allegheny riverfront (what a horrible place to have put a tow pound... but I guess it makes sense considering its surrounded by some of the most awful, desolate industrial wastelands in the city)

let's clean out the crud from the eastern half of the Strip District... and create an awesome dense neighborhood... finally tying Lawrenceville/Bloomfield together with Downtown

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_618684.html

Pittsburgh auto pound may be towed from Strip

By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 1, 2009

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2009-03-31/0401ptow-a.jpg
The city auto pound in the Strip District.
Jasmine Goldband/Tribune-Review

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is pushing to privatize the city's tow pound and move it to a lot near the south end of the Liberty Tunnel, city officials said Tuesday.

Closing the Strip District tow pound would free 1.5 acres of "prime real estate" along the Allegheny River and give control of the money-losing operation to McGann & Chester Towing, which the city pays to tow vehicles.

"This proposal will actually save the city a little bit of money," said Finance Director Scott Kunka.

That is, if City Council approves.

Councilman Patrick Dowd, who is running against Ravenstahl in the May 19 Democratic primary, said he worries that privatization would raise the $110 fee charged to people recovering their towed vehicles. He favors, instead, moving the tow pound away from the river.

"A private operator has to make money; they have to produce a profit," said Dowd, who is undecided about the proposal. "The city can run it as a break-even center."

Kunka said the pound collected $1.18 million last year, but it cost $1.58 million to run. The pound posted similar losses in 2007 and 2006.

Most of the expenses -- $1.04 million last year -- were paid to McGann & Chester. The city would not pay McGann & Chester under the new arrangement.

The 8-acre site near the Liberty Tunnel and Saw Mill Run houses vehicles seized by state and Port Authority police. Adding more vehicles would be easy, said Bob McGann, co-owner of the towing company.

The lot is open seven days a week, McCann noted. City government, however, is closed Sundays; therefore, people can't recover vehicles that are towed Saturday nights until Mondays.

McGann said fees are being negotiated with the city.

Dan O'Hara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1, questioned why the city couldn't raise its fees to cover costs. He hopes to learn more about the proposal before council takes a preliminary vote April 8.

McGann & Chester's proposal beat one from Ferra Automotive Services of Sharpsburg. A city panel rejected the offer because Ferra wanted to move the tow pound out of the city and charge higher recovery fees, Kunka said.

McGann contributed $500 in April 2007 to Ravenstahl's campaign and $1,000 in May 2008, according to campaign finance records. Ravenstahl repeatedly has denied showing favoritism to political donors.

Moving the pound would allow the Urban Redevelopment Authority to hasten development of the city's riverfronts -- a Ravenstahl priority.

"Now, we're setting the stage for vibrant development that builds upon our natural assets and reconnects our neighborhoods to our riverfronts," Ravenstahl said in a statement.

Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or 412-765-2312.

[Evergrey]

continuing with that controversial skyscraper signage topic... I had no idea Equitable Resources rebranded itself as EQT

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09091/959628-53.stm

EQT may take unique approach to signage EQT considers unique signage

Wednesday, April 01, 2009
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

EQT Corp. wants to become the latest company to put its name in lights atop the Pittsburgh skyline, but with a twist.

Rather than employ traditional neon, the firm is considering a backlit version for its new headquarters at 625 Liberty Ave. that would be unique among the many signs that hang from Downtown skyscrapers.

William Kolano, head of Kolano Design, which is working with EQT to fashion the sign, said the firm is looking for one that is "architecturally appropriate" for the 32-story former Dominion Tower building.

"I think companies are challenging themselves to not just put the same sign up. We're in a whole new generation of signs now that are looking at more clever lighting. The bar is being raised with every sign," he said.

The backlit sign would feature "EQT" in 11 1/2- to 12 1/2-foot high letters. The letters would be placed six to nine inches off the building. The lights would be affixed to the back side of the letters and light the building itself rather than the sign.

At a briefing before the city planning commission yesterday, Mr. Kolano said the goal of the approach is to complement the lights and shadows on the building.

EQT will test the backlit sign and a traditional neon one on the building before deciding which works better. The backlit sign would be made up of silver metallic letters. The neon version would have white letters.

Pending the testing, the preference at the moment is in favor of the backlit sign, Mr. Kolano said.

If approved after a hearing in two weeks, it would be the 19th high-wall sign -- those more than 40 feet above the ground -- authorized by the planning commission for Downtown and the Strip District since 2001. All but two have involved new signs or changes to existing ones on skyscrapers or hotels.

Fearing that the signs are cluttering and destroying the city's iconic skyline, city Councilman William Peduto is thinking about proposing a moratorium to prevent more.

But others oppose a moratorium, saying the neon is sign of the city's corporate vitality and enhances the skyline.

EQT spokesman Wayne Desbrow said the company has yet to make a final decision on whether to move forward with the sign. But if it does so, it wants one that will "bring out the best in the building" and add to the skyline.

As proposed, the EQT lettering would be on the north, east and west sides of the building. There would be no sign on the south side facing Downtown because it would be blocked by taller buildings. The size of the lettering is less than half of the 2 percent of building face permitted under the city's ordinance.

As for why the firm wants a sign, Mr. Desbrow said, "We've grown quite a bit in the last several years. We're very proud of that.... We're proud to be in Pittsburgh and proud to be a corporate citizen of Pittsburgh. That's a reason, certainly."
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd360/pittsburghrules/downtown%20pittsburgh/DSC07012.jpg?t=1238558912

[Evergrey]

speak of the devil... it's that little Pittsburgh law firm ReedSmith again... if you were wondering what the fate of Pittsburgh's National City Center would be... this is a pretty good sign

btw, I wonder what will replace the National City sign on that building once the merger is complete... PNC (if they retain the space)? ReedSmith, perhaps? :haha:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09091/959627-28.stm

Reed Smith consolidates support staff Downtown

Wednesday, April 01, 2009
By Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In August, Reed Smith's Pittsburgh lawyers will relocate to a gleaming new high-rise on Fifth Avenue, Downtown. But their window views may face tough competition from those of the firm's support staff moving to separate digs a few blocks away.

On May 1, Reed Smith will consolidate 210 technology and office support workers from several Downtown sites into National City Center, a 27-year-old hexagonal office tower that overlooks the Monongahela River at Stanwix Street and provides sweeping views from windows lining its exterior walls.

The law firm has leased three floors, or about 55,000 square feet, in the 20-story building for its Global Customer Centre, which provides round-the-clock business services and client support for the firm's 23 worldwide offices and nearly 1,700 lawyers.

Two of the three floors being leased were occupied until December by National City Bank, which merged last year with PNC Financial Services Group. National City still occupies five floors plus the lobby, where it operates a branch bank.

Reed Smith officials said there was a strategic reason why the customer support staff -- whose members now work in the Gulf Tower and at the law firm's current headquarters on Sixth Avenue -- was not included in plans for its new headquarters at Three PNC Plaza on Fifth Avenue.

They have "a separate identity," said Gary Sokulski, the firm's chief operating officer. "The essence of the Global Customer Centre is 24/7. The mission is global support. A partner in Three PNC will call for help just like a partner in Hong Kong."

Despite the move to two new office spaces in Pittsburgh and its aggressive penetration into international markets in recent years, Reed Smith has not been immune from the global economic downturn.

Yesterday the firm said it would cut 17 lawyer associates in the United States who work in corporate and real estate areas and 55 support workers in various departments.

The firm also is planning to lay off up to nine associates and 19 support personnel in London because of the sluggish economy, according to a memo e-mailed to employees by Gregory Jordan, Reed Smith's global managing partner.

The cuts represent less than 4 percent of the firm's associates and less than 5 percent of support personnel, Mr. Jordan said. In December, Reed Smith cut 115 support workers in the United States.

Employees in the firm's 24/7 support center provide computer help, document processing, telephone switchboard answering services and bulk mailing services. Other firm-wide functions that will be part of the center include human resources, communications, accounting, payroll and billing collections.

Some lawyers who will be housed there are a team that evaluates new business for the firm.

The space under lease eventually could hold 260 employees, said Pat Hiltibidal, Reed Smith's chief of office services.

To renovate the space at National City Center, the law firm replaced carpeting, painted walls and removed most interior walls to achieve "an open plan for collaborative teaming," she said.

Unlike the firm's new headquarters at Three PNC, there are few fixed offices in the support center, and those included in the design have modular walls to keep the operation flexible.

Because windows line all the exterior walls, natural light floods the floors and contributes to the open work environment that the firm is trying to achieve.

The space includes conference rooms, video conference space and galley kitchens with seating that were already in place, Ms. Hiltibidal said.

Though the support center will have vending machines, once Reed Smith's new headquarters space opens, employees can go there to eat in the firm's cafeteria. Support center employees also will have access to a private parking garage at National City Center.

With the Reed Smith lease and other tenants, National City Center has an occupancy rate of more than 92 percent, one of the highest among Downtown's multitenant structures, said Jeremy Kronman, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis, leasing agent for the building.

The building was called One Riverfront Center when it was constructed in 1982 as the headquarters for National Steel Corp., which moved to Indiana in 1992 and was later acquired by U.S. Steel.

In 1996, the building became National City Center after the Cleveland bank bought Pittsburgh's Integra Bank and centralized its employees there.

The bank occupied half the building when the structure was bought by the current owners, a New York-based group called National City Center Limited Partnership, for $23 million in 2006.

Reed Smith considered locations as far-flung as India and North Dakota before it decided to base its Global Customer Centre Downtown, said Mr. Sokulski.

"You could find an argument to go to India. But Pittsburgh has a highly trained work force [and] affordable space, and 70 percent of our business is in the U.S. We really felt we could do it best in Pittsburgh."

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20090401reed_smith_building.gif

Joyce Gannon can be reached at jgannon@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1580.

[guyFROMtheBURGH]

Reed Smith considered locations as far-flung as India and North Dakota before it decided to base its Global Customer Centre Downtown, said Mr. Sokulski.

"You could find an argument to go to India. But Pittsburgh has a highly trained work force [and] affordable space, and 70 percent of our business is in the U.S. We really felt we could do it best in Pittsburgh."





:shrug: WHY couldn't other companies act upon this also?! :koko:

[PA Pride]

I never liked that 20 Stanwix St. Bldg. I find it to be ugly. At least it fit in at the "ugly side of town" along with the State building, the Post-Gazette low rise and the Steelworkers building.

[Black-n-Gold]

I never liked that 20 Stanwix St. Bldg. I find it to be ugly. At least it fit in at the "ugly side of town" along with the State building, the Post-Gazette low rise and the Steelworkers building.

Well, at the time it was a "signature tower" designed by SOM when they were on top of their game, and built with acres of expensive travertine facing.

Something to think about for those clamoring for another "signature tower" in Pittsburgh. Yesterday's cutting edge building is today's eyesore.

The Steelworkers building was also pretty cutting edge in its day - it had the first exterior space frame structure of any building. The structural engineer was no less than Leslie E. Robertson.

[Grego43]

At least it fit in at the "ugly side of town" along with the State building, the Post-Gazette low rise and the Steelworkers building.


Call me a sentimental fool, but I still find the United Steelworkers HQ to be a sexy mid-century building.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1218/920832995_ec857a3a0d.jpg
from flikr.com
http://glasssteelandstone.com/Images/US/PA/Pittsburgh/200801/UnitedSteelworkersBuilding-Jul08-006a.jpg

[PA Pride]

20 Stanwix was designed by SOM? That is amazing to me.

As for the Steelworkers bldg: I like the exterior frame, it's just that beyond that the building has no shape. Just a big old square.

Can we all at least agree that the Post-Gazette building needs to go? That thing is a disgrace. And Evergrey, don't go posting old photos of it before the re-clad.

[Evergrey]

The Steelworkers building is interesting... and highly regarded in architecture circles... but it doesn't do much for me and has an abysmal street level presence

[Johnland]

Evergrey, I just had to thank you for the great, great photos of Downtown you posted on the Northeast thread. For some reason, I cannot sign on to that thread, it always tells me I'm unregistered, etc, etc, or else I would've posted there.

But those pictures just made my week. I loved seeing those Downtown street scenes with people everywhere and the incredicbly dense, rich urban environment. I miss that so much. Also, it's good to see so much renovation and sprucing up, as well as out and out new development. The new PNC building is amazing how it just squeezes in there at an angle and has taken it's place among its venerable neighbors.

[Evergrey]

Evergrey, I just had to thank you for the great, great photos of Downtown you posted on the Northeast thread. For some reason, I cannot sign on to that thread, it always tells me I'm unregistered, etc, etc, or else I would've posted there.

But those pictures just made my week. I loved seeing those Downtown street scenes with people everywhere and the incredicbly dense, rich urban environment. I miss that so much. Also, it's good to see so much renovation and sprucing up, as well as out and out new development. The new PNC building is amazing how it just squeezes in there at an angle and has taken it's place among its venerable neighbors.

Thank you for the kind words, Johnland.

This is the thread Johnland is referring to... I focused on a lot of the new developments downtown... as well as the street-level vibrancy.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=4171881

[bruchaus]

hey, this is my first time to this website and i must say im very impressed with everything here. i feel like ive been looking for this place for a while and seem to have just stumbled into it. i live in brooklyn but im from the burgh originally and love to see all the development goin on back home. great pictures!

[PA Pride]

Welcome bruchaus! Did you check out page 1 of this thread which has a pretty complete list with photos of all the developments?

[bruchaus]

Welcome bruchaus! Did you check out page 1 of this thread which has a pretty complete list with photos of all the developments?

Yes, I checked out the first page, it is amazing. I am constantly searching for articles and sites that talk about the development in Pittsburgh and I think I have found my Rosetta Stone so to speak, in this website. There are really only a few articles every now and then in the Post and the Trib and are usually buried deep in their websites. Now I can check out the development everyday!

[Minivan Werner]

An acquaintance of mine that works at the casino construction told me they had to shut down the garage site because of ground settling. I guess the garage was built in 3 sections and each one is starting to lean in 3 separate directions. Don't know how true that is, but that's what he told me.

[Evergrey]

An acquaintance of mine that works at the casino construction told me they had to shut down the garage site because of ground settling. I guess the garage was built in 3 sections and each one is starting to lean in 3 separate directions. Don't know how true that is, but that's what he told me.

that's true... KDKA reported on it last night

http://kdka.com/local/Rivers.casino.garage.2.973767.html

[hyperion1110]

Haha...they could just chop off the top three floors and call it a day!

[bruchaus]

The whole casino thing was a mistake in the first place. I'm praying it doesn't destroy the North Side.

[PA Pride]

Yes, I checked out the first page, it is amazing. I am constantly searching for articles and sites that talk about the development in Pittsburgh and I think I have found my Rosetta Stone so to speak, in this website. There are really only a few articles every now and then in the Post and the Trib and are usually buried deep in their websites. Now I can check out the development everyday!

Yeah, it's kind of addicting. Feel free to join in on the discussions with comments or questions. This is probably the most active forum on the web for Pittsburgh development discussion. (that i've seen)

Do you live in the Pittsburgh area right now? If so where? We are always interested to know.

[Evergrey]

i live in brooklyn

.

[bruchaus]

I lived in Pittsburgh for 24 years. I lived in the South Side my last 5 years in Pittsburgh.

[PA Pride]

Oh, oops. Didn't see that part of your post above. How's Brooklyn treating you?

[bruchaus]

Oh, oops. Didn't see that part of your post above. How's Brooklyn treating you?

Pretty well. It ain't Pittsburgh. Though I have an amazing view of lower Manhattan from my roof.

[bruchaus]

I know that the parking garage on the North Side has been in the news recently, theres a new article in the Post today:

Workers to realign casino's out-of-kilter parking garage
OSHA says building is structurally sound
Friday, April 03, 2009
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
On the North Shore, work continues on the parking garage of The Rivers Casino.
If the huge parking garage being built behind the Rivers Casino on the North Shore seemed a bit out of kilter recently, your eyes didn't deceive you.

Parts of the nine-level garage were found to be leaning by nearly a foot, prompting intervention by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and a plan of action by contractors to straighten things out.

Despite the problems, OSHA found the garage to be "safe and structurally sound," Acting Area Director Frank Librich said yesterday. "At no time during erection were employees in danger of a building collapse."

The agency became involved after receiving an anonymous tip in February saying that floors seven through nine in the garage were out of plumb, or leaning.

OSHA investigated the next day and determined that about 80 columns on the three floors were out of plumb. Mr. Librich said seven columns were off by as much as 8 to 111/16 inches. The vast majority of the rest were off less than 5 inches, he said.

By the time OSHA arrived, the casino's contractors already had developed a remediation plan to straighten out all of the columns using cables and tensioning devices, Mr. Librich said.

Since then, all but one column line have been brought back to plumb "in accordance with design specifications," he said. It should be finished in about two weeks.

"It could have been a serious issue, but it wasn't," Mr. Librich said.

He said he did not know what caused the columns to lean. But he added the problems appeared to start after crews, which had been erecting the pre-cast concrete used on the garage from left to right, shifted the crane and began erecting from right to left.

Rich Stanizzo, business manager of the Pittsburgh Building and Construction Trades Council, said it was not unusual for structures to be slightly out of plumb as they are being erected. But parts of the garage were out of alignment a "little bit more than normal," he said.

Nonetheless, he was confident that the remedial measures "are correcting the problems."

Workers have been under a tight schedule to get the casino and the garage completed by August. All work stopped for about a month last summer after Detroit businessman Don Barden failed to secure permanent financing for the slots parlor. A group led by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm then took over the project.

Mr. Stanizzo said he didn't think the fast pace had anything to do with the alignment issue, adding that you "can only go so fast" in erecting precast concrete.

In a statement, casino spokesman Dan Fee said the garage, which has been a source of controversy because of its size, "is structurally sound and remains safe."

"During the construction of all multilevel structures, it is not uncommon to make adjustments to bring all floors into alignment and final position. That is what is occurring now," he said.

The casino, he said, is still on track to open in August.

Mr. Librich said the casino faced no fines as a result of the problem because there were no violations of OSHA standards. Overall, the site has been a safe one, he said. Mr. Stanizzo said incident and accident rates had been below normal for such a large job.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09094/960574-53.stm

Grant mulled to boost hotel plan

URA board to vote on East Liberty project

Saturday, April 04, 2009
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With two East Liberty hotels in limbo, the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority is considering a $300,000 grant to help shore up funding for a third.

The URA board is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to authorize the grant to Governor's Hotel Co. LP to help cover soft costs related to the proposed $21.5 million Hotel Indigo development at North Highland Avenue and Broad Street. Soft costs are expenses, such as architects' fees, that are not direct construction costs.

URA Executive Director Rob Stephany said the developer has lined up financing for the hotel, has secured the required zoning and planning approvals, and is set to go with the project, no small feat given the economy and tight credit markets.

"This is the over-the-hump cash they needed," he said of the grant. "They've pushed over an awful lot of hurdles and it looks as if they're getting ready to close on the deal."

Mr. Stephany said the grant would help to make up for some city tax abatements the developer had expected but lost when the five parcels needed for the project were consolidated into one lot.

Construction is expected to take 13 months, with the hotel scheduled to open in 2010. The limited-service boutique hotel involves use of East Liberty's former Governor's Hotel and other existing buildings as well as new construction. In addition to the proposed grant, the URA has provided a $2.75 million loan for the hotel.

The project is faring much better than plans for two other hotels, a 105-room Homewood Suites and a 113-room Hampton Inn, advanced by Highland Hotel LLC. The developer had trouble securing financing, prompting the URA to move last month to purchase for $300,000 two of the parcels needed for the hotels. The agency now is hoping to entice another developer to take on the project.

Also on Tuesday, the URA board will consider:

• A proposal by developer Millcraft Industries to convert a $2 million URA loan for the Piatt Place project at the former Lazarus-Macy's store into a federal New Market Tax Credit loan. Mr. Stephany said the change would enable Millcraft to bring more capital into the project and help develop office space needed for state employees moving in the fall. Millcraft is buying the State Office Building for $4.6 million.

• Creation of a new $2 million Pittsburgh Entrepreneur Fund to aid start-up and growing businesses, particularly those involved with emerging technologies like information technology, life sciences and green energy initiatives.

• A proposal to authorize about $1 million in funding for site development and the construction of five houses at a former 4.3-acre brownfield site in Manchester once owned by the Thomas & Betts Co. The initial phase is part of a plan to build 31 market rate houses for sale as part of the development.
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[PA Pride]

Remediation work being done on the casino skyscraper....oops.... I mean parking garage:

http://post-gazette.com/pg/images/200904/ds_rivers_casino_garage_0403_330.jpg
http://post-gazette.com/pg/images/200904/ds_rivers_casino_garage_0403_330.jpg

[dugdogmaster]

Damn, and I was hoping they were going to be forced to tear it down and get a mulligan.

Remediation work being done on the casino skyscraper....oops.... I mean parking garage:

http://post-gazette.com/pg/images/200904/ds_rivers_casino_garage_0403_330.jpg
http://post-gazette.com/pg/images/200904/ds_rivers_casino_garage_0403_330.jpg

[Ditchdigger]

Mr. Stanizzo said he didn't think the fast pace had anything to do with the alignment issue, adding that you "can only go so fast" in erecting precast concrete.

...cause if you go any faster, it ends up way out of plumb, and you have to go back later and straighten it up. :rolleyes:

[PA Pride]

It's been a long time coming and it's finally almost done!

Changes already taking shape near new Children's Hospital

http://post-gazette.com/pg/09095/960740-53.stm

http://post-gazette.com/pg/images/200904/fong_childrens_hospital01_l_500.jpg

Sunday, April 05, 2009
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

The new Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville is nearly ready to open next month. On many of Bloomfield's side streets near the new Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, curbs and sidewalks are crumbling. Narrow homes seem to hunker, united by cable wires and pallid paint. In contrast, the new $625 million,10-acre feast of color-giddy geometry looms in every direction.
Leaving its Oakland location, Children's Hospital opens May 2 on several blocks where Lawrenceville looks across Penn Avenue at Bloomfield -- the former site of St. Francis Hospital.

The new Children's, which will hold a reservation-only community preview at 11 a.m. today, is also the latest and largest project in an explosion of development that has brought Garfield and Friendship stakeholders into a larger East End collaboration to prepare for it.

In the past two years, they've welcomed the new Children's Home of Pittsburgh, the Penn-Fairmount Apartments and the Glass Lofts, which combine condos, artists studios and office space. Construction is soon to begin on a multi-use development, including housing, on the site of the former East Mall high-rise, East Liberty's gateway on Penn Avenue.

Children's Hospital is more than a new neighbor, though. It is a transformative presence that has made some people excited, others apprehensive.

One merchant likened its impact to dropping Godzilla down in the middle of three dense neighborhoods.

The full sense of Children's 1.3 million-square-foot sweep is apparent from an overlook on Webster Avenue in the Hill District. The buildings lined up in its shadow look like a toy village.

The impact, however, is at street level.

That's a great thing to Brian Peltz, not so great for Heather Cunningham.

In January, Mr. Peltz opened the Lunchbox of Pittsburgh in a single-family home his family owns on 44th Street. The convenience store offers soups, sandwiches and prepared salads to go -- 16 feet from the emergency room entrance.

His family used to rent to residential tenants, Mr. Peltz said. But with Children's across the street, he saw a more profitable use for the house.

Sue Mazzotta, a pharmacy technician, has patronized the Lunchbox enough in her first four weeks of working at the new hospital that Mr. Peltz "already knows what I get on Fridays," she said.

Just two blocks away, Ms. Cunningham has been living with the nonstop drone of the hospital's exhaust fans since October.

One of her neighbors, Mark Lewandowski, called the constant soundtrack "white noise." He said he did not remember similar noise when St. Francis Hospital operated in the community.

"It's like you're living next to a mill," said Ms. Cunningham, who has complained about it to City Councilman Patrick Dowd and Lawrenceville stakeholder groups.

"I can hear them through my bedroom window, in my front yard, in my back yard," she said. "Of course we're all worried about traffic and ambulances at night, but that's a reasonable expectation when you live near a hospital. That hum is constant."

Mr. Lewandowski said he anticipates more traffic accidents and less chance for residents to park on the street unless they pay to obtain permit parking. The benefits will be "an increase in foot traffic along Penn," he said, "maybe some cool eateries and quaint smoke/lottery shops.

"I do hope we can all get along," he said. "The residents, new and old school, have made such great strides in the past 10-15 years."

He said Eric Hess, the hospital's vice president and project executive, "has been wonderful, a great liaison and always available for our block watch. He has tried to answer our questions and concerns."

Mr. Hess, who published his phone number in a neighborhood newspaper to encourage feedback, said he knows "pretty much when things are an issue."

He has held numerous community meetings and visited neighborhood councils and block watch groups.

To address the drone of the exhaust fans, he said he has had acoustical consultants and engineers study the problem. He said he is encouraged that sound attenuators installed on bypass air inlets may resolve the problem.

During construction, he said some people criticized the hospital for wasting energy when construction lights were on.

"One or two people said we shouldn't have so many lights on," he said. "We had headlights from one of our garages shine into the second floor of somebody's house. We did work on that to make sure it did not happen.

"We have no intention of being a nuisance. There might be things we can't control," he said.

Among those things: the pounding throb of helicopters that transport critically ill patients to the hospital's roof, he said.

"But the primary flight path goes away from the community and over [Allegheny] cemetery," he said. "A second thing is, we invested in a parking pad on the roof," so one helicopter doesn't have to be moved if the second one comes in.

One of the biggest concerns of residents is parking.

Hospital employees who work weekdays cannot park on the hospital's campus. The hospital has provided a 1,500-car lot near the Allegheny River between 55th and 57th streets and a shuttle for employees, but residents said they expect many employees instead will try to park on streets closer to the hospital.

Neighborhood stakeholder groups said their members believe Children's will be a mostly positive presence. Ms. Cunningham said she is "happy to see new businesses open."

So far, though, the Penn-Main district is not bustling with new business. A prime corner property at Penn and Main is vacant, as are a former smoke shop down the street and several former retail spaces.

"It seems like a lot of people are waiting to see what will happen before making a leap," said Maya Haptas, business district manager for the nonprofit Lawrenceville Corp., which manages the Penn-Main Business District Association. "Parking is a problem right around in there."

Real estate developer Phil Spano is the Penn-Main association's chair.

"Businesses may be waiting to see what will happen rather than step out there with a speculative investment," he said. "But it's going to be a very exciting and fast-paced time over the next few months."

One longtime business owner is delighted to be in the mix. At the Penn-Main intersection, Wilson's Pharmacy has been in business for almost 70 years.

Third-generation owner Jeff Wilson said his family's business has "hung in there" as chains have doomed one mom-and-pop pharmacy after another. The neighborhood has supported him, "pretty much the same since St. Francis left," he said. The pharmacy sells typical items, from greeting cards to heat wraps, eyeglasses and candy. It also sells milk and a few groceries, but Mr. Wilson plans to expand his inventory further.

He remembers from his boyhood days that the pharmacy sold children's books.

"We're going to carry them again," he said, "and we want to carry some toys and magnetic games kids can play in bed, and toys you don't find in gift shops, where toys tend to be expensive."

Other merchants also are thinking a lot about children these days, and about parents and siblings who wait and get tired of waiting in the hospital.

"We're telling our businesses to cater to these people, such as making a quick lunch menu," said Karla Owens, Bloomfield's Main Streets manager. Some businesses are considering providing shuttles to the hospital to attract customers, she said.

Mr. Spano said Children's is "the first development I can remember where you take a very large entity and put it in a very densely populated inner-city area. There's a lot of anxiety and apprehension, and rightfully so."

"Residents have gotten a chance to express their concerns," said Mr. Spano, "but I call this a work in progress. You're not going to know until the helicopter comes in what the noise level will be.

"Thriving areas don't come without headaches," he said. "I would rather deal with them than have blight and no development."

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20090405childrens_hospital.gif

Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. Also visit her neighborhood blog at http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/citywalkabout.
First published on April 5, 2009 at 12:51 am

[bruchaus]

I spent a lot of time in Bloomfield the past few years and watched this building go up. It almost seems weird that it is finally opening after all these years of construction.

I'm coming home to Pittsburgh this weekend and plan to check out the new PNC building downtown as well as some of the other development taking place, including that awful

[bruchaus]

I spent a lot of time in Bloomfield the past few years and watched this building go up. It almost seems weird that it is finally opening after all these years of construction.

I'm coming home to Pittsburgh this weekend and plan to check out the new PNC building downtown as well as some of the other development taking place, including that awful piece of crap on the North Side,

[zeno3333333]

See the article here.

http://kdka.com/local/Rivers.casino.garage.2.973767.html

They say the problem is being fixed....someone in this thread mentioned the garage looks like something from old Russia...with this problem, one hopes they did not use "Russian concrete" to build it. ;) ;) ;)

[themaguffin]

No Pittsburgh-area projects on GSA stimulus listPittsburgh Business Times

The General Services Administration is not planning to spend any of its stimulus funds for federal government building projects in the Pittsburgh area, according to a list obtained by the Washington Business Journal, a sister publication to the Pittsburgh Business Times.

The building industry has been anxiously awaiting the list of projects, hoping to get a piece of the federal pie designed to bring the country out of recession.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed by President Barack Obama in February, calls for major new construction and energy efficient modernization of federal office buildings, courthouses and land ports across the country. Of the total $5.5 billion, GSA is planning to put $4.27 billion toward “high performance green building” modernization and improvement.

Washington, D.C. would be the nation's top beneficiary of GSA spending, with $1.2 billion — more than one-fifth of the total $5.5 billion — coming to the nation's capital. It is unclear when GSA will officially release the list.

Philadelphia is slated to receive GSA funding for three projects, for a total of about $53 million. Ohio is on the GSA list for nine projects, with a price tag of about $190 million, and West Virginia has two projects slated to receive about $13 million.

Funding for projects under green building “full and partial building modernization projects”:
Ohio:


Cincinnati: John W. Peck Federal Building, $54 million
Cleveland: A.J. Celebrezze Federal Building, $121 million

Funding for green building “limited scope projects”
Philadelphia:

U.S. Customhouse: $29.9 million
Veterans Administration Center: $7.1 million
Byrne-Green Complex: $16.2 million

West Virginia:


Charleston: Robert C. Byrd Federal Building and Courthouse: $4.7 million
Martinsburg: Federal Building, 244 Needy Rd.: $9.2 million

Ohio:


Dayton: Federal Building and Courthouse, $4.4 million
Cleveland: Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse, $368,000
Columbus: Kinneary U.S. Courthouse $6.8 million
Youngstown: Thomas D. Lambros Federal Office Building $1.2 million
Cleveland: Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse $1.2 million
Youngstown: Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building, $601, 000
Cincinnati: Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, $813,000

:hell:

[zeno3333333]

:hell:
I agree it is rotten....
Seems like though most of the projects are for Federal Buildings or Court Houses...Pittsburgh already has one of the best Court Houses ever built, from the late 1880s. Maybe this is one of the reasons Pgh is out in the cold Stimulus wise?? Seems like the Federal Government only cares about "itself" in the projects listed that are being built with the money.

[Evergrey]

big deal... nothing to get angry over... this GSA allotment is only for federal buildings and courthouses...

Pittsburgh's William S. Morehouse Federal Building just completed a massive 5-year renovation in February... why would they spend stimulus money on that?

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_BASIC&contentId=21467&noc=T

[PA Pride]

big deal... nothing to get angry over... this GSA allotment is only for federal buildings and courthouses...

Pittsburgh's William S. Morehouse Federal Building just completed a massive 5-year renovation in February... why would they spend stimulus money on that?

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_BASIC&contentId=21467&noc=T

Guess you could say we're ahead of the curve! :D

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_619501.html

Bakery Square project may get $4 million grant from redevelopment authority

By Sam Spatter, FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The developer turning a former Nabisco bakery into a mixed-use complex with office and retail space may get a grant of up to $4 million today from Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Walnut Capital Partners of Shadyside is seeking money from a state redevelopment capital fund as it works to open Bakery Square in Larimer-East Liberty. Buildings at the former bakery plant are being converted for stores and offices as part of the $113.3 million project, and other retail, restaurant and fitness center space plus a 120-room hotel and parking garage are being built.

The URA will review a request today to lend the developer of Piatt Place $2 million to complete the residential, office and restaurant building in an expanded former department store Downtown.

Bakery Square is expected to create 750 new jobs and retain another 432. Tenants include an Urban Action fitness center, Anthropologie women's apparel store, West Elm furniture and lighting store and PaperMart, which is relocating from the former Ford Building in Shadyside. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center wants to convert that building to a research center.

Millcraft Industries Inc. of Washington County is building Piatt Place. The developer wants to repay a 2006 promissory loan to the URA, which then would re-lend $2 million to CCG Investment Fund IX, LLC, a tax credit fund owned by US Bancorp CDC.

The money would be invested in Commonwealth Cornerstone Group Ltd. IX, a community development entity that then would lend money to the Piatt Place development. A mortgage on the project would secure the loan.

Most of the office and restaurant space at Piatt Place has been leased. State offices are to occupy 178,000 square feet there once the State Office Building on Liberty Avenue is sold, although that plan is being challenged by state Auditor General Jack Wagner.

More than half of the 65 condominiums atop the building have been sold, and residents are moving in.

At its meeting today, the URA board will consider:

• Renovations to the Lambeth Apartments for senior citizens in Lawrenceville, for $20.5 million. Developers Affirmative Investments Inc. and Presbyterian SeniorCare Inc. want to cut the number of units from 194 into 102. The Penn Avenue complex, 48 percent occupied, would be renamed York Commons.

• Establishing a $2 million Pittsburgh Entrepreneur Fund that the city would use to help finance emerging technology companies. This would be a revolving loan fund.

• Providing $300,000 more to Governor's Hotel Co. LP toward the $21.4 million cost to build the Hotel Indigo off North Highland Avenue in East Liberty. The URA provided a $2.75 million loan and a $63,000 grant before for the 140-room hotel.

[themaguffin]

I posted in the pgh film thread, but it's worth noting here too:


Bridge to growth: Can Pittsburgh become a permanent film industry hub?Pittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley

Joe Wojcik
Lee Worthington and his Downtown-based production company, Bridge City Films, is seeking money to finance the production of “Body Farm,” a horror film that would potentially star Ernie Hudson and Richard Christy.
View Larger On the 18th floor of the Investment Building Downtown, the dreams of Lee Worthington, Brandon Keenan, Jessica Pollak and John Gallagher have an address, a conference room and enough office space to plot a strategy so their new film production company, Bridge City Films, can get its start in the high-risk world of moviemaking.

Now, in a wallet-torturing recession, all Bridge City needs is a couple million dollars to produce “Body Farm,” the Keenan-penned horror script for which the company already has committed lead actors, including Ernie Hudson (“Ghostbusters”) and Richard Christy (“The Howard Stern Show”).

“It’s kind of difficult to ask someone for $2 million when you’re in your basement,” said Worthington, 30.

They are committed to proving their production company is a real business, and have a goal of producing three films in the next five years. They say they can start shooting the company’s first film as soon as they get funding.

Bridge City is another modest sign of growth for a local film industry seeking to establish a permanent hub in a fickle field in which projects migrate to money, states are always upping the ante in public incentives and everybody wants a piece of the action.

As location scouts flock to town at the first signs of spring, Bridge City’s efforts are just part of a wave of filmmaking activity here. Despite a Screen Actors Guild labor agreement impasse that has stretched on for months, that includes a host of major studio productions that Pittsburgh Film Office President and CEO Dawn Keezer expects to surpass 2008’s recording-breaking year, when 11 films invested $50 million in southwestern Pennsylvania and nearly $300 million statewide.

There are plenty of signs, large and small, of ongoing investment in Pittsburgh’s new film industry.

A few months ago, Entertainment Partners, the largest payroll service for the film industry, opened a Pittsburgh office to serve the growing number film industry employees here. Film production locals have nearly doubled their membership in the last year or so.

Recently, Mike Wittlin Productions test-screened a film produced in Pittsburgh last year called “In NorthWood,” shot largely on Mount Washington, with the hope it will be released and distributed to 1,200 screens by a major independent distributor whose name he declined to mention. The film stars Nick Stahl (“Terminator 3”) and Olivia Wilde (TV’s “House”).

And Pittsburgh Business Radio, AM 1360, is preparing to launch a regular radio show on the local film production business.

HOLLYWOOD DREAMS, LOCAL STUDIOS
Pittsburgh firms are building the facilities to host major films.

Smithfield Production’s Island Studios in McKees Rocks began hosting productions last year, including DreamWorks SKG on a feature called “She’s Out of My League” as well as a film staring former “Saturday Night Live” cast members called “Hollywood and Whine.”

In the Strip District, Mogul Mind Studios has invested $2.3 million so far to begin soundproofing the former Pittsburgh Flatroll complex into a comprehensive studio campus that can eventually host six or seven major productions at once on some of the biggest sound stages in the world. The company hopes to begin hosting productions in the next few months.

On a recent tour, Mogul Mind CEO John Yost provided a before-and-after blur of plans for the long-unused industrial building.

Yost sees an administrative office where there is now a methadone clinic; dressing rooms and offices for A-list talent where there is a loading dock; and post-production facilities, catering, a water tank and a rain room where there is mostly 330,000 square feet of empty space.

“What will it cost? Millions,” Yost said. “Who will pay for it? Not sure.”

Yet, Yost’s confidence in a project estimated to cost $30 million is obvious.

It’s generated in part by the interest from the major studios in California.

That interest came before Mogul Mind was involved with the facility, said Jared Leland, a Downtown-based entertainment lawyer and director of Mogul Mind. Last year, as productions began seeking locations in Pittsburgh after Pennsylvania increased its film production tax credit, David Kowalski and his son, Brian, owners of the building who are now partners in Mogul Mind, started getting phone calls from Hollywood studios.

“It was the industry that sold him,” Leland said.

THINK HOLLYWOOD, ACT LOCAL?

Even as a small, new company such as Bridge City works to get started here, the major studios are scouting right now, Keezer said.

Because New York’s film incentives, for which applications can be made for future use, are spoken for until 2013, she said Pittsburgh is in the running for two TV pilots, while a third, the CBS medical drama “Three Rivers,” is shooting in Oakland. She said the region could land two or three $100 million productions, major motion pictures that could dwarf the $20 million films typically shot here.

It’s that kind of ongoing influx of work that helps such locally grown talent to find work as they build and develop their own projects, said Keezer, who believes the investments of Mogul Mind and Smithfield Productions come as a positive outgrowth of the other, bigger work that comes from Hollywood. Whatever grows here locally always will depend on Pennsylvania’s incentives, a 25 percent tax credit to film productions that spend 60 percent of their budgets in the state, capped annually at $75 million.

“I don’t think it was ever designed as a way for this industry to become completely self-sufficient,” she said of the tax credit, under attack annually in Harrisburg. “It doesn’t work that way as an economic model.”

Mike Wittlin, who splits time between Pittsburgh and Florida, agreed. He is planning to shoot two films here this year.

“The tax incentives are a standard part of the Hollywood model,” he said, admitting he may look elsewhere. “You lose that, and you lose the movies.”

While a firm believer in the tax credit program, Yost is planning for a future sustainable without them.

He is building what he describes as a film production office park that can offer moviemakers anything and everything they might need, creating efficiencies and cost savings of all kinds that can lure them with or without incentives. His dream is to build an industry here that keeps writers, actors and production professionals working with support services that can include everything from dry cleaners to carpenters.

“If I build my model on tax credits, what kind of fool am I?” Yost said.

[jbraski]

Hey everybody, I am new to this Pittsburgh thread (like Bruchaus) and am a big fan. I lived in Pittsburgh for about 7 months (from this past June until mid January). I was a landscape architect that worked for Burt Hill in downtown Pittsburgh and worked in the International Office. (Our company went through some setbacks and was laid-off in January and had to move back to Minnesota.) I lived in Bloomfield/Friendship and immediately fell in love with this city. All of the fun neighborhoods, walkability etc. What a hidden gem!

I was born and raised in NE Minnesota (north of Duluth, but no...not Canada!) and graduated in May 2008 out in Fargo, ND (where the flooding is!) I accepted a job out in Pittsburgh, dropped everything and moved, not knowing a soul. I was suprised that the first day in town, I met so many kind and helpful people. I didn't know anything at the time (I was like, where is "the Point" and where is this "Mountain of Washington"?...pretty pittiful)

Anyway, I am going to try to keep up with the development of Pittsburgh since it was such a great/vibrant city. It is too bad that people have such preconceived notions of one the most beautiful cities out there. (If any of you have a chance to visit Duluth, MN, it reminds me a bit of Pittsburgh but with a huge lake instead of the three rivers.)

Again, thanks for all the info/updates, keep up the good work.

Take care Pittsburghers!

[Evergrey]

Welcome jbraski... that's too bad that you got laid off so quickly after getting the job and moving halfway across the continent. But at least you had the pleasure of experiencing Pittsburgh... if only for a brief time. Perhaps you and Pittsburgh will get to cross paths again some day in the future. BTW, I'm a Bloomfieldian too! There's a guy on here named DuluthJon who posts Duluth photos every now and then... and it does look like an interesting city. (Biwabik looks quaint from what I saw on google images)

anyways... while we have a lot of development underway here in Pittsburgh... unfortunately the tight credit markets and collapsing national economy have scuttled many visions...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09098/961217-53.stm

Oakland hotel, office development on hold

Wednesday, April 08, 2009
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A proposed $150 million office, residential and hotel development in Oakland has fallen victim to tough times and tight credit markets.

FWG Realty Inc. had hoped to break ground on the Oakland Portal, as it is known, this year, but the project now is on hold as the developer struggles to secure financing.

"It's been delayed because of economic circumstances," said Frank Gustine Jr., a partner in FWG.

The developer planned to build more than 1 million square feet of space on a 10-acre site bounded by Fifth, Forbes and Craft avenues for physician offices and businesses, condominiums, a 200- to 250-room hotel and a parking garage. The project would be completed in phases over five to seven years.

Mr. Gustine could not say how long the proposed development could be delayed. But it doesn't appear as if the project will break ground any time soon.

"We're still interested. We're still fighting. We'd like to [have done] it yesterday, if not in the next six months. Who knows? These economic times have turned a lot of things upside down," he said.

The nation's credit crunch is "one of the key items" in the delay, Mr. Gustine said.

FWG Realty, which already has acquired much of the land it needs for the endeavor, also has been seeking a $30 million state capital grant from Gov. Ed Rendell to assist in the financing. But the status of the grant is "still up in the air," according to Mr. Gustine.

"His trunk's not as big as I thought it would be," he said.

Chuck Ardo, Mr. Rendell's spokesman, said the $30 million grant is "on the wish list of projects in the capital budget," adding that list includes "numerous" ventures that have yet to be funded. He said the governor has made no commitment on the funding.

"It's a large amount of money under any circumstances and a particularly large amount of money under current economic circumstances," Mr. Ardo said.

Despite the financial uncertainties, Mr. Gustine said he and his company were still committed to the project. He believes that there is great demand for more office space in increasingly crowded Oakland, given the presence of growing institutions like UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon University.

"It's a great project. It's unfortunate about the timing. That's the biggest headache," he said.

As planned, the first phase of the project involved construction of a 160,000-square-foot physicians building at the corner of Forbes and Craft avenues. The developer also envisioned a second building, totaling 100,000 square feet, to be constructed on top of a parking garage, for office tenants. Other offices would follow in subsequent phases.

Even though FWG has not been able to move forward to date, it still has been receiving calls from people interested in being tenants, Mr. Gustine said.

"It can work. There is pent up demand in Oakland," he said.

"If the timing was better and the market was more positive, this thing probably would be up and going. Everyone's kind of sitting back right now."

The Oakland Portal project isn't the only local development that has been affected by tight credit markets and the overall economic climate.

A proposal to build two hotels, a 105-room Homewood Suites and a 113-room Hampton Inn, in East Liberty is in limbo after the developer was unable to secure financing.

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority now is looking for someone else to take over the project.

In addition, a $48 million condo-hotel project at the SouthSide Works complex has been delayed indefinitely and could be scaled back as the developer scrambles to get financing.
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.


...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09098/961282-53.stm

URA approves grant for East Liberty hotel

Wednesday, April 08, 2009
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The developer of a 140-room East Liberty hotel will have to go green if it wants more green from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority.

URA board members approved a $300,000 grant to Governor's Hotel Co. LP yesterday to complete financing for the proposed Hotel Indigo at North Highland Avenue and Broad Street.

But it came with a caveat -- to get the money the hotel must achieve a LEED silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The board decided to add the requirement after learning that the developer, which originally had promised a hotel with a LEED silver rating, was instead pursuing LEED points and perhaps a basic certification but no more in order to contain costs.

"This is a very difficult time to borrow money to build a hotel," said Nigel Parkinson, a partner in Governor's Hotel Co.

But state Sen. Jim Ferlo, a URA board member, objected to the change.

"I'm worried that if this is approved without the LEED certification it is going to set a bad example [for other developers in the city]," he said. "I'm not willing to do that."

Nonetheless, board Chairman Yarone Zober, chief of staff to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, urged his colleagues to approve the grant. He warned that forcing the developer to spend more money in such a tough economic environment could jeopardize the entire project.

"I don't want to end up with a LEED-certified nothing," he said.

In the end, the board approved the grant with the qualification. Mr. Parkinson said afterwards he would have to spend about another $300,000 to achieve a LEED silver rating for the hotel. He hopes to work with Mr. Ferlo and the URA to find funding to cover the extra cost.

"We're going to find a way to find the money to do it," he said.

He said the issue won't delay the hotel, which is to break ground within two months. The URA previously granted a $2.75 million loan for the project.
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[Evergrey]

I was wondering why this hotel never seemed to be progressing lately...


http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/04/06/daily30.html

Construction resumes on SouthSide Works hotel

Pittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley

After a few months in limbo due to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of its builder, O’Hara-based Zambrano Corp., Harmar-based Kratsa Properties’ new hotel is now back under construction on Water Street at the SouthSide Works.

Kratsa has hired North Side-based Massaro Corp., the region’s eighth largest construction company, to finish building out the riverfront property. The hotel is planned to be a 115-room SpringHill Suites.

Originally announced in 2004, the project broke ground in May 2007 on a 1.5 acre site closed to the UPMC Sports Medicine Complex, with a projected development cost of $15 million.

While much of the hotel’s structure is built, its completion was waylaid when a group of creditors forced O’Hara-based Zambrano Corp. to pay over $800,000 in debts from a variety of development projects the contractor has been pursuing.

On Tuesday, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh extended the construction period for the project until the end of the year so Massaro can complete the work.

The hotel was previously expected to open this summer.

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

[JackStraw]

ugghh, the One in Oakland is on hold, but atleast the one in the S.S.W. is going along.

Does anybody know if the Squirrel Hill project is on hold, or is that going to be constructed anytime soon?

[Johnland]

ugghh, the One in Oakland is on hold, but atleast the one in the S.S.W. is going along.

Does anybody know if the Squirrel Hill project is on hold, or is that going to be constructed anytime soon?

Oh man...I was really hoping Oakland's real estate market could rise above the current turmoil. Apparently not even bustling, crowded, growing Oakland can currently support new developments.

[PA Pride]

Oh man...I was really hoping Oakland's real estate market could rise above the current turmoil. Apparently not even bustling, crowded, growing Oakland can currently support new developments.

If my profession of residential real estate is any indicator, we have been having a very busy spring so far, so we are thinking that by summer we might start pulling out of this building slowdown; Hopefully by then we will see all the projects start to progress again.

[Johnland]

If my profession of residential real estate is any indicator, we have been having a very busy spring so far, so we are thinking that by summer we might start pulling out of this building slowdown; Hopefully by then we will see all the projects start to progress again.

Would you say Friendship Park would be good investment for residential real estate? I've been checking out some of those gorgeous turn of the century homes on line.

[PA Pride]

Would you say Friendship Park would be good investment for residential real estate? I've been checking out some of those gorgeous turn of the century homes on line.

Well, unlike my location indicates, I don't quite sell in the city; :D I sell homes in the airport area/western corridor so I am not real familiar with city prices. However, my answer would be: Gorgeous turn of the century homes in good neighborhoods are always a good investment!

[JackStraw]

If my profession of residential real estate is any indicator, we have been having a very busy spring so far, so we are thinking that by summer we might start pulling out of this building slowdown; Hopefully by then we will see all the projects start to progress again.

Knowing that you are in real estate, I was wondering if you were busy, or hurting. We had vendors for building products come in our office and say they are busy also. It is a great sign. However, my friend's firm, where I also use to work, let go half of its people, and they were forcing him to work only 24 hours a week. It seems different on who you talk too.

[PA Pride]

^Yeah, I guess it can vary based on who you talk to.

All I know is: me and my mother who are a real estate team are getting dozens of phone calls a day, several new listings in the last week. Deals coming together. The interest rates are like 4.5%. The lowest since a brief period in 1963. The government is giving away $8,000 to first time homebuyers until Dec. 1st '09 that you don't have to pay back... And there are lots of cheap houses out there! It is insane to NOT buy right now.