fflint
04-24-2007, 10:09 PM
PITTSBURG
Delta renaissance
Community welcomes new growth while staying true to industrial heritage
Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/24/ba_pittsburg_126_pc.jpg
Heavy equipment is used to clear an empty lot on Railroad Avenue in Pittsburg's downtown historic district
http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/24/ba_scampinigraph.jpg
Downtown Pittsburg, long a fading and largely vacant pocket of Contra Costa County, was a bustling commercial center for a thriving industrial port in the early 20th century.
Then -- about the same time the local Army base closed in 1954 -- commercial fishing ended, the canneries vanished and suburban malls began luring shoppers away. Eventually, what remained was a remarkably intact but underused collection of buildings, some quite grand. And poverty and crime filled the nearby residential areas.
Now, three decades after 70 percent of Pittsburg was declared blighted and was included in a redevelopment zone, close to $500 million worth of public and private construction is under way or being planned at or near Pittsburg's historic core, and many locals believe a renaissance is at hand.
"It's a pleasure to come to work in the morning and look out the window and see what they are working on,'' said Chris Lanzafame, who runs the furniture store downtown on Railroad Avenue that his grandfather started in 1915.
Across the street, construction crews are throwing up a five-story condominium and commercial development covering a city block. Ultimately, the $200 million project by A.F. Evans Development Inc. will cover three blocks and anchor what city officials hope will become a regional destination, with dense housing, sidewalk cafes and shops and a lively marina for pleasure boaters.
Called "The Vidrio'' after one-time local sand mining operations linked to glassmaking, the A.F. Evans project's ground floor businesses and townhomes will wrap around the base of the buildings, with parking hidden inside. Condominiums with one to three bedrooms will sit on top of the podiums, which will have courtyards and be connected by catwalks.
Nearby, a microbrewery is about to open in a brick, former auto dealership, a caviar importer has proposed opening a gourmet boutique, and an Italian bistro owner has agreed to open a branch on a key corner.
"Imagine being able to walk out and have an espresso and get a bite to eat without having to get into your car,'' said Paul Flores, the city's parks recreation director.
"I was born and raised in this city," Flores said. "It's our turn. I want this to happen."
Two blocks south, workers are finishing a $12 million mixed residential and commercial building at the entrance to Old Town. And two blocks north, crews are finishing $15 million in improvements to the city marina, which now has a new waterfront promenade and will soon have a bed-and-breakfast with a waterfront restaurant.
Elsewhere, the city is demolishing two crime-ridden motels, planning housing for artists, revamping a long-shuttered Art Deco theater as a community center, removing asbestos and bat guano from a Beaux Arts theater for possible rehabilitation and spending $18 million on street and utility improvements.
City Manager Marc Grisham says the city is not abandoning its industrial heritage.
"Our world is not all cutesy cafes and boutiques,'' he said.
Just east of downtown, a South Korean steel manufacturer has recently committed to build a 42-acre pipe manufacturing plant -- slightly bigger than the Pacific States Steel foundry in Berkeley, which is now the nation's third-largest steel plant.
A commuter rail car manufacturer is moving its headquarters to Pittsburg from Manhattan. And the city and a private company have completed environmental studies for a proposed $400 million transbay cable that would transmit electricity from Pittsburg, which has two relatively new power plants, to San Francisco.
Lanzafame, 52, a lifelong resident of the town, which sits at the western edge of the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta, said he had almost despaired of seeing such progress.
"I always figured in my lifetime the downtown would be the place to be again,'' Lanzafame said. "About five years ago, I was wondering, 'Will it ever really happen? Will I ever see it? Will my kids see it?' "
Many attribute the feverish activity to Grisham's arrival three years ago.
The city earlier got the National Park Service to grant preferential tax status to the 26 buildings remaining downtown and labeled the area New York Landing Historic District. But private investment did not follow.
Local attorney John Coker and others said the city actually made the problems worse by demolishing large residential, commercial and industrial swaths with no effective plans to rebuild.
Grisham had the benefit of a spike in the city's redevelopment tax revenue, which went from $13 million a year in 1999 to $43 million in 2006 as a result of residential growth and the construction of nearly $1 billion worth of new power plants.
Not everyone is pleased about the sudden activity, however, particularly because some say the city has again been cavalier about demolishing several of the remaining old buildings.
"This is a historic district,'' said activist Tom Lafleur.
Last year, citizen groups sued to preserve an old elementary school and the 82-year-old Scampini Building, which officials wanted to demolish for the Vidrio project. The school district ultimately tore down the school to build a new one, and the city settled the other suit by agreeing to do a supplemental environmental report on the Scampini Building that the city is expected to act on in May. That report said the Scampini Building is not worth saving.
"After people have been asking for 20 years, 'When is something to happen?' Marc is moving very fast,'' Coker said. "Many people are just relieved that finally something is happening. Other people are worried that we may be losing our town. That's where the debate is.''
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pittsburg history
1839 The Mexican government grants 10,000 acres to Jose Antone Mesa and Miguel Jose Garcia.
1849 The first post office is established at what becomes known as New York Landing, largely owned by Col. J.D. Stevenson from New York. The town becomes an overnight stop for prospectors stocking up on their way to the Sierra during the Gold Rush.
1855 Coal is found three miles south near Mount Diablo, and the town is later renamed Black Diamond. A railroad is built to carry coal from the mines.
1880s Black Diamond has become a canning center, employing many Chinese immigrants.
1906 Columbia Geneva Steel plant opens (in 1930 it becomes a subsidiary of U.S. Steel).
1911 Residents vote to name the town Pittsburg after the eastern steel town but drop the "h" for simplicity's sake.
1942 The Army opens Camp Stoneman, from which hundreds of thousands of soldiers are shipped to serve in World War II and Korea. The camp closes in 1954.
Source: Chronicle reporting
Delta renaissance
Community welcomes new growth while staying true to industrial heritage
Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/24/ba_pittsburg_126_pc.jpg
Heavy equipment is used to clear an empty lot on Railroad Avenue in Pittsburg's downtown historic district
http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/24/ba_scampinigraph.jpg
Downtown Pittsburg, long a fading and largely vacant pocket of Contra Costa County, was a bustling commercial center for a thriving industrial port in the early 20th century.
Then -- about the same time the local Army base closed in 1954 -- commercial fishing ended, the canneries vanished and suburban malls began luring shoppers away. Eventually, what remained was a remarkably intact but underused collection of buildings, some quite grand. And poverty and crime filled the nearby residential areas.
Now, three decades after 70 percent of Pittsburg was declared blighted and was included in a redevelopment zone, close to $500 million worth of public and private construction is under way or being planned at or near Pittsburg's historic core, and many locals believe a renaissance is at hand.
"It's a pleasure to come to work in the morning and look out the window and see what they are working on,'' said Chris Lanzafame, who runs the furniture store downtown on Railroad Avenue that his grandfather started in 1915.
Across the street, construction crews are throwing up a five-story condominium and commercial development covering a city block. Ultimately, the $200 million project by A.F. Evans Development Inc. will cover three blocks and anchor what city officials hope will become a regional destination, with dense housing, sidewalk cafes and shops and a lively marina for pleasure boaters.
Called "The Vidrio'' after one-time local sand mining operations linked to glassmaking, the A.F. Evans project's ground floor businesses and townhomes will wrap around the base of the buildings, with parking hidden inside. Condominiums with one to three bedrooms will sit on top of the podiums, which will have courtyards and be connected by catwalks.
Nearby, a microbrewery is about to open in a brick, former auto dealership, a caviar importer has proposed opening a gourmet boutique, and an Italian bistro owner has agreed to open a branch on a key corner.
"Imagine being able to walk out and have an espresso and get a bite to eat without having to get into your car,'' said Paul Flores, the city's parks recreation director.
"I was born and raised in this city," Flores said. "It's our turn. I want this to happen."
Two blocks south, workers are finishing a $12 million mixed residential and commercial building at the entrance to Old Town. And two blocks north, crews are finishing $15 million in improvements to the city marina, which now has a new waterfront promenade and will soon have a bed-and-breakfast with a waterfront restaurant.
Elsewhere, the city is demolishing two crime-ridden motels, planning housing for artists, revamping a long-shuttered Art Deco theater as a community center, removing asbestos and bat guano from a Beaux Arts theater for possible rehabilitation and spending $18 million on street and utility improvements.
City Manager Marc Grisham says the city is not abandoning its industrial heritage.
"Our world is not all cutesy cafes and boutiques,'' he said.
Just east of downtown, a South Korean steel manufacturer has recently committed to build a 42-acre pipe manufacturing plant -- slightly bigger than the Pacific States Steel foundry in Berkeley, which is now the nation's third-largest steel plant.
A commuter rail car manufacturer is moving its headquarters to Pittsburg from Manhattan. And the city and a private company have completed environmental studies for a proposed $400 million transbay cable that would transmit electricity from Pittsburg, which has two relatively new power plants, to San Francisco.
Lanzafame, 52, a lifelong resident of the town, which sits at the western edge of the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta, said he had almost despaired of seeing such progress.
"I always figured in my lifetime the downtown would be the place to be again,'' Lanzafame said. "About five years ago, I was wondering, 'Will it ever really happen? Will I ever see it? Will my kids see it?' "
Many attribute the feverish activity to Grisham's arrival three years ago.
The city earlier got the National Park Service to grant preferential tax status to the 26 buildings remaining downtown and labeled the area New York Landing Historic District. But private investment did not follow.
Local attorney John Coker and others said the city actually made the problems worse by demolishing large residential, commercial and industrial swaths with no effective plans to rebuild.
Grisham had the benefit of a spike in the city's redevelopment tax revenue, which went from $13 million a year in 1999 to $43 million in 2006 as a result of residential growth and the construction of nearly $1 billion worth of new power plants.
Not everyone is pleased about the sudden activity, however, particularly because some say the city has again been cavalier about demolishing several of the remaining old buildings.
"This is a historic district,'' said activist Tom Lafleur.
Last year, citizen groups sued to preserve an old elementary school and the 82-year-old Scampini Building, which officials wanted to demolish for the Vidrio project. The school district ultimately tore down the school to build a new one, and the city settled the other suit by agreeing to do a supplemental environmental report on the Scampini Building that the city is expected to act on in May. That report said the Scampini Building is not worth saving.
"After people have been asking for 20 years, 'When is something to happen?' Marc is moving very fast,'' Coker said. "Many people are just relieved that finally something is happening. Other people are worried that we may be losing our town. That's where the debate is.''
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pittsburg history
1839 The Mexican government grants 10,000 acres to Jose Antone Mesa and Miguel Jose Garcia.
1849 The first post office is established at what becomes known as New York Landing, largely owned by Col. J.D. Stevenson from New York. The town becomes an overnight stop for prospectors stocking up on their way to the Sierra during the Gold Rush.
1855 Coal is found three miles south near Mount Diablo, and the town is later renamed Black Diamond. A railroad is built to carry coal from the mines.
1880s Black Diamond has become a canning center, employing many Chinese immigrants.
1906 Columbia Geneva Steel plant opens (in 1930 it becomes a subsidiary of U.S. Steel).
1911 Residents vote to name the town Pittsburg after the eastern steel town but drop the "h" for simplicity's sake.
1942 The Army opens Camp Stoneman, from which hundreds of thousands of soldiers are shipped to serve in World War II and Korea. The camp closes in 1954.
Source: Chronicle reporting
