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http://i.picresize.com/images/2017/12/06/W6Gxh.jpg I lived on Mellon years ago, and that building always stood out as a "wtf were they thinking with that?" whenever I passed by. It's almost as if the new townhomes are attempting to incorporate the "architectural style" of it into their design... :haha: https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/wp-co...Plattform.jpeg Anyway, it's good to see Highland Park really coming back. It's probably my favorite neighborhood overall in Pittsburgh. When I lived there, it was rough if you were a block or so west of Highland. Now, the prices I see there are astounding (even for houses that require significant structural renovations). Based on the Subaru and BMW in the above rendering, it looks like the developers are trying to attract a different demographic than who lives there now... |
Our public authorities have completed their new sweetheart deal for the Penguins, thereby officially taking ownership of this debacle:
http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201712060074 Meanwhile: Quote:
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Edit: Oh, and it may contain some ground-floor retail. At least that was the original plan. Also, I should note "affordable" includes both actual HUD-assisted units and "workforce" units, with the latter units having higher qualifying income limits. |
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I think it will drastically revitalize an area that was nothing but poorly-constructed 1970s low-income apartments. |
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And so now that the city owns the former Penguins land does this mean that development will start hopefully next year? |
^ There is no possibility of restoring that building. It could certainly be improved, but it is structurally altered to an extent that it could not be restored to its original appearance without basically demoing it and rebuilding it. Probably 80% of it is not original anyway. It's a lost cause and would be best leveled.
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In return, we no longer have to give them $14 million in tax credits, which they could use to buy the land. In other words, they basically just bought the land for the future value of $14 million, which is less in present value. Also, if they don't meet certain intermediary benchmarks, they will have to give up a minority of their parking revenue. Overall, this is a bad deal for the public, because we very likely could have gotten more money for the land and gotten better projects by taking the land back and bidding it off, rather than selling it to the Penguins on a no-bid basis. That garage is also bound to be a money-loser so that is another huge giveaway to the Penguins. Still, everyone involved in the deal is swearing this means development will start now and move along faster, despite the fact they just waived the original deadlines and associated penalties. We'll see, but the local history of these deals is when the sports team/developer doesn't meet its benchmarks/targets, the enforcement of the old deal is waived and it gets a new deal instead . . . which is exactly what just happened. |
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It may be a long time coming, however. Both the House and Senate tax bills reduce the number of affordable units developed through Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Thus we're quite likely to see a rollback in privately-funded mixed-income housing in the next few years. Quote:
On the flip side, I would guess the unit right next to the decaying husk will be rather hard to sell. |
I actually kinda like that remuddled building. With some love, it could give me Mexico City vibes. lol
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It could be a tremendous party pad. |
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The Penguins have decided on the minority-owned developer which is going to be building part of of the Lower Hill project. Most salient quote...
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http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/si...YPE=image/jpeg I'm not sure I like that the first phase is segregating the affordable and market-rate units - it defeats the whole purpose of mixed-income housing (which is to stabilize the development by avoiding concentrated poverty). It does look like the density in 1A is higher than they originally called for (I believe this was originally a townhouse area) I also like that they are (theoretically) building out the Centre Avenue side of the development first, because it will probably help move along new development in Uptown. |
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So it's just going to be another generic development with more than likely crap cheap architecture. |
What was the point of all of these designs by BIG and AE7 if they were just going to get tossed into the trash? Who was even behind getting those put together?
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My guess is it was all conceptual fluff to make people go "Ooh! Ahh!" and let the Penguins do whatever they wanted. |
Civic Arena site is going to look horrible... are those surface lots in the master plan?? Shame. Bet there won't be one building on that site > 8 stories
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Seems that there are too many inhibiting forces (the Penguins, Hill District community groups, a city administration that's way too close to both of them, and the simple lack of high demand for large-scale market rate/luxury residential and commercial space in Pittsburgh) at play at the Civic Arena site for it to be developed in a high-quality, top-tier manner.
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