PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

Austin already has a pretty large tech scene, and it is one of the fastest-growing in the country, in part thanks to the University of Texas. If you look at those rankings where Pittsburgh is pegged as an up-and-comer in tech, you'll often see Austin ranked even higher.

Austin is also a generally progressive city. Travis County went about +39 for Clinton (Allegheny County was about +16).

It is true, though, that the state of Texas is far less progressive (then again, Pennsylvania has some issues these days too). And in terms of being able to draw on a non-local talent pool, I agree Pittsburgh might have the edge. So does Moody's, in fact--that's why we leap past them when "geography" is considered.

[BenM]

With respect to the new Amazon headquarters, I personally think they already have almost all of the information they need to make their decision. Available space, urban setting, housing, educational support etc.

I think it comes down to a dog and pony show over which municipality/state, on a predetermined shortlist, is going to give them the best set of subsidies. I have no idea where Pittsburgh/PA stands on their list, but I'll bet money they go with the best monetary offer.

[BrianTH]

Erie, in recognition of the fact they are basically part of a "Greater Pittsburgh", is going to support Pittsburgh's Amazon HQ bid rather than submitting one of their own:

http://www.goerie.com/news/20171017/...ghs-amazon-bid

As an aside, Erie is interesting to me in that while I agree it is within Pittsburgh's orbit economically, culturally it seems to me more like Cleveland or other Great Lakes cities.

[BrianTH]

Interesting long read about different ideas for financing a municipal affordable housing fund in the City of Pittsburgh:

http://publicsource.org/the-city-is-...getting-messy/

As touched on in the article, the basic problem here is that the PA Constitution doesn't allow for progressive taxation (meaning taxing higher-income people and corporations at higher rates), which means increasing taxes to support affordable housing might end up hitting the middle class more than would be ideal.

But it is still worth doing, and it sounds like they are committed to mutually identifying the least bad option (or combination of options) then going with that.

[Wiz Khalifa]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Austin already has a pretty large tech scene, and it is one of the fastest-growing in the country, in part thanks to the University of Texas. If you look at those rankings where Pittsburgh is pegged as an up-and-comer in tech, you'll often see Austin ranked even higher.

Austin is also a generally progressive city. Travis County went about +39 for Clinton (Allegheny County was about +16).

It is true, though, that the state of Texas is far less progressive (then again, Pennsylvania has some issues these days too).

In general, a presidential vote is a pretty simplistic way to measure if a place is "progressive". There's also nothing progressive about a career politician that is constantly mired in scandals and has pro-war leanings, either.

Anyway, I think that business friendly policies are going to matter much more to a company like Amazon than attitudes about social issues. Especially when they are making such a large and long term investment to an area.

[markson33]

Amazon's decision will be largely based upon employment - where can they get the talent that they need at a reasonable price. Every city is going to come up with great incentives and sites, the questions is who can come up with 50,000 employees and not break the bank. Pittsburgh has a leg up over a place like Boston because there is a $13,000/employee difference in what an entry level software engineer makes, assuming they will come to Pittsburgh.

My money is on Philly. Great access to NYC/D.C., an airport hub and reasonable costs. The Schuylkill Yards project has Amazon written all over it.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Wiz Khalifa

In general, a presidential vote is a pretty simplistic way to measure if a place is "progressive".

I'd call it a proxy. But if Sanders is more your cup of tea, he won Travis County by about 3 points, whereas Clinton won Allegheny County by about 11 points. Again, just a proxy, but I think pretty much any data you collected would line up similarly.

Anyway, I think that business friendly policies are going to matter much more to a company like Amazon than attitudes about social issues. Especially when they are making such a large and long term investment to an area.

I think it crosses over when you think about talent attraction and retention. That's why big businesses often oppose things like anti-LGBT legislation--it is bad for business through the talent channel.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by markson33

Amazon's decision will be largely based upon employment - where can they get the talent that they need at a reasonable price. Every city is going to come up with great incentives and sites, the questions is who can come up with 50,000 employees and not break the bank. Pittsburgh has a leg up over a place like Boston because there is a $13,000/employee difference in what an entry level software engineer makes, assuming they will come to Pittsburgh.

My money is on Philly. Great access to NYC/D.C., an airport hub and reasonable costs. The Schuylkill Yards project has Amazon written all over it.

Philly makes a lot of sense, but it would be a higher-cost option than Pittsburgh. Their prime sites would require skyscrapers to accommodate Amazon's square-footage total, and COL is over 20% higher there (driven by housing costs).

But if not Pittsburgh, I'd love it to be Philly.

[dfiler]

With Pittsburgh now experiencing a steady stream of multi-unit residential development, this article hits close to home:

Those 'Luxury' Condos Look A Little Drab
http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/...-mental-health

Which also linked to this article on Philly's horrible new architecture:
Good, Bad, and Ugly: A Survey of Fishtown’s New Construction
http://hiddencityphila.org/2016/05/G...-CONSTRUCTION/

A silver lining to Pittsburgh's economic slump was that we were late to the architectural trend of random shapes, random colors and random materials arranged on otherwise boring utilitarian cubes. If Amazon lands here, it'll be great economically but we will also see an explosion of horrible architecture. I had hoped that the current trend would blow over and Pittsburgh could leap frog it entirely. For good and bad, they sprouting up all across Pittsburgh now.

[themaguffin]

If Pittsburgh were to land Amazon, it would be great if Erie did benefited as well.

[eschaton]

New 11/9 zoning agenda. Items of note:

1. As was noted earlier, the renovation of the old Congregation B'nai Israel Synagogue and attached school into 40 apartments, with the rotunda turned into offices/supportive services. It is good the building is not being demolished at least - when it went up for sale, many local preservationists were worried it was threatened.

2. This building in the Strip is going to have a five-story rear addition and have a restaurant go in on the first floor.

3. 2528 Smallman Street (where there was a granite outlet up until recently) is slated to be replaced by a six-story, 19-unit residential building with ground-floor retail and integral parking. Indovina is designing it. Lots of special exceptions are needed here, so I wonder if it will go through.

Everything else is pretty small potatoes.

[BrianTH]

Definitely nice to see more 5-6 story stuff planned for the Strip.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

If Pittsburgh were to land Amazon, it would be great if Erie did benefited as well.

If nothing else it would be good for tourism, and I would think they would also have a good shot at landing some more directly Amazon-related jobs (maybe Amazon, but maybe someone else).

[themaguffin]

Anyway, I think that business friendly policies are going to matter much more to a company like Amazon than attitudes about social issues. Especially when they are making such a large and long term investment to an area.

Social issues fall into business issues. A Texas Republican wants to abolish the state film commission. There is no end to the regressive policies in Texas and the South in general.

PA isn't a leader in progressive policies in general, but many Southern states are actively engaged in social policies that are counter to what is good for business.

I'm not saying that Austin, Atlanta or somewhere else isn't in contention because I'm sure that they are, but we don't know how much this impacts Amazon's decision.

[eschaton]

November HRC presentation up. It's a short one this month, and almost everything is a retread, with one notable exception:

An application has been put in to demolish (in part or total) 819-823 Penn Avenue. These buildings are currently protected as part of the Penn-Liberty historic district, but the Parking Authority accepted plans for redevelopment of the block that called for these buildings to be demolished as part of a master plan involving a 935 space garage, 185 condos, and 30,000 square feet of retail. I do not see this happening without a big fight, as I know that Carol Peterson at minimum will try to block anything from happening. The developers now appear to know they have their work cut out for them, as there's an extensive presentation attached - probably the most we've seen yet regarding this project. It looks like they have altered their initial plan to involve an option for some sort of facadectomy and redesign of the corner of 9th and Penn. Aside from making it more likely that this will be passed, I think it's a distinct improvement to have the historic facades, the surrounding streetscape, and the new construction match in terms of massing and materials.

Edit: The presentation also makes it clear there is a later phase of construction (called "Phase 4" here) which involves a third tower facing the river on Fort Duquense Boulevard. This explains the mystery of why there was a third tower in the initial renderings which was not actually discussed in any of the articles.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by eschaton

November HRC presentation up. It's a short one this month, and almost everything is a retread, with one notable exception:

An application has been put in to demolish (in part or total) 819-823 Penn Avenue. These buildings are currently protected as part of the Penn-Liberty historic district, but the Parking Authority accepted plans for redevelopment of the block that called for these buildings to be demolished as part of a master plan involving a 935 space garage, 185 condos, and 30,000 square feet of retail. I do not see this happening without a big fight, as I know that Carol Peterson at minimum will try to block anything from happening. The developers now appear to know they have their work cut out for themt, as there's an extensive presentation attached - probably the most we've seen yet regarding this project. It looks like they have altered their initial plan to involve an option for some sort of facadectomy and redesign of the corner of 9th and Penn. Aside from making it more likely that this will be passed, I think it's a distinct improvement to have the historic facades, the surrounding streetscape, and the new construction match in terms of massing and materials.

Edit: The presentation also makes it clear there is a later phase of construction (called "Phase 4" here) which involves a third tower facing the river on Fort Duquense Boulevard. This explains the mystery of why there was a third tower in the initial renderings which was not actually discussed in any of the articles.

Will the new tower replace the Duff's business institute building? If so, this will transform that area. Hopefully the convention center site can add an additional tower as well.

[TBone7281]

City promo vid for Amazon bid.

• Video Link

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by eschaton

3. 2528 Smallman Street (where there was a granite outlet up until recently) is slated to be replaced by a six-story, 19-unit residential building with ground-floor retail and integral parking. Indovina is designing it. Lots of special exceptions are needed here, so I wonder if it will go through.

This spot has been for sale for a year or so now, glad to see it getting some momentum. It's right across Smallman from the first building Oxford did for Three Crossings. Be cool to see something more vertically significant go into that space.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by TBone7281

City promo vid for Amazon bid.

• Video Link

Pretty good. I think that the message is in line with what Amazon is looking for.

Today is the deadline for the bids to Amazon. Pennsylvania has 4 entries. Pittsburgh, Philly, the Harrisburg region and the Lehigh Valley (The ABE metro - Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton). Over 100 entries nationally. The winner will be picked sometime in 2018.

[photoLith]

I give Pittsburgh a 3 percent chance of getting it. I think they'll look at the city and see the infrastructure and public transport options are severely lacking. However, it's still cheap to live here and there's loads of land near downtown ready for development, so that's a plus.