PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

Apparently the City is outpacing the suburbs in terms of attracting office tenants--but I don't know the details due to the paywall:

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...e-tenants.html

This doesn't surprise me, and it might well keep building on itself.

[Captain Crash]

The progress on the Southside Terminal warehouses reminded me of how it's riverfront wall could make a nice landing for a ferry. Any thoughts on why Pittsburgh still lacks a regular ferry service? It seems to me that as the city continues to reclaim its riverfronts that this could be a pretty effective mans of connecting some popular areas while bypassing traffic.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

The progress on the Southside Terminal warehouses reminded me of how it's riverfront wall could make a nice landing for a ferry. Any thoughts on why Pittsburgh still lacks a regular ferry service? It seems to me that as the city continues to reclaim its riverfronts that this could be a pretty effective mans of connecting some popular areas while bypassing traffic.

I've ready ferries tend to have very high per-passenger costs, and since they can't go into the middle of developed areas they can be relatively inconvenient too.

[BrianTH]

So the airport is thinking about discontinuing use of the landside terminal:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201708180107

I believe we might have talked about this a bit (and I know I talked about it with coworkers) after they first announced they were looking to permanently close some gates. Putting four security locations at the beginning of each of the concourses (which would cost some gates) could make a lot of sense. You would still need a ticketing and baggage area, but that could possibly be done with just a modest addition to the airside building.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

So the airport is thinking about discontinuing use of the landside terminal:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201708180107

I believe we might have talked about this a bit (and I know I talked about it with coworkers) after they first announced they were looking to permanently close some gates. Putting four security locations at the beginning of each of the concourses (which would cost some gates) could make a lot of sense. You would still need a ticketing and baggage area, but that could possibly be done with just a modest addition to the airside building.

It's more complicated than just that. Relocating the parking of course would't be a big issue, but it wound render the Hyatt Regency hotel useless.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

It's more complicated than just that. Relocating the parking of course would't be a big issue, but it wound render the Hyatt Regency hotel useless.

How they handle the hotel and parking could be interesting. What I'm imagining would basically put the hotel on the far side of parking, probably necessitating use of a shuttle--but if they also redeveloped some of the current surface parking lots into active use, that could still be a viable hotel location.

[photoLith]

Robotics institute set to anchor Pittsburgh's mammoth Almono development

Carnegie Mellon University's Advanced Robotics Manufacturing Institute will be the first anchor tenant to set up shop in a former Hazelwood steel mill, officials said Monday.

Donald Smith, president of the Regional Industrial Development Corp., said the institute would occupy about two-thirds of the first of three buildings planned for Mill 19, a former LTV rolling mill.

Gov. Tom Wolf visited the site Monday to examine the mill property owned by the Almono partnership, which includes the Heinz Endowments and Richard King Mellon and Claude Worthington Benedum foundations. RIDC has managed the site.

“From the commonwealth's point of view it's a way to renovate, rehabilitate an area that's been not under utilized, (but) unutilized for the last ‘how-many' years,” Wolf said. “Aesthetically, think of what it means for the appearances in this area, but then it also reconnects the area of Hazelwood. I think what they're trying to do here is an audacious thing: to try to re-establish that connection in a way that pays tribute to Pittsburgh's current incarnation as a high-tech capital.”

Almono is planning a $120 million development including light manufacturing, about 2,000 apartments, shops and restaurants on the 178-acre property bordering the Monongahela River.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

The progress on the Southside Terminal warehouses reminded me of how it's riverfront wall could make a nice landing for a ferry. Any thoughts on why Pittsburgh still lacks a regular ferry service? It seems to me that as the city continues to reclaim its riverfronts that this could be a pretty effective mans of connecting some popular areas while bypassing traffic.

I like the idea of a ferry that you could hop on/off at various popular locales along the riverfronts... as a leisure type activity... to go from say, Station Square over to the Strip. But I don't really see them as being a viable option for commuting or anything else, really. Pittsburgh's rivers aren't vast expanses of open water and ferries aren't needed to connect significant numbers of people to places separated from them by large harbors, lakes, bays, etc. There's lots of bridges obviously, which are short, and traffic isn't too bad. Just don't see the demand for it, but I'd like to see it nonetheless.

[PITairport]

Here's the new terminal under development at Abu Dhabi. I imagine this is what PIT has in mind by mating the landside facilities with the airside terminal. This would be a great setup as it retains the basic airside X which is convenient for connections, allows for a central security checkpoint, improved int'l arrival process, and eliminates the tram.






Instead of moving the landside facilities east I'd rather see them move the airside facilities west so they can use the exiting parking, hotel, road network, etc but most importantly it would allow for greater expansion possibilities in the decades ahead. They only need about 40-45 gates to start with as opposed to the current 75.

[photoLith]

Why can't we just ban this dipshits IP addresses? I don't understand, they've blocked people's IP addresses many times on this forum, why not to this obvious moms basement dwelling virgin 4chan/pol or /b user?

But I digress, that's what this Dr Avis clown is looking to get, a rise. But it's getting quite ridiculous now every 3 weeks or so he or the gelatinous blob that goes by Dr Avis derails the thread for a couple of days with his idiocy and trolling. Seriously, ban this trolls IP addresses, it can't be that hard to do.

[WillyC]

I was in Abu Dhabi a few months ago and as we were landing, I could see the new airport being built and thought finally someone had the sense to do a more modern copy of PIT. All my previous flights had been night landings, and all I could tell was they were building something large. Don't know why I never went and looked for pics of the new one.

Say what you will about the interior, but as far as a design for moving connecting passengers and accommodating the amount of planes that such a hub would have to service, it's hard to argue that there has been a much better design than PIT. Unfortunately its not a connecting airport anymore and the size is working against it.

Was before I moved here, during high school and early college, I actually flew through PIT on US Airways many times. While I never thought it was glamorous with such a plain interior, the ease at moving through it left me respecting the people of the city for building an efficient airport. Made me think the whole city must have been German engineers.

Originally Posted by PITairport

Here's the new terminal under development at Abu Dhabi. I imagine this is what PIT has in mind by mating the landside facilities with the airside terminal. This would be a great setup as it retains the basic airside X which is convenient for connections, allows for a central security checkpoint, improved int'l arrival process, and eliminates the tram.






Instead of moving the landside facilities east I'd rather see them move the airside facilities west so they can use the exiting parking, hotel, road network, etc but most importantly it would allow for greater expansion possibilities in the decades ahead. They only need about 40-45 gates to start with as opposed to the current 75.

[BrianTH]

That Abu Dhabi layout is almost shockingly on point. And I agree the X design remains as good an idea as ever.

I'm not putting my foot down about this, but I'd still like to see the central mall area be outside the security zone, with each concourse having its own security check. To make that work for connecting passengers, you could add connecting passageways on the far side of the security checks. You'd be burning a few more gates, but who cares?

I'll never be a huge fan of the aesthetics of the building, but toss in a continuation of their ongoing redo of the interior materials and signage, and I think we could be good to go for decades.

[BrianTH]

Stark has released some information about their plans for the former Frank & Seder department store (which they bought from Oxford after Oxford's plan to tear it down and build a skyscraper fell through):

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201708210014

Stark expects to begin work on the redevelopment in the first quarter of 2018. It is planning about 160,000 square feet of office space on the upper floors and 60,000 square feet of retail on the first two floors of the building, which takes up an entire block between Fifth and Forbes avenues. Jeremy Kronman, the CBRE executive vice president who is handling the office leasing, said Stark also has plans for underground parking at the site — similar to what The Davis Companies did at the Union Trust Building on Grant Street, where it added a 190-space garage.

Stark, Mr. Kronman said, is still finalizing plans for the redevelopment. Lisa Schwan, a Stark spokeswoman, stated in an email that drawings are just starting to be developed for the office space.

The retail will be spread over the first two floors. Stark, which is handling the commercial aspects of the project, is targeting restaurants, fashion and entertainment-oriented retailers, Ms. Schwan said. “We have commitments for the vast majority of the first and second floors, and we anticipate making some announcements about those spaces in the coming months,” she stated.

Sounds good! Between this and the project in the former Kaufmann's, there is potential here for a very lively block. I think it was smart to include the second floor in their retail plans--that opens up a lot more potential uses, as the first floor in this historic building is pretty modest by modern standards. Adding underground parking is also nice--that is expensive, but as long as they are willing to do it, it means less need for surface and above-ground parking elsewhere Downtown.

[BrianTH]

900 Wood Street, a cool old commercial building in downtown Wilkinsburg which most recently hosted a Subway, is going to become a business incubator run by Launch Wilkinsburg:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201708200014

https://www.google.com/maps/place/90...!4d-79.8851656

The space is part of Launch Wilkinsburg — an initiative to jumpstart more economic development in the town that has been battling deterioration for decades. The incubator will be located at 900 Wood St. in an abandoned commercial building.

Ms. Haywood’s venture, Virginia Dere Swimwear, is one of 10 startups and nonprofits selected to participate. She and other entrepreneurs will work at the incubator until they reach the stage where they can spin out to larger locations. They will be able to tap into business counseling and resources available on site. Another participant, Khalil Stanback of Homewood, plans to open Gizmo’s Dog Bar, an indoor-outdoor gathering place that will serve coffee and tea and offer Wi-Fi access for pet owners and treats for their dogs. Violet Scott, an event planner who grew up in Penn Hills and now lives in Wilkinsburg, is developing Speak Life Community, a program offering symposiums and performance workshops to youth so they can break racial, religious and other barriers.

There’s a lot of entrepreneurial spirit invested here, with other ventures including a dance school, a developer of affordable housing, a public art initiative, and a coffeehouse that will feature local art and performances.

As mentioned in the article, this complements another incubator-type project opening in a former school in Wilkinsburg (which I recently posted about), plus a project to restore the Lohr Building, which is just down Wood Street (the popular Nancy's Diner is on the same lot, and they want to sell that building to the diner owners, plus take over the former pawn shop in between to be the Wilkinsburg CDC offices):

https://www.google.com/maps/place/90...!4d-79.8851656

And of course the renovation of the Train Station, which is just down Ross Avenue:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/90...!4d-79.8851656

There is a ton to be done overall, but hopefully all this will help build positive momentum in downtown Wilkinsburg. It still has the potential to become a very charming district, basically a prototypical historic Western Pennsylvania medium-sized town center, but with a location right on the East Busway.

By the way, there are some interesting observations in this RFP for the Lohr Building project:

http://files.constantcontact.com/b5d...6e53bf43d7.pdf

The information about the increase in higher-priced home sales in Wilkinsburg (on pages 5-6) is particularly notable. Also notable is the discussion of the PHLF preparing a National Historic District nomination for downtown Wilkinsburg (on pages 8-9), which, if successful, would allow renovation projects to qualify for historic tax credits.

Edit: Here is my old (2010) thread with a photo tour of downtown Wilkinsburg:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...36&postcount=1

Sadly the Penn-Lincoln Hotel is gone, but otherwise most of that is still intact.

[BrianTH]

Liberty Avenue in the Strip will likely get a "road diet" (going from four lanes to three), along with other upgrades designed to improve pedestrian safety and transit service:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/tra...s/201708200164

You can already imagine the usual suspects complaining about how this will be bad for traffic, but this is precisely one of the situations in which losing a lane can actually lead to shorter travel times for vehicles.

[BrianTH]

Meanwhile, the efforts to built Skynet in Pittsburgh continue:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201708200063

Pittsburgh is competing to build the fastest nongovernmental computer in the country, with an economic impact to the region that could run up some big numbers — possibly exceeding $1 billion, according to one backer. It would also need a lot of power — enough electricity to light 5,000 homes. And that’s just one of the challenges accompanying a grand effort to land $120 million in National Science Foundation grant funding to build the computer about the size of a basketball court. . . .

The grant application will come from the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, which has administrative offices in Oakland and is a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. The National Science Foundation requested proposals from universities to build a resource for researchers nationwide to “advance, if not transform, the frontiers of knowledge.” The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center — founded in 1986 by two physicists at Pitt and CMU — already makes its existing supercomputer available to university, government and industry researchers. . . .

The new computer would be designed to perform computations at least twice as fast as one operated by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, called Blue Waters, which is the fastest computer today. . . . “Everybody has big data, but big data has no value unless you can learn something from it,” Mr. Nystrom said. “We have a convergence in Pittsburgh: artificial intelligence, big data, health care and these are things PSC is already doing.” . . .

Building the computer would also dovetail with the City of Pittsburgh’s effort to become a tech hub, said Grant Irvin, Pittsburgh resilience officer. “It’s a huge opportunity to advance technology, artificial intelligence, robotics,” Mr. Irvin said. Bluewaters in Illinois will provide a $1.08 billion contribution to the state’s economy over the project’s 12-year lifespan ending in June 2019, according to a study by the university released in May. . . . The economic impact in Pittsburgh would be bigger, because the computer here would be faster, Mr. Nystom said.

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Liberty Avenue in the Strip will likely get a "road diet" (going from four lanes to three), along with other upgrades designed to improve pedestrian safety and transit service:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/tra...s/201708200164

You can already imagine the usual suspects complaining about how this will be bad for traffic, but this is precisely one of the situations in which losing a lane can actually lead to shorter travel times for vehicles.

From the article:

The city needs to verify that finding, Ms. Ricks added. With the lanes in place now, she said, some drivers won’t pass others, “so you don’t really get the capacity benefits of having four lanes.” She said the arrangement also complicates turning maneuvers.

I can attest to this... which results in me going around people that have no business being on the road, which in turn decreases overall safety. If it DOES eff up traffic, I'll probably just stick with Smallman and loop around once I hit 32nd. (Currently I turn left on Liberty from 24th to get to the 31st St. Bridge.)

As much as I hate the meek drivers who clog Liberty, it really is pretty dangerous for pedestrians trying to cross. Particularly from bus stops. I know a few people have been hit over the last couple years when they get off the bus and then try to cross in front. Traffic in the same travel direction as the bus will take them out, not realizing they are even there. It's a little better up by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater since they have a crosswalk with flashing lights, but I still wouldn't want to do it.

[hammersklavier]

I could see a water taxi working in Pittsburgh, but it'd still be quite an expensive operation meant to cater more to leisure than commutes. Ferries are at their most useful when the water's layout makes other forms of commuting untenable, like in New York and Baltimore. Pittsburgh, with its heavily bridged waterways, doesn't have that problem.

[TBone7281]

There is super limited water taxi service from the Strip to the North Shore for specific things. I know I've ridden it to get down to a Pirates game before since it's only like a block from where I work.

[BrianTH]

Market Street Grocery is planning to expand into the two floors above, for event space and likely a restaurant space:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201708220034

It is good they are succeeding, but as everyone says, a more mainstream grocery would still be a nice addition Downtown.