PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[qwho]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

As far as I can tell, there will still be some connection to the new terminal, possibly through the parking garage. I'd imagine that if any hotels stick around, it'll be that one considering it's directly on airport grounds.

Did they say they intend to no longer operate / dismantle the people movers? Because if they kept them, if people park near a future structure on the old terminal site or stay at the existing Hyatt, it could still get people to the new terminal nicely.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by qwho

Did they say they intend to no longer operate / dismantle the people movers? Because if they kept them, if people park near a future structure on the old terminal site or stay at the existing Hyatt, it could still get people to the new terminal nicely.

When you say peoplemovers, you mean the moving "sidewalks" right? I don't know if it's officially said, but people on airline message boards seem to think those will remain in place, and be extended through the new parking garage to the new terminal. It'd be long as hell, but it'd work. Especially in cold weather. Better than having to board a shuttle I think.

[Minivan Werner]

The people movers are those underground light rail things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsb..._People_Movers

[Steel City Scotty]

I'm pretty sure the trains/trams that currently take people to and from the airside and landside terminals will be removed.

In fact, I believe the cost of operating them was listed as one of the main reasons why combining the airport into one larger terminal is a preferred option from a financial standpoint, and the last paragraph at the Wikipedia link that Minivan shared reads:

The proposed remodeling project for the airport, unveiled in 2017, would take the trams out of service permanently, as the proposed Landside Terminal is permanently connected to the existing Airside Terminal.

[Evergrey]

Pittsburgh International Airport's relentless addition of nonstop destinations continues with today's announcement of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton via Regional Sky.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/loc...urgh-1.2281787

[PITairport]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Pittsburgh International Airport's relentless addition of nonstop destinations continues with today's announcement of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton via Regional Sky.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/loc...urgh-1.2281787

Yesterday Puerto Plata, D.R. was announced by Apple Vacations, and tomorrow Cozumel MX and Freeport, Bahamas should be announced by Vacation Express.

So with Montreal that's 4 new international destinations announced over the past 2 weeks or so, even though 3 are seasonal vacation destinations. This will be the first time Puerto Plata has been served from PIT.

[BrianTH]

Good work, PIT!

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by PITairport

Yesterday Puerto Plata, D.R. was announced by Apple Vacations, and tomorrow Cozumel MX and Freeport, Bahamas should be announced by Vacation Express.

So with Montreal that's 4 new international destinations announced over the past 2 weeks or so, even though 3 are seasonal vacation destinations. This will be the first time Puerto Plata has been served from PIT.

On the negative side, Allegiant is suspending service to Puerto Rico as traffic has declined in the wake of their hurricane disaster.

[Austinlee]

Dan Gilman has been named as Peduto's new chief of staff. I think it's a high probability that this could be a step for Gilman towards eventually becoming mayor. I think he would be excellent. Seems like a really bright, talented guy. Keep your eye on him.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Dan Gilman has been named as Peduto's new chief of staff. I think it's a high probability that this could be a step for Gilman towards eventually becoming mayor. I think he would be excellent. Seems like a really bright, talented guy. Keep your eye on him.

President Wolf, Governor Peduto?

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

President Wolf, Governor Peduto?

I was actually contemplating the possibility of President Peduto as I was cycling through the new Allegheny Center bike lane yesterday.

[AaronPGH]

I don't think Peduto would have a shot at it. He wouldn't connect with working class, middle-America.

[BenM]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

I don't think Peduto would have a shot at it. He wouldn't connect with working class, middle-America.

Really? He drove a street sweeper before getting elected.

https://youtu.be/W7IAR8XizH0

(How do you embed Youtube? I can't get it working using board code.)

[bmust71]

Not directly development related but since things have been a little slow lately I thought I'd post:

Pittsburgh named one of 4 U.S tech hubs to watch in 2018
Other three were Ann Arbor (?), Indy, and Raleigh

https://venturebeat.com/2017/12/27/4...watch-in-2018/

I thought this part was interesting:
“In 2016, the number of patents issued to Pittsburgh’s major research universities — Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne University — reached a 10-year high, according to a report from Pittsburgh seed-stage investor Innovation Works, while the number of spin-off companies generated by these universities has remained relatively steady.
And this:
"The Innovation Works report also pointed out that the city secured the fifth highest number of venture rounds per million residents in 2016 at 40.8 — behind only San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, and Austin."

[BrianTH]

As they point out, Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, and is almost sort of like the Oakland of Detroit, except out in a separate city.

But Pittsburgh obviously benefits from having its college town just a few short miles from its Downtown (see also Boston).

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by BenM

Really? He drove a street sweeper before getting elected.

https://youtu.be/W7IAR8XizH0

(How do you embed Youtube? I can't get it working using board code.)

Take just the bold portion, below:

https://youtu.be/W7IAR8XizH0

and paste it in-between YOUTUBE and /YOUTUBE. Wrap YOUTUBE and /YOUTUBE with these types of brackets [ ].

Like so:

• Video Link

[bmust71]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

As they point out, Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, and is almost sort of like the Oakland of Detroit, except out in a separate city.

But Pittsburgh obviously benefits from having its college town just a few short miles from its Downtown (see also Boston).

Yes, I am aware it is home to U. of Mich but surprised it qualifies as a 'hub' just because of its size. Admittedly I only read the Pittsburgh section of the article, though

[themaguffin]

Indy is the one that surprises me.

[eschaton]

Looks like the city has two zoning board hearing agendas up now for 2018:

1/11/18:

Nothing of interest at all - just porch enclosures, LED signs, and the like.

1/18/18:

1. A small infill project in Upper Lawrenceville. Basically it looks like the Thai restaurant Pusadee's Garden is going to use some of the vacant lots it owns to build a new three-story structure with another restaurant, retail, and a dwelling unit, along with expanding the existing building. An expanded courtyard will be between the two buildings. They are asking for a few variances on height and parking, so it remains to be seen if this will fly.

2. Zoning permits for the garages to go with the new ugly buildings on the 900 block of Mellon Street we mocked a few pages back. I have no idea why they'd go to zoning separately for the houses and garages.

3. Infill house on 54th Street in Upper Lawrenceville.

First Planning Commission meeting of the year is next Tuesday, so the presentation should go live (presuming the city updates its website for 2018 properly) on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

[themaguffin]

Minor news for the metro, but unfortunate for New Castle - Zambelli Fireworks is moving its headquarters to Cranberry. It's not that many employees and the non corp office employees will still work out New Castle.

Also saw that United is adding a second daily flight to San Francisco.