PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[eschaton]

I'll do a little mini-roundup of development news going on right now.

1. Eyeball report: Projects are moving forward in the Strip District again. Noticed on my last few bike rides through the area ground has broken on the Hudson Companies 2929 Smallman Project. As a reminder, this is a 105-unit development spread across two buildings (one is in the rear on Railroad Street). So far the old buildings have been demolished, and they are doing site prep work. In addition, site clearing for the smaller 2929 Smallman development right across the street has also started. This project is set to be 84 units. Both are Hudson Companies projects, so presumably the finance cleared simultaneously.

2. In sad news, it seems the planned project for 214 S Craig has been really downgraded. The last renderings from Fischer Architecture were quite nice, but a Developmental Activities Meeting title from this month described it as "Demolition for a new 2-story restaurant; 3-unit residential conversion." I searched and found this on Loopnet. Maybe it was a financing issue, but I'd guess Oakland NIMBYs won again, which will result in a net loss of residential units, as the run-down house in the back is converted into low-rise retail/office space. Blargh.

3. The ZBA agendas for May 9th and May 16th are online. Very short, with little to note, other than this godawful giant Heinz bottle for the History Center, and the West End Tavern project moving on to the ZBA.

[Johnland]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I'll do a little mini-roundup of development news going on right now.


2. In sad news, it seems the planned project for 214 S Craig has been really downgraded. The last renderings from Fischer Architecture were quite nice, but a Developmental Activities Meeting title from this month described it as "Demolition for a new 2-story restaurant; 3-unit residential conversion." I searched and found this on Loopnet. Maybe it was a financing issue, but I'd guess Oakland NIMBYs won again, which will result in a net loss of residential units, as the run-down house in the back is converted into low-rise retail/office space. Blargh.

Wow. The rendering was a beautiful fit for that stretch of Craig. Sorry the NIMBY's eff'd it up. It must be the people in the Atrium.

[dfiler]

Yeah, I wonder why that got downsized. There's not much of a historic neighborhood structure to preserve and there are only a few homes left.

CMU seems to be assembling a lot of parcels in the area. Given how much is already taken up by parking lots and other commercial buildings, I'm in favor of the whole area being densified. It's not well suited to single family homes.

Check out CMU's master plan for maps of what they currently own:
https://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/process/mas...aster-plan.pdf

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Yeah, I wonder why that got downsized. There's not much of a historic neighborhood structure to preserve and there are only a few homes left.

CMU seems to be assembling a lot of parcels in the area. Given how much is already taken up by parking lots and other commercial buildings, I'm in favor of the whole area being densified. It's not well suited to single family homes.

Check out CMU's master plan for maps of what they currently own:
https://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/process/mas...aster-plan.pdf

CMU actually is moving towards demolishing these two homes in that area. Not sure the plan here, but when they replace the old building next to TCS Hall, the new massing should go back to Filmore, so this may be just a mini-lot until they get more site control along S. Craig.

Really though, the whole area around S. Craig is doomed. CMU is going to acquire all of it, given enough time. Some of the commercial activity on S. Craig may survive, but all the remaining houses/small-scale buildings are going to be bought out and knocked down, given another 10-20 years.

[eschaton]

Okay, time for another little development roundup.

I didn't cover yesterday's Planning Commission presentation, because there were only two items on the agenda. One is a planned rezoning of a small bit of Shadyside by the new Echo Realty mixed-use site (The Meridian), from RM-H to UNC. While this does offer more options, it's not being consolidated into The Meridian, and will by all accounts house a (presumably one-story) bank, so it's pretty meh. The other thing of note was splitting up Gateway Center so each building is on a different parcel, which I presume is to ease the way for residential conversion of one or more of the towers.

The June 6 ZBA agenda is online, and there's a lot to note here. Going through the interesting items:

1. Final sign variances for The Meridian's Giant Eagle, plus permits for the first retailer in the building (Shake Shack).

2. Expansion of the Guardian Self-Storage on Centre Avenue to take up two existing buildings. This is pretty meh, but at least more of the block is being consolidated for future development.

3. The permitting associated with the ALCOSAN tunnel project. This is most notable because it's the first time we've seen public plans of any of this. It's also...complicated...because there are actually six different projects shown here:

A. A big chunk of Schweizer Lock - taking out almost everything from Progress to Canal, west of Chestnut. The historic nomination of the Babcor building seems to have saved it, but they're still planning on demoing the last two remaining houses and the building which previously housed the diner. On the good side, it looks like they will plant street trees and pull up the broken concrete for grass lots, so the area will look a bit more parklike.

B. This block of Schweitzer Lock west of 579 will be taken out as well. Just a parking lot now, so this will offer more structural density.

C. Elimination of a block of Chateau right by the railroad tracks. Nothing much lost here other than two small, ugly industrial buildings.

D. Work taking out most of a parking lot next to the Clark Building.

E. Taking out a building in Chateau by the West End Bridge.

F. Work on their campus in Marshall-Shadeland.

General development updates:

1. Live Nation is building the music venue prior to the parking garage, with work to start as soon as this fall. In no way can this be seen as a bad thing, and hopefully the garage continues to get pushed back, if not downsized/killed eventually.

2. The "Teamster Temple" site is for sale in Central Lawrenceville. This is huge for local development. Although it doesn't look big from Butler, the site flares back into a big parking lot, and is zoned LNC, allowing for multifamily. There will be NIMBY concerns probably along 47th, but I expect a project with some density to be built here.

3. City of Bridges broke ground on three new affordable modular homes on Columbo Street in Garfield.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Okay, time for another little development roundup.

I didn't cover yesterday's Planning Commission presentation, because there were only two items on the agenda. One is a planned rezoning of a small bit of Shadyside by the new Echo Realty mixed-use site (The Meridian), from RM-H to UNC. While this does offer more options, it's not being consolidated into The Meridian, and will by all accounts house a (presumably one-story) bank, so it's pretty meh. The other thing of note was splitting up Gateway Center so each building is on a different parcel, which I presume is to ease the way for residential conversion of one or more of the towers.

The June 6 ZBA agenda is online, and there's a lot to note here. Going through the interesting items:

1. Final sign variances for The Meridian's Giant Eagle, plus permits for the first retailer in the building (Shake Shack).

2. Expansion of the Guardian Self-Storage on Centre Avenue to take up two existing buildings. This is pretty meh, but at least more of the block is being consolidated for future development.

3. The permitting associated with the ALCOSAN tunnel project. This is most notable because it's the first time we've seen public plans of any of this. It's also...complicated...because there are actually six different projects shown here:

A. A big chunk of Schweizer Lock - taking out almost everything from Progress to Canal, west of Chestnut. The historic nomination of the Babcor building seems to have saved it, but they're still planning on demoing the last two remaining houses and the building which previously housed the diner. On the good side, it looks like they will plant street trees and pull up the broken concrete for grass lots, so the area will look a bit more parklike.

B. This block of Schweitzer Lock west of 579 will be taken out as well. Just a parking lot now, so this will offer more structural density.

C. Elimination of a block of Chateau right by the railroad tracks. Nothing much lost here other than two small, ugly industrial buildings.

D. Work taking out most of a parking lot next to the Clark Building.

E. Taking out a building in Chateau by the West End Bridge. May eventually interfere.

F. Work on their campus in Marshall-Shadeland.

General development updates:

1. Live Nation is building the music venue prior to the parking garage, with work to start as soon as this fall. In no way can this be seen as a bad thing, and hopefully the garage continues to get pushed back, if not downsized/killed eventually.

2. The "Teamster Temple" site is for sale in Central Lawrenceville. This is huge for local development. Although it doesn't look big from Butler, the site flares back into a big parking garage, and is zoned LNC, allowing for multifamily. There will be NIMBY concerns probably along 47th, but I expect a project with some density to be built here.

3. City of Bridges broke ground on three new affordable modular homes on Columbo Street in Garfield.

The new East Liberty GE Market District is starting to take shape. You can see how the new store with enliven Penn Avenue. The storefront windows are similar to the Squirrel Hill GE. The 5 residential floors above the store will have a tremendous impact on that section of Penn Avenue.

The Alcosan water treatment project is very interesting. Construction at the treatment facility has been going on since the pandemic. I enjoyed watching the 9 mile run water treatment projects 20 years ago. Most of the waterways were naturally controlled and filtered prior to entering our rivers. Most cities simply built a deep waste water retention ditch for containment.

I attended a birthday party at the Teamster Temple. The rear parking lot is hidden from Butler. This could become a nice infill project.

I cant wait to see the modular home construction for Garfield. I will assume that these homes will mirror the new modular homes on Black street. The home come in different sizes and upgrades.