PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[BenM]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

Looks like a nice addition! I wish that area was more connected to South Oakland but 2nd Avenue and 376 make it impossible really. But this is a nice bookend to the Hazelwood site.

I really like the bowed front.

In other news, Pittsburgh finalizes deal with Penguins for Civic Area site plans. It seems like it is just the formalization of conditions we have already read about, but

Under the terms, the Penguins must develop 10.75 acres of the Lower Hill District property by 2023 or face losing 40 percent of the parking revenue from lots that cover most of the 28-acre property.

So the Penguins have six years to develop a bit over a third of the total site? This is so frustrating. The city having to cajole the Pens into a project that will make them money.

This is an unfair comparison because Pittsburgh is not Manhattan, but work on the Hudson Yards development began in 2012. It now looks like this.




We've still got parking lots.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

If they really want to pay tribute to George Ferris, they could copy the height of the original: 264 feet.

Ditto. That would be perfect in many ways.

By the way, I do think the views from there would be pretty good, and generally I agree it would be nice to convert that area into more of a recreation destination.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by BenM

This is an unfair comparison because Pittsburgh is not Manhattan, but work on the Hudson Yards development began in 2012. It now looks like this.

For a local example, just look at what Oxford got done at Three Crossings, all starting well after the Civic Arena came down.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

^^That will be quite prominent from the highway!

Yep. Hopefully it looks good in general, but the bottomline is it will make it look like that side of the highway is a place worth doing new stuff, which is great.

[photoLith]

What the heck is this? This thing just popped out of nowhere in SoHo. I drive down there all the time and never noticed it until today.

Untitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

Untitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

[joenicholas9]

^ That's the new steam plant

[Captain Crash]

Originally Posted by eschaton

That said, I'm shocked that Carol Peterson didn't even bother to show up for this. She hasn't attended several recent HRC meetings, but these sort of issues are her bread and butter, and it would have certainly resulted in a tie if she was there.

Looks like we may know why now:

https://twitter.com/PGHMayors/status/942528531896160256

Today Pittsburgh lost Carol Peterson, a fierce protector of our City's architectural history. We will miss her passion, her moral compass, her humor. Her.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

Looks like we may know why now:

https://twitter.com/PGHMayors/status/942528531896160256

Damn. I didn't know her well but I'm almost crying after finding out about her passing. No one knew more architectural history about Pittsburgh than Carol and there's no one to fill her shoes.

[PGHFan]

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Amazon has hired a new lobbyist to deal with the Georgia legislature, fueling speculation that Atlanta might be the HQ2 choice.

[Steel City Scotty]

Walkabout: Next phase of Allegheny Commons Park restoration set to begin early next year

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by photoLith

What the heck is this? This thing just popped out of nowhere in SoHo. I drive down there all the time and never noticed it until today.

Originally Posted by joenicholas9

^ That's the new steam plant

"NRG Uptown District Energy Center" to be formal.

It's a steam/chilled water/emergency electricity plant... and has significantly more impact on the potential size and tenants of future development on the former Civic Arena site than the City/Penguins have.

It is very purposefully being "overbuilt" to not only provide heating/cooling to UPMC Mercy and its proposed major developments, but also to the entire future fooprint of the Arena site. It will actually help to create demand for that real estate. UPMC would not be building the new hospital without it.

I know the focus is always on the City's and Penguins bs wrangling over developing the property and how it should look, but infrastructure construction projects like this are what gives things the kick in the ass to get shit done.

[themaguffin]

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Amazon has hired a new lobbyist to deal with the Georgia legislature, fueling speculation that Atlanta might be the HQ2 choice.

Georgia is not the only state where he has recently registered.

The AJC, state and locals take every little thing as to suggest it's going to be them without looking outside of their bubble.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

Looks like we may know why now:

https://twitter.com/PGHMayors/status/942528531896160256

Apparently she had a seven-year battle with cancer. I know she was posting on Nextdoor as recently as December 10th, so even though she wasn't well enough to continue with her public functions, it looks like she was active to some extent almost up until the end.

[eschaton]

Lawrenceville United has posted meeting minutes and a new (crude) site rendering regarding the hotel project on 40th Street. It looks like they're going to be demoing two annexes to the building which aren't really visible except from Almond Way in order to make space for some valet spaces.

[BrianTH]

In a sign of the times, the Embassy Suites out in Coraopolis near the airport is being converted to senior living:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201712190022



I've heard people say we have overbuilt hotels, but I've also heard people point out it is the older periphery hotels struggling, and the new core hotels are doing relatively well. So this sort of conversion seems basically healthy to me--we need decent senior living and it is not a bad thing for the hotel scene to be somewhat more concentrated in the core.

[themaguffin]

The conversion doesn't necessarily reflect on the market, but on the property. It may have needed to have a significant overhaul/costly update and the owner decided to sell or get into the senior housing biz.

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

In a sign of the times, the Embassy Suites out in Coraopolis near the airport is being converted to senior living:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201712190022



I've heard people say we have overbuilt hotels, but I've also heard people point out it is the older periphery hotels struggling, and the new core hotels are doing relatively well. So this sort of conversion seems basically healthy to me--we need decent senior living and it is not a bad thing for the hotel scene to be somewhat more concentrated in the core.

All of those hotels on Business 376 were built when PIT was a hub. Honestly, I don't know how they've managed to stay in business this long. I'm really curious what happens to the airport Hyatt in a few years once it is physically disconnected from the airport terminal.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

The conversion doesn't necessarily reflect on the market, but on the property. It may have needed to have a significant overhaul/costly update and the owner decided to sell or get into the senior housing biz.

Sure, but there is an intersection between older properties in possible need of serious updates and not being in the core area.

At the end of the day I am fine with people building fancy new hotels wherever they think there is a market for them. But if it happens most of those fancy new hotels are in the core area, and meanwhile old hotels farther out are converted rather than updated, I won't complain.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

All of those hotels on Business 376 were built when PIT was a hub. Honestly, I don't know how they've managed to stay in business this long. I'm really curious what happens to the airport Hyatt in a few years once it is physically disconnected from the airport terminal.

Me too. On the plus side, there will be a bunch of land opened up right around it for development, so maybe it can survive as a shuttle hotel if all that is developed in a hotel-complementary way.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

I'm really curious what happens to the airport Hyatt in a few years once it is physically disconnected from the airport terminal.

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.