PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

IMHO, it's not so much a question about residential versus office being better but that if you want to have the healthiest business districts, you need a balance of both. An area too strictly residential will be sleepy/dead at any time except the evenings and weekends. An area too strictly office based will be dead except around the lunchtime rush. Add both together and you get a more relatively constant number of people out walking, which creates a steady daily revenue mix for local businesses, and probably helps certain types of businesses consider locating there which might not have otherwise.

This is my understanding too.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

I'm not going to share our company's "proof" with you here

Oh well, too bad then.

[Steel City Scotty]

The latest episode of KDKA's quarterly "Your Pittsburgh" news program featured two topics that have been discussed on these boards; Pittsburgh's steps and creative reuses of former church buildings.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/your-pittsburgh/

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Wiz Khalifa

Not if the unregulated fracking industry has anything to say about it!

Unregulated? Seriously? You have not a clue as to what you're talking about.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Evergrey]

Won't somebody please think of the parking spaces!?

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6...-arena-parking

Parking, traffic dominate discussion on Civic Arena redevelopment

By Tom Fontaine
Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, 2:12 p.m.
Updated 9 hours ago


More than $500 million in development planned on the former Civic Arena site will force hundreds of motorists to look Downtown and to the North Shore and elsewhere for parking on work days and game days, Pittsburgh Penguins officials said Monday.

“It's clear we have a growing parking dilemma,” said Jeanne McNutt, executive director of the neighborhood advocacy group Uptown Partners.

McNutt and about 50 others attended a public meeting at Duquesne University about the Penguins' preliminary development plans. A crowd more than twice as large attended the contentious first public meeting last week in the Hill District.

Development of the Civic Arena site will gobble about 3,200 parking spaces available to commuters and fans attending Penguins games, concerts and other events across Centre Avenue at Consol Energy Center.

About 2,400 spaces will be developed, but many will be reserved for residents and office workers, said Penguins Chief Operating Officer Travis Williams. Plans call for development of 1,185 housing units, and lots of office space and commercial development.

About 2,000 commuters a day use the arena lot, including an estimated 800 employees of UPMC Mercy, Uptown. Event-goers fill the lot regularly.

“We are aware that many parking spaces on the (arena) site will be lost. We are working to identify the best alternatives for parking for UPMC Mercy associates,” UPMC spokeswoman Susan Manko said.

The 28-acre site likely would include 800 to 1,200 spaces for event-goers when the area is redeveloped, but it's unclear how many spaces commuters would be able to access, Williams said.

“The number will be substantially reduced,” Williams said.

Cynthia Jampole of the Robinson-based Trans Associates, a transportation consultant on the Pens' project, said, “There will have to be a change in traffic patterns,” noting many commuters will need to look for spaces Downtown or in other areas, such as the North Shore, or they will have to consider carpooling or using public transit. Downtown has more than 28,000 parking spaces and another 8,000 are available on the North Shore.

...

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201410140073

Penguins plan for former Civic Arena site slashes parking

Redevelopment of site may bring commuter headache

...

Unlike the North Shore, where parking is replaced as parcels are redeveloped, that won’t happen at the arena site.

“It’s not the North Shore, where automatically a garage pops up after so many parcels are taken down,” Mr. Williams said. “It’s going to be based on that demand for office and retail as development happens and to support the arena based on what goes away.”

...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Won't somebody please think of the parking spaces!?

The PG article was the least stomach-turning (low bar, but still). They actually talked to people who could explain why there was no need to panic. Imagine that!

[GeneW]

ZOMG, people are going to have to walk three whole blocks from a parking space to the arena! It's my constitutional right to have free convenient parking.

[BrianTH]

Some pictures of the Homewood Suites going up in the Strip:













And bonus pics of the Penn Avenue bike trail:

[BrianTH]

This is a good idea:

http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/city-d...ut-of-nothing/

[Evergrey]

Knotweed study stations?

[BrianTH]

The former James E. Rogers School in Garfield (built 1914) may be sold for redevelopment into 30-40 apartments:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/edu...s/201410140166

Sales page:

http://www.frd.us.com/pghschools/rogers.htm

It is not the fanciest former school, but it is a big solid structure with some nice brickwork:

DSC_1055 by cityLAB pittsburgh, on Flickr

Massive photoset:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityla...th/6944797785/

Minor thing, but the surrounding retaining wall is pretty bad ass:

DSC_1057 by cityLAB pittsburgh, on Flickr

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Some pictures of the Homewood Suites going up in the Strip:

[/URL]

[photoLith]

^
Ah yes, the infamous 1970's Houston photo rears its ugly head. Luckily most of those parking lots are gone now replaced by parks or towers, or will soon be towers. That area though used to be one of the prettiest neighborhood in the south with stately Victorian Greek Revival houses. Then it was utterly destroyed in the 50's by land speculators and urban "renewal" projects. Those three houses in the bottom right of the photo though somehow managed to survive to this day and are now protected.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Luckily most of those parking lots are gone now replaced by parks or towers, or will soon be towers.

Knock on wood, Buncherland is going to be heading the same way over the next 10-15 years or so.

[photoLith]

^
I sure hope so...

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The former James E. Rogers School in Garfield (built 1914) may be sold for redevelopment into 30-40 apartments:

I didn't even know this building existed, I'm sorry to say. Seems isolated enough from the core of Garfield that they could market it as being in East Liberty. There are already 3 homes on Margaretta listed for more than $300,000, which is only a street away.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Oh well, too bad then.

Ahh, the easy way out. A remarkably short response from the guy who usually separates, analyzes, and researches every sentence of most posts. Hmm, I wonder why? A likely tactic... I'm reminded of how my lawyer "friends" tend to argue when they are wrong... they then focus on one little point where they think they have some kind of standing and then become snippily dismissive.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Ahh, the easy way out. A remarkably short response from the guy who usually separates, analyzes, and researches every sentence of most posts. Hmm, I wonder why? A likely tactic... I'm reminded of how my lawyer "friends" tend to argue when they are wrong... they then focus on one little point where they think they have some kind of standing and then become snippily dismissive.

Actually, I'm trying to be polite. I could point out what I believe to be the various fallacies in your posts (numerous strawmen arguments, red herrings, and the like), but I do think this comes down to a pretty simple question:

If you control for other factors (height, density, street-level design, overall design quality, overall mix of uses in the neighborhood, and so on), does having residential rather than office in the upper floors of the first row of riverfront parcels make a difference in development outcomes?

I don't think that is "one little point", I think that is pretty much the whole dispute. And I understand that you believe the answer is that it does make a difference, and you claim that there is ample proof that it does.

Meanwhile, I'm not trying to dismiss your claims--rather, I'm open-minded on the subject and I am more than willing to consider your proof. But if you are not willing to share that proof, then I am not sure what else there is to discuss.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Actually, I'm trying to be polite. I could point out what I believe to be the various fallacies in your posts (numerous strawmen arguments, red herrings, and the like), but I do think this comes down to a pretty simple question:

If you control for other factors (height, density, street-level design, overall design quality, overall mix of uses in the neighborhood, and so on), does having residential rather than office in the upper floors of the first row of riverfront parcels make a difference in development outcomes?

I don't think that is "one little point", I think that is pretty much the whole dispute. And I understand that you believe the answer is that it does make a difference, and you claim that there is ample proof that it does.

Meanwhile, I'm not trying to dismiss your claims--rather, I'm open-minded on the subject and I am more than willing to consider your proof. But if you are not willing to share that proof, then I am not sure what else there is to discuss.

Well sorry, my bad then -- I thought it was a more of a dismissive retort, and I misinterpreted. I didn't realize I posed strawman arguments or anything misleading though; I thought I was pretty clear all along in saying that having residential rather than office on immediate waterfront parcels does matter to the value and success of the development overall. I don't think I ever changed course on that.

The "little point" I was referring to was not the issue, but rather you're request for "proof" of it. I can't share private documents of case studies concerning waterfront redevelopment on a forum. I know that I can't offer you numbers that have been gleaned from company case studies comparing specific development efforts in different cities as verifiable proof, but you should be able to find evidence available out there in the form of best practice literature from planning/design, architecture, and real estate firms.

What I can offer are examples of a number of projects I've been fortunate to work on (DC Yards, Boston's Fan Pier) and others that I am currently working on... that display the exact design attributes I am pointing to. While I'm far from an expert on the topic (I learned that quickly while involved with the Yards), I believe that I do have some credibility on the basics of the topic of waterfront redevelopment... and this particular office project proposal in Pittsburgh certainly seems to go directly against that basic understanding.

[Wiz Khalifa]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

If you control for other factors (height, density, street-level design, overall design quality, overall mix of uses in the neighborhood, and so on), does having residential rather than office in the upper floors of the first row of riverfront parcels make a difference in development outcomes?

I don't think it really matters in this particular location, but I am no expert on urban design with thousands of dollars of studies at my disposal. I still think that there should be waterfront residential developed at SSW and on other riverfront parcels in the city, as there is definitely a market for it and currently there exists a dearth of buildings in that market.

However, for this particular site there is going to be a large number of apartments rising directly behind it, with even more already built that are only a block away. Adding an office building here would help balance the office vs residential in this section of the SSW, and as eschaton said, lend to it become a more balanced 24 hour neighborhood.

Now the part of the SSW that desperately needs residential development, waterfront or otherwise, would obviously be the eastern section across Hot Metal street.