PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[photoLith]

Looking at the first page, what if anything has ever happened with that Monongahela Tower?

[Found5dollar]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

So those are some of the developments that I had been missing on page 1. Please let me know if these look right or if I'm missing any other major projects or if these are no longer moving forward. I think the Iron City Brewery plan fell apart.

Cmu has a bunch of new buildings planned/in the works for the addition/move of the tepper school onto the morewood parking lot. I hear that groundbreaking is going to be soon. They are moving carnival this year because of it.

[Urbana]

Originally Posted by Found5dollar

Cmu has a bunch of new buildings planned/in the works for the addition/move of the tepper school onto the morewood parking lot. I hear that groundbreaking is going to be soon. They are moving carnival this year because of it.

I had no idea they were getting started so soon. I interpreted the announcement more as a statement of intention rather than concrete plans.

Speaking of which, you can finally start to see some progress on Scott Hall.

http://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/scott-hall/s...n-cameras.html

Edit: This article seems to indicate that they will break ground on the Tepper Quadrangle in Summer or Fall of 2015 - indeed, sooner than I thought.

http://thetartan.org/2013/11/25/news/tepper

[BrianTH]

There is a little snippet on the CMU project here:

http://buildingpittsburgh.com/2014/0...ts-out-to-bid/

The year’s first big project opportunity, the new home for Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon, is advancing. On Feb. 21 the university short-listed three architects and construction managers for the $80 million +/- project. Staying in the hunt for the CM role are Mascaro, PJ Dick and Turner. Interviews are scheduled for mid-March.

[CF Lion]

Originally Posted by doo dah

Riverparc, perhaps?

Yeah, that's the one. Love the location. Bummer to hear that it's most likely dead.

A buddy of mine lives on Federal Street and thinks I should look up on the Northside. Perhaps I'll set my sights there.

[BrianTH]

Some interesting thoughts here from Jim Russell:

http://www.psmag.com/kickers/burgh-d...-talent-75455/

His basic point is that it appears migration/immigration is facing a permanent decline, which is a problem for places that have depended on importing skilled people, but not bad news for places like Pittsburgh which actually export skilled people thanks to their local colleges/universities.

[Found5dollar]

CMU just announced another 10 million donation to the school for the Tepper quad

http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/arch...wartzgift.html

[photoLith]

Pnc from 3 min ago.

[designer3d712]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Pnc from 3 min ago.

I took a look from the West End Bridge yesterday, and it looks like the top of the crane is close to the final height. I was comparing it to the K&L building.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Pnc from 3 min ago.

Nice.

That vantage provides one of the best (or worst, I guess) views of the notorious mid-Downtown highrise gap, and you can see how PNC Tower is going to plug right into it.

[Edit: And I must admit if the Oxford tower got built, it would likely do the same.]

[SkyPittsburgh]

New planning commission presentation is up:
Selected highlights:
1. Duke is planning a theater on Locust and Seitz.
2. PennDOT is building a "Welcome to Squirell Hill" sign.
3. Approval of Hot Metal Flats

http://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/sch...ion-51-499.pdf

[dfiler]

If i'm understanding the hot metal flats blueprints, the first floor will be a disguised parking garage. That seems like a reasonable ground floor use for a block without storefronts. Although, entire neighborhoods structured like this could end up with a dead ambiance. Are there many other examples of this in the city? In Pittsburgh this practice appears to be relatively new.

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by dfiler

If i'm understanding the hot metal flats blueprints, the first floor will be a disguised parking garage. That seems like a reasonable ground floor use for a block without storefronts. Although, entire neighborhoods structured like this could end up with a dead ambiance. Are there many other examples of this in the city? In Pittsburgh this practice appears to be relatively new.

I think in some earlier drawings, there is a lobby on the ground floor as well as some small storefronts, but mostly the parking garage.

[BrianTH]

That proposed theater is on a whacky little site (triangular and sloping). It is nice to see them packing something in there.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by dfiler

If i'm understanding the hot metal flats blueprints, the first floor will be a disguised parking garage. That seems like a reasonable ground floor use for a block without storefronts.

There is a lobby/common-space area on the corner of Hot Metal and Sidney, but I believe that is mostly correct.

Although, entire neighborhoods structured like this could end up with a dead ambiance. Are there many other examples of this in the city? In Pittsburgh this practice appears to be relatively new.

I'm not sure how common it is in existing projects, but I believe there is at least one more proposal like this for this part of South Side Works (east of Hot Metal). Buncher wants to do something similar with the apartment buildings behind the Produce Terminal, the East Liberty Transit Center/Eastside III will also be similar (although in that case the parking will be two levels and pushed back to the Busway side), East Liberty Place South is also similar . . . and I suspect we will see more in the future.

I agree this could be bad if it was the norm everywhere. However, it sure beats surface parking lots, and it can come off better or worse depending on how well they disguise it. I also think context matters a lot.

For example, in this case, the parts of South Side Works east of Hot Metal probably were never destined to become quite as walkable/commercial as the parts west of Hot Metal. That is because the serious pinching-down of the South Side Flats is beginning around there, the train tracks emerge from the tunnel, and so on. In fact, I am actually kinda amazed they jammed the SpringHill Suites in where they did--I don't like its surface parking lot and maybe that can be converted to structured parking/mixed-use eventually, but that was still an awkward lot and it is nice to see it being used.

Anyway, given all that, I am more or less fine with this particular example. As noted above, I am a little bummed they cut the height and unit count, but on the other hand, it appears they eliminated a level of parking, which helps with respect to this issue. So as long as it looks reasonable along Hot Metal Street, I think it will be a nice addition.

[BrianTH]

Another potentially misleading article on population dynamics:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg....html?page=all

This is a pretty amazing passage:

But only 17 percent of CMU's undergraduate Class of 2013 stayed for jobs in Pittsburgh after graduation, said Kevin G. Monahan, associate dean of student affairs for CMU’s career center. About 15 percent of the university’s 2013 class came from Pennsylvania. . . . Experts say one of the biggest problems for Pittsburgh is welcoming outsiders, particularly foreign-born students.

So only 15% of the class came from the entire state of Pennsylvania, and 17% stated specifically in Pittsburgh? That's a nice net inflow, and certainly doesn't show prima facie that Pittsburgh is unwelcoming to outsiders, given that CMU is an elite national university (it would be sort of like accusing New Haven of being unwelcoming because a majority of Yale students do not stay there after graduation--that is not a reasonable measure of success).

That's not to say Pittsburgh can't do any useful things to help encourage even more graduates to stick around. But the danger in this sort of analysis is that it can encourage people to think in terms of relatively superficial things, whereas I suspect by far the most important thing the region can do to improve that net inflow is to continue to adopt policies and practices that make the region a better place to locate a business or live as a resident, whether or not all that is specific to "outsiders" or natives.

[Evergrey]

Agreed, BrianTH. This week's articles on Pittsburgh demographics from the Business Times were very poor and misleading. Of course, they were written by an intern.

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

There is a lobby/common-space area on the corner of Hot Metal and Sidney, but I believe that is mostly correct.

I'm not sure how common it is in existing projects, but I believe there is at least one more proposal like this for this part of South Side Works (east of Hot Metal). Buncher wants to do something similar with the apartment buildings behind the Produce Terminal, the East Liberty Transit Center/Eastside III will also be similar (although in that case the parking will be two levels and pushed back to the Busway side), East Liberty Place South is also similar . . . and I suspect we will see more in the future.

I agree this could be bad if it was the norm everywhere. However, it sure beats surface parking lots, and it can come off better or worse depending on how well they disguise it. I also think context matters a lot.

For example, in this case, the parts of South Side Works east of Hot Metal probably were never destined to become quite as walkable/commercial as the parts west of Hot Metal. That is because the serious pinching-down of the South Side Flats is beginning around there, the train tracks emerge from the tunnel, and so on. In fact, I am actually kinda amazed they jammed the SpringHill Suites in where they did--I don't like its surface parking lot and maybe that can be converted to structured parking/mixed-use eventually, but that was still an awkward lot and it is nice to see it being used.

Anyway, given all that, I am more or less fine with this particular example. As noted above, I am a little bummed they cut the height and unit count, but on the other hand, it appears they eliminated a level of parking, which helps with respect to this issue. So as long as it looks reasonable along Hot Metal Street, I think it will be a nice addition.

That's pretty much my sentiment. Surface lots are horrible in a medium-dense cities like pittsburgh. Using the ground floor for parking does create a lifeless zone without storefronts or windows into inhabited spaces. However it seems like a fair tradeoff when the reality is that many people lead a car centric lifestyle.

With this being a residential building, it is arguably even more appropriate. Ground floor apartment windows in an urban setting aren't terribly appealing. Even if you don't have to worry about burglars entering through a window, there is no privacy when your windows look directly onto a sidewalk.

I would hate to see entire neighborhoods of buildings with their ground floors as garages. But for streets without pedestrian destinations such as stores or restaurants, it appears to be a worthwhile, modern compromise.

As an interesting comparison, consider new vs old suburbs. Old suburbs put garages on the side or back of each lot. Newer suburbs attach garages the front of homes. In my opinion, the older neighborhoods are more pleasant. Rather than garage doors and driveways being the focal point of every home, there is actual architecture and landscaping held as paramount.

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Another potentially misleading article on population dynamics:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg....html?page=all

This is a pretty amazing passage:

So only 15% of the class came from the entire state of Pennsylvania, and 17% stated specifically in Pittsburgh? That's a nice net inflow, and certainly doesn't show prima facie that Pittsburgh is unwelcoming to outsiders, given that CMU is an elite national university (it would be sort of like accusing New Haven of being unwelcoming because a majority of Yale students do not stay there after graduation--that is not a reasonable measure of success).

That's not to say Pittsburgh can't do any useful things to help encourage even more graduates to stick around. But the danger in this sort of analysis is that it can encourage people to think in terms of relatively superficial things, whereas I suspect by far the most important thing the region can do to improve that net inflow is to continue to adopt policies and practices that make the region a better place to locate a business or live as a resident, whether or not all that is specific to "outsiders" or natives.

Agreed, that whole "pittsburgh is unwelcoming to outsiders" notion is based on rather illogical reasoning. "Experts say"? Only a couple of misinformed "experts" that recently got a tiny bit of publicity. I remember laughing at their conclusions when originally published.

The reason why pittsburgh hasn't seen an influx of immigrants in the past few decades is because nobody flocks to cities with high unemployment. When the steel mills were shutting down, there was massive unemployment and half of the city's population left to find work elsewhere. Half! And on top of that, there weren't even any construction or agricultural jobs to offer. Well of course foreigners aren't going to move to such a city.

And that's not coming from a born and bred yinzer who is feeling insulted. I came to study at CMU and ended up staying. As a student in a program with many foreigners, I got no impression of pittsburgh being particularly welcoming or unwelcoming to outsiders. To me, it seemed and seems pretty much average in that regard.

[joenicholas9]

Buncher Co. gives Pittsburgh 6 months to market Strip produce terminal

The city will get six months to work with other developers on the redevelopment of the Strip District's produce terminal under an agreement reached today with the Buncher Company.

The accord with the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority will give Mayor Bill Peduto time to evaluate "a third option" that keeps the produce terminal intact while providing Buncher with access to the surrounding land for its proposed $450 million Riverfront Landing residential and office development, said Kevin Acklin, the mayor's chief of staff.

...

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/re...s/201402280159