Looks like the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership had a DAM meeting last week where a mid-sized apartment conversion project for the Cultural District was discussed. The Desmone project would convert 933 Penn Avenue from its current use (charter school offices on the lower floors, vacant above) into a 63-unit residential building with ground-floor commercial. Desmone would also remove the ugly-ass, metal skin across the front, replacing it with "glazed brick." I don't know what this will end up like (I don't have high hopes, given the developer) but anything would be a trade up for the ugliest building in the Cultural District by a country mile.
Also, it looks like Pennrose is working towards RCAP grant to convert the long-shuttered Divine Providence Hospital on the North Side into affordable housing. The project is still in its infancy, but Pennrose estimates there will be 128 units. |
Riverlife reveals revamped West End Bridge walkway designs
https://nextpittsburgh.com/city-desi...lkway-designs/ Video presentation 3/13/24 https://i0.wp.com/nextpittsburgh.com...g?w=1241&ssl=1 A conceptual design of the new pedestrian access structure on the Manchester side of the West End Bridge. Courtesy of Riverlife. https://i0.wp.com/nextpittsburgh.com...24%2C545&ssl=1 A preliminary render of the Manchester site at the West End Bridge. Rendering courtesy of Riverlife. https://i0.wp.com/nextpittsburgh.com...24%2C564&ssl=1 “Site A” at the West End terminus of the West End Bridge. The structure connects to the West End Village via an old railroad tunnel above West Carson Street. Courtesy of Riverlife. |
^ That's so sick! I really hope it comes to fruition. I would love to try it out on my bike.
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It's about fucking time. Access to the West End & SW suburbs by bicycle is basically a death wish. This is a long overdue connection point and this project cannot move fast enough.
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Wait, what bike trail or whatever is that going to connect to? Will it connect to the Panhandle Trail? If so, that would be so freaking awesome, I could bike from Carnegie almost (if they ever extend the trail another mile) to downtown. Riding a bike to downtown from Carnegie is basically impossible or you will die from getting ran over or die from having to bike up and over Mt. Washington or the West End.
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April HRC agenda is up. It's very short - just a few small residential projects, along with resubmits of two more substantive projects (Old Stone Tavern and the nomination of the Brookline Parklet).
Of note though is a resubmit for Spork Pit for the former Double Wide location. Mostly notable because it's a total surrender from the kitschy trash they had wanted. The plan will now be to repaint and make some minor modifications to the awning. |
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If it's an attractive enough bridge crossing and trail system right into West End, it should do wonders for the business district. In the warmer months, it could attract a lot of leisure riders into it. I could see breweries and cafes popping up over there a la Millvale, or how Roundabout Brewery's beer garden attracts a ton of bike traffic in Chateau. |
I hope that means they will also be repainting / restoring the bridge. It’s a rusty nightmare and is embarrassing for the city to have a nearly falling apart bridge be the gateway to a lot of the city.
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There are also plans to extend the panhandle from Collier into Carnegie. Currently it has one million in funding from the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority.
https://www.unionprogress.com/2024/0...-improvements/ Carnegie's page on the panhandle trail extension: https://carnegieborough.com/trail/support.html The plans for a new park and ride garage in Carnegie also depict the trail being extended: https://www.rideprt.org/siteassets/i...es_reduced.pdf These two projects won't completely close the gap but we're getting closer! |
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Last time I talked to the mayor, about a year ago about the Panhandle trail extension to Carnegie she said it probably wasn't going to happen as the railroad thinks it will one day reopen the spur to who knows where. But they weren't going to give up their ROW. Perhaps thats changed since a year ago, I sure hope it has because I am literally 100ft away from the railroad and right above the Carnegie Borough Building. It would help home values and it sure as hell would be nice to just hop on my bike without having to haul it in my car to the trails. |
Tenants are leaving Downtown Pittsburgh for other city neighborhoods and suburbs, new report shows Downtown has been losing tenants while other top markets in the region have been adding them, according to a new report. Quote:
68% of those who fled landing in the Fringe, including the Strip District, or the Oakland/East End submarkets. Quote:
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Of course, if we also looked at the net change in floor space as leases were renewed, it would look even worse. Indeed, my guess is the majority of firms "fleeing" downtown are largely doing so due to footprint consolidation (along with the chance to upgrade to Class A office space), not because of concerns regarding crime and/or the homeless. I was just thinking this morning it's a shame that enrollment at PPU has been declining, as an office market like this is the perfect situation for a downtown-focused university to expand their campus footprint. Wouldn't help the tax rolls, but it would help otherwise. |
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Yep, that's definitely confirmed in the article, which is "good" in a way that it pushes buildings to upgrade etc. (if that happens). I wasn't aware of PPU's issue with enrollment, but it's a challenging environment with enrollment now, and I would bet especially for small schools. |
The apartment development surrounding the Tito House was okayed by the Planning Commission this week. Didn't bother to cover the agenda, since I was on vacation in Chicago last week, and the only "new" item was the historic nomination of the parklet in Brookline, which we have already discussed. Regardless, it's great to see another Uptown project moving forward, despite opposition (I can't even call it NIMBY, because the opponents were descendants of Tito who lived outside of the area).
Really, not much new going on in terms of development. April 18th ZBA agenda is online now, but it's very short, and aside from the conversion of the former Madison Elementary in the Upper Hill into an arts center, I don't see much of note. |
It looks like CMU's proposed Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences just cleared its last approval hurdle. No word on the official start date, but university officials have stated that they hope for the $252 million / 7-story project to be completed by 2027 -
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Source: CMU |
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Edit: I think I got the angle of this about right for comparison purposes: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4445...!1e3?entry=ttu |
Looks like Walnut Capital threw in the towel, and is selling the PAA building to Pitt. Honestly, not a bad fit, due to building layout and location.
I also want to highlight, although not directly related to development, PPS has announced the start of a comprehensive redesign of its building footprint. No schools are yet targeted, but there will be substantial changes, as the district has stated an intention to move to entirely standalone middle schools (necessitating movement of a lot of students from existing K-8 or 6-12 buildings into new facilities), along with a reconfiguration of the magnet system to eliminate smaller programs with less interest, and presumably increase programs that often involve waitlisting. In the past, the city has shown a willingness to close schools based upon prospective real estate value rather than academic performance, to maximize return for the district. Witness closing the Reizenstein Middle School (which paved the way for the second phase of Bakery Square) or the conversion of Schenley High School into apartments. In contrast, a lot of shuttered schools in more troubled neighborhoods have been vacant for over a decade, with little interest unless a private school buys it, or funding can be found to convert it into housing. I will say straight off the bat Montessori K-5 will be closed in its current facility. The school is very popular and well regarded, but the building is in terrible condition, and needs millions in asbestos remediation. The students and teachers will be moved to a vacant school elsewhere in the East End (perhaps Linden K-5 or Sterrett 6-8, both of which are likely to close) and they'll try and sell off the building to a private developer for apartments (which the market can bear there, provided NIMBYs don't get in the way). The more interesting case though is Arsenal in Central Lawrenceville. The elementary school is at about half capacity, mostly filled up with kids from Garfield these days, which has lacked a neighborhood school for around the last decade. The middle school is only at 25% capacity. If they are serious about ending K-8 schools, moving the middle school kids out of Sunnyside K-8 in Stanton Heights will mean more than enough space for Garfield's elementary students there (It's actually closer to most of them), with Central Lawrenceville's few neighborhood students either following suit or going into Woolslair. Then the district could make a dedicated middle school somewhere else in the upper East End (I'd say Lincoln K-5 in Larimer would be the most centrally located), which frees up the entirety of Arsenal for redevelopment, as they would undoubtedly get a good deal of money for a building already laid out well for residential conversion, where a new wing could be constructed fronting directly on Butler Street. There's a ton of awful messes to deal with elsewhere of course, but going into all that goes way beyond the purposes of this thread. |
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