PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[eschaton]

The September 8 Planning Commission agenda is now online. There's three new items to discuss - all of them substantive.

1. An important tweak to city zoning in Oakland. As background, one of the worst parts of the Oakland rezoning (likely spurred by NIMBY opposition to some big buildings like SkyVue and the Bridge on Forbes) was the re-imposition of Euclidian zoning in the core of Oakland, making it illegal to build new residential buildings along the Fifth/Forbes corridor unless 100% affordable. This tweak would re-legalize apartment buildings within 100 feet of areas zoned EMI. As a result, apartments would become legal again along all of Fifth Avenue and in bits and bobs elsewhere, though there still would be a fair amount of Forbes where new apartments would be disallowed. Still, a step in the right direction.

2. A detailed presentation on the new condo adaptive reuse project at 2560 Smallman in the Strip District. PBT broke news of this a few weeks back, but we'd previously only seen the project from a few angles, and there are detailed renderings here. Rehab of the existing four-story warehouse shell, new townhouses on the roof. Looks like 29 units? Interesting to see there's a wine cellar in the basement. Don't like the two-story parking deck being put in the rear, but otherwise, it's a sharp project fixing one of the biggest remaining eyesores of the area.

3. A big new apartment building in South Side. Down slightly from the earlier project proposed on the site (from 378 to 365 units) but still an absolutely massive building in overall size, if not height (looks like a four over one). I like that they mess with the facades a bit to give the illusion of multiple buildings, so it's not quite as looming at street level.

In addition, the new ZBA agendas are online for October 1 and October 8. These are all small-beer projects, but it's nice to see a new restaurant on Brookline Boulevard.

[themaguffin]

"100% affordable" sounds odd and like an unnecessary hurdle.

Nice to the the South side apartments and they look ok, but still would be nice to good locations get something taller than cheap wood frame apartments... I get and they are popping up in a lot of cities, but still...

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

"100% affordable" sounds odd and like an unnecessary hurdle.

Technically speaking, it does also allow residential development provided the residential units take up less than 50% of the total square footage, so some sort of mixed-use office/residential/hotel tower may be doable.

Regardless, as I said, Oakland NIMBYs seemed to be upset by the two (now three, since HERE Pittsburgh) big ugly residential buildings constructed along Forbes, and wanted to block additional residential development to save the space for potential new office towers. Yet the senior LGBT Mosaic Apartments was in the works down the street a bit, and they didn't want to block that.

Simply nutty though, having a city in the 2020s all but ban residential development in one of its core areas.

Originally Posted by themaguffin

Nice to the the South side apartments and they look ok, but still would be nice to good locations get something taller than cheap wood frame apartments... I get and they are popping up in a lot of cities, but still...

Unfortunately, I don't think South Side property values are high enough for new steel construction.

Lawrenceville might be getting there, though.

[Thktanm]

Originally Posted by Johnland

On the NIMBY campaign again the TOD proposal for Dormont, it's always mindblowing how much effort NIMBY's put into resisting growth. And by "growth", I mean the .03% increase in population to the borough this project could bring. Not 1%, not 1/2 of 1%, but about a third of 1% increase. Assuming 180 units would equate to about 270 residents and the current population is about 8,200. And that 8,200 is a declining figure. Down from a peak of 13,000 in the 1930's. So the NIMBY's want to protect their declining population essentially.

Your math is wrong. It’s 3% not .03% and yes the nimbys are embarrassing themselves. Also though the borough is bad at infrastructure up keep so that isn’t helping

[eschaton]

A concrete proposal to replace the shuttered Oakland Quality Inn will be reviewed at an Oakland DAM meeting next week. The proposed building is eight-stories, has 265-units of apartments, and seems to include a ground-floor grocery store. A big downgrade from what Walnut Capital proposed years back, but still, progress:



Edit: City now has a presentation online. Turns out it's an Indovina design. Looks a lot better from the other angles. I like how it fills out the street frontage, and the garage section is mostly hidden in the rear.

In other news, the former St. Mary's Church complex in Lawrenceville is being sold by the diocese to a private developer. I'll be watching this, to see if they're going to go with adaptive reuse, a townhouse complex, or push for an upzoning.

[eschaton]

The September 22 Planning Commission agenda is now online. Unfortunately, next week is very thin on new projects. There's a spot rezoning of 1070 Banksville Ave - a parcel including a police union hall. The presentation has yet to land yet, but this document and this map make it clear they're trying to have the rear section (which is technically zoned park) rezoned to match the NDI of the remainder of the parcel. The other new item is a demolition at 5620 Baum. The site is a disgusting eyesore at a busy intersection, so more power to them, though the presentation here makes it clear there's no planned development - it'll just be an empty grassy lot at the end.

Doing a brief roundup of other news.

1. The Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation is putting up for sale two businesses in/near Market Square.

2. Point Park University has bought a prominent, almost vacant building at the corner of Smithfield and Forbes in Downtown. No word yet on redevelopment plans.

3. The Columbus-area developer behind the Smithfield Lofts project is working on a second Downtown affordable residential conversion. This is at 100 Ross Street. The plan is to convert the building into a 46-unit residential building, with 39 affordable and 7 market rate.

4. At least 13 developers have shown an interest in the first swathe of parcels offered for sale in Larimer by the URA. No word yet on plans, or timelines to make a decision.

5. In Oakland news, ground has officially broke on the 326-unit Trinitas project on Hallket Street, soon after the site was cleared of the original houses. Radnor also provided some more information on the new apartment building I mentioned upthread on Boulevard of the Allies, including a planned start of construction next year, completion by 2029, and being in discussion with several grocery stores about the ground floor lease.

6. The City plans to limit short-term rentals have hit a temporary snag, as the Planning Commission was uncertain whether or not the proposed rules are legally enforceable. Seems like after legal review the plan will be resuscitated rather quickly, however.

[eschaton]

Entering the slow season when it comes to development it seems. The October Planning Commission agenda for next week is up, and there's nothing much of note. There is finally a presentation for the spot rezoning in Banksville. It was interesting seeing the history here - I had no idea there used to be a trailer park on this site. There's only a handful of trailer communities left in the city at this point.

The October HRC presentation is also online. It's a light agenda which is mostly focused on the big picture - streamlining existing code to be more pro-development, and a director's report. Aside from that, just three minor residential projects in the North Side.

The October 15 ZBA is also online. Again, a whole lotta nothing. Looks like a new school might be opening up at the Pressley Ridge site on the northside, and maybe a new restaurant in Brookline. That's about it.

In terms of other news, another apartment building finished construction in Uptown - the Rothschild-Doyno Standard on Fifth. I decided yesterday to walk down Fifth through Uptown, as I hadn't been through the corridor in ages. I didn't realize the entire street is still a total mess from BRT construction, with the entire southern side of the street more or less inaccessible to pedestrians from Magee Street to the Birmingham Bridge. Talked about it with my wife, since the project was her firm's (she didn't work on it personally) and she said they had all kinds of complications because of access issues due to the BRT work. I doubt we're going to see much more forward movement until they finish the infrastructure work.

[AaronPGH]

An Aldi right in Oakland (Quality Inn spot) would print money.

[srahman75]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

An Aldi right in Oakland (Quality Inn spot) would print money.

It would make my life significantly easier too.

[eschaton]

It's probably too much to hope for, but Boulevard of the Allies needs a bit of a redesign through Oakland.

The arterial design of it has never made much sense to me, since it just terminates in Schenley Park. And it just sort of cuts off the southern part of Oakland - particularly west of Bates - rather than tying the area together as a major commercial street.

[Thktanm]

Originally Posted by eschaton

It's probably too much to hope for, but Boulevard of the Allies needs a bit of a redesign through Oakland.

The arterial design of it has never made much sense to me, since it just terminates in Schenley Park. And it just sort of cuts off the southern part of Oakland - particularly west of Bates - rather than tying the area together as a major commercial street.

It’s gotten better over the years as some stuff has been redeveloped. It would be so nice with a tree lined median but space is a problem. I wish the lot boarders by Forbes, mcdevitt and blvd would be cleaned up. Its a mess. The goofy plumbing building has been available for lease for a while. That could be redeveloped into something less weird