PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown I

[BMikeSci]

As I said, UrbaniDesDev, all those old pavers are being replaced in the new design. Most have already been sent to land-fill or to where ever those things end up. The fountains have been carted away, and new concrete forms have been and are being poured.

The lower lobby with it's grand piano, french styled chairs, and ormolu chandeliers is not to everyone's taste, but that piano often has a Duquesne music student playing Beethoven piano sonatas - which is rather nice.

I agree that from fifth Avenue, all one sees is the garage structure. I don't think that will change. Under the old Ilse of Capri drawings, the new arena was going to have a garage along fifth too, but with lots of stores and offices buffering the garage and the street. As far as I know, the new designs for the arena are still in the works, but I am sure whatever design is chosen will greatly improve fifth avenue. If the facade grants go through - Fifth could be really great. Fifth has some of the widest sidewalks in the downtown. I wouldn't be too surprised to see some sidewalk cafe tables out there within the next couple of years. With the new arena, I expect to see the area improved the way the area around PNC Park got improved.

BTW, Evergrey, that's a good picture of the area. Was it taken from a helicoptor? It does not show the Chatham Tower unfortunately. The tower is slightly to the left, out of the photo.

[UrbaniDesDev]

It's particularly the commercial spaces along Fifth of Chatham that bothers me. It requires a fairly easy solution to make this more pedestrian friendly. Either way it will be a magnet of activity when all the development around it is in place.

I think the Fifth & Forbes corridors, and the immediate surrounding area, particularly between the Liberty and Burmingham Bridges will be the next big surge of interest in the city. It is an area that I have a lot of interest in. Judging by recent upsurge in realestate prices there, I'm finding I am not alone.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by BMikeSci

BTW, Evergrey, that's a good picture of the area. Was it taken from a helicoptor? It does not show the Chatham Tower unfortunately. The tower is slightly to the left, out of the photo.

I don't understand. Is Chatham Center not the condo tower we're discussing here? What is the difference between Chatham Center and Chatham Tower?


The photo was taken from Grandview Park.

Other area photos:

This photo shows the redeveloped Crawford Square (a very successful community with rapidly rising housing values)... a bit of the arena surface parking that will be redeveloped... I believe the white building to the left is an old hospital that will be torn down for the arena development... I don't know what the "W" building is.... is that an apartment building called Washington Square?


a view of historic Uptown... which has SLOWLY been seeing increasing interest... though there are still hurdles... such as an elderly suburbanite with an extensive criminal history who keeps knocking historic structures down for unlicensed parking lots... the location of Uptown is key


does this photo include the Chatham Tower Condominiums?

[themaguffin]

The gray building on the right is the chatham condo tower. There's also the office tower and hotel (formerly a Hyatt, not a Marriot)

yes that complex is dated, but it's make for a distant transition from Downtown to Uptown with a smaller scale instead of just seeing USX backed up to nothing.

Washington Plaza (thebuilding with a W on the side) is an apartment building.

It's probably is as old as Chatham.

[RG1976]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Biz Times tidbits:

1. Canadian upstart airline Porter intends to begin service connecting Pittsburgh (PIT or Allegheny County Airport) to Toronto's City Centre Airport in 2 or 3 years. This fills a void left by USAir's decision to drop the Pittsburgh-Toronto route this week (we no longer have service to TORONTO!?).

U.S.Airways may have dropped service from Pittsburgh to Toronto. However, the service to Toronto (Pearson) is still available from Air Canada. I flew there last August, and my friends flew there last week (both en route to other places).

[BMikeSci]

Yes, as I said, the Chatham tower is a fairly generic building. The Marriot Hotel building is unattractive, and the office tower is IMO the best looking of the group. The garage under the three buildings is also nothing but functional, but the plaza is a really nice feature for an urban building, and for the residents, it more than makes up for the unattractiveness of the garage. I remember how good the plaza looked 20 years ago when I lived in the complex. Two months ago, the plaza looked really bad. It had not been updated in a long time. The pavers were crumbling and dirty, but now the plaza is being stripped to below the waterproof membrane.

It's my guess that uptown will also improve greatly. For one thing, it is a managable area for change. That is, it's not too large an area for real change. It's only a few blocks wide, and it's positioned in between the cities two centers. Because it's smaller than the hill, renovation will be much quicker, once it starts, and the buildings closer to Oakland that sell for tens of thousands - rather then hundreds of thousands - will be snapped up quickly. Down by the Chatham Center, there are a lot of buildings for sale, but that's because the asking prices are really high in anticipation of both the expansion of Duquesne University and of the changes that the new arena will bring. Right now, there is only one block, fifth, that is not Duquesne.

I've been watching this area with interest for decades. Prices have been utterly flat. Therefore, I believe that the area is way undervalued relative to just about every other area I know. My guess is that by the end of 2008, the area will change a lot, and the relative bargains there will be gone.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by BMikeSci

My guess is that by the end of 2008, the area will change a lot, and the relative bargains there will be gone.

If the state legislature doesn't screw up the arena funding for us.


...


Anyways... we're finally catching on to the TOD trend... I thought Castle Shannon was part of this initiative... but the municipalitiy is not mentioned in this article.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_516335.html

Officials to listen to T-station area ideas

By Mike Cronin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 9, 2007


Residents of Dormont and Mt. Lebanon will get a chance this week to put themselves on the forefront of what urban planners call a national trend in transportation planning.
Allegheny County and municipal officials will listen Thursday to suggestions for enhancing neighborhoods around Port Authority light-rail T stations. The meeting is the first step in what officials hope will transform the T-station areas into community hubs.

If successful, they would become places where people live, shop and play, planners said.

"Our goal is to make the T station a viable part of the community," said Richard Bickel, planning director for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which serves southeast Pennsylvania and part of New Jersey. Bickel helped write the 2004 legislation that outlines a method to develop T-station neighborhoods. The law allowing the creation of "transit revitalization investment districts" took effect in 2005.

"We're trying to reinforce the use of public transportation where it already exists. And in the growing townships, the suburbs, we're trying to change patterns," Bickel said.

Officials from other Pennsylvania locations -- including Beaver County and the Philadelphia area -- are exploring similar strategies, he said. Officials in Arlington, Va., which is connected to Washington's Metro system, have developed a model for the approach, Bickel said.

Mt. Lebanon, Dormont and the county are studying development options for the Mt. Lebanon, Potomac and Dormont Junction stations. Work on the project began more than a year ago, said George Zboyovsky, Dormont borough manager.

The meeting is scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building, 710 Washington Road.

"This is the time to show up -- not when we've already put a shovel in the ground," Zboyovsky said. Development could include retail stores and apartment complexes. "We want to promote ourselves as walkable, more pedestrian-friendly."

Dormont and Mt. Lebanon are collaborating on the $200,000 project, Zboyovsky said. The state awarded each municipality $75,000. Officials have paid New York-based DMJM Harris $188,200 to supervise the process, said David Veights, a senior planner with the company's Pittsburgh office.

Development will occur within a half-mile radius of the T stations, said George Darakos, of the county Department of Community Development.

"It's almost a throwback to the old Main streets," Darakos said. "Ultimately, though, it's up to the public: What do they want to see in their communities?"

One of the challenges will be getting people not already using public transit to do so instead of driving their cars, said Bob Dunphy, a fellow at the Washington-based Urban Land Institute.

"It's one thing to be concerned about the environment and another to take the bus to work," Dunphy said. "Most people take an 'environmental-light' type of approach: Recycling is easy. Transit is hard."

The strategy regional officials hope to use in Mt. Lebanon and Dormont should work, Dunphy said.

"The way to do it is not to tell people they need to use public transit more," he said. "It's to improve transit and get more people where transit serves. By fostering growth in those areas, you build a market for transit. So you might be in the happy situation of having to expand transit rather than cut it back."



Mike Cronin can be reached at [email protected] or 412-320-7884.

[Evergrey]

Loft condos in a historic stable... or expanded scrap yard???

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_516339.html

Planners review North Side stable development


This building at 836 North Ave. in the North Side was formerly a stable used by Allegheny City for its publics works department horses. If designated a historic structure, it might be saved from the wrecking ball and turned into condominiums.
Sidney Davis/Tribune-Review

By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 9, 2007


A North Side building being considered for historic designation by City Council could someday give new meaning to the phrase "stable living arrangements."
The Allegheny Stables, built by Allegheny City leaders as a place to house their Department of Public Works horses, appears poised for designation as a historic structure. If City Council approves the designation at its July 17 meeting, the building would be saved from possible demolition, clearing the way for developers to turn it into condominiums.

"It is one of the last vestiges of the City of Allegheny's history," said Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference.

The building, in the 800 block of West North Avenue in the neighborhood of Allegheny West, is owned by Rutledge Equipment Co., according to Allegheny County real estate records. Menzock Scrap Inc., which owns a tiny scrap yard behind the former stables, wanted to buy and raze the building so the yard could be expanded, Fatla said.

Neither Rutledge Equipment nor Menzock Scrap could be reached for comment.
The former stables are surrounded by Victorian-era industrial buildings. Companies today prefer one-story, open floor plans to the old style of thin, multi-floor designs of the other buildings on the street. As a result, they've sat vacant for years, said Jim Wallace, chairman of the Allegheny West Civic Council's Housing and Planning Committee.

But the old, detailed style of architecture common to the street and its proximity to Downtown, Heinz Field and PNC Park make the area ripe for loft-style apartments and condominiums, Fatla said.

That is, if neighborhood advocates can keep the buildings from being knocked down.

Preservationists and community leaders ultimately want the area designated as a historic neighborhood, which they said would preserve its unique architecture. Since the Allegheny Stables were in danger of being demolished first, the group started there -- and got the blessing of the city's planning and historic preservation commissions.

"People have returned to these neighborhoods for something they can't get anywhere else," Fatla said. "More and more homes are getting restored."

The next step is organizing development of the entire block. Otherwise, once one condominium is finished, the first residents would have only abandoned industrial buildings as neighbors.

Should no one be keen on living in a former stable, Timothy G. Zinn, a co-author of the proposal for the building's historic designation, urged them to consider this: It was a really nice stable.

"This would have been like a horse palace, almost," said Zinn, 43, a historic preservationist with the Michael Baker Corp. architectural firm. "This had to be the most well-appointed of all the stable buildings. There's nice architectural detailing and wonderful brickwork."

Zinn said state records indicate 15 stables were built throughout Allegheny City, which became part of Pittsburgh after a controversial annexation in 1907.

The rest of the stables "were not like this," Zinn said. "This was certainly the most grand structure."



Mike Wereschagin can be reached at [email protected] or (412) 391-0927.

[UrbaniDesDev]

That entire strip of warehouses along North Avenue between Brighton Road and Allegheny Avenue all would make great loft apartments. It's situated between the most historic districts in the city and on (or near) the park. Great city living. I don't understand why they havent been snapped up already

[BMikeSci]

What are they selling for?

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by BMikeSci

What are they selling for?

I don't think that they are on the market. Chances are the owners don't think that anyone would be interested in old warehouses on the northside. Someone wanting to buy would have to track down the owners and make them an offer.

[hyperion1110]

Allegheny West does have some nice attributes. There are a few old mansions left in the area that have been renovated (Ridge Ave was the original Millionaires Row).

Interestingly, the area between Allegheny Ave and Brighton Rd is actually the neighborhood of Chateau. Those who have been patronizing this forum for a while will remember the debate about placing a casino near residential neighborhoods. Well, this area, with all of the density and property ripe to be rehabilitated, is only two blocks away from the wonderful proposed Majestic Star Casino (cough!).

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by GeneW

I don't think that they are on the market. Chances are the owners don't think that anyone would be interested in old warehouses on the northside. Someone wanting to buy would have to track down the owners and make them an offer.

This 1920s brass factory along Brighton and Beech was converted into 6 luxury lofts ($325,000 and up) last year. So there is precedent for conversion of old industrial buildings in Allegheny West.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

This 1920s brass factory along Brighton and Beech was converted into 6 luxury lofts ($325,000 and up) last year. So there is precedent for conversion of old industrial buildings in Allegheny West.

Oh, I agree that there is precedent, I just don't know if the current owners have been paying attention enough to know that. And to be devil's advocate for a second, I don't think that any of those Brighton/Beach condo units have sold yet.

[Johnland]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

If the state legislature doesn't screw up the arena funding for us.


...


Anyways... we're finally catching on to the TOD trend... I thought Castle Shannon was part of this initiative... but the municipalitiy is not mentioned in this article.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_516335.html

Officials to listen to T-station area ideas

By Mike Cronin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 9, 2007


Residents of Dormont and Mt. Lebanon will get a chance this week to put themselves on the forefront of what urban planners call a national trend in transportation planning.
Allegheny County and municipal officials will listen Thursday to suggestions for enhancing neighborhoods around Port Authority light-rail T stations. The meeting is the first step in what officials hope will transform the T-station areas into community hubs.

If successful, they would become places where people live, shop and play, planners said.

Wow. You mean this type of thinking is just now taking root!! The T has been around for 25 years. I would think this would be at the top of planning lists.

[Austinlee]

Hey.. Chatham tower rules!!! I've been in several of the units and it is a sweet building for the price of admission. It is soo much more affordable than any of other downtown living...

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Johnland

Wow. You mean this type of thinking is just now taking root!! The T has been around for 25 years. I would think this would be at the top of planning lists.

We like to pretend we're not a major urban area sometimes.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07191/800506-34.stm

Whole Foods keeps looking for more space

Plans may include expansion, new site

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

By Teresa F. Lindeman and Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Five years after Whole Foods Market boldly began selling organic produce, tofu hot dogs and soy milk in the city's embattled East Liberty neighborhood, concerns are growing that the small site may be cramping the natural foods grocer's style.

Solutions to the squeeze could range from expanding on the existing site to assembling another set of properties nearby to hoping that new locations elsewhere in the region will ease the pressure on the retailer's only area site.

"We have no intention of leaving East Liberty," said Sarah Kenney, Whole Foods spokeswoman. But at just over 30,000 square feet, she noted the existing store is smaller than the company's new, larger stores, which can exceed 50,000 square feet.

"I think it goes without saying that we are in close quarters right now in that store," she said. "There's so much more that we'd like to do if we had space."

It wasn't long after the Centre Avenue store opened in the fall of 2002 that talk began of a second Whole Foods location in the Pittsburgh region. Shoppers seemed to drive from all over to battle for spaces in the store's parking lot.

A few years later, the retailer settled on a proposed shopping center planned for a site in Collier along Interstate 79. The location remains on the company's Web site as a 68,000-square-foot store in development but the project appears stalled. "We don't have any plans to go to that particular site at this time," said Ms. Kenney.

She confirmed Whole Foods still would like to put a store in the South Hills, although she declined to specify a location.

South Hills Village mall may be under consideration. Bethel Park planner Jerry Duke said officials from his town and from neighboring Upper St. Clair met late in the spring with representatives from the mall's owner, Simon Property Group, about possible interest from Whole Foods, among other retailers.

The meeting was general and preliminary, said Mr. Duke. The groups talked about the need for a traffic study before any new development takes place. Parking also could be an issue. Mr. Duke was not given a timeline and he has not heard from Simon since the original meeting.

Simon declined comment.

If Whole Foods can get a second local location, that might bring in new shoppers as well as give some of those who drive into town an alternative.

But even as the hunt for a South Hills site continues, so does the push to develop creative options for the East Liberty location. The real estate community seems to be aware of the situation, said Ms. Kenney, who said a number of people have approached the company with options.

One sticking point will be the grocer's commitment to East Liberty. The neighborhood, and the city, has been incredibly receptive, said Ms. Kenney. She said the grocer, a blockbuster from the start, hasn't shown any signs of slowing. "It seems to increase in its popularity."

Expanding at the existing site would be difficult, said Mark Minnerly, director of real estate development for Mosites Co., the company that brought the natural foods grocer to East Liberty in the first place. He said Mosites has been looking at ways to help Whole Foods get bigger but that may require using some of the creative techniques that made the existing shopping center work in the first place.

Mosites took several years to assemble several properties along Centre Avenue in a project that involved collaboration with local development groups and city economic development officials. Since its arrival, the grocer has been seen as a factor in spurring additional development in the area. "Whole Foods has turned out to be a great anchor tenant," said Mr. Minnerly.

The grocer has proven to be an adventurous tenant as it expands around the country. In other cities, Whole Foods has opened in office buildings and in structures with condominiums on top. The residential/grocery combination is being tested in Pittsburgh, too, at the Giant Eagle Market District store farther up Centre Avenue, a project that received city tax assistance.

Mr. Minnerly declined to discuss the specifics of Mosites' creative thinking but real estate sources said the developer has cast its eye on several properties across Centre Avenue from the existing Whole Foods. If the right combination could be pieced together, it might be possible to do a new store with residential units on top.

"That's one likely permutation," said Rob Stephany, director of commercial development for East Liberty Development Inc., a local nonprofit working to improve the neighborhood. But, he cautioned, "It is just so early."

One consideration, he said, could include a surface parking lot owned by the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the American Automobile Association, the Parental Stress Center and a loft condominium project from Crossgates Realty. "I think we would all like to see stronger development in that corner of the district," Mr. Stephany said. "Is there some way of reshuffling the puzzle pieces so that everybody wins?"

Making the numbers work on any mixed-use project could be difficult. Even if East Liberty is growing, Pittsburghers might not want to pay the rents that would be required to make such a development economically feasible.

Even the idea that Whole Foods might be feeling restless is enough to raise concerns among those involved in the community.

"I think it's absolutely critical" to keep Whole Foods in East Liberty, said Todd Reidbord, president of Walnut Capital Partners, a Shadyside real estate firm pursuing the redevelopment of an old Nabisco plant a few blocks away along Penn Avenue.

Mr. Reidbord, who had heard rumors Mosites needed more space for its prized tenant, said he is not interested in Whole Foods for the project titled Bakery Square at Eastside, a 6.5-acre combination of office, hotel space, residential, restaurants and retail. "We are not out there to poach anybody else's tenants."

He credited the grocer's success with making possible his ambitious real estate project. "Whole Foods has been an absolutely beautiful anchor for the whole neighborhood."

It's no surprise that other developers might be interested in luring the grocer away, said Paul G. Brecht, executive director of the East Liberty Chamber of Commerce. "That parking lot is always packed."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Staff writer Laura Pace contributed to this story. Teresa F. Lindeman can be reached at [email protected] or at 412-263-2018. Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at [email protected] or at 412-263-1752.)

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07191/800600-85.stm

Orie says arena funding bill next

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



A bill critical to funding the new arena in Pittsburgh should be ready for a vote soon, state Sen. Jane Orie said yesterday.

Ms. Orie, R-McCandless, said she expected the arena funding bill to be "one of the first things done" after Gov. Ed Rendell and state legislative leaders broke the budget deadlock that led to the furloughs of nearly 25,000 state employees.

"I believe if the budget is passed, the Penguins funding is ready to go," she said.

Mr. Rendell and the Penguins had raised concerns that the arena project could be in jeopardy if the Legislature recesses for the summer without approving the bill, which would provide $7.5 million a year for 30 years toward the construction.

The money is from a new $1.6 billion fund for capital projects created as part of the 2004 law legalizing slot machine — in Pennsylvania. The law directs 5 percent of gross — revenue each year to a development and tourism fund.

Mr. Rendell had accused Senate Republican leaders of holding up the bill after it passed the House. But Ms. Orie, the Senate Republican whip, the third-highest ranking leadership post, said senators outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were reluctant to act on the bill until a budget was passed.

She said there also was concern about a large number of projects added to the bill at the last minute, taking it far beyond the original intent to fund the new arena and the expansion of the Philadelphia convention center.

In the latest version, Ms. Orie said, some 220 projects have been removed, leaving only $7.5 million a year for the arena, $15 million a year for 10 years to pay down debt at Pittsburgh International Airport, and funding to expand Philadelphia's convention center and to pay for a Luzerne County airport project.

Ms. Orie said another $500,000 a year that had been added to the arena package to go to a "nonprofit community development fund" to finance infrastructure, construction and redevelopment projects also was removed.

While Mr. Rendell and Senate GOP leaders have clashed over the budget, Ms. Orie said the governor "is on the same page" in terms of what should be funded in the arena bill.

"The governor has agreed based on our stipulation that these 220 some projects that are not imminent and not things that should be attached to this Penguins one ... that they should be removed," she said.

State Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District, said he would fight to restore the $500,000 for the nonprofit community development fund. He said the money would be spent on redeveloping the Hill above Crawford Street and would be distributed by the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority.

If the Senate doesn't act on the arena funding bill before the recess, it could prevent the authority from issuing $325 million in bonds to fund the construction.

The delay could lead to higher interest rates, which in turn could create a shortfall in the financing for the arena and conceivably could lead to a renegotiation of the terms.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mark Belko can be reached at [email protected] or 412-263-1262. )

[Evergrey]

The proposed casino's parking garage might get its own T station!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_516468.html

Inaction could kill 'green' casino in Pittsburgh

By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, July 10, 2007


The goal of Pittsburgh having an environmentally certified casino could go up in smoke, green building advocates warned Monday.
Unless state lawmakers vote to limit smoking, Majestic Star Casino does not plan to have any nonsmoking areas on its casino floor, Vice President Sam Marshall told members of the Pittsburgh Gaming Implementation Task Force.

That likely would kill any chance of having the building certified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, like the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and other new buildings, said Rebecca Flora, executive director of the Green Building Alliance.

"That's probably the only real serious obstacle to achieving LEED certification right now," Flora said.

Members of the city-county task force met for about 90 minutes yesterday at the convention center, Downtown. A subcommittee on health asked Majestic Star to limit smoking on the casino floor and to ban it in restaurants and entertainment areas.
Majestic Star will follow the law and customer demand, said spokesman Bob Oltmanns. The slots parlor could open on the North Shore late next year. It has not yet received a — license because two losing bidders appealed to the state Supreme Court.

"Our experience has been that customers like the opportunity to smoke," Oltmanns said.

State lawmakers are considering limits on smoking that could resolve the issue. A pending change in state law would limit casinos to designating up to 25 percent of their floor space for smoking.

City officials have made environmental building part of an effort to change the region's image as a dirty place. To get certification, a building must be designed to reduce energy consumption and use recycled materials. It can be nonsmoking with smoking areas, Flora said.

The casino plans to follow other requirements of environmentally friendly construction, Marshall said.

Separately, the city has given preliminary approval for a traffic light at Majestic Star's proposed entrance, said Tom Halloran, ombudsman in the city Department of Community and Economic Development.

Carnegie Science Center officials want the light on North Shore Drive to limit congestion.

Majestic Star has been talking with the Port Authority of Allegheny County about an extension of the T light rail system into the casino's third-floor parking garage, Marshall said.



Andrew Conte can be reached at [email protected] or (412) 320-7835.

[Evergrey]

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/07/09/focus2.html?f=et178&b=1183953600^1486283&hbx=e_vert

New computer science facility to stand out on CMU campus

Building enters 21st century, but ties to Hornbostel

Pittsburgh Business Times - July 6, 2007
by Jennifer Curry


Joe Wojcik
Ralph Horgan, overseer of university facilities at Carnegie Mellon University, stands overlooking the construction site for the Gates Center on campus.

With unaligned windows, a large ramp in its center and plants on the roof, the new School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University won't look anything like other buildings on campus.

With sustainable design the new buzz word on university campuses, developers of the SCS complex are taking a modern approach to the design of the $88 million, 210,000-square-foot building. Although the architecture will still have ties back to the traditional style of Henry Hornbostel, including brick around windows and tile work indoors, it also is a distinct departure from the central campus buildings.

"The school of thought on campus is we've gone down the road of replicating the original Hornbostel style with the brick," said Ralph Horgan, associate vice provost of campus design and facility development at CMU. "This site did not lend itself to that. It would have been the third knock-off of the original Hornbostel style. At some point, we have to say, 'It's the 21st century.'"

The SCS complex will be green certified -- including plants on the roof; operable windows; enthalpy wheels, which transfer energy in and out of the building for heating purposes; and rain water for toilets.

According to Paul Knell, a senior principal at North Shore-based WTW Architects, more universities have been moving toward sustainable design with an emphasis on energy efficiency.

"The newest generation of students are very acutely aware of the impact of our building on the environment and energy conservation," he said.

The SCS complex, which will be composed of two wings -- the Gates Center, and an unnamed building known as Building X -- is expected to be completed in 2009. It will house the School of Computer Science and is part of a larger plan to completely redesign CMU's west campus area.

"It used to be a bunch of junky parking lots and old garages," said Guy Blelloch, professor and associate dean for the School of Computer Science at CMU. "We are removing the surface parking, replacing it with underground parking and making a lot of green space."

One key element of the design is connectivity. Rather than having perfectly aligned windows from the outside, the windows are placed so that each office has a full window. The bottom two floors will make up a 150-space parking garage. And, community spaces will include open rooms with white boards, classrooms in the middle of a helix ramp, a cafe and a computer cluster. In addition, the helix ramp will connect the main campus with the new West Quad, further connecting students and faculty.

"An important goal was to create a lot of collaborative space to meet informally and talk," Blelloch said. "A lot of what we do at CMU is to collaborate with different groups and different departments. Open spaces make it easier for people who don't have offices next to each other."

Mack Scogin, principal of Atlanta-based Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, the firm designing the center, agreed that the trend toward sustainable design will be replicated in the SCS complex.

"It's fair to say universities are beginning to invest more and more in good architecture -- architecture that is enduring over time and sustainable," he said.

[email protected] | (412) 208-3820