PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[glowrock]

Thrilled to hear about the potential of residential in Station Square, no doubt about it! And yes, it's a hidden, yet huge story about how much money really is being spent on redevelopment in the Hill District right now. It's simply amazing!

Aaron (Glowrock)

PS: Whoever changed around our avatars, nice work!

[GeneW]

Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers, Now a Public Attraction

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh exists for three reasons: the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio.

In the 20th century, the banks of those rivers were controlled by industrial behemoths. They largely lost that identity after the waning of the steel industry in the 1980s. Over the last two decades, however, the city’s progress in clearing and cleaning its waterfront has created 12 miles of recreational trails, three professional sports stadiums, several boat landings and an influx of nearly 2,000 new downtown residents.

[chiaroscuro]

An expanded Station Square tied in with the new soccer stadium could make that a fun area.

[BrianTH]

Bittersweet article about Point Park University's plans for the Pittsburgh Playhouse:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/loca...layhouse-relocation-star-billing-671545/

Some background:

http://www.pointpark.edu/About/AcademicVilliageInitiative/PittsburghPlayhouse



On the one hand, I am glad to see them at least talking about the next phase of the Academic Village initiative, which had been stalling a bit (I have speculated they may have experienced some financial issues due to the recession). And this is a cool project which, as mentioned in the article, will really go along with all the other nearby development projects along Forbes and Wood.

On the other hand, I am not happy to see they are dropping the plan for a new residential hall on Fourth Avenue. That could have been a nice gap-filling project that would have helped to increase the residential density on that side of Downtown, and now I wonder what, if anything, they have planned for the Fourth Avenue side of this location.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by chiaroscuro

An expanded Station Square tied in with the new soccer stadium could make that a fun area.

In searching the Point Park newspaper for information about the Playhouse, I came across this article about Point Park negotiating for use of the new Highmark Stadium:

http://www.pointparkglobe.com/news/unive...-highmark-stadium-1.2974002#.UQAeYpFZdI0

It is an obviously-good idea once you hear it, and thinking bigger picture, I believe we are seeing the signs of a possible new community emerging on both sides of the Mon, one incorporating both Station Square and First Side, involving new residents both student and otherwise, offices and classrooms, local and regional retail/entertainment, and so on.

[BrianTH]

Speaking of which, apparently we (meaning the general public) may get new renderings of the Playhouse in February:

http://www.pointparkglobe.com/news/new-playhouse-plans-unveiled-1.2971588#.UQAegJFZdI0

I'm still bummed about the residential hall being eliminated, and still very curious about their thinking for the Fourth Avenue side. On the plus side, I can appreciate their reasoning behind eliminating a parking element (and I have a feeling the Market Square Gardens project influenced their thinking on that subject), and I like the fact they are suggesting they may instead add new student housing to an existing building Downtown.

[bruchaus]

The university estimates the cost of the playhouse construction at roughly $45 million.

Does this seem excessive to anyone else? $45 million for a playhouse? They aren't building Carnegie Hall.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by bruchaus

Does this seem excessive to anyone else? $45 million for a playhouse? They aren't building Carnegie Hall.

Well, they are renovating 35000 sqft, and building 85000 new sqft. The complex will includes several different theaters, various other studios, and the University library. The ultimate cost per sqft is going to be pretty high, but maybe not unreasonably so for specialty spaces with a lot of atypical equipment requirements, a marquee/box offices, and such.

By the way, it would apparently cost around $370 million to build Carnegie Hall today (not including land costs):

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrenna...ld-it-cost-to-build-carnegie-hall-today/

[Evergrey]

If anything... when I saw the $45M figure... I thought it remarkably, optimistically modest.

[bruchaus]

Where are you getting the information about 85000 new square feet? There will be a 250 seat theater, a 150 seat theater and a 400 seat theater and 10000 square feet of teaching space. They have also removed the housing complex that was to be part of this. That doesn't sound like it will be a humongous complex, yet it is going to cost more than half as much as the Gardens project which, arguably, is much larger. I'm not against the project, just curious about the cost. Unless they have to do large scale asbestos removal, etc. it just seems a bit much.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by bruchaus

Where are you getting the information about 85000 new square feet?

From The Globe article I linked above:

But it is not only going to be a Playhouse with a proscenium/thrust theater with about 500 seats, a “transformational” theater with about 250 seats and a black box theater with 150 seats, it will also still be the university’s library as well as a home to the cinema and digital arts program. The University Center’s 35,000 square feet will be completely remodeled. And behind it, 85,000 more square feet of new construction will be built on property the university owns.

[bruchaus]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

From The Globe article I linked above:

I missed that one. Oops.

[KINGPIN]

Just seen on KDKA that demolition just started on Reizenstein for Bakery Square 2.0....pg article
Redevelopment of former Reizenstein School begins in Shadyside/Larimer
January 23, 2013 12:50 pm

By Mark Belko / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A day after closing on the property, developer Walnut Capital has begun demolition of the former Reizenstein School to clear the way for a $120 million plus mixed-use development known as Bakery Square 2.0.

Contractor Noralco Corp. began preliminary work tearing down walls at the site today. The full demolition should take two to three months, said Todd Reidbord, Walnut Capital president.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/loca...n-shadysidelarimer-671594/#ixzz2IqsoYOJ5

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by bruchaus

it just seems a bit much.

You always seem to think every new project is overpriced or a waste of money. Take a class on business or economics for gods sake.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

By the way, the ongoing investment in the Hill District continues to be one of the great overlooked regional stories:

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3278956-74/hill-development-district#axzz2IlFYSOIR

There is certainly a disproportionate amount of URA projects in the Hill's favor but I think the fact that visually, it's still very bombed out and "missing teeth gaps" everywhere which makes the overall nieghborhood still not too impressive. Hopefully it will continue to build up and crime filled areas will be cracked down upon.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

There is certainly a disproportionate amount of URA projects in the Hill's favor but I think the fact that visually, it's still very bombed out and "missing teeth gaps" everywhere which makes the overall nieghborhood still not too impressive. Hopefully it will continue to build up and crime filled areas will be cracked down upon.

Definitely it is still a work in progress overall, but the change in some specific areas is already pretty impressive, and as discussed in the article there is a lot more in progress right now, a lot of it in proximity to each other which will again mean a pretty big change in some specific areas.

Of course even after all that stuff is done, there will be much, much more that can be done elsewhere in the Hill--all this is reflective of the fact that the Hill is a pretty big area by Pittsburgh standards, and it started off this phase of its existence in pretty rough shape.

[BrianTH]

By the way, the original budget for the Playhouse was $100 million, but that was when it included a significant underground parking element, and I believe that also included the Fourth Avenue residence hall:

http://www.pointpark.edu/About/AcademicVilliageInitiative/media/About/AcademicVillage/factsheet.pdf

[BrianTH]

Interesting, but not surprising, that Walnut is beginning with one of the residential buildings in Bakery Square 2.0. Combine that with the Wallace/Highland project and Walnut is soon going to be adding a bunch more residents to the Greater East Liberty mix.

By the way, I didn't know that Walnut was adding a new hotel to the Strip in the Lidia's location (old article from last November):

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/print-edition/2012/11/09/hotel-project-planned-for-strip.html

[glowrock]

It's simply amazing how much redevelopment and new construction is going on around the immediate Pittsburgh area nearly under everyone's radar. One of the few obvious things is PNC's new tower, but wow, the total investment here is simply shocking nowadays!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[photoLith]

And the amount of restorations on old buildings downtown is also pretty incredible too.