PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

As the early indications seem to point to some nice success for Highmark Stadium, it looks as though ownership already has some pretty solid expansion plans for the site. Split into 3 phases of work, this source seems to indicate that the first expansion is already slated for the offseason.




http://www.mlsreserves.com/2013/04/usl-pro-spotlight-week-4.html

Now THIS is great news!

I'd say the first expansion phase is perfect, with the second one being a definitely plus. The second level of seating that would end up being cantilevered over Carson? Well, who the heck knows how that would turn out. Could be awesome, could be a disaster...

Aaron (Glowrock)

[themaguffin]

Brookings on job sprawl:

http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2013/04/18-job-sprawl-kneebone

The Pittsburgh specific page. No surprise, Pgh has a decent immediate radius job total (to the CBD) at 25%. Atlanta has about 10% in the same radius.

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Multimedia/Interactives/2013/job_sprawl/Pittsburgh.pdf

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by glowrock

The second level of seating that would end up being cantilevered over Carson? Well, who the heck knows how that would turn out. Could be awesome, could be a disaster...

I don't think it would be much of an engineering challenge, and you don't really have to worry about what the neighbors think. So if demand is there, I would be all for it.

[photoLith]

Pittsburgh wants title as city with skinniest building

After working for the past two years to promote the "Skinny Building" on Forbes Avenue as an arts venue, Ground Zero Action Network types such as Al Kovacik and Pat Clark are now after nothing less than international recognition for the splinter of a structure.

That means challenging a structure known as the Sam Kee Building in Vancouver, acknowledged as the world's skinniest building by the "Guinness Book of World Records" and "Ripley's Believe it or Not".

Mr. Clark and Mr. Kovacik, along with the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, are prepared to prove that claim wrong.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2003/10/20/tidbits1.html

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2013/04/18/indigo-square-gets-more-retailers.html

Apr 18, 2013, 2:35pm EDT Updated: Apr 18, 2013, 3:56pm EDT

Indigo Square gets first retailers



Retailers are beginning to line up to be part of a new Indigo Square, the new working name of a stretch of Broad Street in East Liberty where a 137-room Hotel Indigo is ready to be built.

Two local independent fashion boutiques, one owned by Kiya Tomlin, wife of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, an upscale kitchen and bath design showroom, and an olive oil and balsamic vinegar retailer have all inked deals to open at 215 North Highland Ave.

The location looks out across Broad Street to the collection of properties where Washington, D.C.-based developer Nigel Parkinson will build a new Hotel Indigo, a project, which received approval from the Pittsburgh zoning board of adjustments this week.

“These kinds of boutiques really, I think, are what East Liberty is all about,” said Michelle Stewart, who is representing the space along with colleague Brad Kelly for Colliers International.

In a prepared statement, Kiya Tomlin said she was drawn to the location for her design studio as a resident of the East End who wants “to live, work and play in my own community” and was attracted to East Liberty’s “diversity and eclectic vibe.”

Luxe Home & Design, owned by John Nicklas and Brent Hugas, is a new business spinning out of Splash, the kitchen and bath design business with operations in Cranberry and Murrysville.

The new Luxe store will open this summer and will be joined by the conversion of the downtown Splash store near Market Square, which will operate under the new Luxe brand as well.

Hugas and his wife Jeneane will also operate Chemistry Clothing, featuring designer apparel for men, women and small children.

...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Pittsburgh wants title as city with skinniest building

I think that article was from 2003. But they had a point--the Sam Kee Building really is cheating:

[BrianTH]

"Before" picture of Indigo Square available courtesy of Streetview:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=pittsburgh...GKzIvxLdNYoVbdJL31aA&cbp=12,333.03,,0,-3

[photoLith]

Somebody needs to restore that skinny building downtown, it still looks abandoned. Its such a cool building. Luckily tons of buildings are getting restored around there so hopefully its only a matter of time.

Just found a much more recent article from march of this year.

URA buys Pittsburgh's 'skinny building' and its plumper neighbor

It's a splendid splinter of a building, perhaps the only one Downtown with its own Facebook page, and it soon will be in the hands of a new owner.

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority is poised to pay a hefty price -- $1.3 million -- to acquire the Skinny Building at 241 Forbes Ave. as well as its stouter neighbor, the John M. Roberts & Son building at 429-431 Wood St., with plans to restore the facades of both.

URA board members are expected to vote on the acquisition from Garland Real Properties Inc. at a meeting Thursday.

The Skinny Building, a mere 5 feet 2 inches wide and 80 feet long, is considered by some enthusiasts to be the world's thinnest building. Dating back to the early 1900s, it at one time was home to a lunch counter whose customers sat on stools with their backs to Forbes. More recently, the windows on its two upper floors were a showcase for provocative art.

A decade ago, architect Albert Kovacik and a colleague, Pat Clark, tried to get the building listed as the world's skinniest over Vancouver's Sam Kee Building, which claimed the honor with a base of 4 feet, 11 inches and a 6-foot-wide second floor....

Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, said both facades are in need of work. He described the Skinny Building as a "remarkable architectural vestige. It certainly should be saved and utilized." Inside, the roof leaks and there's no heat, Mr. Kovacik said.

As part of the acquisition, the URA intends to issue a request for proposals for a public art project for the Skinny Building. For a time during the last decade, Mr. Kovacik and Mr. Clark used the windows in the Skinny Building as an arts venue, including a salute to burlesque queens.

"I'm really glad it's going to be preserved. It's an amazing venue. It's like an inside out art venue. It's the only art gallery in town where you don't have to go inside. Just stand outside and look up," Mr. Kovacik said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/loca...s-plumper-neighbor-678974/#ixzz2QqmnjJjt

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I think that article was from 2003. But they had a point--the Sam Kee Building really is cheating:

I agree that Pittsburgh's Skinny Building should hold that title. By the same logic, the Rainier Tower in Seattle should be the world's skinniest high-rise...

When considering record width, it doesn't/shouldn't matter which floor is the skinniest or widest. Total building width should be taken into account. Soo... by that logic, sorry, Sam Kee, but you lose...

[chiaroscuro]

http://www.businessinsider.com/oil-is-driving-migration-to-pittsburgh-2013-4

[Urbana]

Originally Posted by chiaroscuro

http://www.businessinsider.com/oil-is-driving-migration-to-pittsburgh-2013-4

Good publicity, always good. Step by step we are shedding the enigma of the dirty post-industrial town that has plagued us for years.

[photoLith]

I just moved here from Texas, Pittsburgh is where it's at. First i need to find a job though

[KINGPIN]

Hello all...I tried to post a photo of a panorama of downtown and Oakland but for the life of me I can't figure out how to post pics. If somebody could explain to me how to post or take a pic yourself let me know or go for it! The spot is in North Versailles from the Great Valley Lanes bowling alley. I believe this is the only clear panorama of both Downtown and Oakland in the area... Anyway, an item I found interesting from the Pitt. Business Journal Website this week. GBBN architects of Cincinnati is setting up an office in Pittsburgh. GBBN was one of the 3 designs chosen as a finalist for the Burns & Scalo Monongahela Tower....Hmmmmmmm


Architecture firm opens Pittsburgh office

Apr 17, 2013, 6:13am EDT
Tim Schooley
Reporter- Pittsburgh Business Times
Email | Twitter | Google+ | Facebook

Cincinnati’s third-largest architecture firm has opened a new office in Pittsburgh.

GBBN Architects, which has worked with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and has been pursuing work in the region for the past five years, recently took space in Oxford Centre, opening a four-person office with plans to add staff.

In its home market, GBBN had been seeing strong growth in billings and staff. According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, a sister publication of the Pittsburgh Business Times, the firm achieved $25.5 million in billings for 2011, the most recent year for which statistics are available, achieving 38 percent growth over the previous year.

The office is the fourth for GBBN.
[http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2013/04/16/architecture-firm-opens-pittsburgh.html[/URL]

Three designs chosen for Downtown tower
Mar 30, 2012, 1:03pm EDT Updated: Mar 30, 2012, 5:16pm EDT
Tim Schooley


Green Tree-based Burns & Scalo Real Estate Services celebrated the final design choices for a new building on the company’s site on Fort Pitt Boulevard on which it plans to build the region’s next office tower.

It's a rare local example of a private developer sponsoring a design competition.

After starting with 49 submissions last fall, Burns & Scalo invited eight finalists to an event Thursday night at the Duquesne Club where the three final designs chosen by a three-person jury were announced: a team of Cincinnati -based GBBN Architects and Celli-Flynn Brennan Architects and Planners, based Downtown; Lawrenceville-based Desmone & Associates Architects; and IKM Inc., based Downtown.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2012/03/30/three-designs-chosen-for-downtown-tower.html

[Minivan Werner]

GBBN's was the best design of the bunch, I think.

[Jonboy1983]

I sent an inquiry to GBBN asking if they're going to be looking for planning/urban design personnel for their Pittsburgh office.

[Urbana]

How about and Oakland update from various webcams.

First, Pitt construction.

Nordenberg Hall - new freshman dorms.



Addition to Parran Hall - the Graduate School for Public Health



Anyone know what is being built up by the Petersen Events Center?




On to CMU . . .

Newer renderings of the UC Scott Hall









The site is now being cleared for construction to begin this summer, to be completed in spring of 2015.



Sorry for the wall of images.

Sources:

Cathedral of Learning Cam:
http://www.tour.pitt.edu/cl_cam.html

Office 52:
http://www.office-52.com/

CMU Live Cam:

[KINGPIN]

According to the article it looks like GBBN has big plans and is looking to add staff here....good luck!

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by KINGPIN

According to the article it looks like GBBN has big plans and is looking to add staff here....good luck!

See reply # 3635.

[sunderml88]

I think the building by the Peterson Events Center is a new addition for the Pitt Pharmacy school

[Found5dollar]

wow, the old renderings/design for Scott hall were soooo much better. they replaced the joyous colored glass building with yet another grey box, and just attached the colored glass on it like louvers.

boo value engineering.