PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Evergrey]

I knew this space wouldn't stay empty for long. This should be an exciting new option.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life...eatery-to-open-on-liberty-avenue-689944/

American dim sum eatery to open on Liberty Avenue

June 1, 2013 12:15 am

By Melissa McCart / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Restaurateurs behind Spoon and BRGR in East Liberty, Brian Pekarcik and Richard Stern, have signed a lease at 535 Liberty Ave., Downtown, where they'll open their newest concept: An American dim sum eatery. The restaurant will open in eight weeks in the space that had housed Taste of Dahntahn, now closed.

The menu is an expansion of Mr. Pekarcik's late-night dim-sum trial run at Spoon from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. every Thursday through Saturday nights, which features dishes simpler than the multi-component plates on the dinner menu.

The new space "will be very cool, very social," said Mr. Pekarcik. "A table can order and share lots of things. Small plates lend to this."

American dim sum has been celebrated with the rise of State Bird Provisions in San Francisco, winner of the 2013 James Beard award for Best New Restaurant.

"The appeal of the style and the service was tremendous," wrote Mark Bittman in "Fine Dining Gets the Dim Sum Treatment (Finally)" for The New York Times.

"Why couldn't every meal be an uninterrupted stream of small, exotic dishes brought to you on a gleaming (or at least functional) cart?" wrote Mr. Bittman. "I'm quite sure that I said, either on that visit or one of the frequent ones that followed, 'Someone needs to do this with non-Chinese food.' "

Mr. Pekarcik's menu will feature more Asian influences than those at Spoon or BRGR.

"Dim sum is so heavily rooted in Asian culture," he said. While the yet-to-be-named spot will not be an Asian restaurant per se, Asian flavors and inspiration will play a starring role.

The restaurant is poised in Downtown's hot spot between Market Square and the Cultural District, where other chefs such as Richard Deshantz of Meat & Potatoes and Matt Porco of Sienna Sulla Piazza will open new places.

And it will debut for lunch, dinner and late-night service, seven days a week.

"There are lots of young people in Pittsburgh who want to eat late at night," he said. "And we're seeing success at restaurants that accommodate them: at Salt (in Garfield), at Fukuda (in Bloomfield) and at our restaurant on weekends. We wanted to offer more of this, as well as options for the pre- and post-theater crowd."

...

[Evergrey]

interesting tourism piece from the WSJ... covers a lot of the urban development going on here

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...8515181791721100%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Journal Concierge: Insider's Guide to Pittsburgh, Pa.

Where to eat, sleep, play and shop in Steel City, with expert advice from chef Justin Severino, former Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward, writer Holly Brubach and Andy Warhol Museum director Eric Shiner.



...

Joining its distinctive, bridge-studded skyline are ambitious buildings like the modernist Tower at PNC Plaza, expected to open in 2015 as the world's greenest skyscraper, and the Gardens at Market Square, a $90 million high-rise. Downtown is undergoing a gold rush, with old factories and closed department stores being converted rapid-fire into apartments and spaces for new businesses.

...

This hilly city sits at the crux of three rivers, and its 446 bridges facilitate exploration. Poking around will be even easier when a citywide bike-share program launches next summer. An Ace Hotel is scheduled to open in 2014, too, cementing Pittsburgh's arrival as a city of cool.

[Evergrey]

More on Buncher's controversial Strip District plans... including some information on other potential developments (Rugby Realty).

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/4117732-74/buncher-building-terminal#axzz2UrfYC1NX

Produce Terminal marked historic, delaying demolition plans



...

Balestrieri said he's eager to move forward with plans to demolish 535 feet (roughly one-third) of the 1,500-foot-long building and begin work on a mix of apartments and shops dubbed Riverfront Landing.

That's so the company can take advantage of the hot residential market in the Strip District punctuated by conversions of former warehouses and factories into luxury living, he said. The Produce Terminal was built in 1929. An addition from 17th Street to 16th Street was built in 1931. That's the section Buncher plans to demolish.

“And we'll be restoring the original street grid,” Balestrieri said.

The demolition is necessary to extend 17th Street to the riverfront, where Buncher plans to build a plaza catering to pedestrians and bicyclists.

Other commercial real estate investors in the Strip say their plans are on pause while Buncher's project takes root.

“We have been pretty much on hold waiting to really see that this would be finalized and move forward,” said Aaron Stauber, president of Rugby Realty Co. “A lot of what you would design depends on what happens around you. You typically don't want to design in a vacuum.”

Rugby owns roughly three acres bounded by 21st, 23rd, Smallman and Railroad streets, including the Benkovitz Seafoods complex. Stauber envisions building a mixed development that includes space for a hotel and retail and residential development.

...

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by East Edge

Now this is cool...exactly what i was taking about. The integrity of the building is still preserved but allows for access to the RIVER...Hello...RIVER. Leave it to a design professional like Rob to solve the problem. I think a tunnel concept make the pass through more inviting anyway almost like an archway. I see that building broken down into small shops for vendors and this break through the middle makes it easier to navigate as a pedestrian and explore all around and inside the building. It was never designed with the pedestrian in mind and while its cool it is obsolete by todays new urbanist principles. Connecting the strip to the river and residential development is what is going to ensure optimal success for the neighborhood. Saving it just to save it and make a point is ridiculous. You will basically end up with a vacant building. How cool is that?!

A little while ago someone posted a pic of a European market place, essentially suggesting what Smallman Street could look like if the same concept was implemented here.

I think this design with the Produce Terminal would work very well with that concept. Having such a market would blend in with the surroundings of the Strip, the Terminal maintains its historic character, the Strip is connected to the river -- it's a multiple-win situation here!!!

[Minivan Werner]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Pfaffmann actually worked up some "tunnel"-type pass-throughs in 2006 (see page 13):

http://www.pfaffmann.com/documents/StripMarketNITS_2006.pdf

This is perfect in my opinion. I understand Buncher wants to take 1/3rd of the produce terminal and re-develop it into offices or residential, but that 1/3rd is such a small portion of the entire Strip redevelopment that I doubt it'd have much of an impact if it was scrapped altogether for the above idea.

[pyrohy]

[QUOTE=Evergrey;6149168]I knew this space wouldn't stay empty for long. This should be an exciting new option.

I think we all knew Taste of Dahntahn wasn't doing something right, and would eventually close. Too bad, I loved the signage they had.

[Austinlee]

[BrianTH]

That Rugby project sounds pretty cool. Assuming Buncher's plan progresses, the Rugby project would help address another notable gap in the fabric of the Strip.

[Austinlee]

First I want to give props and credit to forumer Found5dollar for showing us a bunch of construction pics in East Liberty and more the other day that can be found in this post with lots of pictures: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6145974&postcount=3975

The very next day I found out I had to go to a closing (i'm a Realtor) at the Fifth Third bank branch in East Lib which is RIGHT NEXT to the Highland Building which is a bustling city of construction workers right now. Now I live about 20 miles west of the city so I don't get to see this area too often, although I am hoping to move to the East End (Maybe Lawrenceville/Bloomfield/Stanton Heights'ish) someday because it's just getting so many modern amenities and you really feel like you're in the heart of the city there and can get to so many other great city neighborhoods from there.
So I brought my camera and walked around for 30 mins after my closing and wanted to share some construction pics of my own.




The entire block of the Highland building is under construction counting the garage in the middle and the older historic building on the right. It's larger in footprint and had more workers than the Tower at PNC site!


Buzzing with activity!



My closing was at the bank in the historic rounded brick building in the back of this picture across the street.



Lots of activity on this building and rightly so. It's a Daniel Burnham!



It's pretty tall... (For East Liberty)



Back of the building... You can see the parking garage more prominently.



In all her (His; Her; Its...?) glory:



And what's across the street? Oh just this little thing...



The Cathedral of Hope. I never knew that Pittsburgh had TWO massive Cathedral-of-Something's!






Oh they do suffer Jesus, they do.....



At least their sufferin' digs are pretty badass.



Across the street from the Cathedral was this run down yet fascinating old theatre. Very Ornate.



And the theatre was right against this handsome old corner brick structure.



Look at those Lions! Kewl....



Walking around the other side of the Cathedral..... The old YMCA appears to be being converted to the "Y Lofts"? Y not, I say!



Awesome streetscape.



Lots of shapes and colors at this interesting intersection. Photogenic.



The library branch behind is pretty nice.



I especially liked it from this angle.




To the left of it though, it looks like the highly ranked Tana restaurant had a problem.... ;( It's is ranked 4 out of 5 stars with dozens of diner reviews on both yelp.com and urbanspoon.com if you feel like checking it out.



DAMN. Looks like someone sent a couple of bullets through the front windows and it must've happened very recently, like overnight. This pic was taken at about 11:45am for reference.



Of course you know this building would show up in pictures...



The glorious East Liberty skyline!!!!1



Looking down the street to the left..... The brick building in back is the 5th 3rd bank where I had just come from.



Standing in the same spot, looking to the right. I decide to walk down to Whole Foods for some lunch.



Here's a pic of this uhhh, modern thing. I love the walking bridge built off the back though. Very cool.



Sitting inside Whole Foods eating my Sushi; This seemed like a good picture to take. I like the architecture and the juxtaposition of the choice of vehicles in this one.



Ok, driving out of East Liberty I caught a glimpse of the beginnings of that huge new transit and bus station hub, I THINK, across the street from Target.



I stopped and took photos of one of the most interesting residential dwellings in the Pittsburgh metro, The Glass Lofts! There may or may not be a forumer in this thread who lives here....



It looks so COOOOL.



This shot should be called; Vision of Pittsburgh Future or something like that...



Looking back into the Glass Lofts common area.



Interesting place, for sure!





Sooo, now time to drive out of the east end of the city and down the parkway west to my Moon Twp office to finish my work day. I drove through downtown to snap a couple of shots.

On the corner of the Frank & Seder Dept store building was THIS banner with website. www.350fifthpittsburgh.com Looks like they are committed to the restoration of this building! Either way, glad to see Oxford dumping some big money into a project, even if it isn't gonna be a tower that we could all fap over.



Ohhh, just a tower crane for some little project called The Tower at PNC Plaza.



The construction pit and foundation work looked very impressive from my small vantage point but it was too busy to try and sneak past these walls to get pics. So this is all I got. It's coming along though.



Last photo I snapped; Sitting at a red light. I think the new Gateway Center T Station looks great.




That is all. Hope this was of interest to some city of Pittsburgh fans like me!

[BrianTH]

Awesome phototour, thanks!

Incidentally, Y Lofts is dead, but that is supposedly the future location of an Ace Hotel.

[East Edge]

Loved your pics Austin! That photogenic shot was awesome with the colors going on in there. I must say i was so happy to find this site / thread and learn that were people who get just as geeked about new developments / Pittsburgh's transformation as much as i do. Looking forward to taking a day i can walk around Downtown and tour some of the construction sites, then maybe hit Point State Park and see how the new fountain project turned out.

[Urbana]

Such a shame that we couldn't have THIS in East Liberty. Now the site of the future Odeon Apartments, the East End Savings and Trust Building was even taller than the Highland.



image credit: Walnut on Highland

[Found5dollar]

Thanks for the mention Austin Lee. Your photos are alot better quality than mine were!

In other news...

The barricades around the whole Highland center complex in East Liberty are down. The sidewalks are officially open again!

[BrianTH]

The Highland Building does look a little lonely in the East Liberty skyline (obviously there is also the church spire, but that is a very different sort of thing).

[BrianTH]

Nice article and photo series on the newly-renovated Point State Park, including some very interesting historic photos:

http://triblive.com/aande/architecture/4080498-74/park-fountain-state#axzz2V1cnPvTf

[Urbana]

Some encouraging comments from our likely future mayor. I especially like his thoughts on the push for development further up the hill.

Bill Peduto envisions Downtown Pittsburgh as a "mini-Manhattan" -- one that hardly ever sleeps -- with more housing, unique local retailers and even a free bus loop system to chauffeur riders from one destination to the next.
But Mr. Peduto's vision also includes an expanded role for Allegheny County in financing the kind of big ticket development, from skyscrapers to office-to-residential conversions, that have already helped fuel the resurgence of the city center.
While the Democratic mayoral nominee is all for a vibrant Golden Triangle, he argues the city should not have to shoulder the burden when it comes to dispensing limited public funds for development. The county should be stepping up to the plate as well.
"Downtown is the region's living room, not just the city's," he said.

Full Article: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/busi...manhattan-in-downtown-pittsburgh-690003/

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Nice article and photo series on the newly-renovated Point State Park, including some very interesting historic photos:

http://triblive.com/aande/architecture/4080498-74/park-fountain-state#axzz2V1cnPvTf

Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Urbana

Such a shame that we couldn't have THIS in East Liberty. Now the site of the future Odeon Apartments, the East End Savings and Trust Building was even taller than the Highland.



image credit: Walnut on Highland

DAMN! Thanks for making me depressed. I didn't even know there existed that handsome building at one point in time.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The Highland Building does look a little lonely in the East Liberty skyline (obviously there is also the church spire, but that is a very different sort of thing).

Well it looks about the same as Cleveland's skyline now. But seriously, having only 1 slightly tall building will in fact give you a lonely skyline. haha.

[Austinlee]

Thanks for the kind words on my east lib mini-walking tour guys! It was fun. Although the streets are kinda wide in that area, it was a very enjoyable walk and you can see a ton of great buildings in a small area of only a few square blocks. There were many more QUALITY brick buildings in that area oftentimes 3-5 stories. And the flip side to that is the other half of the buildings are really god-awful single story, ultra-dated looking 1950's banks and weird little stand alone buildings. It reminded me of like, the ugliest shit you can find on the miracle-mile or whatever it's called in Monroeville mixed with some really great old brick and masonry treasures that you would see on the Northside or even Squirrel Hill.
I hope that wasn't a really weird analogy that is impossible to visualize. lol

[Austinlee]

DAMN!!!!!!!


http://bradystewartphoto.photoshelter.com/image/I0000yK02rkI2E34