PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[deja vu]

The P&G Diner in Millvale is one of my fav's - there's a good crowd there, yinzer-central, but generally nice and seemingly intelligent people. Home of some beautiful churches too.

I lived up the hill between there and Etna for a brief 8 months post-CMU (due to job location and amazing rent prices for an entire house to myself). However, I spent enough time in 'Downtown' Millvale to notice the drug, education, and economic problems. I would (currently) not want to settle down there permanently, and yet it is proudly home for many and hopefully will continue to be. The library is great news for Millvale and I hope it becomes a strong community center for generating other positive growth in the future.

Millvale is not hipster (yet), and to me that was a perk living there. If it has to go that direction to be more viable then it will. As Pittsburgh's younger population continues to grow I predict that Millvale will look more and more attractive in terms of rent and location. The public transportation to and from Millvale is by no means stellar, but it does exist and could get better. The new trail access helps too in terms of connections and things to do.

[BrianTH]

Totally random note, but my proposed aerial gondola map had a line branching from Oakland through CMU, stops on the East Busway and in Bloomfield and Lawrenceville, and terminating in Millvale. I didn't have the guts to call it "The Hipster Line", but something like that could really be transformative for Millvale (although it was also an intentional concession to commuters, with the idea there would be a park and ride in Millvale near the station):

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&...8608142218651.0004890703b3f7a17fe19&z=13

[photoLith]

Uhm that will never happen ever, so yeah.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Uhm that will never happen ever, so yeah.

We'll see. It is a technology that is starting to take off in a lot of non-U.S. cities, and what it does well--relatively short routes over challenging terrain and/or dense development at a reasonable cost--could have a lot of applications in Pittsburgh.

Here is a recent little article on the subject making that case (while also discussing some of the limitations and other issues):

http://mashable.com/2013/07/03/urban-gondolas/

Just to apply some numbers, the estimate there is $3M-$12M per mile. My map adds up to under 13 miles, so you are looking at around $150M even on the high end of that range (which is where we should be thinking--tower and station design in particular should be thoughtful and attractive). Toss in very low operating costs once you are up and running (labor utilization is very low, energy efficiency is very high, etc.), and then think about what it would cost in both capital and operating costs to get similarly direct service along those routes using the traditional technologies (e.g., we're talking lots of new bridges and tunnels and such--just a tunnel from Downtown to Oakland under the Hill is around a $1B project). It makes for a very, very interesting proposition.

Edit: Another interesting article, mostly using the same sources but on some different topics:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/11/austin-gondola/

What is happening worldwide:

http://gondolaproject.com/systems-were-following/

[daviderik]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Wow, ground breaking news - Literally. According to this recent article from July of 2006, this $30 million condominium building will be completed by summer of 2007.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/devnews/mtwash.aspx



^Well the last sentence of the article is starting to make sense now. It's been 7 years, so only 13 more years!

Great news of all new development and more people moving into the city and in or near downtown. But I scratch my head why it has been so hard to find investors for New Grandview Ave apartment/condo living. Seems like a no brainer. Is there Big risk that no one will want that view? One Grandview is still in limbo. Maybe 7 more years?

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by daviderik

Great news of all new development and more people moving into the city and in or near downtown. But I scratch my head why it has been so hard to find investors for New Grandview Ave apartment/condo living. Seems like a no brainer. Is there Big risk that no one will want that view? One Grandview is still in limbo. Maybe 7 more years?

Tell me about it. Why couldn't they made a statement for T.O.D.? It's right next to the Monongahela Incline, which is used mostly for transit purposes considering it takes you to within walking distance of the T. Besides, Port Authority maintains it, do they not?

I like that development, tho; the one posted a few posts ago. I even wondered why there aren't any retail options up there. Granted, I'm sure those buildings are all still occupied as single detached houses. Something like that would probably generate a substantial amount of foot traffic...

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

Tell me about it. Why couldn't they made a statement for T.O.D.? It's right next to the Monongahela Incline, which is used mostly for transit purposes considering it takes you to within walking distance of the T. Besides, Port Authority maintains it, do they not?

I like that development, tho; the one posted a few posts ago. I even wondered why there aren't any retail options up there. Granted, I'm sure those buildings are all still occupied as single detached houses. Something like that would probably generate a substantial amount of foot traffic...

Where do the people who live up there do their grocery shopping? A quick Google leads me to think that there are no convenient upscale grocers within, oh, 15 minutes' drive?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by doo dah

Where do the people who live up there do their grocery shopping? A quick Google leads me to think that there are no convenient upscale grocers within, oh, 15 minutes' drive?

I take it you are not including the Shop N Save on Mt Washington.

[BrianTH]

The Hazelwood LTV project is beginning site prep:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/hazelwood-redevelopment-project-underway-697827/

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I take it you are not including the Shop N Save on Mt Washington.

Exactly. The Shop N Save up on Mt. Washington is perfectly fine for the vast majority of grocery needs. If you're looking for more esoteric options, it's not too far down to the South Hills Village area for Market District, Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, soon to be Whole Foods, etc... etc...

Aaron (Glowrock)

[BrianTH]

Very nice article on the Playhouse/facades issue:

http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/t...oint-park-university/Content?oid=1677817

Of course all those points will be familiar to people who have been following the discussion here, but hopefully this is just the beginning of this issue getting a wider audience.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Exactly. The Shop N Save up on Mt. Washington is perfectly fine for the vast majority of grocery needs. If you're looking for more esoteric options, it's not too far down to the South Hills Village area for Market District, Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, soon to be Whole Foods, etc... etc...

Also the Market District Settler's Ridge. I'm told there are "back ways" off Mt Washington that make it easy to get over there.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2013/08/01/starwood-completes-acquisition-of.html

Aug 1, 2013, 9:49pm EDT

Starwood completes purchase of Liberty Center

Starwood Capital Group has closed on buying the 27-story Liberty Center, a mixed-use hotel and office complex across from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown.

The transaction is the second sale of a significant local property by Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises in the past few weeks, the first being the sale of the Sheraton Station Square.

Jeff Linton, spokesman for Forest City, wasn’t immediately available for comment. Nor was a representative for Greenwich, CT-based Starwood. But Linton told the Business Times two weeks ago that Forest City was selling off its entire hotel portfolio and that its Westin Convention Center Hotel in Liberty Center was the last it owned after the $61 million Sheraton Station Square sale.

Jeffrey Ackerman, managing director of the Pittsburgh office of CBRE, confirmed the sale. His firm is taking over the leasing and management of the property.

Ackerman said a nine-figure asking price left Starwood among a select number of buyers for such an asset.

“Starwood was one of a small group of investors that pursued Liberty Center,” said Ackerman in an email. “The pool of buyers was small because very few investors can purchase a hotel and an office building priced at over $100 million.”

Ackerman declined to further divulge the sale price of the building, but said the strength of the downtown office market appealed to Starwood.

Starwood also bought the 2000 Park Lane office property in North Fayette as part of a larger portfolio deal in January.

The Liberty Center includes the Westin, which is Pittsburgh’s second largest hotel with 616 rooms. The office portion of the complex is anchored by Federated Investors, which occupies 250,000 square feet and reached a new long-term lease in 2011.

One of the building’s next-largest office tenants, Direct Energy Business, was in the market scouting for a 60,000-square-foot office since its lease at Liberty Center expires in 2014.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/blog/the-next-move/2013/08/office-or-hotel.html?page=all

Aug 1, 2013, 8:17pm EDT

New owner of Federal Reserve building has decision to make

Martin J. Sweeney sees an almost ideal situation in his company’s latest big buy that combines an empty building in downtown Pittsburgh with two viable options on how to reuse it.

“To have very viable options before you even have closed on the building is very rare,” said Sweeney, vice president of acquisitions for Chicago-based M&J Wilkow Ltd.

I caught up with Sweeney on Thursday afternoon after M&J Wilkow, in a joint deal with partner CarVal Investors, closed on buying the former Federal Reserve building at 717 Grant St., downtown. The building, which totals 220,000 square feet and dates to the 1930s, will now undergo a redevelopment.

Sweeney said the decision is whether to renovate the building into a new office address of between 120,000 and 130,000 square feet or a hotel of up to 180 rooms.

He didn’t divulge the price.

M&J Wilkow has an ongoing partnership with CarVal Investors, a subsidiary of agricultural giant Cargill Inc., said Sweeney. The partners have bought office buildings throughout the country, working with such tenants as US Bank and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

I’ve talked to major property owners and investment real estate types about the Federal Reserve building who expected it would be a difficult property to deal with given its age, the strength of its construction and its large vaults.

Sweeney sounds bullish about it.

“We looked at it as, can we buy this and turn it into a quality office building and make money on it?” he said. “The answer is yes.”

Jason Stewart, who leads agency leasing in the Pittsburgh office of Jones Lang LaSalle, is representing the property to potential office users, said Sweeney, who sees a strong likelihood for the building to be leased out to a single office tenant.

Yet he added that four hotel groups are also eying the building.

The partnership has retained downtown-based Strada LLC to serve as the architect on the building, whatever it becomes.

Sweeney also said to look for M&J Wilkow, which focuses on buying shopping centers and office buildings, to buy other properties in the Pittsburgh area, ranking it high with others in which his firm invests.

“We have investments in San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Chicago. Pittsburgh is right there at the top,” he said. “San Francisco sets the bar. Other than San Francisco, Pittsburgh is as vibrant an economy as any that we deal with.”

[Evergrey]

http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/t...oint-park-university/Content?oid=1677817

The planning commission approves a sketchily detailed project by Point Park University.

Plans show that Point Park would replace a pedestrian-scaled streetscape with a large blank wall, which would not be acceptable.

by Charles Rosenblum



On July 23, the City of Pittsburgh's Planning Commission voted unamimously to give Point Park University permission to "deconstruct" buildings at 320, 322 and 330 Forbes Ave. These can now come down to make room for a project for a new Downtown theater complex for the Pittsburgh Playhouse on these and adjoining parcels, nestled tightly on the block bounded by Forbes and Fourth avenues and Wood and Smithfield streets. A crucial condition of the approval is that the ornamental terra cotta façade from the 320 Forbes building — the former Honus Wagner sporting-goods store — will be carefully saved and reconstructed elsewhere in the Playhouse project.

But did the planning commission have enough information to make a well-considered decision? Significant evidence suggests not.

The approval process has elicited varying opinions, from those who endorse the proposal as a practical necessity in a larger scheme to those who see it as a regrettable loss of historic structures. But the expected easy separation between developers and preservationists has not taken shape as might be expected.

Rob Pfaffmann is an award-winning contemporary architect, probably best known regionally for his efforts to preserve the former Civic Arena. He argues that the buildings, or at least their façades, should have been saved in place. "This corridor has the potential to be one of the most spectacular streetscapes in the city," he says. During the debates about the redevelopment of Fifth and Forbes avenues during the Murphy mayoral administration, a published plan by UDA Architects included these façades among a larger group that were designated for preservation. "Why aren't we pursuing that plan?" asks Pfaffman.

In an interview, planning commission member Page Thomas noted that while the three properties in question are National Register of Historic Places-eligible, they have not been nominated or approved, so there is no legal obstacle to removing them.

Meanwhile, at the July 23 hearing, no one actually spoke in favor of preservation, though two letter-writers did. Instead, Arthur Ziegler, president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, endorsed Point Park's plan for the larger redevelopment, including removal of the façades and reuse of one.

His implication was that the university knows worthy buildings when it sees them. "Point Park has more restored buildings than anyone else in Downtown," Ziegler said. The school's existing student center, which will connect to the new theater project, consists of substantive historical bank buildings by noted architects Frederick Osterling and Alden & Harlow. Indeed, part of the new project will be the renovation of the Exchange Building, a distinctive Baroque Revival structure also by Charles M. Bartberger, which has much higher quality materials and design than the Forbes avenue structures.

When it comes to credibility in preservation issues, "I am comfortable with Arthur Ziegler," said planning-commission member Todd Reidbord. And Ziegler, along with preservation architect Ellis Schmidlapp and the greater Point Park constituency, might yet prove correct that these façades can go.

Still, the question remains: What will Point Park's new theater project actually be?

...

[photoLith]

Arthur Ziegler is no preservationist. He's a schmuck whose been bought and sold to the highest bidder.

[Jonboy1983]

Personally, I'd like to see a hotel use that Federal Reserve building. I wonder what hotels are interested. It's a good location for a hotel. Right by the Greyhound Terminal, right next to Amtrak. The Convention Center is right there, too, and it's right along a major business destination that is Grant Street.

Could they turn that into decent class A office space? Perhaps, but I would pursue a hotel first. Demand for hotels is very high as well, and I think it would be better used for that. My 2cents.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

Personally, I'd like to see a hotel use that Federal Reserve building.

Me too, particularly since there are some other actual vacant-lot projects currently looking for anchor office tenants.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

Personally, I'd like to see a hotel use that Federal Reserve building. I wonder what hotels are interested. It's a good location for a hotel. Right by the Greyhound Terminal, right next to Amtrak. The Convention Center is right there, too, and it's right along a major business destination that is Grant Street.

Could they turn that into decent class A office space? Perhaps, but I would pursue a hotel first. Demand for hotels is very high as well, and I think it would be better used for that. My 2cents.

It all depends, really. With downtown soon to have a new Embassy Suites hote, a Hotel Monaco and of course the Hilton Garden Inn as part of the Millcraft project, does another hotel in the pipeline right now make sense? Granted, none of these are particularly huge hotels in terms of overall rooms, but I think they add enough capacity that it will take a little time for the market to absorb the rooms before we need a new one. About the only thing I DO believe we need would be another larger-scale hotel adjacent to the Convention Center, given that it would certainly allow for larger conventions than we currently have. That and the fact that more facilities are needed for smaller-scale conventions and I'm sure there would be enough meeting space at any convention center hotel complex to allow for those smaller-scale conventions.

Either way, a hotel of that size would take a number of years to build...

Aaron (Glowrock)

[markson33]

I would like for it to be a hotel as well, although I echo Aaron's concern about the number of hotel rooms being added to the CBD.

I still imagine that Hilton would like to/needs to have a hotel downtown. I'm not sure the Federal Reserve Building is the right fit for them though - I see it as a large limited service hotel.