PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

I didn't like the new Comcast building at first, but it is growing on me. I think the spine is cool, I'm just not thrilled with how it turns into a spire at top.

Anyway, it is great to see that level of ongoing investment in downtown Philly.

[AaronPGH]

Really not a fan of that design. Seems really awkward to me. Lots of unnecessary pieces to it. Comcast tower is much cleaner.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

Really not a fan of that design. Seems really awkward to me. Lots of unnecessary pieces to it. Comcast tower is much cleaner.

Although it makes more sense (to me at least) when you think of it as a play on Neo Art Deco. In fact I think it almost looks TOO much like NBC Tower in Chicago:

[Evergrey]

wow... that Chicago tower looks way better

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

wow... that Chicago tower looks way better

Something in a style like NBC Tower could look cool in the Scalo site along Fort Pitt Blvd, as a sort of modern cousin to the Grant Building:



But I digress.

[photoLith]

All of these new houses are almost done along three blocks of hatfield st in lawrencville. The land was just vacant before so luckily they didn't tear down anything to build these, they are decent infill but the outsides are just kinda boring and I don't like how they are set back from the sidewalk and what's with this stupid trend for the past 5-10 years of putting crappy corrugated metal on the sides of buildings?

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by photoLith

All of these new houses are almost done along three blocks of hatfield st in lawrencville. The land was just vacant before so luckily they didn't tear down anything to build these, they are decent infill but the outsides are just kinda boring and I don't like how they are set back from the sidewalk and what's with this stupid trend for the past 5-10 years of putting crappy corrugated metal on the sides of buildings?

all sold out as well

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/lawrencevillenewhousingstyle010814.aspx

New styles hit Lawrenceville housing market

Nick Keppler | Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Tim Cordell is not typical of those who have flocked to Lawrenceville in the last decade. He’s not an artist looking to live and work in a low-rent rowhouse, nor is he a small-scale entrepreneur with an idea for a unicycle shop or organic pet-care salon to add to the neighborhood’s hip, Portland-evoking business district. He’s a software specialist at BNY Mellon who wanted a garage to fiddle around in and his neighbors at a decent distance.

Cordell, who relocated from California for his job, also looked at homes in Edgewood, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill and the North Shore. He found that the ideal choice was one of the boxy, minimalistic-looking new constructions in the Hatfield and Home development, which sits along the two eponymous streets in Lawrenceville, a stone’s throw from the Allegheny River. He purchased one half of a three-story duplex with large windows allowing a flood of natural light onto the generous allotment of wide-open space and, of course, a garage. “I’m not the type of person to deal with the problems of older homes,” says Cordell, who also likes the location because it allows him “to bike or take the bus to work [downtown] if I want to.”When asked if the Hatfield and Home units have been selling well, realtor Christa Ross responds with an enthusiastic “oh, yeah.” Priced from $265,000 to $450,000, 13 units out of 14 have been sold, all of them before construction was completed.

“I didn’t even have a model to show,” says Ross. “It was all about that location – people want to live in Lawrenceville. I could sell another 14 if I had them.”

It’s old news that Lawrenceville has dug its way out of its late-20th-century economic doldrums with the reactivation of the eclectic Butler Street business district. Yet until recently the neighborhood’s housing options were mostly limited to the same rowhouses that steelworkers and the like vacated in the ’70s. Now, Lawrenceville is the site of a boom of new and renovated housing, standing out amidst the neighborhood’s sea of brick buildings, most of which were standing when the Titanic set sail.

...

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...4/01/report-pittsburghs-residential.html

Jan 27, 2014, 11:12am EST

Report: Pittsburgh's residential development boomed in '13

New housing construction in the Pittsburgh region reached 6,002, up 67.7 percent from the 3,579 housing starts in 2012, according to a report released Monday from Tall Timber Group.

In a release, Tall Timber described the new housing construction in 2013 at a level "not seen in the metropolitan area in at least a generation."

Of course, a major driver of the region's housing boom, as well as a boom in its own right, is the growth of new apartment development in the Pittsburgh region.

Jeff Burd, principal of McCandless-based Tall Timber Group, explained the importance of new apartment development in last year's new housing activity in a prepared statement:

“The story of 2013 was the boom in apartments. While the number started in Pittsburgh is relatively small compared to major population centers, the 2,945 apartments put under construction is unprecedented in the last 30 years. Coming into 2013, we were concerned that the pipeline of 4,000 units was more than the market could handle but there are still more than 2,000 units on the drawing board in 2014.”

...

[photoLith]

Well I hope developers don't get any ideas to start tearing down the historic housing stock for these semi urban "minimalistic" things. I'd much rather see the interiors of historic homes torn out and replaced with modern interiors.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Well I hope developers don't get any ideas to start tearing down the historic housing stock for these semi urban "minimalistic" things. I'd much rather see the interiors of historic homes torn out and replaced with modern interiors.

I'd rather not see interiors gutted either but I agree that there's so much open space in the city that we shouldn't be tearing things down.

[BrianTH]

I'd be interested to know how all those new units are distributed within the region.

Incidentally, housing unit changes are how the Census attributes County-level population estimate changes to subcounty places.

[BrianTH]

Apparently the Heinz History Center's conversion of the American Equipment Company building on Penn into a climate-controlled storage annex is coming along well:

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5417440-74/center-museum-arenth#axzz2rbGkpNz4

Not the most exciting use, perhaps, but it is nice to have the building occupied and maintained, and there are a couple public components to the project in the works:

One storage floor will be open to the public, starting this fall. Visitors will be able to cross a newly built walkway from the main center to the fourth floor of the Museum Support Center for a “visible storage” exhibit, showcasing unique items from the museum's collection normally not on display, such as antique cars, Civil War-era artifacts and early 1900s police and fire equipment. “It's not an exhibit that tells a single story; it's just some of the best of our collection,” Arenth said.

Finishing touches are in the works on the first floor. News releases from the museum have indicated a publicly accessible restoration center, though Arenth said an announcement regarding those plans is expected in April. Contractors are restoring the original hardwood floors and adding lighting.

The location:

http://goo.gl/maps/klFn4

New walkway:

[BrianTH]

This may be the press release they referring to (about a public conservation center located on the ground floor):

http://www.heinz.org/Interior.aspx?id=417&view=entry&gid=170

Renovation photo set (the shots from the walkway and the roof are pretty cool):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heinz_history_center/sets/72157634803966792/with/9368875723/

[Evergrey]

http://wesa.fm/post/can-steel-city-be-sustainable

Can The Steel City Be Sustainable?

By Michael Lynch

It’s no secret that Pittsburgh’s made a comeback.

What was once one of the most polluted and economically strained cities in the country, now ranks 4th in number of green buildings and 5th in average annual pay compared to the 14 other benchmark regions, according to the analytical organization Pittsburgh Today.

The group examined about 450 regional indicators to see where southwestern Pennsylvania sits in terms of sustainability, and according to Doug Heuck, director of Pittsburgh Today, the city has potential.

“We’re on a trajectory that’s upward,” he said, “As opposed to a lot of regions, Cleveland being a particularly good example of one that is on a downward trajectory.”

...

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by photoLith

All of these new houses are almost done along three blocks of hatfield st in lawrencville. The land was just vacant before so luckily they didn't tear down anything to build these, they are decent infill but the outsides are just kinda boring and I don't like how they are set back from the sidewalk and what's with this stupid trend for the past 5-10 years of putting crappy corrugated metal on the sides of buildings?

I live around a block up from these houses. When I first moved into the neighborhood, there was still a building at the bottom of one of the blocks, which I believe acted as offices for the steel mill prior to its closure. The URA knocked the building down well before any construction took place.

I have my issues with the design. The setback is annoying, as it messes with the consistent zero setback on the residential streets. The buildings being so much shorter than the surrounding rowhouses also means the massing seems off, but that's because they used prefab framing, which means they couldn't duplicate the high ceilings of houses in the neighborhood.

My wife is an architect, and she's basically told me the hip thing now is to use "cool materials," as no one actually wants to spend the time to put something ornate which requires a lot of labor hours onto a new house.

In general, though, I think these new houses in Lawrenceville are a bad idea. Lawrenceville has plenty of houses - the focus should be on new apartment buildings. One reason rental prices are so high is so many young people want to live here, but the whole neighborhood is zoned single-family attached. Perhaps 10% of the housing stock was subdivided back when that was okay under zoning, but new houses cannot be subdivided in the neighborhood, and as it gentrifies, the grand houses which were divided are being turned back into houses. That basically left old apartments above storefronts, one suburban-style complex, and a few micro-apartment buildings. Not much at all when you compare to other neighborhoods.

[GeneW]

Lots of info about Peduto and Fitzgerald's plans for transportation in the area in this Pittsburgh Magazine article.

[BrianTH]

They seem pretty serious about the bike lanes on the Busways idea. That would be very cool.

[BrianTH]

On reflection this is also pretty interesting:

Smithfield Street

The narrow, old city street slicing north-south through the Golden Triangle would see cars, on-street parking and contra-flow bus lanes replaced with a pedestrian/bike-friendly passage featuring retail shops, patios, trees, shrubs, a new streetscape and limited access for transit vehicles. Peduto says he would offer tax breaks to developers such as PNC Bank, Millcraft Industries and Oxford Development Co. in exchange for transforming blocks they occupy into a “grand boulevard” scheme.

What I don't quite understand is what it means to replace the contra-flow bus lane with "limited access for transit vehicles". But certainly doing Smithfield as a ped/pike/transit-only street would be pretty bold and transformative, and I personally think you could get away with it given the way Downtown car traffic works.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

On reflection this is also pretty interesting:



What I don't quite understand is what it means to replace the contra-flow bus lane with "limited access for transit vehicles". But certainly doing Smithfield as a ped/pike/transit-only street would be pretty bold and transformative, and I personally think you could get away with it given the way Downtown car traffic works.

Not a fan of turning Smithfield into a pedestrian mall... Peduto/Fitzgerald should instead investigate the "Complete Streets" concept.

http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/comple...treets-fundamentals/complete-streets-faq

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Not a fan of turning Smithfield into a pedestrian mall... Peduto/Fitzgerald should instead investigate the "Complete Streets" concept.

It doesn't sound like they are imagining an old-style pedestrian mall. In fact it sounds more like a complete street plan, but maybe without cars (although that is not perfectly clear from this reporting).