PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[DKNewYork]

The Post-Gazette will be vacating its building---production personnel will be in a new facility near the airport by the end of the summer and editorial/sales staff are "expected to move out of the current building sometime next year." It's interesting to imagine what becomes of the current PG building. I have long wondered how much of the original building detail exists beneath that metal cladding. Maybe there is a restoration in its future? And if the building is too far gone, maybe a taller residential building...

The editorial and sales personnel will be relocated somewhere downtown.

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/201...n-center-in-Clinton/stories/201402120151

Seems like a good move. Production does not need to be downtown. And the PG has been hemorrhaging money the past five years. The proceeds from the sale of the property can only help.

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by DKNewYork

And if the building is too far gone, maybe a taller residential building...

With all the demand for development and apartments downtown, I would love to see a building that mirrors the height of River-Vue, but with a modern twist on the design.

[AaronPGH]

Nice move for the P-G!

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Honestly, probably because that school building is basically THE crown jewel of that neighborhood; Extremely well built; I hear they did an amazing renovation. So I guess you're paying for the quality. I've been in some other local loft conversions and some are quite shit. That is definitely a disappointment.

It is the crown jewel of the neighborhood... and if I were buying, then I totally understand, because you would be getting quality in a neighborhood on the long upswing. Purchasing being a good investment and getting the satisfaction of seeing improvements and "status" of the neighborhood.

But why pay top dollar in Pittsburgh to rent in an area that WILL be cool in which to live, when more than likely, based on average tenancy duration, you wouldn't be living there when the neighborhood does become a "cool" place to live? That's what I never get when I see people paying top dollar in RENT to live in an area that WILL be cool.

[DKNewYork]

Per the Pgh Biz Times, Yahoo might well be setting up an office here in the next year or two.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2014/02/12/cmu-partnership-part-of-long-term.html

[Private Dick]

Glad to see the P-G moving out of that location.

Hope to see a great development in its footprint, as well as on the surface parking lot across the street.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Glad to see the P-G moving out of that location.

Hope to see a great development in its footprint, as well as on the surface parking lot across the street.

Quite a few PG employees over here on the Northside and at least one I know who doesn't own a car so I'm assuming that they'd prefer that the editorial staff stays downtown.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Quite a few PG employees over here on the Northside and at least one I know who doesn't own a car so I'm assuming that they'd prefer that the editorial staff stays downtown.

The article says that they will stay downtown. But, to your point, there probably are production workers who currently walk to work and will soon have to find a way to get to the airport area.

Also, curious how the 175 workers being moved compares with current staffing levels. Surely state-of-the-art printing facilities will be more automated than the old machines currently in use. Right?

[BrianTH]

Personally, I'd love to see the Pittsburgh Press building restored to closer to the original . . .



. . . and a new tower integrated on the surface parking lot:

http://goo.gl/maps/u7ZcM

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by DKNewYork

Per the Pgh Biz Times, Yahoo might well be setting up an office here in the next year or two.

That's potentially huge news. It seems at least possible that Yahoo! has turned things around, and it would be a great complement to the Google branding if they followed a similar track here.

[Minivan Werner]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Personally, I'd love to see the Pittsburgh Press building restored to closer to the original . . .



. . . and a new tower integrated on the surface parking lot:

http://goo.gl/maps/u7ZcM

I agree. I think restoration + building something 15-20 stories on the surface lot would be the best of both worlds.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Minivan Werner

I agree. I think restoration + building something 15-20 stories on the surface lot would be the best of both worlds.

11 Stanwix is 23 stories, so you would think it shouldn't be a problem doing something your range (from an approvals perspective).

[markson33]

I would think the Post Gazette site is too valuable to maintain the current building - unless it could be added to. As nice of a building as that was it doesn't make any sense to have a four story building in that location.

I have my doubts that the original building could be salvaged anyway.

[BrianTH]

The only thing that really concerns me is the addition of the fifth floor. Otherwise, I would have thought this would be like the ISDA building, which was largely intact under the orange siding which had been added. In fact as with the ISDA building, you can see that the new windows all still line up with the old windows:

http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/3321.php


Anyway, personally, I wouldn't mind a 4-story section as long as there was a reasonable-sized tower also involved on the former parking lot.

[dfiler]

Pittsburgh would be transformed if it were possible to reconnect downtown with the hill district. The civic arena was part of the problem, creating a dead zone between the two. But also problematic is the I579 cut.

A dream solution would be to cover the roadway and put a park on top or possibly even buildings. An example of this is the Seattle convention center and "Freeway Park". Both are built directly over I5 in the heart of downtown. That neighborhood was transformed from a barren no man's land of noisy traffic to an amazingly pleasant and vibrant place. There are pedestrians crawling all over it and businesses are thriving.

The architecture of the convention center is also striking. It has so many trees and bushes on the roof that it is difficult to figure out what is ground level and what is a patio on top of the convention center. The motif is continued inside with the same plants inside and out, leading to a feeling of being outdoors even when inside.

Having attended a convention there, it immediately triggered a desire for the same thing to be done to a portion of 579 in Pittsburgh. It would connect downtown to the lower hill and allow what we consider "downtown" to grow into the hill district. Currently downtown is an island, separated from everything else by two rivers and a nearly impassible interstate.

I couldn't find good photos of it, perhaps because it blends in so well. But here is a google maps view:
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6104673,-122.3308259,373m/data=!3m1!1e3

Tack this up as another example of how we could have better spent a half billion dollars than on our tunnel to nowhere.

[themaguffin]

That's potentially huge news. It seems at least possible that Yahoo! has turned things around

That is relatively big news. Yahoo is still significant in certain categories of content and other areas.

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by dfiler

A dream solution would be to cover the roadway and put a park on top or possibly even buildings.

I think this is part of the plan for the Civic Arena Re-Development, even if it is a little bit.

And also, there has been a plan that was talked about to cover the North-Side part of it.

[BrianTH]

The part they have talked about putting a deck-park over is just the area between the bridges:



If you look at it locally you can sort of see why it is limited to that section--south of there Crosstown is rising up until it actually becomes elevated over the street level by the time it gets to Fifth Avenue, and the Mellon call center is also in the way. And north of there, the elevation difference between Downtown and the Hill is just too steep.

The good news is a project like that shouldn't be too expensive. Basically, you are just building a third, wider, overpass between the two existing overpasses. And there are in fact many models for this sort of thing in various U.S. cities.

[dfiler]

That makes me quite hopeful! Thanks for sharing the info.

The current bridges are a wasteland of concrete which is very unpleasant for pedestrians. People walk as fast as possible, with nothing to look at other than making sure they don't get killed by a car.

A park built over 579 would likely be packed with people at lunch hour on pleasant days. It would also make people enjoy walking to the hill district to park, eat, exercise, or even live and work.

My fingers are crossed that this comes to fruition.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by dfiler

That makes me quite hopeful! Thanks for sharing the info.

The current bridges are a wasteland of concrete which is very unpleasant for pedestrians. People walk as fast as possible, with nothing to look at other than making sure they don't get killed by a car.

A park built over 579 would likely be packed with people at lunch hour on pleasant days. It would also make people enjoy walking to the hill district to park, eat, exercise, or even live and work.

My fingers are crossed that this comes to fruition.

Agreed, it is a wasteland. Some of the most prime real estate in this city has been obliterated by highways... such as the flat, centrally located land of the lower North Side... laid waste by an intricate web of highways.