PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Found5dollar]

I'm fixing up the wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Pittsburgh , and cant remember, the final decision for 350 Fifth ave. Are they building the skyscraper or just renovating the current building?

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Found5dollar

I'm fixing up the wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Pittsburgh , and cant remember, the final decision for 350 Fifth ave. Are they building the skyscraper or just renovating the current building?

The plans are not concrete yet, however based on the fact that about a year after the initial announcement Oxford Development released top quality architectural renderings made by Gensler I believe, it would seem to me that the tower is what they plan on building.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by popstar

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...ights-on-North-Side/stories/201405170042

That's pretty awesome. So they are going from using 20% of their funds up to 80% to use for North Side city neighborhood developments?

I love the quote that they want to emulate the success of the redevelopment of the Southside, East Lib & Lawrenceville on the Northside. I like the Northside and agree with the article that the ethnically diversity is a great thing; The biggest issue I see as a person coming from the suburbs is that many parts of the Northside are gaptooth (missing or demolished houses) or barren. I think it would be amazing to see the vacant lots redeveloped to restore urban cohesiveness to one of the most architecturally significant areas of the whole city and metro.

[BrianTH]

Random eyeball reports:

East Liberty Place South is coming along nicely. It is amazing how it is transforming the feel of that block of Penn--having 4-story buildings on both sides, rather than just one, makes a very big difference.

The Hotel Indigo project also feels very large and transformative. Taken together, for me these two projects are greatly expanding the "downtown grid" feel of East Liberty, and hopefully East Side III is going to do even more.

But maybe the most important project along these lines is whatever Walnut is calling the replacement for The Odeon. That currently feels like a very big gap, and filling it in with a 4-5 story building should establish a more or less continuous "downtown"-feeling core.

[popstar]

I jumped out of my car and took a peak at the orange sign.... Something about minor changes to accommodate retail and 16 new parking stalls. New parking stalls!! Hooray!

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

East Liberty Place South is coming along nicely. It is amazing how it is transforming the feel of that block of Penn--having 4-story buildings on both sides, rather than just one, makes a very big difference.

While I would have wished for somewhat of a more creative building design, I looked at the ELP South design and it looks like they took a bigger approach to street retail. I believe it includes a large sidewalk, possibly for a cafe or street retail. (yay!)

The Hotel Indigo project also feels very large and transformative. Taken together, for me these two projects are greatly expanding the "downtown grid" feel of East Liberty, and hopefully East Side III is going to do even more.

That hotel and related retail development will hopefully catalyze development in the northern area of East Liberty, the area that I feel is really lagging.

But maybe the most important project along these lines is whatever Walnut is calling the replacement for The Odeon. That currently feels like a very big gap, and filling it in with a 4-5 story building should establish a more or less continuous "downtown"-feeling core.

While it won't fill in for what the building was before the 60's (I speak of the East End Savings & Trust Building which matched the height of the Highland Building.) but that corner, with all the development around it, could use a high quality building.

[Found5dollar]

The Urban Land Institute presentation from the 16th is up.

http://www.portauthority.org/paac/portals/0/ULI/ULI-Presentation.pdf

lots of great points, ideas, and maps.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by popstar

I jumped out of my car and took a peak at the orange sign.... Something about minor changes to accommodate retail and 16 new parking stalls. New parking stalls!! Hooray!

Maybe Babyland is returning?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Found5dollar

The Urban Land Institute presentation from the 16th is up.

Mostly a "small ball" report, outside of the Oakland BRT plan, but that is OK--there is a lot of low-hanging fruit that could improve ridership and efficiency, and I think they made a good case for focusing on improving customer service.

I was also interested in their discussion of options for better organizing TOD projects. This does seem like an area where there should be a lot of opportunities, but as of now there is only a limited amount of activity.

[BrianTH]

The PG has published an editorial in favor of more parking requirements for residential developers, and maybe more public garages, Downtown:

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2014/05/19/Space-race/stories/201405170015

If any thought was given to the case against such interventions, it was not apparent in that editorial, and I would suggest people could express some such thoughts in the comments.

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by popstar

I jumped out of my car and took a peak at the orange sign.... Something about minor changes to accommodate retail and 16 new parking stalls. New parking stalls!! Hooray!

I would really love to see some medium size apartments with street level retail. Especially with all of the current and future development in that area, a parking lot is an awful idea.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I was going to post about this myself, but I was already ninjaed it seems. Do we have any regulars who walk through that area? Should be easy to determine on foot.

I'll take a walk over to it tonight. I live on the block.

And agreed with popstar about the dirt piles at Penn & Negley. I get infuriated with that plot of land every time I walk past it.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The PG has published an editorial in favor of more parking requirements for residential developers, and maybe more public garages, Downtown:

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2014/05/19/Space-race/stories/201405170015

If any thought was given to the case against such interventions, it was not apparent in that editorial, and I would suggest people could express some such thoughts in the comments.

Ugg. I thought that we were supposed to be getting away from that attitude and stop assuming that every human being in the city needs a personal car.

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

I'll take a walk over to it tonight. I live on the block.

And agreed with popstar about the dirt piles at Penn & Negley. I get infuriated with that plot of land every time I walk past it.

I was under the impression that that land was being used for the gas pipeline replacement in the area, but I might be wrong.

[BrianTH]

cityLAB has selected a site for their pilot Tiny House, and they are now soliciting input on which of 7 possible designs to select:

http://www.citylabpgh.org/8392/
http://www.slideshare.net/fullscreen/blumensara/tiny-house-planning-session-by-citylab/7

[popstar]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

cityLAB has selected a site for their pilot Tiny House, and they are now soliciting input on which of 7 possible designs to select:

http://www.citylabpgh.org/8392/
http://www.slideshare.net/fullscreen/blumensara/tiny-house-planning-session-by-citylab/7

It's interesting that every single person pictured in the Garfield Tiny House feedback session is white. I hope they are making efforts to get authentic input from current Garfield residents.

[markson33]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Ugg. I thought that we were supposed to be getting away from that attitude and stop assuming that every human being in the city needs a personal car.

Until there is a comprehensive public transit system, which is probably decades or even centuries away, there will be a strong need for cars. This isn't New York, Chicago or Boston where you can hop on the subway and get wherever you need to go.

Its hard to tell someone who is going to be paying over $1200 + per month that they won't have a parking space. From a developers standpoint you can't build unless you know you can provide at least one parking space per unit.

I get very frustrated with the attitude that everybody should be taking public transit - its just not realistic or plausible. Not gonna happen in our lifetimes.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by markson33

Until there is a comprehensive public transit system, which is probably decades or even centuries away, there will be a strong need for cars. This isn't New York, Chicago or Boston where you can hop on the subway and get wherever you need to go.

Its hard to tell someone who is going to be paying over $1200 + per month that they won't have a parking space. From a developers standpoint you can't build unless you know you can provide at least one parking space per unit.

I get very frustrated with the attitude that everybody should be taking public transit - its just not realistic or plausible. Not gonna happen in our lifetimes.

You're over reading what I said. I said that not everyone needed a car. I didn't say that everybody should be taking public transit.

And I'm not saying that there should be no parking spaces just not one for each person in the building.

[BrianTH]

Nobody is talking about prohibiting developers from providing parking spots. But that decision should be left up to the developer, and they should have to pay for the ones they want to provide.

By the way, driverless cars may eliminate the need for a large number of Downtown parking spots long before cars themselves disappear. But again, I am fine letting developers speculate as they wish.

[BrianTH]

Apparently the relevant parties are trying to reach a negotiated settlement over the fate of the August Wilson Center:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...ugust-Wilson-Center/stories/201405190184

This always made the most sense to me--I can see why various parties would want to negotiate the best possible leaseback terms for the AWC, but it didn't make sense to me to entirely oppose the hotel plan since that was part of the original vision anyway.