PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Four stories is high? Half of the houses in on my street are four stories tall and you never notice it. Why would that bother anyone?

Even more perplexing is the fact that nearly all of the buildings on that stretch of Butler are 3 stories tall and have been for over a century. A 4 story building is more in fitting with that street and that block than the 1 story buildings that the NIMBYers are referencing. There are just a handful of 1 story buildings and they're the exception rather than the norm.

[BrianTH]

I assume there is a NIMBY checklist somewhere which includes Height, Parking, Noise, and so on. It sure seems like the same set of objections are brought regardless of the context or details of a given project.

At least the (explicitly) racist stuff got taken off the checklist sometime in the last few decades.

[daviderik]

Originally Posted by East Edge

This to me is an excellent example of why bringing the washington monument scaffolding to the city is ridiculous when we have such a unique asset in the city that could be invested in and celebrated. I get that the city is challenged to fund the maintenance of these steps but something tells me it would be a lot cheaper to save some steps in the city instead of bringing some "icon" here that has nothing to do with Pittsburgh. lets make what we have that is unique better and not try to be someone else. If pitched right this could be just as fundable as any of Pedutos wacky ideas like the WM Scaffold or turning the top of the USX building into a park.

Years ago we had several inclines and now only 2...good thing people were engaged enough at the time to save them! Lets not tear down steps just because some idiot with no vision in public works doesnt want to be hassled with taking care of them.

I see the good and bad in the Washington scaffolding. The bad being it could very well be an over powering behemoth sitting there on the north side. Have a trial period of one year just to see if we like it. (Yeah right!). But I wholeheartedly agree about USX and the steps. In fact wasn't an aspect One Grandview's original plan to have a stairway from station square to Grandview Ave? It may have been a independent Idea.

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by East Edge

This to me is an excellent example of why bringing the washington monument scaffolding to the city is ridiculous when we have such a unique asset in the city that could be invested in and celebrated. I get that the city is challenged to fund the maintenance of these steps but something tells me it would be a lot cheaper to save some steps in the city instead of bringing some "icon" here that has nothing to do with Pittsburgh. lets make what we have that is unique better and not try to be someone else. If pitched right this could be just as fundable as any of Pedutos wacky ideas like the WM Scaffold or turning the top of the USX building into a park.

Years ago we had several inclines and now only 2...good thing people were engaged enough at the time to save them! Lets not tear down steps just because some idiot with no vision in public works doesnt want to be hassled with taking care of them.

Those are solid points. While I think it would be neat to have a structure like that (in terms of height) on the North Side, this idea is still somewhat rediculous.

However, I would not call the idea of turning US Steel's roof into a public space a wacky idea. Pittsburgh has no restaurants or indoor/outdoor observation decks on any of its signature high-rises. USX used to, but the Top of the Triangle closed in 2001. Cleveland, Baltimore, Seattle, and Philadelphia, to name a few, all have at least one observation deck or high-floor restaurant in a prominent skyscraper. I think Cleveland's Terminal Tower just recently reopened, or it was supposed to reopen. Here's a rundown of those places...

Philadelphia: City Hall, Two Liberty Place (R2L Restaurant, 37th floor)
Seattle: Space Needle (Also has Sky City restaurant), Columbia Center, 73rd floor
Baltimore: World Trade Center, 27th floor
Cleveland: Terminal Tower, 37th floor

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Urbana

Here are some renderings I found of CMU's University Center addition. A lot better than the loading dock that faces the street now!







http://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/Cohon%20Center%20Addition/index.html

Wow! I think that looks great. Very high quality. And I think it fits perfectly with the "industrial research/engineering" roots of the school.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

I just watched the yourpittsburgh video. The comment about a new tallest was in passing. He simply stated that the Mon tower could be taller depending on the needs (who they could sign etc) and then was asked if he wanted to go taller than the steel building and he said that he would like to.... but it sounded like "sure I would love to do that" in a manner IF he was able to get the tenants to do so and not because that was a specific goal.

Also, surprisingly, they mentioned the long dead Cultural Trust project as something that the Trust would still like to do.

If so, the market is very different now and yet no word from them.

Thanks for the clarification about the mon tower.


And concerning your surprise about the cultural trust; While it sounds promising, I don't think it should be surprising. In my mind, there will only be one outcome for that large, river facing parcel of downtown which is - A very high quality development, and most likely very mixed use. It's probably just a matter of when. I can't see that area being allowed to have sub-par development by the people who control it.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Only development news in the loosest sense, but this idea is a lot of fun:

http://www.popcitymedia.com/devnews/PopUpPlay061114.aspx

Normally, I would think this idea was interesting and cool or whatever but I just read a depressing/sad/empty commentary on a similar "games in a park" program in Dallas that has a different view of such programs.

It's a very interesting read. You gotta read all the way to the last sentence though: http://www.theawl.com/2014/06/the-soul-of-americas-new-urban-park-machine

[PGHFan]

CMU continues its tradition of building buildings that will enable it to keep its crown as one of the ugliest campuses in the US. I saw something like this in a suburban office park outside of Atlanta.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Normally, I would think this idea was interesting and cool or whatever but I just read a depressing/sad/empty commentary on a similar "games in a park" program in Dallas that has a different view of such programs.

Sounds like that was a normal-sized games cart.

It also sounds like the author of that piece was in a bit of a mood.

[BrianTH]

The revised Whole Foods expansion and parking deck is moving forward, but not until next year so as to avoid interfering with the holiday shopping period:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2...gn-tweaks-approvals/stories/201406120192

[photoLith]

Pittsburgh planning commission OKs Downtown Holiday Inn amid gripes

The Forza Group, a Bridgeville developer, is proposing the $9 million Holiday Inn, the first one Downtown. It would be built at 433 Fort Pitt Boulevard next to the Fort Pitt Commons building on a lot that now houses a two-story building that is to be demolished. The hotel is expected to be completed by next June.

It is a scaled-down version of a 12-story hotel first proposed in 2009. Two years later, the planning commission approved a streamlined 107-room, seven-story hotel that never got off the ground.

The Holiday Inn will sit in front of the eight-story 429 First Ave. building, where Ms. Hagerty and many others have condos. It in essence will block their views as well as those of many of the office tenants in the Hartley-Rose Building next door.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/201...ING-2/stories/201406110071#ixzz34R2qh7LR

Luckily the building they are tearing down is nothing really historic and is a quite bland looking 1950s building.

[michaelsouellette]

I just noticed the other day that work has just started on the new hotel on Federal Street near PNC park. Not much to see at the moment just some green fencing, a construction trailer, and a tractor. By my count that makes 8 hotels being developed or proposed right in the vicinity of downtown. So it looks like the hotel market might finally be catching up to the demand.

[themaguffin]

What exactly is there to "gripe" about with that hotel. My only gripe is that it's not the original size (or bigger). Given the shortage of hotel rooms and lack of space downtown, that would have been a good location for a little bigger hotel at 15-20 stories....

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by michaelsouellette

I just noticed the other day that work has just started on the new hotel on Federal Street near PNC park. Not much to see at the moment just some green fencing, a construction trailer, and a tractor. By my count that makes 8 hotels being developed or proposed right in the vicinity of downtown. So it looks like the hotel market might finally be catching up to the demand.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/ne...n-express-suites-under-construction.html

New Holiday Inn Express & Suites under construction on North Shore



A long-proposed Holiday Inn Express & Suites by a Harmar-based Kratsa Properties affiliate recently began construction on the North Shore.

Massaro Corp. began building the new 110,000-square-foot, 10-story hotel on Wednesday, June 11. Federal Street Hospitality Associates, L.P. is the Kratsa affiliate developing the hotel, which is expected to be 135 rooms and open by August 2015.

...

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

What exactly is there to "gripe" about with that hotel. My only gripe is that it's not the original size (or bigger). Given the shortage of hotel rooms and lack of space downtown, that would have been a good location for a little bigger hotel at 15-20 stories....

It's pretty clear the gripes are because a half dozen people in the condo building across First Avenue wanted a semi-vacant lot to remain so they could see the river.

Hopefully this should be a lesson to dumb yuppies downtown. If you want riverfront views, buy in a building fronting on the river.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by Urbana

Here are some renderings I found of CMU's University Center addition. A lot better than the loading dock that faces the street now!







http://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/Cohon%20Center%20Addition/index.html

The addition appears to be significantly larger than what was proposed by the university last fall. Maybe that means the fundraising campaign was well received. I agree that it is vast improvement over the current view of the loading dock. Plus, this resolves a streetwall issue of mine---the building is currently set back too far from Forbes. I think it looks great. Have there been any new renderings of the Tepper Quad buildings other than what was released when the project was announced?

[Urbana]

Originally Posted by DKNewYork

Have there been any new renderings of the Tepper Quad buildings other than what was released when the project was announced?

Not that I have seen, I think they are still in the process of hiring an architect.

[Wave]

Originally Posted by michaelsouellette

I just noticed the other day that work has just started on the new hotel on Federal Street near PNC park. Not much to see at the moment just some green fencing, a construction trailer, and a tractor. By my count that makes 8 hotels being developed or proposed right in the vicinity of downtown. So it looks like the hotel market might finally be catching up to the demand.

Are these the eight you are referring to...?

Holiday Inn North Shore
Drury Inn & Suites on Grant
Embassy Suites Downtown
Hilton Garden Inn at The Gardens Market Square
Holiday Inn Ft. Pitt Blvd
Hotel Monaco Reed Smith Bldg Downtown
Southside near incline
Southside near natural Gss station next to Liberty Bridge

No to mention there are three in the East Liberty/Centre corridor:

Hyatt House @ Morrow Park
Ace Hotel East Liberty
Indigo Hotel East Liberty

That's a very significant amount of hotel construction, and we are being told that the city will need much more than that to make up for the shortage of rooms.

[Zachary R. English]

Hi Folks,

I live in Uptown and have been keeping an eye on ACTION-Housing Inc's projects in the neighborhood. I thought I'd post a few pictures of the Uptown Lofts currently under construction on Fifth Ave and Wyandotte St and at Fifth Ave and Seneca St. One will use "conventional" energy saving construction, the other will be built to passive house standards, but will otherwise be identical. They will monitor the efficiency of both over 15 years. One will be Workforce Housing, the other for people who have aged out of the foster program. I can't find a rendering of the completed buildings anywhere, but they will both be three stories high, so the one is topped out. As for the ground floor, it sure looks like it's going to be a parking garage, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm wrong.

Fifth Ave and Wyandotte St:



https://www.flickr.com/photos/79732411@N07/14221404609/

Fifth Ave and Seneca St:



https://www.flickr.com/photos/79732411@N07/14221602387/

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

What exactly is there to "gripe" about with that hotel. My only gripe is that it's not the original size (or bigger). Given the shortage of hotel rooms and lack of space downtown, that would have been a good location for a little bigger hotel at 15-20 stories....

That's my gripe as well. A building on such a prominent piece of land should not be built to a height of less than 10 stories...

Originally Posted by eschaton

It's pretty clear the gripes are because a half dozen people in the condo building across First Avenue wanted a semi-vacant lot to remain so they could see the river.

Hopefully this should be a lesson to dumb yuppies downtown. If you want riverfront views, buy in a building fronting on the river.

Agreed. These rather unintelligent folks had to know that cities are in a constant state of flux. Land uses change over time. Structures come and go. They ought to be damned greatful that they don't want to build a prison or halfway house next door!