PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[michaelsouellette]

Originally Posted by Wave

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.

Plus the new hotel they are building in the strip and the proposed hotel for the AWC. I know the AWC one is still far from confirmed but it could really help if it is actually built.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by michaelsouellette

Plus the new hotel they are building in the strip and the proposed hotel for the AWC. I know the AWC one is still far from confirmed but it could really help if it is actually built.

One great thing is that several of the hotels in the works, including the two you added to the list, are close enough to be used for conventions.

Heck, with great service via the Busway, even the East Liberty hotels can potentially be used by convention-goers.

[BrianTH]

Wilkinsburg is trying again to get a Main Streets designation from the state:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/2014/0...ignation-once-again/stories/201406120018
http://wesa.fm/post/main-street-program-application-wilkinsburg-plans-make-improvements

There is a lot of information about what that means here:

http://www.padowntown.org/programs-services/main-street

The thing is, I thought they folded that program into the Keystone Communities Program:

http://www.newpa.com/find-and-apply-for-funding/funding-and-program-finder/main-street-program

So either something changed again, or they are talking about doing it that way.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Wave

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.

I've been severely underwhelmed for most of the NEW hotel construction (not the conversions of existing buildings which are fine) in the city. They seem to be these very suburban style generic structures in a historic city. The majority of them stick out like a sore thumb, IMO.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by 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/

Welcome! Looks like a cool project. I was not aware of this one.

[Captain Crash]

Meadville's Voodoo Brewery just purchased an old fire station in Homestead with the intention of preserving the building for use as a brewpub. Interesting to see some development finally spill over the tracks from the Waterfront and make use of a pretty nice old building stock available. This could nicely compliment the Stay Tuned Distillery that opened just down the road in another preserved historic building.

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmc...building-brewery-homestead#axzz34U0QaoJO

[BrianTH]

Oxford is building on airport land:

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6277940-74/forister-oxford-authority

Not to beat a dead horse, but one would think we don't really need to be building new highways to the airport in the name of greenfield development when there are still opportunities for development actually at the airport.

[BrianTH]

Interesting piece about the quick leasing rate of Bakery Living and what it says about the market:

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6265978-74/building-bakery-living

You don't suppose, oh, say, the North Shore or Lower Hill would be good places for a lot of new residential units?

[mhays]

About those staircases -- keep them!

We have a few hundred in Seattle too. It's a familiar topic.

First, I disagree that they'd need a lot of maintenance, if on-grade. Pittsburgh has dirt trails too. An unmaintained stairway can be like a dirt trail. Maintenance would be limited to cutting vegetation back and dealing with major washouts. Elevated steps would be different if they get ricketty.

Second, they're transportation. At least ours are. You can often walk a much shorter distance than a car would take. They encourage walking.

We don't have a drug dealer problem that I'm aware of. I wonder if you really do either, in most places. Drug dealers seem to like to be where a lot of people can reach them more easily.

Stairs are a cool feature for any city, and the scale of Pittsburgh's is pretty unusual. They're definitely worth some effort.

[BrianTH]

A lot of Pittsburgh's public stairs are elevated or have elevated sections. I am also not sure how the transition to "dirt trail" is supposed to work--crumbling reinforced-concrete steps on a steep slope seem like a hazard to me. Nor in fact does a plain dirt trail at a steep slope seem like a good idea--mountain bikers have carved out unofficial trails like that, but I don't see them being useful or safe for ordinary pedestrians.

This is a cool Flickr group:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/1336855@N20/

There is only a small fraction of those I could see remaining usable as mere trails.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by mhays

About those staircases -- keep them!

We have a few hundred in Seattle too. It's a familiar topic.

First, I disagree that they'd need a lot of maintenance, if on-grade. Pittsburgh has dirt trails too. An unmaintained stairway can be like a dirt trail. Maintenance would be limited to cutting vegetation back and dealing with major washouts. Elevated steps would be different if they get ricketty.

Second, they're transportation. At least ours are. You can often walk a much shorter distance than a car would take. They encourage walking.

We don't have a drug dealer problem that I'm aware of. I wonder if you really do either, in most places. Drug dealers seem to like to be where a lot of people can reach them more easily.

Stairs are a cool feature for any city, and the scale of Pittsburgh's is pretty unusual. They're definitely worth some effort.

You're correct, there is NO real drug problem.

And there is no debate that they are a great city asset in an age where cities are trying hard to differentiate themselves.

What do you mean by elevated though? Stairs 'elevate' as you go up each one. lol. Am I misunderstanding you?

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Interesting piece about the quick leasing rate of Bakery Living and what it says about the market:

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6265978-74/building-bakery-living

You don't suppose, oh, say, the North Shore or Lower Hill would be good places for a lot of new residential units?

Gotta admit I find the color scheme of Bakery Living to be nauseating.

Obama will visit Bakery Square on Tuesday... a refreshing change from the stereotypical steel mill photo ops or bland suburban community colleges.

[Private Dick]

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.

The Washington Monument scaffolding, its transportation, erection, and maintenance would all be FREE to the city and owned by private enterprise. I guess you missed that rather major point.

George Washington had nothing to do with Pittsburgh? Hmmm...

Peduto did not come up with the idea of turning the top of US Steel into a park.

That "idiot with no vision in public works" is actually a very smart and good guy, who is very interested in preserving the steps (as is Mayor Peduto). However, the city is still broke as a joke, and if it comes down to rebuilding or maintaining some of the rarely-used staircases vs. building, improving, and maintaining other vital, high-use public works within a VERY limited budget, then the answer is pretty obvious. Why don't you form a volunteer group to go out and fix them... or don't you "want to hasseled with taking care of them?

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

Meadville's Voodoo Brewery just purchased an old fire station in Homestead with the intention of preserving the building for use as a brewpub.

Voodoo brews fine ales. Good to see a Meadville enterprise make good!

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Gotta admit I find the color scheme of Bakery Living to be nauseating.

Yeah... I don't get it. Glad that it will eventually be hidden from street view by new development.

[Evergrey]

Greater Homestead has awesome potential due to its location and incredible business district built environment.

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

The Washington Monument scaffolding, its transportation, erection, and maintenance would all be FREE to the city and owned by private enterprise. I guess you missed that rather major point.

George Washington had nothing to do with Pittsburgh? Hmmm...

Peduto did not come up with the idea of turning the top of US Steel into a park.

That "idiot with no vision in public works" is actually a very smart and good guy, who is very interested in preserving the steps (as is Mayor Peduto). However, the city is still broke as a joke, and if it comes down to rebuilding or maintaining some of the rarely-used staircases vs. building, improving, and maintaining other vital, high-use public works within a VERY limited budget, then the answer is pretty obvious. Why don't you form a volunteer group to go out and fix them... or don't you "want to hasseled with taking care of them?

who did, then? Peduto tweeted about it. Maybe he's just championing this idea. It sure as hell wasn't the current owner of US Steel though. IIRC, they're against it, which sucks...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

who did, then?

I can't verify who was the first person to ever think about it, but the guy who started pushing the idea in a relatively organized fashion is David Bear:

http://studioforcreativeinquiry.org/peoples/david-bear
http://highpointpark.org/

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Gotta admit I find the color scheme of Bakery Living to be nauseating.

Obama will visit Bakery Square on Tuesday... a refreshing change from the stereotypical steel mill photo ops or bland suburban community colleges.

Interesting to note WHO is renting at the new apartment complex. It is 2/3 leased by opening day, which is about 115 apartments and approx. 12 of them are Google employees. So that means so far, Bakery Living is 10% Google employees and according to the developer "most" tenants are new to Pittsburgh. Sounds like a resounding success.

[BrianTH]

More on airport corridor development:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/201...opment-takes-flight/stories/201406140059

[BrianTH]

Detailed article about the new Planning Director. Seems like a great hire:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...attle-and-Manhatten/stories/201406060202