PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

A couple ELTC/East Side III articles . . .

Mosites is partnering with Morgan Management to operate the new apartments:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...h-morgan-management-on-new.html?page=all

And this article says construction is on schedule, with the plan being to open the first apartment phase next year (109 units), and the remainder at six month intervals (which sounds fine to me). It also has some photos:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...-east-liberty-transportation-center.html

Funny, you can see the reflection of the Business Journal photographer in the first picture. He/She must have just taken a shot of the poster on the sidewalk; you'd think that the Journal would have access to a better quality version than that.

[BrianTH]

I didn't realize KBK had a new website. They are involved in some important projects.

I'd love to see the Larimer School done, but last I knew they were still trying to get tax credits to complete financing:

http://kbkenterprises.net/projects/larimer-school/







The Addison Terrace page had some renderings and in-progress photos I haven't seen before:

http://kbkenterprises.net/projects/addison-terrace/








Similarly their Larimer Phase I page had some renderings that were new to me--I believe they are actually starting construction on these in the near future:

http://kbkenterprises.net/projects/larimer/






Finally, I didn't know they were moving their local offices into this building Downtown:

http://kbkenterprises.net/projects/fort-pitt-building/

[BrianTH]

Turns out Mistick Construction also has a fun Addison Terrace page with lots of cool aerial shots. A sampling:

[BrianTH]

So I just found out about this, although it has been happening for a while now. The Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG), in partnership with CMU, with aid from The Heinz Endowments, is conducting a East Busway Corridor Revitalization Project:

http://www.goburgh.org/TOD/EastBuswayCorridorRevitalization.aspx

PCRG has assembled a team, including Carnegie Mellon’s Remaking Cities Institute and Delta Development, which seeks to build a comprehensive, community‐focused plan in the Busway corridor. This plan will stitch together the 15 communities along the Busway into one community where the benefits of transit‐oriented lives can be realized. It will work with community stakeholders to identify key priorities and create plans accordingly for improvements which could include: new or modified infrastructure, the creation of quality workforce and affordable housing, small business development, and the attraction of other private investment to bridge the divide across and along the Busway. This collaborative planning process will engage on‐the ground capacity to advance the plan's goals and procure resources for community‐connecting infrastructure improvements while simultaneously attracting investors and developers. PCRG and its team will seek and cultivate active participation from communities, strategic intervention by funders, leadership from the public sector, and engagement of the private sector, all of which will become stewards of the final plan and its implementation.

More here:

http://www.opdc.org/news/east-busway-corridor-revitalization-plans-begin/

The project scope includes a corridor running the length of the East Busway – starting at Penn Station, through Swissvale, to the Carrie Furnace site. The focus area includes up to a half-mile on either side, which includes portions of:

1) Downtown
2) Strip District
3) Polish Hill
4) Lawrenceville
5) Bloomfield
6) Oakland
7) Shadyside
8) East Liberty
9) Larimer
10) Point Breeze
11) Homewood
12) Wilkinsburg
13) Edgewood
14) Swissvale
15) Rankin

PCRG will complete the first stage of planning by the end of this summer.

And here:

http://www.goburgh.org/Portals/0/Documents/Busway%20CRP%20Outcomes%20Only%20060314.pdf

Intended Outcomes:
1) Blurs the divide between the north and south sides of the Busway, which has historically been a socioeconomic and ethnic divide along nearly its entire length
2) Creates opportunities for community growth and connection between job centers
3) Implements strategic community infrastructure investments to create new access nodes, vastly improve existing ones, and connect a string of sustainable communities over and along the Busway divide
4) Identifies and implements strategies that integrate East Busway infrastructure and station areas throughout the corridor with neighborhood business districts to form a complete and diverse commercial economic unit
5) Creates a corridor‐level strategy for integrating affordable and workforce housing with commercial investment and development that creates complete communities via transit
6) Catalyzes private investment along and across the Busway, bringing opportunities to communities and a return to the private sector

And here:

http://larimerplan.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/lcg_open_meeting_minutes_march_6.pdf

The study’s goal is to identify 3-5 projects and get them ready. The East Busway was chosen because of the challenges and opportunities associated with the corridor; improving the East Busway would address various transit concerns in the area.

This project is still in the early stages and it remains to be seen how much impact it will have. Nonetheless, the idea of taking a more holistic and coordinated approach to development along the East Busway corridor is a great one. In fact I have often analogized the East Busway, at least in potential, to the Orange Line in Arlington, VA, where they did just that. See here:

http://intergovernmental.homestead.com/presentations/APAIGAZimmermanArlingtonVillages.pdf

They also cite the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN) and Red Line Community Compact (Baltimore, MD) as inspirations:

http://www.funderscollaborative.org/
http://gobaltimoreredline.com/pdf/Community_Compact_11_4_09.pdf

One long-standing problem has been the lack of a public body at the right "scale" for such an effort. The SPC, and even the County, are really too big and too diffused to take an aggressive lead role on this project. But each affected municipality is too limited in scope, and in fact the City has had its own internal divisions along the corridor.

So hopefully PCRG, which is basically a consortium of CDCs with pretty good coverage of the corridor, can fill that coordination gap.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

A couple ELTC/East Side III articles . . .

Mosites is partnering with Morgan Management to operate the new apartments:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...h-morgan-management-on-new.html?page=all

And this article says construction is on schedule, with the plan being to open the first apartment phase next year (109 units), and the remainder at six month intervals (which sounds fine to me). It also has some photos:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...-east-liberty-transportation-center.html

This picture...

http://bizj.us/y1k9r/i/2

lol

[Austinlee]

There's lawyers floating down the river...

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/body-found-allegheny-river-north-shore/ngSWf/?ref=cbTopWidget

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

This picture...

They failed to mention it can actually make that change Transformers-style, on the off chance Bloomfield comes seeking lebensraum.

[popstar]

Anyone know where the "sliver of land" on Penn Circle, mentioned in this article, is located?

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6353617-74/bill-allow-armory#axzz35n5HrUC2

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/pr...owntown-depends-on-symmetry-between.html

Future growth downtown depends on symmetry between new construction, preservation of historic building stock



Art Ziegler knows well the tensions that arise from the conflict between those who would preserve the city’s historical architecture and the factions that desire new construction.

That dynamic between the old and new is playing out downtown at the intersection of Wood Street and Forbes Avenue, where Ziegler’s Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is restoring historic storefronts of cast iron, pillar and masonry while the rounded glass frame of the 30-story Tower at PNC Plaza rises above them.

“In the original plan we submitted to the city when we were in the battle with (then-Mayor) Tom Murphy, we said ...

...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by popstar

Anyone know where the "sliver of land" on Penn Circle, mentioned in this article, is located?

This is the description in the bill:

10(b) Description.--The property to be conveyed pursuant to
11subsection (a) consists of approximately .0473 acres more or
12less and all improvements thereon, being more particularly
13bounded and described as follows:
14All that certain parcel of ground situate in the 11th Ward,
15City of Pittsburgh, County of Allegheny, and Commonwealth of
16Pennsylvania, being a portion of lands within the right of way
17of Penn Circle East, an 85 foot public right of way, being more
18fully described herewith:
19Beginning at a point on the westerly right of way line of
20Penn Circle East, where the same is intersected by the northerly
21line of Penn Avenue, a 100 foot public right of way, said point
22also being the southeast corner of lands now or formerly of
23Stanley S. Chen, thence along the westerly right of way line of
24Penn Circle East North 26 degrees 11 minutes 00 seconds East for
25a distance of 144.96 feet to a point on the southerly line of
26Kirkwood Street, a 40 foot public right of way; thence by a line
27through Penn Circle East for the following seven courses and
28distances: First- South 63 degrees 40 minutes 40 seconds East
29for a distance of 15.75 feet; Second - South 26 degrees 11
30minutes 00 seconds West for a distance of 22.00 feet; Third -

-6-

1North 63 degrees 49 minutes 00 seconds West for a distance of
21.00 feet; Fourth - South 26 degrees 42 minutes 40 Seconds West
3for a distance of 97.41 feet; Fifth - South 30 degrees 39
4minutes 30 seconds West for a distance of 20.06 feet; Sixth - by
5the arc of a circle curving to the right with a radius of 6.00
6feet for an arc distance of 8.97 feet; Seventh - North 63
7degrees 40 minutes 40 seconds West for a distance of 6.29 feet
8to a point, said point being the intersection of the westerly
9right of way line of Penn Circle East and the northerly line of
10Penn Avenue, the place of beginning.

I believe that may be the narrow strip of open land between Yen's and Centre (as it is now known), with the purpose being to fold it into the combined corner parcel on which Alphabet City wants to build their new building:

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/pr...owntown-depends-on-symmetry-between.html

I can't read the whole article (paywall), but I will just point out there is a potential logical problem here. If in any given era you simply split the difference between historic preservation and new buildings, then as one era follows the next your oldest stock will be down to 1/2, then 1/4, then 1/8, then 1/16, and so on, until essentially nothing is left.

That doesn't mean there is not a need for a policy that accommodates both historic preservation and new buildings, but I don't like terms such as "symmetry" to the extent they would allow such a gradual attrition. What you really need is a long-term plan about what is worth keeping and what areas can be redeveloped, and if you are approaching a point where the areas you have designated for redevelopment are going to run out, then you need to be thinking about expanding to entirely new areas, with whatever infrastructure and other improvements are necessary to support that expansion.

Fortunately, Downtown is not really at the point there are no more clear opportunities for redevelopment. And even more fortunately, we have plenty of opportunities for expanding Downtown, such as into the North Shore, Near Strip, Lower Hill, and South Shore. Given that context, I am again very resistant to the notion of some sort of thoughtless "symmetry" Downtown, because we have already lost way too many buildings of significant historic value to gradual (and sometimes not so gradual) attrition.

[Evergrey]

finally... new development coming to the strategically-located yet gap-toothed Uptown

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6358076-74/fifth-parking-avenue

Apartments planned on Fifth Avenue in Hill District

A seven-story, 74-unit apartment complex is planned on what is now a parking lot on Fifth Avenue in the city's Hill District.

Castlebrook Development, Downtown, has agreed to buy the five-lot tract, from 1625 to 1641 Fifth Ave., to build the $14 million project.

The building will contain 52 interior parking spaces and about 30 interior bicycle parking pads, said Pat Nardelli, a partner.

Nardelli said the successful conversion of the former Fifth Avenue High School into 65 loft apartments encouraged him to pursue his project.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...o-bring-new-condo-project-to-strips.html

Benoff ready to bring new condo project to Strip's residential mix

A few years after successfully completing his Otto Milk residential development project, Jack Benoff is preparing to develop a new condo property across Smallman Street in the Strip District.

Benoff’s suburban Philadelphia-based Solara Ventures LLC has assembled three properties in the 2500 block of Smallman Street on which he plans to build a condo project of 35 to 40 units along with a parking deck of 50 spaces. He estimated the project will cost between $8 million and $9 million to build.

Working again with Shadyside-based Indovina Associates Architects, which designed Otto Milk, Benoff expects to present his plan to the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment later this month. He hopes to get approval by the end of the summer and begin construction by the end of the year. The presale process for the development, which will be marketed by Kathy Wallace, of RE/MAX Select, who also sold the units at Otto Milk.

While Pittsburgh has seen a healthy growth in apartment development, Benoff sees little that has changed with the city’s dearth of condos since he began Otto Milk nearly eight years ago and succeeded in selling all of its more than 50 units, with only its penthouse remaining available.

“People are going to continue to think I’m crazy,” said Benoff. He describes it as “a somewhat embarrassing” when people call him Pittsburgh’s biggest condo developer.

...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

finally... new development coming to the strategically-located yet gap-toothed Uptown

Awesome. Hopefully this is a big success and it is followed by a dozen or so more in that area.

[BrianTH]

Benoff ready to bring new condo project to Strip's residential mix

Also great. I love this sort of thing:

Comparable to the approach he took with Otto Milk, Benoff plans to take a five-story redbrick building on the corner of 25th Street and erect a new building that will be grafted onto it, putting the core of the building and the elevator shaft between them, offering buyers a choice between an old building conversion with exposed brick and wood beam ceilings on one side or completely new construction on the other.

By the way, one thing these projects have in common is the developers are providing their own on site parking. At yet somehow doing residential on the North Shore right next to a freakin' T station requires the public to pay for another parking garage.

Curious, that.

[photoLith]

Its about freaking time someone starts to build new stuff that isnt public housing in Uptown.

[Brentsters]

Would that be across the street from the luxury City Home project? Between the under development projects (those two plus the big Oxford one) plus the recent projects (Cork, Otto Milk, Lot 24) there's a pretty big residential cluster happening.

edit: I didn't read the story. It already explains that...duh

[Wave]

Below is the google maps link to what i believe is the lot in question. This is great news. That's a critical stretch and its great to see a project of this magnitude in the uptown corridor. Hopefully this will create some additional momentum in that neighborhood. Ideally over time we will see significant infill while preserving the character and as much of the remaining elegant and impressive 19th century victorian row homes in the neighborhood. Much of that neighborhood has been gradually decimated over the past 10-20 years due to property owners destroying the architectural heritage of the neighborhood primarily to install despicable and often uneeded surface parking (including the site of the aforementioned residential development). Great news overall, hopefully we will get contexual design that can coexsist with the existing housing stock.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.438447,-...3m4!1e1!3m2!1scjojR6hFru-ZTJl-AADIMg!2e0

Originally Posted by Evergrey

finally... new development coming to the strategically-located yet gap-toothed Uptown

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6358076-74/fifth-parking-avenue

[Zachary R. English]

Mildly interesting article about the demand for, and relative lack of, "luxury" properties in the city. I have noticed that many new condo and apartment projects consist mainly of one-bedroom units, which I think is odd.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/gold-rush-in-the-steel-city-1403821685

As for the new construction on Fifth Ave Uptown, I'm ecstatic. I live here. There are so many open lots (a full 1/4 of Uptown is surface parking lots) that are just begging for new construction. But there is a lot of stuff going on here lately, mostly very quiet. The two new ACTION housing buildings on Fifth Ave, a ton of demolition of derelict properties, rehabbing of 9 homes on Forbes between Jumonville and Seneca, and many other smaller rehab jobs. Almost every day I see something along these lines being started. And while there were at least a dozen properties for sale here at any given time last year, there are none anymore.

[BrianTH]

Courtesy of Chris Briem--this is potentially a very big deal:

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/06/18/variable-meter-parking-rates-coming-to-pittsburgh/

As pointed out in that article, dynamic pricing of parking can increase revenues, increase utilization, and actually making parking easier to find. But it will need a good app--and CMU is on the case.