PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by photoLith

So I dont get it, im trying to find out where these tiny houses are and cant find any, have they actually built any in Pittsburgh yet?

Plenty of existing ones to go around, but I'm sure you get around enough to know this.

Admittedly, they aren't common in fashionable neighborhoods though. There was a cute one on the market in Troy Hill a few months back for $35,000 though.

[themaguffin]

It seems like every other week, tiny houses become a big discussion here... might I suggest a separate thread dedicated to it. I don't see it as relevant to this thread. I could see if it were a part of something else or if didn't resurface as much as it does, but it seems to merit it's own thread (no I don't plan to start a thread - I'm only suggesting those who want to have extended conservations about it that it should have its own dedicated space).

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

It seems like every other week, tiny houses become a big discussion here... might I suggest a separate thread dedicated to it. I don't see it as relevant to this thread. I could see if it were a part of something else or if didn't resurface as much as it does, but it seems to merit it's own thread (no I don't plan to start a thread - I'm only suggesting those who want to have extended conservations about it that it should have its own dedicated space).

I don't think we should attempt to censor what people can talk about here. The Tiny House phenomenon has obviously generated a lot of interest... for and against... among our community. The topic is certainly relevant to urban development discussion.

If not interested in Tiny Houses, I would suggest instead to merely ignore posts pertaining to the topic. You could even attempt to divert conversation to a topic more agreeable to you instead of further calling attention to Tiny Houses with a negative post.

[themaguffin]

I'm not trying to censor anything. I'm not saying don't discuss it. I'm just suggesting that if something that is relatively off topic is becoming such a significant topic, then a thread makes sense. Yes, we all meander off topic. I only bring this up because of the extended interest.

I was afraid of this being called out as simply being negative on the topic, but again my point is the length of a relatively irrelevant topic to this thread. I could be more blunt in saying that this a lot of talk about a style of home rather than development and infrastructure etc, but I was simply making a suggestion.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...tialbuildings-getting-new-names-new.html

2 major residential buildings getting new names, new look

A new owner introduced new names for two of the city’s biggest apartment properties -- and is working on a new look for them as well.

After buying Washington Plaza in December 2012 and the apartments at Allegheny Center in late February, the ownership group of Faros Residential hosted a meet-and-greet Tuesday morning at the Omni William Penn, kicking off a new marketing push for their $100 million-plus combined investment in both properties.

Led by managing partners Alexander and Jeremy Leventhal and Elliott Gould, Faros is in the process of renovating both properties, renaming the I.M. Pei-designed Washington Plaza as City View, after its hill-elevated perch above downtown Pittsburgh, and the 800-plus-unit Allegheny Center as Park View, after the surrounding greenery of Allegheny Commons.

A newcomer to apartments but with deep roots in real estate overall, the New York-based company paid $48.05 million for Washington Plaza and $44.9 million for the apartments at Allegheny Center. It's one of the largest owners of apartments in the city, if not the largest.

...

[BrianTH]

I'm pretty sure I am mostly (entirely?) responsible for the repeat discussions of Tiny Houses here.

The thing is, I thought it was on topic as "development" news. All this is in reference to CityLab's Tiny House project, which I would think qualifies as a land development project in a really straightforward way: they are building a new structure on a specific plot of land. The reason I find it more interesting than most SFH projects is that this is intended as a pilot/learning project, which then may be scaled up into a lot more projects, perhaps specifically concentrated in Garfield. If that happens I would not necessarily be interested in tracking all of the individual projects, but I do think it is worth tracking this pilot project to see if this idea might take off on a neighborhood, or broader, scale.

So I don't really care either way, but in my mind, aside from the scale of the structure involved, this was the same sort of thing as periodically discussing Bakery Square, or PNC Tower, or so on.

[bevansr]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Puking in my mouth:

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6508038-74/million-route-county#axzz38oVj9rKl



A shiny new Beltway! Greenfield development! Aspirations straight from the 1980s!

I would like to know where they are getting that projected number of drivers to use that beltway. 20,000 motorists a day?! Because they were SO accurate on the initial piece going from the airport to Rt.22...I do not understand how they feel this stretch will improve congestion whatsoever on Parkway West..

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...tialbuildings-getting-new-names-new.html

While both apartment complexes are already well over 90 percent occupied, the company is bringing back to the market Building Seven at Allegheny Center, a 220-unit apartment complex that has been empty since 2006 when it stopped being used as the residences of the students of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, which established other housing downtown.

Gould said the newly revamped building will offer new appliances, finishes and other amenities in its apartments while still offering rents that will make it a lower cost alternative. Studios in the newly available building are expected to rent for $625 per month.

That sounds like a pretty big deal to me!

I actually like the new names, incidentally.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by bevansr

I would like to know where they are getting that projected number of drivers to use that beltway. 20,000 motorists a day?! Because they were SO accurate on the initial piece going from the airport to Rt.22...I do not understand how they feel this stretch will improve congestion whatsoever on Parkway West..

I could've sworn the last time I read about the Southern Porkway link from Southpointe to the Airport a couple months ago... the article stated 7,500 motorists a day.

found it...

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6088290-74/beltway-southern-million

When the second leg of the Southern Beltway opens in five years, the Pennsylvania Turnpike will have spent $788 million to build 19 miles of highway that it anticipates just 7,500 motorists will use daily.

As usual, the sprawl-drunk anachronisms that run SPC are lying to us to support their outdated and wasteful agenda.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by bevansr

I would like to know where they are getting that projected number of drivers to use that beltway. 20,000 motorists a day?! Because they were SO accurate on the initial piece going from the airport to Rt.22.

One of my favorite charts these days is variations on this one, showing how the USDOT keeps stubbornly resetting its predictions of steady VMT growth, despite consistent shortfalls:

http://www.planetizen.com/node/68704



But it is not actually their fault--they just aggregate the state DOTs:

http://daily.sightline.org/2013/12/23/traffic-forecast-follies/

I'm pretty sure PennDOT has been doing its share. So we are going to blow hundreds of millions in this case, many billions nationwide, on highway expansion projects being justified with a traffic prediction approach that is demonstrably broken.

[Steel City Scotty]

I'm guessing those residential units in Allegheny Center that are discussed in the article don't include the two twin L-shaped towers on the north side of the square.

If I recall correctly, someone posted on here several months ago saying they had heard from a source that both of those large towers are structurally deficient and unsafe, with one being sparsely populated and the other being entirely vacant.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...tialbuildings-getting-new-names-new.html

I swear to god I'm half tempted to change my avatar in response to the awful dirty gray paint job of Washington Plaza. What the hell?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Steel City Scotty

I'm guessing those residential units in Allegheny Center that are discussed in the article don't include the two twin L-shaped towers on the north side of the square. If I recall correctly, someone posted on here several months ago saying they had heard from a source that both of those large towers are structurally deficient and unsafe, with one being sparsely populated and the other being entirely vacant.

I vaguely recall that too, but I thought Building 7 was actually the easternmost of those two.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by photoLith

So I dont get it, im trying to find out where these tiny houses are and cant find any, have they actually built any in Pittsburgh yet?

There exists a tiny house inside all of us.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

There exists a tiny house inside all of us.

http://youtu.be/NhjSzjoU7OQ

[GeneW]

There are tiny houses here on the North Side already. Walk around the alleys in the War Streets or Allegheny West and you find some very small houses that were probably built for servants back in the Gilded Age. A friend of mine lived in one on Filson Street that was basically one room on the first floor and one bedroom and a bath on the second.

[BrianTH]

So the City and UPMC have dropped the litigation over UPMC's tax status, and instead are talking about UPMC funding affordable residential development:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...-city-dropped-upmc-lawsuit.html?page=all

Peduto said the city’s future relationship with UPMC will go beyond a simple payment in lieu of taxes initiative, a tool the city has used with nonprofits in the past with varying degrees of success. Instead, the administration sees a more comprehensive agreement, which could include affordable residential housing that could benefit some UPMC employees. The city could support such a project through the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, he said. “That’s where the conversations are headed,” Peduto said.

That could be cool.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

So the City and UPMC have dropped the litigation over UPMC's tax status, and instead are talking about UPMC funding affordable residential development:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...-city-dropped-upmc-lawsuit.html?page=all



That could be cool.

Perhaps this could be tied in with the Tiny Houses initiative.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Perhaps this could be tied in with the Tiny Houses initiative.

Not enough room for a giant corporate logo.

[BrianTH]

Speaking of "tiny" buildings, this is a nice piece on the preservation of the Skinny Building:

http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/t...y-downtown-structure/Content?oid=1768464