PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Market Street Grocery will be opening soon in former Ciao Baby space.

I'm really curious to see what that is like. It is only 4600 sqft, and will include a wine bar, coffee bar, prepared foods and deli section, and seating. That wouldn't seem to leave much room for staple-type groceries, but on the other hand there are plenty of drug/convenience stores Downtown with at least decent-sized food sections. So maybe if they concentrate on fresh stuff like meat and produce you could actually approximate a visit to a larger grocery store with a couple stops.

And Strip District is on the same street grid as the Allegheny side of Downtown (Penn/Liberty). Strip feels disconnected due to swaths of surface parking controlled by Buncher between shopping area and convention center. Those lots will be developed soon.

I think 11th Street is a pretty notable break. Penn and Liberty bend there, and Smallman (which I guess would approximately line up with French) and the new Waterfront Place terminate there. The Convention Center and elevated railroad also basically serves as a huge looming barrier all the way between Penn and Fort Duquesne . . .

Smallman looking into the Strip:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.445819,-...3m4!1e1!3m2!1spYLPiO31jdG7B3BHYjEXUw!2e0

Versus same spot looking toward Downtown:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.445819,-...3m4!1e1!3m2!1spYLPiO31jdG7B3BHYjEXUw!2e0

What Waterfront will be looking at:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4463307,...3m4!1e1!3m2!1sx1o76Uq_w0r9E_mFgrjgrQ!2e0

That said, I agree you could help bridge that gap with better development on the Strip side.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

And Strip District is on the same street grid as the Allegheny side of Downtown (Penn/Liberty). Strip feels disconnected due to swaths of surface parking controlled by Buncher between shopping area and convention center. Those lots will be developed soon.

IIRC the original name for the lower part of the Strip District was Northern Liberties, which makes sense when you think about it. The upper Strip District and portions of Lower Lawrenceville were called Bayardstown.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

IIRC the original name for the lower part of the Strip District was Northern Liberties, which makes sense when you think about it. The upper Strip District and portions of Lower Lawrenceville were called Bayardstown.

Here is a quick discussion expanding on this topic:

http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/strip/strip_n4.html

And more here:

http://www.neighborsinthestrip.com/thestrip/thestrip.html

In 1814 property owners James O'Hara and George A. Bayard established a plan of lots encompassing the area now between 11th and 15th streets. Although officially named the "Northern Liberties of Pittsburgh," the area was commonly known as Bayardstown. In 1837 the Northern Liberties joined the city as Pittsburgh's Fifth Ward, the first addition to the city's original four wards.

I'd assume the "Northern Liberties" name would date to when it was used as common grazing land (that's the origin of East Liberty as I understand it). Liberty Avenue was called that in the 1784 George Woods survey map, so I would guess that usage had been well-established by then:

http://www.mapsofpa.com/pitts/1784fromhopkins.jpg

[BrianTH]

Roundup of upcoming riverfront developments from Riverlife:

http://www.riverlifepgh.org/blog/ten_upc...that_will_change_the_face_of_pittsburgh/

Mostly we are familiar with all this through individual discussions, but it is interesting to see it all in one place.

I found some of the public space news interesting as well. Briefly:

They are promising "significant progress" on the Mon Wharf Switchback and Point Park Connector, and it would be very nice to see those long-delayed projects completed. Blurb:

Project timeline: Riverlife plans to bid the Switchback for construction by early 2015 and is syncing project timelines with the bidding and construction of the Point State Park Connector, which is being overseen by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

They are talking about extending the North Shore riverfront plan from the Science Center to the West End Bridge--there is in fact a trail there which I have walked several times, but it could in fact use a refresh, and ultimately there is a lot of room for new development along there. However, they are just talking about planning work for now.

Finally, they want to do something under the Fort Duquesne Bridge ramps to make it more attractive--it is in fact a sort of desolate area, although I personally don't mind walking there either. Again, for now they are just talking about planning stuff, but here is a picture:

[photoLith]

That's sick. I always thought it would be sweet if they put some restaurant or something at the point or under those bridges, like a San Antonio river walk sort of situation. But I doubt that would ever happen but it would be cool.

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Finally, they want to do something under the Fort Duquesne Bridge ramps to make it more attractive--it is in fact a sort of desolate area, although I personally don't mind walking there either. Again, for now they are just talking about planning stuff, but here is a picture:

I wonder if this will just be a quick paint job or something. This area is always kind of dingy... there is usually mud and debris and stuff from when it floods.

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Finally, they want to do something under the Fort Duquesne Bridge ramps to make it more attractive--it is in fact a sort of desolate area, although I personally don't mind walking there either. Again, for now they are just talking about planning stuff, but here is a picture:

But where would old guys fish, crusties camp out, and teenagers smoke weed at lunchtime if that was built?

We must stop Riverlife from gentrifying our rivers. Do we really want another soulless bike sharing station?

[Austinlee]

Someone wrote a book about the Allegheny Riverfront Park.

http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Valkenburg...r=8-1&keywords=allegheny+riverfront+park

[BrianTH]

Nice article explaining why Trek was chosen to take over the Garden Theater redevelopment project, including a review of some of their other work:

http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/city-desig...m_term=0_aadbffa18f-b766e8ff26-159138873

[Austinlee]

I'm starting to think the Pittsburgh maglev train is not going to be built....


http://www.maglev.net/news/pittsburgh-maglev-project-would-create-2500-jobs

[Austinlee]

BTW, that was just a random aside to post a weird rendering I stumbled across today and didn't have any valid reason to post it.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

I'm starting to think the Pittsburgh maglev train is not going to be built....

Why the hell not?!

There's gotta be HUGE demand to zoom from downtown to a largely-empty airport at 300 mph to take a flight that doesn't exist! I just don't f-ing get it???

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Why the hell not?!

There's gotta be HUGE demand to zoom from downtown to a largely-empty airport at 300 mph to take a flight that doesn't exist! I just don't f-ing get it???

There are like 3 flights a year that leave PIT. I'm sure that warrants a Maglev.

[BrianTH]

Airport maglev was a joke, but the U.S. could have invested seriously in maglev and leapt ahead of other countries in terms of intercity travel service. Instead we are content to keep investing in old, inferior technologies--and not even that since 2010.

Oh well.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Airport maglev was a joke, but the U.S. could have invested seriously in maglev and leapt ahead of other countries in terms of intercity travel service. Instead we are content to keep investing in old, inferior technologies--and not even that since 2010.

Oh well.

Sorry, there's no money for transit or rebuilding our cities or to fix income inequality. Buuuut we do have a couple trillion dollars to start wars that will have absolutely no impact on anything.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Sorry, there's no money for transit or rebuilding our cities or to fix income inequality. Buuuut we do have a couple trillion dollars to start wars that will have absolutely no impact on anything.

Yep. In 2006, it was estimated a subway line from Downtown to Wilkinsburg would have cost about $2.5B:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~blelloch/spine.html

Spending that amount was widely considered inconceivable. But that was about three and half days of spending on the Iraq War as of 2007:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102074.html

I do have some hope for the future based on the fact that there is way less of an anti-city constituency among younger folks. But even if they do eventually change our priorities, it is likely going to take a while yet.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Yep. In 2006, it was estimated a subway line from Downtown to Wilkinsburg would have cost about $2.5B:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~blelloch/spine.html

Spending that amount was widely considered inconceivable. But that was about three and half days of spending on the Iraq War as of 2007:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102074.html

I do have some hope for the future based on the fact that there is way less of an anti-city constituency among younger folks. But even if they do eventually change our priorities, it is likely going to take a while yet.

Yes, us younger folks are returning to the city and building our lives here (As I did 6 months ago). Hopefully the numbers are strong and cities become the priority for spending for the next 30 years including transportation.

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

But where would old guys fish, crusties camp out, and teenagers smoke weed at lunchtime if that was built?

The same place they do now, under the Three Sisters.

[Austinlee]

Allegheny County IS growing. It has gained around 10,000 people in the last 4 years. My native Beaver County is still shrinking although only about 100 people per year.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/42003.html


EDIT: I just realized this is an estimate so take it with a grain of salt I guess.

[BrianTH]

The ALMONO site is getting an updated master plan:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...ainability-standard/stories/201412240110

A lot of the focus is on being more ambitious with green/sustainable elements. But this also sounds good:

Don Smith, president of the Regional Industrial Development Corp. which manages the site for Almono, said the firm will be looking for ways to add more mixed use into the development and to make it more urban in nature. Perkins and Will, hired last month at an undisclosed amount, will look at energy and water usage, storm water management, the carbon footprint created by the development, and building materials, Mr. Smith said. . . . He said one reason the firm was hired is that there was some concern, given the level of interest in the site, about whether “we were appropriately aspirational.”

“We didn’t want to just develop the site. We wanted to do it in a world class way,” he said. Mr. Smith said there also will be some tweaking of the master plan, which has been approved by the city planning commission, to make sure each part of the site more mixed use rather than segmented largely for office, residential or industrial.

But expectations may need to be kept modest:

Whether additional city approval is needed remains to be seen, he said. The goal isn’t to make dramatic changes. “I think a lot of the bones of the current plan we expect to remain,” he said. The proposed development would feature more than 2 million square feet of office and research and development space and as many as 1,200 units of housing. Mr. Smith doesn’t expect those numbers to “change radically” in the tune up of the master plan.

Still, any increase in the density of the development would be good, and going to more of a mixed-use model is also good.

Finally, they mention Perkins and Will's Dockside Greens in Vancouver as a possible model. It is pretty bad ass:

http://www.docksidegreen.com/

http://perkinswill.com/work/dockside-green.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dockside_Green

http://www.terrain.org/unsprawl/25/DocksideGreen_SitePlan.pdf