PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by TBone7281

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

Besides just serving as a place where "old guys fish, crusties camp out, and teenagers smoke weed at lunchtime", don't forget about the loud, drunken, group bum sex that occurs there nightly... or at least used to. An ex-girlfriend lived in that motel-looking apartment complex on the river... I heard the primal moans and saucy homeless dirty talk coming out from under the 9th St. Bridge on numerous steamy Pittsburgh nights. Hilarious and soooo HOT

[Private Dick]

Perkins+Will is top-notch -- I had the pleasure of working with them in DC. Working with them for only one week dramatically broadened and altered my understanding of good urban design.

We are seeing the tide beginning to turn in Pittsburgh... lots of recent projects with average to terrible design. Now with Forest City on Station Square East and P+W on Almono, we are going to start seeing smart, innovative, and inspiring design (confidently optimistic).

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Besides just serving as a place where "old guys fish, crusties camp out, and teenagers smoke weed at lunchtime", don't forget about the loud, drunken, group bum sex that occurs there nightly... or at least used to. An ex-girlfriend lived in that motel-looking apartment complex on the river... I heard the primal moans and saucy homeless dirty talk coming out from under the 9th St. Bridge on numerous steamy Pittsburgh nights. Hilarious and soooo HOT

When the riverfront trail was actually open, I would jog from 24th St. down to the point and back before work. (So around 5:30 AM or so, usually.) It was quite the obstacle course.

[AaronPGH]

Really good news on the Almono site. I'd heard some rumblings that they were going to take the plan under the microscope to improve it. I'm guessing this is the result. It would be really great to see the big three projects (Buncher, Forest, Almono) try to compete with each other a bit – outdo each other. They all serve slightly different purposes, but I'd imagine that some potential tenants will be comparing them all to make a decision.

[Evergrey]

I like that they're looking at making Almono 'more urban'.

[chiaroscuro]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Perkins+Will is top-notch -- I had the pleasure of working with them in DC. Working with them for only one week dramatically broadened and altered my understanding of good urban design.

We are seeing the tide beginning to turn in Pittsburgh... lots of recent projects with average to terrible design. Now with Forest City on Station Square East and P+W on Almono, we are going to start seeing smart, innovative, and inspiring design (confidently optimistic).

Their stuff looks great.

Rather see them do the Strip and arena sites.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by chiaroscuro

Their stuff looks great.

Rather see them do the Strip and arena sites.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Hazelwood is off the beaten path. The other two are much more important IMO.

[BrianTH]

The Hazelwood site is huge, at least. I also think with the new Station Square plan, South Side Works coming along, and maybe the Carrie Furnace site down the road, eventually the Mon is going to be a big deal.

[ShooFlyPie]

Hazelwood isn't really off the beaten path as much as it feels. Past the Hot Metal Street Bridge there is just a vast amount of brownfield along the river front and a desolate empty Irvine street that resembles the 1980s rust belt. This will practically connect Hazelwood with the Southside Works if done correctly, and a new Boulevard from 2nd Ave to Hazelwood could easily make Hazelwood connected to the South Side. Decent public transit would make Hazelwood a quick connection to Squirrel Hill/South Side/Downtown/Oakland. Last but not least connect the Jail trail the Duck Hollow trail, to Nine Mile Run to access Frick and Regent square by bike without having to connect up through Squirrel hill. Hazelwood won't feel so much off the beaten path anymore and connected to all the vibrant neighborhoods of the city.

[East72nd]

Pittsburgh really doesn't have much worthwhile/noteworthy development. If all the folks in Pittsburgh get excited about is some new second class bank building its no wonder people did and should still call the Burgh Hell with the lid off.

[BrianTH]

Fun story--"hell with the lid taken off" was actually a compliment in its original context, an 1868 travelogue by James Parton for the Atlantic Monthly:

http://antirust.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/09/pittsburgh_hell.html

The relevant passage:

There is one evening scene in Pittsburg which no visitor should miss.
Owing to the abruptness of the hill behind the town, there is a street
along the edge of the bluff, from which you can look directly down upon
the part of the city which lies low, near the level of the rivers. On
the evening of this dark day, we were conducted to the edge of the
abyss, and looked over the iron railing upon the most striking spectacle we
ever beheld ... It is an unprofitable business, view-hunting; but if
any one would enjoy a spectacle as striking as Niagara, he may do so by
simply walking up a long hill to Cliff Street in Pittsburg, and looking
over into -- hell with the lid taken off.

This interesting discussion by Martin Aurand also notes that Parton was likely reacting in part to the distinctive topography of Pittsburgh:

http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/200...-City/stories/200612050193#ixzz0RtrfumVa

Within the local Appalachian Plateau, "all the hills and stream divides rise to about the same elevation, the sky line as viewed from a hilltop appearing like that of a flat plain." Thus the hills are not really hills; it's the valleys and the hollows that are real, voids in the solid of the overarching plateau. . . . When James Parton, writing in the Atlantic Monthly in 1868, famously called industrialized Pittsburgh "Hell with the lid taken off," his prose was shaped not only by the prevailing fire and smoke of the city's ironworks, but also by his specific viewpoint, looking "over into" a valley that he perceived as an abyss. Elsewhere in his essay, Parton writes of the "deep chasm in which Pittsburgh lies," as "at the bottom of an excavation."

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by East72nd

Pittsburgh really doesn't have much worthwhile/noteworthy development. If all the folks in Pittsburgh get excited about is some new second class bank building its no wonder people did and should still call the Burgh Hell with the lid off.

Do everyone here a favor and stick to your NYC threads, dude. Nobody wants your demeaning, useless comments around here.

Thank you.

[BrianTH]

Just a reminder to check out The Gardens webcam periodically if you are interested. I believe they are starting to build out the highest (office) portion, with a few more floors to go:

http://oxblue.com/open/TheGardens

Rendering for comparison:



In person, to me it is starting to feel pretty massive. It may not be all that tall, but it really seems to occupy a lot of volume.

[hyperion1110]

Originally Posted by East72nd

Pittsburgh really doesn't have much worthwhile/noteworthy development. If all the folks in Pittsburgh get excited about is some new second class bank building its no wonder people did and should still call the Burgh Hell with the lid off.

Yeah, well your city smells funny.

[Minivan Werner]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Do everyone here a favor and stick to your NYC threads, dude. Nobody wants your demeaning, useless comments around here.

Thank you.

He appears to spend more time in Cleveland & Buffalo threads, which is even more curious.

[BrianTH]

For the record, I've visited NYC many times and pretty much always enjoyed it. It is a big, exciting, iconic city.

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by East72nd

Pittsburgh really doesn't have much worthwhile/noteworthy development. If all the folks in Pittsburgh get excited about is some new second class bank building its no wonder people did and should still call the Burgh @#!*% with the lid off.

You mean the fifth largest bank in the nation building the greenest skyscraper ever?

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Do everyone here a favor and stick to your NYC threads, dude. Nobody wants your demeaning, useless comments around here.

Thank you.

East72nd is a Clevelander.

[daviderik]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

East72nd is a Clevelander.

Seems to have a inferiority complex. Has to downgrade another to feel superior. Cleveland is a great city with much to offer and great potential. Much Like Pittsburgh. The writer set off to elicit a nasty reaction. All I offer is pride in my city and pride in a quote I have been using since I joined this forum.

[Fortunate4Now]

^^ Indeed. You would think his childish statement was coming from some bitter sunbelt transplant.