PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Austinlee]

Paris one of four Alpha World Cities is temporarily cutting car traffic by half and making public transit free:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0884b5d12...it-air-pollution-spike-halves-cars-roads

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Do you have a link for that bus tracker?

http://truetime.portauthority.org/bustime/eta/eta.jsp

There are also third party apps using the data, but after playing around with them a bit we ended up largely sticking to the Port Authority's website version.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

http://truetime.portauthority.org/bustime/eta/eta.jsp

There are also third party apps using the data, but after playing around with them a bit we ended up largely sticking to the Port Authority's website version.

If you are an Android family, my buddy from SF is in beta test mode of porting his really popular "Quicky" app over from San Francisco to Pittsburgh (we're second!), and it is by far the best transit app I've used. I can get you a beta test link. Been using it religiously.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

If you are an Android family, my buddy from SF is in beta test mode of porting his really popular "Quicky" app over from San Francisco to Pittsburgh (we're second!), and it is by far the best transit app I've used. I can get you a beta test link. Been using it religiously.

That would be great! Both my wife and I individually use it at least a couple times a work day, and would certainly love a better phone version.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

If you are an Android family, my buddy from SF is in beta test mode of porting his really popular "Quicky" app over from San Francisco to Pittsburgh (we're second!), and it is by far the best transit app I've used. I can get you a beta test link. Been using it religiously.

I would Aaron but I simply never use public transit anymore. I have a job that requires driving all over the city.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by TBone7281

Stank ass people

[Urbana]

Here is a rendering I found of the new CMU Tepper Quad. The website indicates that work will begin this summer and be completed in fall of 2018.





Image source and project website:
http://tepper.cmu.edu/who-we-are/tepper-quad

[BrianTH]

Looks like the South Hills Village TOD project is almost ready to move forward:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/...lls-Village-Station/stories/201503230013

Developers hope to break ground in August for a 300-unit upscale apartment complex next to the Port Authority’s South Hills Village parking garage. . . . The development would have one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in four buildings, each four stories tall. They would surround a courtyard with a pool and clubhouse. Rents would range from about $1,200 per month to $2,400 per month, Mr. Pope said. . . .

The apartment complex will have a 203-space parking lot near the buildings and take 250 spaces in the adjacent garage, which opened in 2005 but remains more than half-empty on a typical day. The complex will have covered and outdoor connections to the garage and Light Rail Transit station there. Residents also will be within walking distance of South Hills Village mall. “We’re creating a downtown neighborhood at the South Hills Village Station,” Mr. Pope said. . . .

No public money is being used to finance the development, Mr. Cetra said. Construction will take about two years and the developers hope to have it ready for occupancy in the spring of 2017.

I'd have serious problems with the site plan if this was a City project, but out there--I am OK with it.

[BrianTH]

A few more details on the Zombie-Chic 5500 Baum project:

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8018373-74/building-moshier-space#axzz3VCtTMlkZ

Gary Moshier of Moshier Studio said the apartments would be geared toward young professionals and entrepreneurs. The building will feature conference and office-type space, he said. “The amenities would be geared toward shared work space rather than a swimming pool and party space,” Moshier said, adding that the rooftop and interior courtyard would offer areas to gather and relax.

Moshier said the building will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. He said rents are expected to average between $1,200 and $2,000 a month. The developers hope to begin demolition in April, construction in June and open the apartments by summer 2016, Moshier said.

I find it is interesting they are doing more shared work space than recreational amenities, but I like it--seems to me it fits in with the idea of Greater East Liberty becoming part of a "tech corridor".

[BrianTH]

PNC Tower is 80% done and on track for fall completion:

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/7991821-74/pnc-percent-tower#axzz3VCtTMlkZ

But this is the most interesting part of the article to me:

PNC is holding a media event Tuesday in Green Tree, where it has a 1,200-square-foot replica tower that it used to test technology and design elements of the skyscraper before rolling them out on a larger scale in Downtown. The “mock-up” was built in 2013.

Whose yard is that going to end up in?

[TBone7281]

They are breaking ground on the Civic Arena redevelopment site today. Sort of.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/03/2...ecting-of-the-hill-district-to-downtown/

[Urbana]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

PNC Tower is 80% done and on track for fall completion:

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/7991821-74/pnc-percent-tower#axzz3VCtTMlkZ

But this is the most interesting part of the article to me:



Whose yard is that going to end up in?

By my (rough) calculations, it should be about 20 ft tall. That is pretty darn cool.

[Private Dick]

With this and the Village Green development just up the street, we're actually starting to get somewhere in terms of unique/functional design.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Whose yard is that going to end up in?

I heard a rumor that it would be donated to the National Building Museum in DC. Only a rumor though... I have a hard time believing PNC wouldn't want to keep it in Pittsburgh... maybe even in the lobby?

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

With this and the Village Green development just up the street, we're actually starting to get somewhere in terms of unique/functional design.





?

Love it!

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Love it!

Kinda reminds me of this guy in Oakland:

[eschaton]

Catching up on posts from over the weekend...

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I don't know exactly when, but I do think it is inevitable that at some point Lincoln-Lemington will get pulled into the East End redevelopment vortex. The key, of course, is downtown East Liberty--it is is already amazing what has happened there, and yet it still has so much more potential. It is truly like a whole new (although really old) small city is being developed there, such that it is also going to support its own "suburbs", and that is what places like Larimer and (I believe) Lincoln-Lemington inevitably are going to become.

IMHO Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar will be the second to last neighborhood in that part of the East End to recover (East Hills will be the last). Homewood is favored to recover first. Homewood might be more blighted, but it has better transit infrastructure and more of its mixed-use buildings still survive. The housing stock is a bit grander as well, which eventually will draw interest.

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Bryant St. mixed-use development in Highland Park on Wednesday.

6 townhouses with what looks to be about 4000 sq ft of ground floor retail. Bryant St. has potential, but it's a clumsy mix of structures -- many of them awful. This project will help. Strange that it hasn't been more of a solid, successful business district over the years, considering that the neighborhood has always had a solid middle to upper-middle class of residents.

I dunno what is going in there, but I heard from someone on one of the Highland Park community groups the retail space is not fitted for restaurants, so it certainly won't be that. But considering Bryant Street already has Joseph Tambellini, Park Place Pub, Park Bruges, Teppanyaki Tokyo, E2, Smiling Banana Leaf, and Taza D'Oro, it might not need any more right now.

As weird as it sounds, Bryant Street apparently always sucked. It was originally chosen back in the day as the place where the old streetcar lines which went down Highland and Negley looped around. It never really developed into its own because people just used the streetcar to go into East Liberty when they needed to shop. I'm not exactly sure, however, why it didn't "densify" the same way the same way that other accessory business districts in the area (Walnut, South Aiken, Ellsworth, etc) did in the early 20th century. Still, many of those vacant lots really never had much of anything on them - other than old frame houses which weren't storefronts.

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Love it!

Looking at the close up images, I'm not so sure how I feel about the grey brick being the main facade element. A building that modern looking shouldn't be relying upon brick, IMHO. Brick should be only used on buildings where it provides the illusion of being a structural material.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I dunno what is going in there, but I heard from someone on one of the Highland Park community groups the retail space is not fitted for restaurants, so it certainly won't be that. But considering Bryant Street already has Joseph Tambellini, Park Place Pub, Park Bruges, Teppanyaki Tokyo, E2, Smiling Banana Leaf, and Taza D'Oro, it might not need any more right now.

As weird as it sounds, Bryant Street apparently always sucked. It was originally chosen back in the day as the place where the old streetcar lines which went down Highland and Negley looped around. It never really developed into its own because people just used the streetcar to go into East Liberty when they needed to shop. I'm not exactly sure, however, why it didn't "densify" the same way the same way that other accessory business districts in the area (Walnut, South Aiken, Ellsworth, etc) did in the early 20th century. Still, many of those vacant lots really never had much of anything on them - other than old frame houses which weren't storefronts.

I think it's a mistake not to have at least one restaurant (of some type) in any new mixed-used building that contains residential. Most of the restaurants on Bryant are moderately-priced to higher end. It would be good to have a deli/cafe type of place to generate activity with a current of customers and outdoor seating. Taza is just coffee and pastries and Bryant St. Market is really just a convenience store with some extra grocery/deli items... that will make you a sandwich, but not be terribly thrilled about doing it. The rest are all pricier sit-down spots.

And right, it makes sense that nearby E. Liberty would have been the business district of the day, but one would think that Bryant would have developed a bit more as a "safe haven from E. Liberty... since that area was not much of a shopping district at all throughout the 80s and 90s. I'm sure a lot of Highland Park residents just drove across the river to Waterworks instead. It's just surprising that even though Highland Park has been overall pretty solid with families with disposable income, nothing really happened on Bryant throughout the 80s, 90s, 00s and it still is pretty damn shabby looking.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

I think it's a mistake not to have at least one restaurant (of some type) in any new mixed-used building that contains residential. Most of the restaurants on Bryant are moderately-priced to higher end. It would be good to have a deli/cafe type of place to generate activity with a current of customers and outdoor seating. Taza is just coffee and pastries and Bryant St. Market is really just a convenience store with some extra grocery/deli items... that will make you a sandwich, but not be terribly thrilled about doing it. The rest are all pricier sit-down spots.

My understanding is the locals really wanted a pizza place. You can get pizza of course at Park Place Pub and Park Bruges, but there's a desire for a more casual place you can get pizza by the slice and take your kids into. That said, the new building is not designed with commercial range hoods in mind, meaning it cannot have a kitchen.

Originally Posted by Private Dick

And right, it makes sense that nearby E. Liberty would have been the business district of the day, but one would think that Bryant would have developed a bit more as a "safe haven from E. Liberty... since that area was not much of a shopping district at all throughout the 80s and 90s. I'm sure a lot of Highland Park residents just drove across the river to Waterworks instead. It's just surprising that even though Highland Park has been overall pretty solid with families with disposable income, nothing really happened on Bryant throughout the 80s, 90s, 00s and it still is pretty damn shabby looking.

Yeah, I agree it's a bit odd it didn't fill in. A lot of East End business districts didn't really start being built out until the 1920s-1940s. Not just in Shadyside, but also Murray Avenue and the Center/Craig area in North Oakland - even Garfield west of Evaline.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

I heard a rumor that it would be donated to the National Building Museum in DC. Only a rumor though... I have a hard time believing PNC wouldn't want to keep it in Pittsburgh... maybe even in the lobby?

They could donate it to the O'Brien Center as a supercool dollhouse, which would actually fit their design theme:

http://www.studiomla.com/projects/pnc.php

The free-flowing, open floor plan is derived from an abstraction of Pittsburgh icons such as Fort Pitt, the three rivers and several bridges. . . .

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

IMHO Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar will be the second to last neighborhood in that part of the East End to recover (East Hills will be the last). Homewood is favored to recover first. Homewood might be more blighted, but it has better transit infrastructure and more of its mixed-use buildings still survive. The housing stock is a bit grander as well, which eventually will draw interest.

I agree much of Homewood is ahead in the line, and indeed it has already started to redevelop quite a bit around the Busway. However, I'm not sure it has to be a hard sequence--I think all this could be happening in parallel in a few years.

Looking at the close up images, I'm not so sure how I feel about the grey brick being the main facade element. A building that modern looking shouldn't be relying upon brick, IMHO. Brick should be only used on buildings where it provides the illusion of being a structural material.

I think it works as part of the Zombie-Chic aesthetic--it looks more organic, scaly, scabrous with grey brick than it would with a more continuous, sleek material.

Design inspiration: