PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

CONNECT (a "congress" of the City and all its bordering municipalities, which also serves as a pretty good analog for what the City would look like if it was a more typical size) has passed a Complete Streets resolution:

http://bikepgh.org/2015/04/03/pittsburghs-connect-communities-pass-a-complete-streets-proclamation/

This is potentially useful both because there are a lot of smaller things those municipalities can do on their own that would benefit from coordination (e.g., bike lanes), and because in the bigger picture, a lot of access to state and federal funding runs up through units like Allegheny County (pop. about 1.2M) and the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission (pop. about 2.6M). The City alone (pop. about 305K) is only about 25% of the population of the County, and about 11.5% of the SPC. But CONNECT (pop. about 685K) is about 57% of Allegheny County, and 26% of the SPC. So when CONNECT speaks with a united voice, it can potentially have a lot more influence on plans for spending state and federal funds.

[Captain Crash]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

It would be great to see Allentown in a sustained upswing.

Of course something like this could potentially help . . .

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=ze0rDctypi6g.kFBJd_Lqp1xQ&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&z=13

Even if you didn't want to use that technology, there are lots of options to at least connect Allentown and the South Side Slopes better to the South Side Flats--inclines, for example, or public escalators. Here is one in Toledo, Spain:



There actually used to be an incline to the intersection of Warrington and Allentown, which ran up from Bradish between 11th and 12th:

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

http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?view=entry;cc=maps;entryid=x-003e1932

http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?view=entry;cc=maps;entryid=x-014e1934

Some sort of reliable, motorized conveyance like that for pedestrians and bikes could really do wonders.

Edit: looks like the space for the lower landing of the Knoxville Incline is still there. Compare:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.427173,-...3m4!1e1!3m2!1s2dBgBnzWIBYfL-wvSxULYw!2e0

With:



Bring back the Knoxville Incline!

Not too long ago, community volunteers did a nice job of turning parts of the old Knoxville Incline right of way into a park. Trails following its old path provide a fairly pleasant way to come down the hill or connect to Welsh Way (one of the 13 steepest city streets and part of the annual 'Dirty Dozen' bike race). There's some cool remains in place from the Incline, including some big stone retaining walls that created a sort of channel for the tracks to lay in. Decent skyline overlook there too.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by GeneW

(Oy, the comments after that article though).

I comfort myself with the thought that the same sorts of people have made the same sorts of comments about Lawrenceville, East Liberty, and so on. Those people don't understand anything about these areas, or about urban redevelopment in general, and their snarking from the sidelines ultimately doesn't matter.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

Not too long ago, community volunteers did a nice job of turning parts of the old Knoxville Incline right of way into a park. Trails following its old path provide a fairly pleasant way to come down the hill or connect to Welsh Way (one of the 13 steepest city streets and part of the annual 'Dirty Dozen' bike race). There's some cool remains in place from the Incline, including some big stone retaining walls that created a sort of channel for the tracks to lay in. Decent skyline overlook there too.

I saw the park on some maps--I'll have to check it out!

[BrianTH]

Wallace's Taproom, the name of the Prohibition-themed restaurant going into the Hotel Indigo, is going to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner:

http://www.ihg.com/hotelindigo/hotels/us/en/pittsburgh/pithb/hoteldetail/dining

That seems like a useful addition to the restaurant lineup in East Liberty.

[eschaton]

Nice seeing the news about Allentown. A guy affiliated with The Hardware Store just bought my old house in Lawrenceville, and was talking my ear off about how the area is primed for a comeback.

That said, I don't really think East Warrington is the crown jewel business district of the Southern Hilltop. It's only 3-4 blocks long (depending upon if you're counting the blocks north or south of Warrington) and there's not a single block that's intact. Or at least, that has a cohesive street wall without breaks - it may be that like Bryant Street in Highland Park, it simply never filled in.

The focus of a Southern Hilltop revival should be Brownsville through Knoxville and Mount Oliver. It's a significantly larger and more intact business district, and within a few blocks you find the nicest housing stock in the entire Southern Hilltop (Knoxville in particular looks like a run-down Highland Park in places). That said, the geography is admittedly worse, and this area is in free-fall in terms of property values, where Allentown seems to have stabilized, so I presume things will get worse before they get better.

[Wave]

That will be a nice addition. Along with Stumptown Coffee in the Ace Hotel a few blocks away and whatever restaurant opens up in the Ace this fall. Add to that several restaurants potentially going into the Eastside expansion & the retail ground floor space at the Walnut Capital development on Penn/Highland, which will surely be a restaurant, not to mention if the Alphabet City development ever gets off the ground,we are looking at a restaurant boomlet in that several block section of East Liberty.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Wallace's Taproom, the name of the Prohibition-themed restaurant going into the Hotel Indigo, is going to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner:

http://www.ihg.com/hotelindigo/hotels/us/en/pittsburgh/pithb/hoteldetail/dining

That seems like a useful addition to the restaurant lineup in East Liberty.

[pyrohy]

been forever since I logged in here! but i been creeping.

[pyrohy]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Nice seeing the news about Allentown. A guy affiliated with The Hardware Store just bought my old house in Lawrenceville, and was talking my ear off about how the area is primed for a comeback.

That said, I don't really think East Warrington is the crown jewel business district of the Southern Hilltop. It's only 3-4 blocks long (depending upon if you're counting the blocks north or south of Warrington) and there's no a single block that's intact. Or at least, that has a cohesive street wall without breaks - it may be that like Bryant Street in Highland Park, it simply never filled in.

The focus of a Southern Hilltop revival should be Brownsville through Knoxville and Mount Oliver. It's a significantly larger and more intact business district, and within a few blocks you find the nicest housing stock in the entire Southern Hilltop (Knoxville in particular looks like a run-down Highland Park in places). That said, the geography is admittedly worse, and this area is in free-fall in terms of property values, where Allentown seems to have stabilized, so I presume things will get worse before they get better.

Allentown is moving and hopefully will lead to Knoxville / Beltz. The issue with Mt oliver is that is its own shitty borough that needs to throw in the towel.

Im happy to see development on the South PGH for some change. Other than what remains in South Side works for development most of Pittsburgh has been happening in central / east, which is great but South PGH sure needs it. Hopefully Allentown with its short drive / walk to Station Sq will also benefit as 10th-Station Square sees some improvements.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by pyrohy

Allentown is moving and hopefully will lead to Knoxville / Beltz. The issue with Mt oliver is that is its own shitty borough that needs to throw in the towel.

Basically everywhere in the Southern Hilltop (except Bon Air, which probably went unnoticed) went into decline following the closure Saint Clair Village and the near closure of Arlington Heights. Since then the easternmost areas (Arlington and the city neighborhood of Mount Oliver) have stabilized and began to improve, but given they lack business districts and have mediocre housing stock, they're never really going to redevelop. True redevelopment has to be focused on either Brownsville or East Warrington.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure even if Mount Oliver threw in the towel Pittsburgh wouldn't take them. Pittsburgh would lose more in expenditures than it would gain in tax revenue. Plus it's not up to the Mayor anyway - all amalgamations of municipalities must be passed via referendum, with 50%+1 of voters in support in both municipalities. It's a high hurdle to climb.

Originally Posted by pyrohy

Im happy to see development on the South PGH for some change. Other than what remains in South Side works for development most of Pittsburgh has been happening in central / east, which is great but South PGH sure needs it. Hopefully Allentown with its short drive / walk to Station Sq will also benefit as 10th-Station Square sees some improvements.

Honestly, I thought the development was going to leapfrog from South Side down to Brookline/Beechview, skipping the Southern Hilltop entirely, so I'll be pleasantly surprised if at least part of it makes a comeback. What this whole area of the city needs is a more robust immigrant community. The Bhutanese (or Nepalese? I know they are Nepali refugees from Bhutan, I never know what to call them) have apparently been doing wonders for Carrick. We need 3-4 other communities like that in South Pittsburgh as well.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by daviderik

Some of the improvements are essential upgrades like new charging stations.
The article provides an image of the new flooring. It appears to be carpeting, but on a close viewing it is in fact unpolished terrazzo.
http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...t-providing-comfort/stories/201504050115

Not going to lie, slowly becoming horrified with the "upgrades" at PIT. Have been in and out a lot this winter and every time I come home they add something more ugly than the previous trip.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Wave

That will be a nice addition. Along with Stumptown Coffee in the Ace Hotel a few blocks away and whatever restaurant opens up in the Ace this fall. Add to that several restaurants potentially going into the Eastside expansion & the retail ground floor space at the Walnut Capital development on Penn/Highland, which will surely be a restaurant, not to mention if the Alphabet City development ever gets off the ground,we are looking at a restaurant boomlet in that several block section of East Liberty.

Soon we will be able to bar-hop within the same neighborhood only visiting prohibition-era bars.

[Austinlee]

I posted a comment with pictures from the Trib of the immediate aftermath of that last shooting of 4 young males in the Hill in the SSP "murder rate" thread. The pictures show the true reality of the aftermath of community violence.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6980173&postcount=9656

[JVC]

Originally Posted by Wave

That will be a nice addition. Along with Stumptown Coffee in the Ace Hotel a few blocks away and whatever restaurant opens up in the Ace this fall. Add to that several restaurants potentially going into the Eastside expansion & the retail ground floor space at the Walnut Capital development on Penn/Highland, which will surely be a restaurant, not to mention if the Alphabet City development ever gets off the ground,we are looking at a restaurant boomlet in that several block section of East Liberty.

soon to be followed by a restaurant bust

[TBone7281]

Not exactly earth shattering news, but the office portion of One Chatham Center was sold to HSBC.

http://www.wtae.com/news/pittsburgh-one-chatham-center-sold-to-hsbc-bank-usa/32232114

[BrianTH]

A commentator here suggested maybe US Steel should move into One Chatham instead of taking up an entire block of the Lower Hill site with a crappy, undersized, non-urban new HQ, and I think that sounds pretty sensible:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...Center-sold-to-bank/stories/201504070081

I wonder if there would be space for a student theater too . . . whatever happened to the movie theater?

[BrianTH]

This is just awesome (Clemente Bridge bike lane markings--look closely):

http://bikepgh.org/2015/04/06/the-clemente-br-bike-lane-markers-are-wearing-21/

[BrianTH]

Interesting interactive map of major air pollution sites in Allegheny County based on permitting data:

http://publicsource.org/investigations/c...pittsburgh-allegheny-county#.VSQYOo4erFQ

Although there are a large number of sites mapped, if you tour through them it becomes obvious that just a few sites are responsible for most of the emissions--I picked out US Steel Clairton, US Steel Irvin, and NRG Cheswick (NRG Cheswick alone is HUGE--I guess that is what you get with coal-fired power plants). Bay Valley Foods also used to be a big one, but apparently that might have changed with a switch from coal to natural gas.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

A commentator here suggested maybe US Steel should move into One Chatham instead of taking up an entire block of the Lower Hill site with a crappy, undersized, non-urban new HQ, and I think that sounds pretty sensible:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...Center-sold-to-bank/stories/201504070081

I wonder if there would be space for a student theater too . . . whatever happened to the movie theater?

That doesn't sound like a good idea to me. BUT it was a great burn against US Steel!

[RespectCondor]

I have never loved a road decal this much.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

This is just awesome (Clemente Bridge bike lane markings--look closely):

http://bikepgh.org/2015/04/06/the-clemente-br-bike-lane-markers-are-wearing-21/