PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[photoLith]

What will keep people from stealing them and how will they track the bikes once they get stolen?

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...stor-close-to-addingsecond-downtown.html

New York investor close to adding second downtown building to kingdom

Apr 21, 2015, 1:36pm EDT



On the heels of closing on the Lawyers building a few months ago, New York-based King Penguin Opportunity Fund is preparing to cross Forbes Avenue for its second real estate investment in downtown Pittsburgh.

King Penguin has the Allegheny Building under agreement, which, like the Lawyers building, is owned by Union Real Estate Company, along with minority partners.

Michael Mikelic, principal of King Penguin Opportunity Fund, did not return repeated phone calls. Rich Beynon, who represents the property for sale as a principal with Beynon & Company and owns a minority stake in the building, confirmed a deal has been reached but a closing date has yet to be determined.

"They’re in their due diligence period currently," he said. "We fully expect a successful closing with them."

Formerly known as the Frick Annex since it was built as an expansion to the neighboring Frick Building, the Allegheny Building is 19 stories and totals 150,000 square feet, and would give King Penguin a companion to its 120,000 square foot Lawyers building just across the street, if and when the sale closes.

...

[photoLith]

Thats great news, whats in that building now?

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

more on the bike share program...
http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8123110-74/bike-share-program

That's an interesting spattering of bike stations. That isn't a criticism but actual curiosity. I wonder how the locations were decided.

As an avid biker, I also am excited to see this happening. Yet I'm not convinced it will be successful. Frequent riders have their own bikes and the experience of riding in Pittsburgh is a deterrent for casual or novice riders.

Pittsburgh's culture of road use/behavior makes riding a bike somewhat dangerous. I have been hit 3 times while riding a bike in Pittsburgh! And that's while being hyper-vigilant and riding with anticipation of other road users' behavior. Hopefully as the number of riders increases, we'll see a cultural shift, both by cyclists and drivers.

The issue, in my opinion, is that us yinzers see dangerous road behavior as normal. Going 40 in a 25 or 55 in a 35, completely normal. This is so ingrained that pedestrians feel like it is their duty to not impede cars, ever. To do otherwise is dangerous. In other cities, a pedestrian merely has to hint like they are going to cross a road and traffic will stop. In Pittsburgh, people frequently run across crosswalks even when they have the right of way. Granted, downtown is a different scenario, but in most of Pittsburgh this is true.

There is a lot of momentum to car-centric urban planning. For example, note how the intersection by the East Liberty Target was rebuilt. It was designed to optimize traffic flow, with disregard for the experience of walking, working or living in the neighborhood.

Yet there is hope. Peduto's endorsement of the complete streets philosophy could reverse that momemtum.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/ne...o-complete-streets-project.html?page=all

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by dfiler

That's an interesting spattering of bike stations. That isn't a criticism but actual curiosity. I wonder how the locations were decided.

As an avid biker, I also am excited to see this happening. Yet I'm not convinced it will be successful. Frequent riders have their own bikes and the experience of riding in Pittsburgh is a deterrent for casual or novice riders.

Pittsburgh's culture of road use/behavior makes riding a bike somewhat dangerous. I have been hit 3 times while riding a bike in Pittsburgh! And that's while being hyper-vigilant and riding with anticipation of other road users' behavior. Hopefully as the number of riders increases, we'll see a cultural shift, both by cyclists and drivers.

The issue, in my opinion, is that us yinzers see dangerous road behavior as normal. Going 40 in a 25 or 55 in a 35, completely normal. This is so ingrained that pedestrians feel like it is their duty to not impede cars, ever. To do otherwise is dangerous. In other cities, a pedestrian merely has to hint like they are going to cross a road and traffic will stop. In Pittsburgh, people frequently run across crosswalks even when they have the right of way. Granted, downtown is a different scenario, but in most of Pittsburgh this is true.

There is a lot of momentum to car-centric urban planning. For example, note how the intersection by the East Liberty Target was rebuilt. It was designed to optimize traffic flow, with disregard for the experience of walking, working or living in the neighborhood.

Yet there is hope. Peduto's endorsement of the complete streets philosophy could reverse that momemtum.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/ne...o-complete-streets-project.html?page=all

I agree totally with everything you're saying here. The driving culture here is horrible and needs to change. You don't realize how terrible being a bicyclist or pedestrian is here until you travel to the west coast and walk around out there. In Portland or northern California, if you even look like you're going to cross the street, traffic will stop to let you cross. It's the most unnerving thing if you're used to playing the frogger game that happens at every crosswalk here.

[photoLith]

I bike almost everyday and this city is def terrible for cyclists. The drivers are agressive and dumb. In Houston most drivers were much more cognizant of bikers. Some lady almost ran me over a couple of days ago while I was in the bike lane, she turned almost right into me after I yelled at her even though she looked straight at me, she still turned and I had to swerve out of the way as I was going down a hill. Then she had the nerve to honk at me after almost running me over and then she rolled down her window and in a grating yinzer accent started to cuss me out. You have to be very careful being a biker in this city.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by TBone7281

Even in alternate universes this didn't happen in Pittsburgh, but I still find Maglevs fascinating.

I still think the U.S. missed an opportunity to skip ahead a generation in surface transportation technology by investing heavily in maglev, rather than always being a generation or two behind.

But the politics just weren't there.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

What will keep people from stealing them and how will they track the bikes once they get stolen?

Apparently bike share program theft rates have been really low, even lower than the more optimistic proponents had expected. Part of that is because they use good locking systems, and I believe at least some programs also have tracking technology. But probably the biggest factor is the resale value is negligible--the bikes are designed to be very distinctive, and they also tend to use parts which are deliberately incompatible with normal bikes.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Thats great news, whats in that building now?

It is a Class C office building. I was sort of hoping they might do a residential conversion of the upper floors, but it sounds like they intend to keep it office. As explained in the article that does make some sense, since all the other residential conversions have depleted the Class B and Class C inventory.

[MattofSloppyVariety]

Originally Posted by photoLith

What will keep people from stealing them and how will they track the bikes once they get stolen?

If the Pittsburgh Bike Share is going to be anything like the one in Columbus I am pretty sure that you have to use a credit card of some sort to release the bike. In Columbus the flat $6 rate for 24 hour access which breaks down to 30 minutes of riding at a time. After 30 minutes you have to re-dock or be charged $3 for each additional 30 minutes you ride continuously. If you re-dock and want the bike back you have to re-swipe the card you used to first release the bike for a new code.

As for what keeps them from being stolen, if you do not return a bike the card you used will be charged for the cost of the bike. That runs, I believe, $1500-$2000, that's a pretty good deterrent when it comes to taking a bike.

[Austinlee]

Morrow Park City apartment is looking great! The size seems really perfect for that location. And it's not set back from the sidewalk. It's actually urban.

[Gilamonster]

According to Pittsburgh Business Times, Jones Lang LaSalle will be moving into the Gardens at Market square and will be the signature tenant. Much to the dismay of the building sign haters, JLL presented their plan to the Planning Comission yesterday for signage atop the building.

[BrianTH]

Morrow Park City has a few neat construction photos on its website:

http://www.villagegreen.com/pittsburgh/morrow-park-city-apartments/photos/

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...llages-at-winter-park-project-faces.html

Villages at Winter Park project faces Pittsburgh Planning Commission scrutiny

Apr 22, 2015, 7:43am EDT

A 20-unit townhouse project proposed for a nearly 3 acre stretch of green space in the South Side Slopes was met with resistance from neighbors at the Pittsburgh Planning Commission.

After revising its plans three times, Synergy Capital Inc. presented a plan called the Villages at Winter Park, a project that would extend three dead-end streets with new townhouses expected to be marketed starting in the low $400,000 range.

Josh Adamek, president of Synergy, described the project as three “micro subdivisions” of four, six and ten homes that would be “extensions of existing streets” in a design that would "minimize impact.”

Working with a design by Cipriani Studios, the Villages at Winter Park is slated for a site near and adjacent to Hackstown, Gregory and Magdelena Streets between 18th and 10th Streets in the South Side Slopes.

Synergy is seeking Steep Slope Overlay District approval from the Pittsburgh Planning Commission in order to go forward with the plan.

...

[BrianTH]

This is at least a little better than a typical campus expansion:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...corridor-pittsburgh/stories/201504220154

Carnegie Mellon University is planning a new office, hotel and retail development on Forbes Avenue as part of a bid to create the world's next "innovation corridor" in Pittsburgh. The 425,000-square-foot development would be built on a two-acre parcel on university-owned land between Carnegie Museums and Junction Hollow. It will provide office space for industry, government and nonprofit partners seeking to expand their space at the university. . . . The development also will include flexible office space for students, faculty and staff as well as a hotel and conference center, retail space and a parking garage. . . . CMU hopes to break ground on the development and Tepper Quadrangle later this year.

More:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2015/04/22/cmu-plans-425-000-square-foot-complex.html

Jones Lang LaSalle announced Wednesday it was helping Carnegie Mellon University find a developer for a 425,000-square-foot office, hotel and retail project on two acres on Forbes Avenue between the Carnegie Museums and Junction Hollow. . . . In a border stretch of Oakland where a hotel has been pursued before, Carnegie Mellon is seeking a hotel with a conference center along with shops and restaurants, all served by a parking garage. . . . Jones Lang LaSalle prepared site and market analysis for the property and has solicited request for proposals that are due on June 5. Carnegie Mellon expects to announce a developer or developers for the new project later this year.

[Minivan Werner]

Would this be on that triangular lot along Forbes?

[Wiz Khalifa]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...llages-at-winter-park-project-faces.html

I can't for the life of me figure out why they are dead-ending the streets right next to each other instead of just connecting them through. Is it just to prevent confusion by having to rename the street(s)? Just rename the damn street and get this subdivision B.S. the heck out of the city already...

Also, is Winter Park not considered an official city park or something? I simply can't imagine a scenario where developers would ever be allowed to encroach on land within Frick, Schenley, Highland or Riverview Parks.

Here's the Planning Commission presentation on the project.

[Brentsters]

I believe the original plan called for through streets but the neighbors complained. They reworked the plan and the neighbors still complained.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Minivan Werner

Would this be on that triangular lot along Forbes?

Theoretically it could include everything from the entrance ramp for the Carnegie Museums to the bridge over Neville Street. CMU owns virtually all of the parcels here. The only exceptions are the Martin Media billboard and a random parcel owned by the Carnegie Museums (which I could see being swapped with CMU, since some of the the Carnegie Museums' existing parking lot is technically on CMU parcels right now. When I add up the acreage of the parcels, it comes to around 1.9 acres without the Martin Media parcel, and 2.1 acres with the parcel, so it seems roughly the right size.

This is surprising to me overall, because CMU's updated master plan map (released with the Tepper Quad presentation) showed the area in question being taken up by "temporary parking lots" for the near term.

It also raises the question of what will happen on the north side of this block, which has two large CMU-owned parcels which are not highly developed. Maybe this will be a phase 2 project. Within 5-10 years, there might be a cohesive urban fabric for the first time when walking from CMU's campus into Central Oakland.

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by MattofSloppyVariety

If the Pittsburgh Bike Share is going to be anything like the one in Columbus I am pretty sure that you have to use a credit card of some sort to release the bike. In Columbus the flat $6 rate for 24 hour access which breaks down to 30 minutes of riding at a time. After 30 minutes you have to re-dock or be charged $3 for each additional 30 minutes you ride continuously. If you re-dock and want the bike back you have to re-swipe the card you used to first release the bike for a new code.

As for what keeps them from being stolen, if you do not return a bike the card you used will be charged for the cost of the bike. That runs, I believe, $1500-$2000, that's a pretty good deterrent when it comes to taking a bike.

I think the concern is theft by people who aren't customers. Just regular cut the lock and steal kind of theft.

The main deterrent is that the bikes are obviously from the bike share program. The frame design is quite distinct. They presumably would have no resale value at pawn shops where thieves normally unload their stolen bikes.