PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by SkyPittsburgh

I remember a while ago someone on this forum found information of a proposed walmart here?

I'm going to open a pitchfork and torch store in the former Babyland and make a fortune!

[GeneW]

Walnut Capital seeks grants for construction of new Bakery Square transit hub

By Mark Belko / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Shadyside developer Walnut Capital is hoping a proposed $28 million transit center near Bakery Square could be the link to a new wave of development in Larimer.

The project would feature a pedestrian bridge connecting Bakery Square, home of Google’s Pittsburgh office, and Hamilton Avenue; a new stop on the Martin Luther King Jr. Busway; and an 800-space parking garage to be built behind Bakery Square’s existing garage.

Walnut Capital sees the center not only as a link to its Bakery Square and Bakery Square 2.0 developments, but as the means to help spur new growth in Larimer near Hamilton, an area now separated from the bustling Penn Avenue corridor by the busway and railroad tracks.

“It’s kind of an extension of the whole rebirth of Larimer,” said Todd Reidbord, Walnut Capital president.

[eschaton]

The way the transit stop is constructed, it almost makes it seem as if they expect it to eventually be reconfigured for rail transit as well.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Walnut Capital seeks grants for construction of new Bakery Square transit hub

Eeeenteresting

[SWPA]

It does look more like a train station, especially with the passenger train sitting there. And the train from Philadelphia does use this corridor coming into Pittsburgh, I believe. They did add a small bus on the busway, anyway. And the ramp from the East Liberty bus garage is pretty close to this area, as well, so it makes sense. Would be great to see this come to fruition and kind of "jump the tracks" into Larimer.

[BrianTH]

Love that rendering for the new Busway station. Generally, this is a great idea (although hopefully it would replace the employee stop nearby). Bakery Square and Larimer could use it, and I particularly agree with the argument in the article that the Hamilton/Frankstown corridor is ripe for commercial/office/tech development.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I particularly agree with the argument in the article that the Hamilton/Frankstown corridor is ripe for commercial/office/tech development.

One wonders if that's the idea here. Bakery Square won't do this out of the goodness of their own heart. If they get this transit stop approved, they can then buy out entire blocks of buildings on Hamilton, and redevelop the corridor for the next phase. Otherwise, the development has reached its maximum boundaries unless they could convince the Village of Eastside to sell to them.

I have to say, I am kind of confused about integrating the Busway with the parking garage though. Do they want it to function as a Park and Ride for Downtown or something?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by SkyPittsburgh

I remember a while ago someone on this forum found information of a proposed walmart here? Maybe I'm just mis-remembering things, but it seems like evicting all tenants for "renovations" is a bit much. It seems like this property might be on the path to demolition.

I haven't heard much but rumors. The owner is the same as the former Babyland site across the street however, where they have unsuccessfully been attempting to get a suburban-style AutoZone built. Penn Plaza is the only residential structure in their portfolio. Seems pretty likely whatever they do will not have a residential component unless they are heavily prodded to do so.

I know the City has plans here to reconnect the Friendship street grid through the area as part of the general return of Penn Circle to normality. I would hazard a guess this is unlikely under the current property ownership.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

One wonders if that's the idea here. Bakery Square won't do this out of the goodness of their own heart. If they get this transit stop approved, they can then buy out entire blocks of buildings on Hamilton, and redevelop the corridor for the next phase. Otherwise, the development has reached its maximum boundaries unless they could convince the Village of Eastside to sell to them.

Yep--if they feel like there is yet more potential demand out there that BKSQ 2.0 won't satisfy, this would be a way of unlocking such projects. Which is fine with me.

I have to say, I am kind of confused about integrating the Busway with the parking garage though. Do they want it to function as a Park and Ride for Downtown or something?

I don't know for sure, although that sounds unlikely to me as a primary motivation. If I had to guess, I would guess that they want the parking garage for their current and perhaps future expansion plans, but they want some public funding to help pay for it (since garages viewed in isolation tend to be money-losers). Public funding just for parking garages can be tough to get these days, but if you can fold them into some sort of "transit center" project, then you have more chances.

For a similar sort of thing, see Oxford's plans for a "multimodal transportation center" as part of Three Crossings. My guess is they really mostly just want the parking garage, but they want public funding so they have to package it within a "multimodal" plan.

By the way, to me this is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't love public funding of parking, but I do like public funding of transit. On their own, each of those things can be tough to get, so it can make sense to join forces, with the political benefit coming precisely by bringing together distinct interest groups and politicians. To the extent that involves a lot of local money, I am less sure that is a good idea. But when you are talking about competing for state and federal money, I think that can be fine.

[JVC]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I haven't heard much but rumors. The owner is the same as the former Babyland site across the street however, where they have unsuccessfully been attempting to get a suburban-style AutoZone built. Penn Plaza is the only residential structure in their portfolio.

exactly right

[Urbana]

HUGE planing presentation was just uploaded.

http://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/schedule65/presentation-65-703.pdf

Highlights (in my mind):

Buncher has unveiled their ENORMOUS proposal for the Strip. The design leaves much to be desired, but the scale, urbanity, and riverfront integration is beyond anything I expected of them. Check out the full planning presentation for a lot more detail and renderings.









Oxford's apartment building on Centre with more than 170 units.





A couple new angles of the first stage of the Tepper Quad.







An interesting over view of CMU's long term plan for their north campus.

[BrianTH]

It is too bad the Buncher project is not a couple stories taller, but still, that is not a bad start. In fact, I guess it lost about a story because it now has an internal multi-level parking structure rather than a parking podium, but that is probably a net win from an urban planning perspective. The plaza with river access at 19th is a nice touch too.

[BrianTH]

By the way, those tracks have been incorporated into various commuter rail plans over time, and that would make an interesting commuter rail station. But at least as far as I know, those commuter rail plans have all been shelved. Still, it would be interesting if they were trying to leave that possibility open.

[BrianTH]

Oh, and that Arby's they want to put at Baum and Cypress is a huge waste of a prime lot.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Urbana

An interesting over view of CMU's long term plan for their north campus.

For comparison:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4515029,-79.9456349,656a,20y,180h,41.47t/data=!3m1!1e3

[eschaton]

Has anyone else noticed that ground was broken recently on the "zombie chic" apartment building on Baum? Not much going on but foundation work right now, but still it was a really quick transition from proposal to the beginning of construction.

Seems like a lot of projects in the city have had slow going if they're stuck in the foundation building stage due to all the rain we've been having. They've been working on that one in Doughboy Square for months now it seems.

Anyway, regarding the planning presentation, I only have two thoughts. First, it's depressing to see the extent to which CMU continues aggressively rezone as EMI everything it can get its tax-exempt hands on. That section of North Oakland is all but dead as a neighborhood now. Secondly, as depressing as it is that a new drive-thru Arby's is being built, the design is far better than I would have expected. At least the Baum side of the building actually has zero setback.

[JVC]

gumberg could easily fit a walmart the size of the north versailles store on the penn plaza site

[guyFROMtheBURGH]

Originally Posted by JVC

gumberg could easily fit a walmart on the penn plaza site
a development similar to the north versailles store would occupy less than half of the property

You might want to check your scales on that image overlay.

[BrianTH]

As I believe we discussed before, an urban-format Walmart in a mixed-use building could be fine:





Trusting these folks to do that sort of project is a different matter.

[BrianTH]

So I have heard the term "Mellon's Orchard" applied to at least a couple different things, but one of those things is an ongoing community planning process for the underdeveloped corner where what used to be Penn Circle N met what used to be Penn Circle W. The next community meeting is coming up later in July:

http://www.eastliberty.org/post/mellons-orchard-community-meeting-2-%E2%80%94-july-28th



Here are the presentation slides from the first meeting:

http://www.eastliberty.org/sites/default/files/article/files/MO_PublicMeeting_1%20%281%29.pdf

And here are notes from that meeting:

http://www.eastliberty.org/sites/default/files/article/files/Workshop%231%20Public%20Notes-P8.pdf

All very interesting, although with so many different visions, sometimes complementary but often competing, it is hard to tell yet what might emerge from this process.