PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Austinlee]

Also, sorry for the sophmoric innuendo but did anyone else notice their website address? http://www.big.dk/

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

This developer looks amazing. Their projects are very hip and functional. I think this is a huge win. I am suddenly excited for this project.


The bike lanes look very inviting:

Hopefully bike lanes will be a central component of the Lower Hill redevelopment.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Hopefully bike lanes will be a central component of the Lower Hill redevelopment.

I hope so too. Do you know if there were any mention of it? As I remember, there are public squares and open space but I don't think any bike lanes were announced. I'm sure a Danish company will fight hard to incorporate it though. That is like THE bike capital of Europe (Denmark/Netherlands).


Also, I LOVE how the Peduto administration seems to be embracing the successes of Scandinavia. Being active on this forum has made me aware of that region as being a world leader in innovative urban ideas.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Also, I LOVE how the Peduto administration seems to be embracing the successes of Scandinavia. Being active on this forum has made me aware of that region as being a world leader in innovative urban ideas.

and a world leader in infectious pop tunes

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

and a world leader in infectious pop tunes

Agreed, I love Trentmoller. I don't know who that is above.

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

and a world leader in infectious pop tunes

So I guess it could be said that BIG is telling Pittsburgh, "Take a chance on me."



Austin, you don't know that's ABBA?

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

So I guess it could be said that BIG is telling Pittsburgh, "Take a chance on me."



Austin, you don't know that's ABBA?

Ok, that's what I thought in my head but I wasn't sure. My dad who has never been into music has taken a strange liking to Abba in his early 60's.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

My dad who has never been into music has taken a strange liking to Abba in his early 60's.

I took a liking to Agnetha Faltskog at an early age.

Also, I take a liking to this news that Pittsburgh is getting world class architect input on this project. We can rest assured that BIG's contributions won't be mundane.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transpo...urgh-Washington-D-C/stories/201508280137

Amtrak ready to allow roll-on bike service between Pittsburgh, D.C.

August 28, 2015 12:00 AM

By Jon Schmitz / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


After years of promising it, Amtrak is about to offer roll-on bicycle service on the Capitol Limited route that passes through Pittsburgh.

With two premier bike trails parallel to the route, enthusiasts and bicycle organizations have long pressed the railroad to add the service. Currently, bikes must be dismantled and packed in boxes and can only be loaded on and off trains at staffed stations, of which there are none between here and Washington, D.C.

“The expansion of bike service will take place as early as next week,” Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods confirmed on Thursday.

Reservations will be required and the railroad will charge a $25 fee for the service, even though passengers will be responsible for rolling their bikes onto the trains, securing them, and rolling them off. Only standard-sized bikes will be permitted. The service will be available at all stations on the route, which extends from Chicago to Washington.

It has been five years since Amtrak first expressed interest in providing the service on the Capitol Limited.

...

[photoLith]

From like two seconds ago

The Strip new developments from Troy Hill.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by photoLith

From like two seconds ago

Love that angle. Sexy!

[Urbana]

Pittsburgh seeking money for transit link between Oakland, Hazelwood development site

By Jon Schmitz / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Pittsburgh officials hope to advance plans for a new transportation corridor linking Oakland with the city’s biggest undeveloped parcel, the former LTV Steel site on the Monongahela River.

A plan embraced in 2009 by Bill Peduto, then a city councilman and now mayor, has evolved and no longer envisions using an existing freight rail line for passenger trains, because of the current volume of freight traffic. The new plan calls for building a road for rubber-tire shuttles, possibly including driverless vehicles that are under development at Carnegie Mellon University.

It also calls for bike-pedestrian improvements, including a bridge over the railroad tracks.

The city already owns the right-of-way along which the corridor would be built, said Kevin Acklin, the mayor’s chief of staff and chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It would ultimately connect to the former steel mill land that is now called the Almono site, a mashing of the names of the three rivers.

The URA this month approved a $3 million application for a state grant to help pay for the first phase of the project, estimated to cost $7.2 million. The application envisions a construction start as early as June.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transpo...Oakland-Almono-site/stories/201508290058

[photoLith]

New Marriott in Mount Lebanon.

[Wave]

That cluster of development in the center of Mt. Lebanon is the perfect spot for T.O.D. The Light Rail "T" station is directly behind the new hotel. By the way it took a ridiculously long four years to build & open that Marriott. Site prep was in early 2011 and the opening was in February 2015. That may be even longer than the new PNC tower from start to finish. Of course the East Liberty Indigo may break that record.

Originally Posted by photoLith

New Marriott in Mount Lebanon.

[BrianTH]

Skybus is back!

I posted a comment in the PG that I won't repeat here, but I will note that ever since the possibility of driverless cars in the near future became a real thing, people have been speculating how driverless technologies could revolutionize public transit as well. From my perspective, if we could do a pretty cheap test of such technologies on this route, that could end up pretty awesome in the long run.

[eschaton]

I haven't seen any discussion on this, but the Holiday Inn Express on Federal Street appears to be done.

I have to say I'm modestly more impressed with the building than I thought I would be. It's not earth-shattering in design, but I think it's just the sort of design that a lot of those desiring more neo-traditional architecture in the city would want. Besides being a taller building, it blends nearly seamlessly with the 1920s terra-cotta storefronts next door.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I haven't seen any discussion on this, but the Holiday Inn Express on Federal Street appears to be done.

I have to say I'm modestly more impressed with the building than I thought I would be. It's not earth-shattering in design, but I think it's just the sort of design that a lot of those desiring more neo-traditional architecture in the city would want. Besides being a taller building, it blends nearly seamlessly with the 1920s terra-cotta storefronts next door.

I agree. Nothing to write home about but certainly better looking than the Springhill Suites across the street and so much better than that thing on the old Don Allen site in Friendship.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by photoLith

New Marriott in Mount Lebanon.

Seriously? All these years later, it finally happens!

[BrianTH]

BNY Mellon is transferring some job slots from Philly to Pittsburgh as part of a cost-cutting move:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...ellon-cutting-in-philly-moving-some.html

Meanwhile, Faros has had great success leasing out the apartment buildings it has bought and renovated:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...-to-know-today-and-a-once-half-full.html

Faros Properties is reporting a successful lease up at its Pittsburgh apartment properties. The New York-based investment firm reports it is now completely leased at Park View, the 810-unit apartments formerly called Allegheny Center, a property that was only 50 percent occupied when the company bought it a year and a half ago. Faros also reports 98 percent occupancy at City View, the former Washington Plaza in Uptown and 99 percent leased at Carson Street Commons.

East Coast money following East Coast jobs . . .

[eschaton]

New planning commission presentation. There appear to be only two new matters.

1. Zoning change of the block of East Deutschtown behind the East Ohio to Neighborhood Industrial. Undoubtedly related to the planned hotel complex. I'm not sure why NDI is preferable to LNC (commercial) however.

2. Application for the Bakery Square townhouses, with 52 units in total. Design looks blah, but it's interesting they're going for four stories (although admittedly the first is going to be mostly garage). The unit layout is very different in the renderings and schematics, but it seems to suggest at least the possibility of later access via Renning Street in the back as well, which IMHO is a great thing. We don't need another Village of Shadyside here.