PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

By the way, after mocking today's completion ceremony for the not-yet-complete PNC Tower, I learned that employees are in fact going to start moving in soon. So, I retract my snark because that is a good-enough event to mark:

http://triblive.com/business/headlines/9178874-74/pnc-demchak-bank

[themaguffin]

Just wanted to let everyone know that you might not want to drive to Cincy for the pleasure of a Toby Keith's bar either...

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/mo...h-s-woes-at-the-banks-aren-t-unique.html

[Private Dick]

I think the answer to his financial woes is to bring back the bolo tie.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Yeah, I like the Saks project better as 100+ apartments than 70+ condos:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...ready-to-start-on-saks-fifth-avenue.html

(Old article for reference: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...Downtown-Pittsburgh/stories/201412160183)

I am of the belief that this large new development will put a lot of pressure on the owners of the Park Building to renovate. Almost every building around it has been rehabbed or rebuilt and the Park Building will be one of the crown jewels of Smithfield St.

Originally Posted by Austinlee

I am of the belief that this large new development will put a lot of pressure on the owners of the Park Building to renovate. Almost every building around it has been rehabbed or rebuilt and the Park Building will be one of the crown jewels of Smithfield St.

It looks like this Saks development will at least cover up the worst side of the Park Bldg.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Perch

It looks like this Saks development will at least cover up the worst side of the Park Bldg.

Yeah but it doesn't need covered; It needs de-cladded and rehabb-ed.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...per-wants-to-add-more-apartments-at.html

Brooklyn developer wants to add more apartments at former Heinz complex

Oct 1, 2015, 1:37pm EDT

A Brooklyn, N.Y., developer plans to convert three remaining buildings of the old Heinz manufacturing complex on the North Shore into 93 apartments.

Fabian Friedland, principal of Crow Hill Development LLC, briefed the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment on Thursday about the plan to take three leftover buildings from the Heinz complex totaling 200,000 square feet and convert them for new residential use.

In a hearing that lasted only a few minutes, Friedland and architect Ryan Indovina, a principal of locally based Indovina Associates Architects, presented the ZBA board with a basic outline of the project that includes a plan to use the first floors of the three buildings to meet the parking requirement.

The developers are seeking a special exception to allow residential use for a property located in an Urban Industrial zoning district.


...

[daviderik]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Yeah but it doesn't need covered; It needs de-cladded and rehabb-ed.

I think they should raze it and put up a sheetz.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...per-wants-to-add-more-apartments-at.html

I love that these buildings will be put to good use.

The thing that immediately jumps to mind though when I read about this area is the hope for redevelopment on all of those many empty Buncher lots. Land banking seems to really hurt the city when people come from other cities and see large swaths of empty land in prime locations. It looks like we just don't care about what the city looks like.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by daviderik

I think they should raze it and put up a sheetz.

I think it just needs a "design element".

[BrianTH]

So between the two new Heinz complex projects, they would come close to another Heinz Lofts in terms of total unit count. That's cool--and definitely one would hope the area around the 16th Street Bridge would then start getting done.

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...per-wants-to-add-more-apartments-at.html

Originally Posted by BrianTH

So between the two new Heinz complex projects, they would come close to another Heinz Lofts in terms of total unit count. That's cool--and definitely one would hope the area around the 16th Street Bridge would then start getting done.

I meant to mention that it looked to me like they have been cleaning up these buildings a little bit over the last couple months. I had assumed it was a push to make them more desirable to potential buyers. Nothing much to the outside besides some broken windows that were removed, but you could tell they had someone empty out a lot of the junk that was left inside. Nice to see that they might be moving along with something like this.

[Wally G]

Good news,i walked pass hotel Indigo yesterday and that design element was removed.

[chucka]

I hope PNC lights up the top of the new Tower at PNC Plaza.

[Minivan Werner]

That would be awesome. You could even do different colors like the Gulf Building.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/ne...ings-to-know-today-and-an-expansion.html

...

Oxford buys more in the Strip

Downtown Pittsburgh-based Oxford Development Co. continues to expand its holdings in the Strip District, where it is building its 3 Crossings mixed-use development along Smallman Street and the Allegheny riverfront. An affiliate of the company closed on buying the property at 2601 Smallman St., which is the home of Spaghetti Warehouse. A real estate buy the company signaled it was making, the property neighbors the site on which Oxford plans to build a new garage to serve 3 Crossings.

...

Expansion in the works for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will break on building a new annex at its Strip District campus on Friday. Expected to open later this fall, the new 14,000-square-foot addition will include two new dance studios along with facilities for Pilates, Gyrotonic and crossing training, and dressing rooms for adult open class students.

...

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by chucka

I hope PNC lights up the top of the new Tower at PNC Plaza.

I imagine they will... and I also imagine we will see a big PNC on the building's western face in the near future.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Wally G

Good news,i walked pass hotel Indigo yesterday and that design element was removed.

Thank god, I thought they'd never take those off!

Originally Posted by Minivan Werner

That would be awesome. You could even do different colors like the Gulf Building.

I think they could do a lot better job with the lighting on the Gulf Building. It's just a bit too pastely for the building for my taste. I think darker colors could look really cool.

[eschaton]

Looks like the official holding company for the Spaghetti Warehouse site is "Three Crossings Restaurant Partners LP." This seems to indicate they are going to keep the site as a restaurant, but perhaps go more upscale - a good business plan, considering there's relatively few eateries within a few blocks of the apartments, and unless they bought out the other three property owners on that block the scale might not be large enough to warrant further apartments or offices.

[BrianTH]

So I walked around the base of PNC Tower. It is definitely a very cool corporate skyscraper, and fun to look up at.

That said, the street level treatment pretty much sucks. Typical lifeless, pointless corporate plaza feel out front, and Forbes is just atrocious. Water on the bridge, but I definitely miss the old buildings.