PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by GeneW

The parking lot is terrible and full of people driving giant SUVs who don't know how to park them and that bit of grass is incongruous but handy for the Googlers who take their dog to work. That said, I like the plaza space around the Coffee Tree which gets a lot of use during the day; there seems to be a constant game of table-tennis going on and there's almost always people sitting outside.

I wouldn't want to entirely eliminate the open space, I just think it is all poorly done as-is. Just spitballing, but if you converted the northwestern half of the parking lot into plaza space, you'd have plenty of room for another "dog run" lawn in that space, and in fact you could create a bonafide "square" feeling. You could then use the current lawn space plus the southeastern half of the parking lot to do a new building (I'd like to redo the West Elm building too, but that would be optional and could be a later phase). You could even incorporate ground floor parking in that building if you really think you need it.

[JVC]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I wouldn't want to entirely eliminate the open space, I just think it is all poorly done as-is. Just spitballing, but if you converted the northwestern half of the parking lot into plaza space, you'd have plenty of room for another "dog run" lawn in that space, and in fact you could create a bonafide "square" feeling. You could then use the current lawn space plus the southeastern half of the parking lot to do a new building (I'd like to redo the West Elm building too, but that would be optional and could be a later phase). You could even incorporate ground floor parking in that building if you really think you need it.

it's a nice thought but walnut capital is a landlord and retail tenants want parking, not public amenities

if east liberty ever gets a real public square then it will come as the result of a city plan, not from a private developer

[photoLith]

Just found out that awesome abandoned firehouse across from Randyland is getting restored and is going to be a brewery. Its about damned time.

Jake Bier, resident of Allegheny City Central, and Zack Ingoldsby are planning to open the War Streets Brewery in our neighborhood in early 2016. Their nanobrewery – a brewery producing less than 100 gallons at a time – and tasting room will be located on the first floor of the historic Firehouse at 1416 Arch Street. Jake and Zack will be producing various styles of beer including IPAs, Stouts, Porters, Lagers, and hope to experiment with new styles as well.

http://www.alleghenycitycentral.org/2015/11/war-streets-brewery-planned-for-firehouse-on-arch/

[BrianTH]

Very cool.

[BrianTH]

More good news for East Liberty (edit: although I think Duolingo was already known) . . .

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/ne...o-restoration-hardware-east-liberty.html

Duolingo is intending to take half of the second-floor office space in the soon-to-be-renovated former-Novum building at 5900 Penn, and Restoration Hardware may take the first-floor retail space.

As noted in the article, Restoration Hardware taking that spot may be a sign of a pretty different dynamic emerging along Penn in the near future.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

Wonder how much Walnut greased CNN's palm for that one. Bakery Square is still such a gross development to me. The far superior one sits just down the street at EastSide.

Eastside is awesome. It's such a great development straddling two really neat neighborhoods.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by JVC

bakery square - not a square, more like a parking lot with a small lawn feature

But the name Bakery Parking Rectangle didn't do as well in the focus groups.

[Austinlee]

"The crowd at the groundbreaking for The Foundry at 41st"



From this FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/lawrenceville.pittsburgh/?fref=nf

[JVC]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

Wonder how much Walnut greased CNN's palm for that one. Bakery Square is still such a gross development to me. The far superior one sits just down the street at EastSide.

CNN is a joke but there is real content in that piece that can be analyzed,
and the analysis is simple - what shot do they open with to set the tone of the comeback?



an iconic shot of a great public park with an awesome fountain

think about that



meanwhile in "Baum Square" in East Liberty...





east liberty's urban renewal was a seriously flawed plan,
but at least the plan allowed people to get close to the unique "Joy of Life" fountain and its powerful spouts didn't spill water all over the street

[photoLith]

I like that they left the steel of the old building at that new Lville development. Hopefully that really makes that part of Lville turn around, its still a little sketchy down there.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

I like that they left the steel of the old building at that new Lville development. Hopefully that really makes that part of Lville turn around, its still a little sketchy down there.

My guess is things might start to change pretty rapidly over there. In addition to this project, there is also the TRYP hotel going into the Washington Education Center. And if they proceed with the 650-unit plan for the Scott Electric/Leggett Kitchens site, that would be a huge change.

Edit: By the way, I'm not sure these renderings going around have been posted here before:

[JVC]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

My guess is things might start to change pretty rapidly over there. In addition to this project, there is also the TRYP hotel going into the Washington Education Center. And if they proceed with the 650-unit plan for the Scott Electric/Leggett Kitchens site, that would be a huge change.

Edit: By the way, I'm not sure these renderings going around have been posted here before:

the foundry building looks good from the outside - much better than bakery square living,
but the floor plan is a carbon copy of the soviet housing blocks that occupy the former reizenstein site

have any one of you actually visited the upper floors of bakery square 2.0?
the hallways are straight-up visually oppressive - they seemingly go on forever have no natural light at all

instead of loading every square inch of upper floor space at the new foundry building with units for maximum profit,
why not sacrifice a few bucks and create pleasant hallways for your residents by cutting openings at the ends to let some natural light in?
you might get some cool views of the strip out of the deal as well...

(don't bother answering, it's a rhetorical question)

[photoLith]

Jesus Christ corrugated metal siding? For real? Fml what is wrong with these moronic developers? That stuff looks like absolute complete garbage. I mean usually cheap 🞵🞵🞵 developers put only some corrugated 🞵🞵🞵🞵 metal on their horrendous buildings, but that thing is completely covered in it. It will look like garbage, I almost wish nothing was getting built there now. Who in the world ever thought corrugated metal looks good. Sometimes when I walk past horrid new buildings covered in the garbage I ever hear people walking by talking about how ugly it is.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Jesus Christ corrugated metal siding? For real? Fml what is wrong with these moronic developers? That stuff looks like absolute complete garbage. I mean usually cheap 🞵🞵🞵 developers put only some corrugated 🞵🞵🞵🞵 metal on their horrendous buildings, but that thing is completely covered in it. It will look like garbage, I almost wish nothing was getting built there now. Who in the world ever thought corrugated metal looks good. Sometimes when I walk past horrid new buildings covered in the garbage I ever hear people walking by talking about how ugly it is.

I assume the thinking is it will blend in well with the industrial vibe in that area, including the NREC across the tracks:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4719884,...9aph-7Tk2h0MrpkRY1yfA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656



And of course it was all over the industrial buildings it is replacing.

My two cents: I'm somewhat dubious, but I think it makes more sense in this context than usual, and if they are going to do it I would rather they go all-in like this, rather than just have some patches of it.

[photoLith]

Corrugated metal in my opinion doesnt look industrial it just looks cheap and trashy. Brick looks industrial. Cover the entire thing in brick and I doubt it would be that much more expensive and with the outrageous rent they will most likely charge to live there Im sure the developer could afford a little extra money to make the building look decent. When metal is on industrial buildings its fine because theyre just industrial buildings, but when its on a building thats clearly apartments it looks ugly as all hell. I also saw renderings of a new building being built on Butler Street in Lville and it too looks like it will be half corrugated metal siding.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Corrugated metal in my opinion doesnt look industrial it just looks cheap and trashy. Brick looks industrial.

That's an era thing, no? Older industrial buildings are more likely to be brick, but corrugated metal became increasingly popular over time.

[Captain Crash]

Looks like some rough days ahead for the Pittsburgh Mills mall. Guess this means we won't be seeing that long-awaited Great Wolf Lodge?

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/youral...5-74/mills-mall-pittsburgh#ixzz3rHrz6jmv

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Corrugated metal in my opinion doesnt look industrial it just looks cheap and trashy. Brick looks industrial. Cover the entire thing in brick and I doubt it would be that much more expensive and with the outrageous rent they will most likely charge to live there Im sure the developer could afford a little extra money to make the building look decent. When metal is on industrial buildings its fine because theyre just industrial buildings, but when its on a building thats clearly apartments it looks ugly as all hell. I also saw renderings of a new building being built on Butler Street in Lville and it too looks like it will be half corrugated metal siding.

It's a matter of personal taste, but I agree with you on the overuse of corrugated metal. Covering multi-story exterior walls is too much as you can start to see the seams and the walls themselves start to look bowed from the overabundance of corrugation.

That said, it's extremely unlikely that you're going to see an all brick apartment building in Pittsburgh. Where market rents for a metal clad building will be $2.00-$2.25/square foot, all brick facades push those up to the $3.00-$4.00/sf. Brick is a very expensive material compared to metal panel and glass.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/bl...d-office-building-all-but-completed.html

New Oakland office building all but completed after seven years

Nov 12, 2015, 12:31pm EST



A few remaining windows needed to be installed and the landscaping completed.
But otherwise, the Elmhurst Group and CBRE were ready celebrate the completion of Schenley Place, Oakland’s newest office building and one that’s taken seven years to reach the point in which it can finally lease tenants.

CBRE hosted a brokers reception in the new building on Nov. 11 in the new building located at 4420 Bayard St.

“The base buildng is complete now,” said Pat Greene, a senior vice president or CBRE, who is representing the property. “The interior builds can start pretty much at any time.”

Greene expects to finalize leases in the next few weeks that would put the 105,000-plus-square-foot building at 51 percent leased. The building benefits from being a brand new Class A building near the heart of an Oakland university district in which vacancy rates have long been among the tightest in the region. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s most recent report puts Oakland’s overall vacancy at 5 percent in a submarket that often has been all but fully occupied in recent years.

...

[psuhoops123]

Red Brick with black windows is the way to my heart.. I honestly think the project is kind of blah to me. I like the idea overall but of course, it's not being executed correctly.