PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II - Page 825

BrianTH · #**16481** Posted **Jun 11, 2016, 12:19 PM**

Cool article walking around Hays Woods

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...streams-a-waterfall/stories/201606110009

I'm still thinking an overnight option, even just a camp site, would be cool.

mhays · #**16482** Posted **Jun 11, 2016, 7:56 PM**

I think Hays Park sounds quite exciting.

Minivan Werner · #**16483** Posted **Jun 11, 2016, 9:02 PM**

Hays Woods is really a massive area. Are there enough people adjacent to it that can properly utilize it as a park? It's not really as densely populated as the areas around Schenley or Frick. Maybe the park itself will spur more development.

I'm glad it's settled and will be preserved as a green space. Much rather see it remain as is than see a strip mine or horse track or whatever. I've heard there's a lot of areas that need cleaned up though, like old dump sites used by previous industries in the area. There's also high tension power lines cutting right through it, maybe those can be moved.

hammersklavier · #**16484** Posted **Jun 11, 2016, 9:29 PM**

Hays Woods looks to me like it would more of a retreat style park, like Pennypack Park and the Wissahickon Gorge in Philadelphia or Frick Park in Pittsburgh -- the kind of place that urbanites can go to when they want to commune with nature blah blah blah.

Because the primary purpose of these parks is to provide native habitat for critters that humans sometimes interlope in, they tend to be most successful being large and out-of-the-way (but maybe not too out-of-the-way!).

BrianTH · #**16485** Posted **Jun 11, 2016, 11:32 PM**

It is quite close to South Side Works and also the Hazelwood LTV site. But not being too intensely used could be a positive.

eschaton · #**16486** Posted **Jun 13, 2016, 12:56 PM**

Foundry at 41st is really coming along. Took these shots Friday. It's now near maximum height.

GeneW · #**16487** Posted **Jun 13, 2016, 1:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschaton

Foundry at 41st is really coming along. Took these shots Friday. It's now near maximum height.

I'm noticing that a lot of new apartment construction is wood framed lately. Somehow I thought that you weren't allowed to build anything that big out of wood but obviously I'm wrong. Have I always been wrong with that idea or have they changed the building codes fairly recently?

eschaton · #**16488** Posted **Jun 13, 2016, 2:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneW

I'm noticing that a lot of new apartment construction is wood framed lately. Somehow I thought that you weren't allowed to build anything that big out of wood but obviously I'm wrong. Have I always been wrong with that idea or have they changed the building codes fairly recently?

My wife (who is an architect) told me you're generally allowed by code to build with wood frame up to around four stories. That's why the standard height of most new apartment buildings tends to be four stories of wood frame on top of one story of steel. Once you go much above that, you have to build the whole structure in steel, which raises the cost quite a bit. I don't think we're seeing any steel residential construction right now, outside of Oakland (was SkyVue steel? I didn't see while it was in early phases).

photoLith · #**16489** Posted **Jun 14, 2016, 6:02 PM**

Photos from yesterday

POT_6392 by photolitherland, on Flickr
Historic facades have been put back up on the building in East Liberty

POT_6389 by photolitherland, on Flickr
Bakery Square Living Blue

POT_6381 by photolitherland, on Flickr
Bakery Square Living Orange and apparently a new 7 or so story office building is going up on the blank lot across the street soonish

POT_6369 by photolitherland, on Flickr
Looking towards East Liberty from the top of the new Google building

POT_6364 by photolitherland, on Flickr

POT_6362 by photolitherland, on Flickr

Some photos of restorations in the Mexican War Streets from this morning.

image by photolitherland, on Flickr

image by photolitherland, on Flickr
House being restored on N. Taylor St.

image by photolitherland, on Flickr
I believe these have been recently restored on Sampsonia Way

image by photolitherland, on Flickr
Monterey St

image by photolitherland, on Flickr
House on the left was recently finished on Monterey St

image by photolitherland, on Flickr
Another recently finished house on Monterey

image by photolitherland, on Flickr
New infill on the only demolished plot on the furthest south block on Monterey

image by photolitherland, on Flickr
Armandale St

eschaton · #**16490** Posted **Jun 14, 2016, 7:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

Bakery Square Living Orange and apparently a new 7 or so story office building is going up on the blank lot across the street soonish

Inside information? That building seems like it's been stuck in limbo forever.

I took a picture of this new construction house in Deutschtown the other day. It was surprising to me in part because it was done so well I almost couldn't tell it was new construction. The only giveaway was the concrete block foundation, which can't be seen in this picture.

Austinlee · #**16491** Posted **Jun 14, 2016, 9:05 PM**

Great photos everyone. I was struck with how large the Foundry apartment bulding looks complete with red tower crane while driving across the 41st St Bridge into Lawrenceville today.

photoLith · #**16492** Posted **Jun 14, 2016, 9:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneW

I'm noticing that a lot of new apartment construction is wood framed lately. Somehow I thought that you weren't allowed to build anything that big out of wood but obviously I'm wrong. Have I always been wrong with that idea or have they changed the building codes fairly recently?

Its pretty common everywhere, but stupid in my opinion. Heres a gigantic fire from a wood framed apartment building in Houston from a couple of years ago.

• Video Link

photoLith · #**16493** Posted **Jun 15, 2016, 2:08 PM**

Some more photos from the top of the new Bakery Square Google building from a couple of days ago.

POT_6371 by photolitherland, on Flickr

POT_6376 by photolitherland, on Flickr

POT_6379 by photolitherland, on Flickr

GeneW · #**16494** Posted **Jun 15, 2016, 3:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

Some more photos from the top of the new Bakery Square Google building from a couple of days ago.

POT_6376 by photolitherland, on Flickr

You can almost see the back of my head sitting at my desk in that one. Second floor, third bank of windows to the right of the bridge. UPMC, not Google, they're upstairs from us.

themaguffin · #**16495** Posted **Jun 16, 2016, 5:57 PM**

I just caught this:

Texas company eyes Oakland for apartment complex with student focus

Quote:

Campus Advantage plans to demolish a vacant one-story structure at 3407 Forbes Ave. near Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC and replace it with a 13-story building that would include street-level retail, three floors of parking and nine floors of residential

.

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...ed-Campus-Advantage/stories/201504020091

dfiler · #**16496** Posted **Jun 17, 2016, 8:02 PM**

Smart Growth America has published a report on the top 30 American metro areas:

Foot Traffic Ahead
Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros • 2016
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/foot-traffic-ahead-2016.pdf

There is lots of interesting stuff in there! A couple of stat that stand out are:
Pittsburgh has the lowest percentage of income devoted to housing. (%34)
Pittsburgh is tied for the highest percentage of income devoted to transportation. (%30)

More discussion of it found here:
Walkable Cities Are More Affordable Than You Think – We Need More of Them
http://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/06/15/wa...ble-than-you-think-we-need-more-of-them/

chris08876 · #**16497** Posted **Jun 18, 2016, 12:31 AM**

Sry I mistook this for the Philly compilation.

Dam P letter.

eschaton · #**16498** Posted **Jun 18, 2016, 12:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dfiler

Smart Growth America has published a report on the top 30 American metro areas:

Foot Traffic Ahead
Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros • 2016
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/foot-traffic-ahead-2016.pdf

There is lots of interesting stuff in there! A couple of stat that stand out are:
Pittsburgh has the lowest percentage of income devoted to housing. (%34)
Pittsburgh is tied for the highest percentage of income devoted to transportation. (%30)

More discussion of it found here:
Walkable Cities Are More Affordable Than You Think – We Need More of Them
http://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/06/15/wa...ble-than-you-think-we-need-more-of-them/

This study was first done in 2014. It appears to have been tweaked subtly for 2016. The big change is it previously just looked at the proportion of office and retail space in "walkable urban places" but now includes multi-family residential too. This is a good change. In the 2014 list, for example, DC beat NYC, and Atlanta beat Pittsburgh.

I still think there's issues with the methodology. It doesn't give credit, for example, for cities having walkable neighborhoods which don't have a high concentration of office space or destination retail. Thus a city like Philly, which has a lot of walkable neighborhoods, but a relatively weak downtown office market, doesn't come out as walkable as places like Denver, Portland, or Seattle (or Pittsburgh, for that matter).

Centropolis · #**16499** Posted **Jun 18, 2016, 2:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

Its pretty common everywhere, but stupid in my opinion. Heres a gigantic fire from a wood framed apartment building in Houston from a couple of years ago.

• Video Link

seems to be common indeed...happened in midtown st. louis:

mediad.publicbroadcasting.net

these new big wood framed buildings are junk. 5 fucking alarm blaze for a brand new building!

Minivan Werner · #**16500** Posted **Jun 19, 2016, 11:36 PM**

There was one in LA recently that caught fire while still under construction.