PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[BobLoblaw]

The former McDonald's on Liberty at the entrance to downtown will become -- wait for it -- a Huntington Bank branch. Highest and best use, baby!

[Johnland]

Originally Posted by BobLoblaw

The former McDonald's on Liberty at the entrance to downtown will become -- wait for it -- a Huntington Bank branch. Highest and best use, baby!

That's it. I'm done. What a F***ing joke.

[pj3000]

"Highest and best use" would be to knock that terrible piece of — down and establish some green space.

[eschaton]

So, I missed the URA meeting last week. Probably the biggest news was that a site that contains a vacant condemned apartment development in Carrick (Berg Place) will be redeveloped into a 54-unit senior development (with most of the units affordable). Unfortunately, the existing walkups will be demolished and replaced. Still, they are apparently in very poor condition, and the new zero-setback design is arguably more appropriate for the area (which is one of the more urban commercial zones of Brownsville).

There's also further information (largely in the Youtube video) regarding Salem's Market opening in the Hill District, updates to the Greater Hill District Master Plan, and the restoration of the New Granada Theater.

In other news, the State of the Strip 2023 report is now out. Not a lot of new information here for those of us who follow development closely, but it's shocking to see that while an additional 2,111 units are "expected to deliver" soon, only 35 are now under construction (Penn 23 wrapping up, and the conversion of 31st Street Lofts from apartments to condos).

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by BobLoblaw

The former McDonald's on Liberty at the entrance to downtown will become -- wait for it -- a Huntington Bank branch. Highest and best use, baby!

Just what we need, another pointless bank branch near Market Square.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Just what we need, another pointless bank branch near Market Square.

I read a whole paper about this once (why there are so many lightly-used bank branches in high-rent commercial districts). Executive summary: they are basically glorified billboards.

Very annoying.

[GeneW]

Yeah, it's a national thing, banks are building these mostly empty branches all over the country.

[eschaton]

Speak of the devil, I don't know if you guys have been following the demolition of Shady Avenue Presbyterian, but this article has a good rundown. It's absolutely being demolished, despite last-minute attempts by local preservationist churches to save it.

Given the location, I was hoping that Lardo sold to Echo Realty, and they could add some additional density/units to The Meridian, if the building had to go. But no...

Kelly also testified that the partners of Beatrice ICON have an agreement to sell the property to an unnamed bank for $1.2 million and that one of the provisions is that the building on the property has to be demolished.

[TF15]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Yeah, it's a national thing, banks are building these mostly empty branches all over the country.

So there’s NIMBYs for apartment complexes and height restrictions.. is there any way to get those people fired up for things like this and the East Liberty Mellon building? It’d be great if the CDC boards could step in and tell Nickolas and other property owners they can’t do this anymore but I’m assuming would that have to come from some updated zoning amendment.

[eschaton]

July 25th Planning Commission presentation is online. Three new items on the agenda.

1. Historic nomination of a house in North Point Breeze (201 North Murtland). It's a nice enough house, but I honestly am not entirely sure what warrants it being nominated as an individual structure since it's in no danger of demolition. The original owner was...mildly famous, though, I suppose, having worked for George Westinghouse. I certainly have no objections to the nomination.

2. Historic nomination of a warehouse building in Schweitzer Lock (855 S Canal Street). Apparently, it was originally a German community center. Looking at the old pictures, I wish the original fenestration had survived to the present; it looks like it was a lovely building back when there was a neighborhood there.

3. The major new residential project in Upper Lawrenceville (Albion) is now going before the commission, and while we've seen bits of this before, nothing to this degree. It's a five-story 265-unit building, with a small amount of ground floor retail and 200 parking spaces. In addition, the existing firehouse building is being renovated as part of the redevelopment. While I'd prefer active uses along the entire frontage on Butler, there's a lot to like here otherwise, from retaining a historic building to the tight building footprint to keeping Berlin Way (which is a private ROW on the block, and thus not protected), to the overall clean design. I also appreciate how they're subdividing the lot and leaving the old converted truck bay on the interior of the parcel, as it means there could be later phases of redevelopment.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by TF15

So there’s NIMBYs for apartment complexes and height restrictions.. is there any way to get those people fired up for things like this and the East Liberty Mellon building? It’d be great if the CDC boards could step in and tell Nickolas and other property owners they can’t do this anymore but I’m assuming would that have to come from some updated zoning amendment.

There was some outcry when banks started taking over the facades in Market Square a few years back, but ultimately, no one did anything to stop it.

[dfiler]

On reddit it was posted that Phillips Edison, the owner of the Edgewood town center, lists Giant Eagle as occupying the other large anchor store at the other end of the development. It has been under significant renovation for a while now so it is possible they'll be vacating the current location once the new one is built out.

The new space 91224 square feet while the current one is 71008.

The site plan can be seen here:
https://www.phillipsedison.com/property/pennsylvania/edgewood/edgewood-towne-center

[photoLith]

Just drove down all of Carson Street, it’s been a few months and my god. Half of the bars and restaurants are closed. It’s very depressing and there was hardly anyone around. The city needs to do something to control the ghetto shootings downtown and on the Southside. Really sad to see.

[AaronPGH]

Can we resist the temptation to call things "ghetto" on here, please? It's 2023.

[photoLith]

^
Sorry, “youth” crime.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

Can we resist the temptation to call things "ghetto" on here, please? It's 2023.

Thank you.

[photoLith]

Who is committing the vast majority of the shootings and crime in the Southside and downtown?

[eschaton]

South Side and Downtown have always had very high crime rates, TBH. But a lot of this is an artifact of the way the city tracks crime rates - as being by inhabitant. The vast majority of both criminals and victims in both neighborhoods are people who are just passing through the area; hence looking at crimes per resident isn't very accurate.

I'm not sure about South Side, but I know that crime is actually decreasing again Downtown. I think it still "feels" unsafe because pre-pandemic, there were more people professional-class people traveling through Downtown. Now the amount is less, so even though the absolute amount of crime isn't that different, it feels higher because there's less...err..."law-abiding activity."

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

Can we resist the temptation to call things "ghetto" on here, please? It's 2023.

Agreed and thank you for saying this. This forum doesn't need to start it's own discussion on crime unless it directly relates to building projects and I still see projects being built in the South Side.

[BrianTH]

PIT is in discussions with Aer Lingus to do a direct route to Dublin:

https://liveandletsfly.com/aer-lingus-in-talks-for-more-trans-atlantic-service/

https://www.irishstar.com/news/pennsylvania-news/pittsburgh-international-airport-in-talks-30486805

Aer Lingus is apparently taking delivery of some extended-range single-aisle jets that can get a bit deeper into the CONUS, Airbus A321XLRs, and is looking for "long and skinny" routes. Apparently PIT/County officials think they have a good shot at it.

That, of course, would be great. Great for the fancy new terminal we are building (including much better for international departures/arrivals), great promotionally, and potentially good for business/tourism.

I am also hoping it will be good for price competition. Although the British Air flight to Heathrow is competitive with connecting through a major US hub, that is still a "premium" product. Interestingly, Aer Lingus is also owned by IAG, like BA. But I am hoping maybe it gets priced as the more "discount" option, seeing as Dublin obviously is a significantly smaller destination. There was a regrettably brief time when Condor served that role for PIT (to Frankfurt), and we loved that flight.

And Dublin, as I recall, actually has a lot of cool connections available, including on Aer Lingus and also Ryanair. And if you do a "great circle" map from Pittsburgh, it is typically at least roughly "on the way" to most of Europe and the Middle East.

So for those of us who really prefer to connect in Europe, and particularly arrive in the US at PIT and not some massive gateway airport--this could be cool.

Edit: And actually, I think I just remembered that Dublin might have US border preclearance, like Shannon. If so that would be even better.