PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[deja vu]

I love how dense the 5th / Forbes corridor has gotten, and that is a great-looking addition.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by deja vu

I love how dense the 5th / Forbes corridor has gotten, and that is a great-looking addition.

I've said this a million times before, but that section of Oakland increasingly reminds me of a mini DC, between the civic spaces and buildings, increasingly dense mid-rise and mixed-use "downtown", surrounding historic residential neighborhoods . . . just very cool to me. The more it can spread out a bit not just in Oakland itself but also Uptown, the better as far as I am concerned.

Also a random aside, but I currently have a kid going through the college application process, and I am participating in some online discussions among parents and other applicants, and Pitt/Oakland has gotten super popular! In particular, people unfamiliar with the City of Pittsburgh visit and most come away with extremely good impressions of the setting.

So, that's nice!

[eschaton]

End of the year development wrap-up:

1. The January 4 ZBA has been online for awhile. The only thing of note here is the 16 new single-family houses planned for an empty block in Allegheny West. This was reviewed back in September, and seems to be back with essentially no changes. There's a handful of other things here as well (a new warehouse building in Lawrenceville, a new sign design for Nova Place parking), but these are pretty minor.

2. The January 11th ZBA is also online. This is an even shorter presentation, with only four items. The one thing to note here is the proposal for a new GetGo in Chateau. This is one of the most underutilized parcels in all of the North Side - it's even unpaved. While I think an argument could be made that this isn't a bad site for a Getgo, since it more or less sits directly off an onramp by the West End Bridge. While there are closer gas stations to downtown, this will probably be more convenient. And it will also be theoretically walkable for people in the lower part of Manchester. That said, the site plan is 100% suburban and needs variances to even be built there at all. There's an argument to be made that the building should at least try and front on Fulton, to allow the area at least some hope of transitioning into an urban typology again. That said, my understanding is they got away with a functionally identical design for Homewood, so I'm guessing this will sail through.

3. Giant Eagle is moving their headquarters from O'Hara to Cranberry. They had been widely rumored to be moving, since their current HQ is too large (and has been 100% remote since the pandemic), but it's disappointing (though not surprising, really) they chose to move further into the exurbs. I have no idea if the Lawrenceville IT office will be impacted by this.

4. Echo Realty has landed the first commercial tenant for The Meridian - Shake Shack.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by eschaton

4. Echo Realty has landed the first commercial tenant for The Meridian - Shake Shack.

I wonder what this signals for the rest of The Meridian's retail prospects and which of the retail spaces they are taking. The space that's west of where the Market District will be is the largest but I'm not too familiar with how much space Shake Shack's usually need. Either way, while not that exciting to get a chain, it's a chain we don't already have represented in Pittsburgh and I'd rather have a full building than watch it take 20 years to fill like East Side Bond.

[GeneW]

There was a proposal for a GetGo at that site in Manchester/Chateau about a decade ago but the Steelers blocked it because they were afraid that it would impede game day traffic.

[Selcier]

Hi all! I've been a reader for a decade: thank you all for the great content and conversation!!

I saw this in the Hazelwood Homepage this week and I wasn't able to find anything online about it yet. I believe this was presented at the last Community meeting:

"First Multi-Family Development Planned for Hazelwood Green"


(omg sorry for the newspaper picture haha!)

50 units planned at the corner of Lytle and Eliza here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/El...er=0&entry=ttu

It looks like the corner of the building will be cattycornered to the plaza. 50 1 and 2 bedroom apartments: 37 of which will be for people already living in Hazelwood. 27 for Section 8 vouchers and 10 for people making within $60-75 thousand a year. This would include retail on the 1st floor.

A surface parking lot is planned for the courtyard space. With future development, hopefully that will be screened by other buildings.

Overall, I think this is pretty good for the first residential development in the area! It gets some community buy-in, is pretty good urban form, and gives some structure to the rest of the area. Hopefully with subsequent market-rate developments we can get a little more height. A lot of this area is zoned for around 10 stories.

Phase 2 and 3 are planned to be more apartments and wrap around to form a horseshoe building.

This building would be just a few blocks away from the proposed grocery store (a few pages back) in Hazelwood proper. Its also on the 57 bus line and very close to the 56 line.

About a year ago, Tishman Speyer took over the redevelopment of the Green. They've updated the website here: https://hazelwoodgreen.com/ They've got some fancy new renderings up on there. Nothing about the new apartment building yet, though.

Also interesting to note that a new Steelers-funded field will be added where part of the Aurora driving range is now. Hopefully that means that they will be able to reconnect the street grid to the rest of the neighborhood soon. More info on that here: https://www.steelers.com/news/a-new-...field-for-kids Not the absolute best use of urban space, but its right up against the tracks. (Map and rendering included.)

I live up the hill in Greenfield and am excited to see a bit more traction on this site!

[Wally G]

Originally Posted by Selcier

Hi all! I've been a reader for a decade: thank you all for the great content and conversation!!

I saw this in the Hazelwood Homepage this week and I wasn't able to find anything online about it yet. I believe this was presented at the last Community meeting:

"First Multi-Family Development Planned for Hazelwood Green"





(omg sorry for the newspaper picture haha!)

50 units planned at the corner of Lytle and Eliza here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/El...er=0&entry=ttu

It looks like the corner of the building will be cattycornered to the plaza. 50 1 and 2 bedroom apartments: 37 of which will be for people already living in Hazelwood. 27 for Section 8 vouchers and 10 for people making within $60-75 thousand a year. This would include retail on the 1st floor.

A surface parking lot is planned for the courtyard space. With future development, hopefully that will be screened by other buildings.

Overall, I think this is pretty good for the first residential development in the area! It gets some community buy-in, is pretty good urban form, and gives some structure to the rest of the area. Hopefully with subsequent market-rate developments we can get a little more height. A lot of this area is zoned for around 10 stories.

Phase 2 and 3 are planned to be more apartments and wrap around to form a horseshoe building.

This building would be just a few blocks away from the proposed grocery store (a few pages back) in Hazelwood proper. Its also on the 57 bus line and very close to the 56 line.

About a year ago, Tishman Speyer took over the redevelopment of the Green. They've updated the website here: https://hazelwoodgreen.com/ They've got some fancy new renderings up on there. Nothing about the new apartment building yet, though.

Also interesting to note that a new Steelers-funded field will be added where part of the Aurora driving range is now. Hopefully that means that they will be able to reconnect the street grid to the rest of the neighborhood soon. More info on that here: https://www.steelers.com/news/a-new-...field-for-kids Not the absolute best use of urban space, but its right up against the tracks. (Map and rendering included.)

I live up the hill in Greenfield and am excited to see a bit more traction on this site!

Welcome to the thread and thanks for posting those links on the new field and apartments. Both are great additions for Hazelwood.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Selcier

Not the absolute best use of urban space, but its right up against the tracks. (Map and rendering included.)

Having been involved through our kids with the local youth sports scene, I will say the area is in fact in desperate need of better common fields.

[pj3000]

Looks like plans for the former Mahla Antiques building at 1700 Smallman have changed. They envisioned demo-ing it for a residential development, but sounds like they received a better offer.

McKnight shifts plan for 1700 Smallman to market Strip building for new retail

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...gh-retail.html

A new marketing push for a focal building in the Strip District suggests a change of plans from a major redevelopment to a new tenant search.

The building is 1700 Smallman Street, the long-time location of Mahla & Co. Antiques, which closed in the building after 28 years in business in April after selling the building to McKnight Realty Partners for $6.8 million.

While sources indicated in June that McKnight was considering a plan to demolish the mature warehouse building to make way for a new multifamily project, CBRE’s John Jackson is now marketing space in the building for new retail tenants.

Jackson said he's had some discussions with what he called "larger format retailers" for the property for a structure that would require any larger store to be on multiple floors.

[eschaton]

A couple more ZBA agendas are online, but not much of note. Really unsurprising, given a combination of recent ZBA streamlining (which means lots of projects are no longer reviewed) the construction slowdown, and January always being the slow month.

For January 18th, there are two items of note:

1. Infill house in South Side. Full renderings are here, which is a rarity. The site had a home until recently. Seems it was vacated sometime in the early 2000s, and a halfhearted attempt to gut rehab the building eventually was given up on, with a teardown (which has already happened - Google Earth shows it, but not Street View. The design is fine I guess. The choice to have a recessed entrance makes sense, given the front-loading garage and the home next door having a setback, though I'd worry in the longer run if the neighbor fills in the front yard.

2. A plan to change the Vincentian de Marillac nursing home (which shuttered in May of last year) into an approximately 50-bed homeless shelter. I live very close to the site - around a six-minute walk from the driveway entrance. The site is heavily screened by vegetation, barely even interfaces with either Stanton Heights or Morningside, but I do worry this will bring out some of the worst NIMBYs.

The February 2 ZBA is also online. The only notable thing on the agenda here is this project for the Strip District, which involves an upcoming combination bar/off leash dog park.

[eschaton]

I should have waited, as the January 9th Planning Commission presentation is now online. Not really much to talk about though.

1. Swapping out the Gateway Health logo for Citizens on 444 Liberty Avenue downtown.

2. Commission approval of the plan to turn the Market Square area McDonalds site into a Huntington National Bank branch (which has already gone before the HRC and ZBA).

The Commission should approve the Phoenix on Forbes in Uptown next week, however, which is nice.

No HRC meeting until February.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Looks like plans for the former Mahla Antiques building at 1700 Smallman have changed. They envisioned demo-ing it for a residential development, but sounds like they received a better offer.

McKnight shifts plan for 1700 Smallman to market Strip building for new retail

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...gh-retail.html

Here's the marketing doc for anyone more interested: https://retailproperties.cbre.us/pro...view/id:137723

[BrianTH]

I think Boaz Frankel's Yinzer Backstage Pass video series can often be very interesting, covering in depth some of the projects that even when small are collectively critical to the evolution of Pittsburgh's neighborhood personalities.

This one looks at Lawrence Hall, another food hall with common bar (popular format these days) being established in Lawrenceville, anchored by Leona's first retail outlet:

https://nextpittsburgh.com/yinzer-ba...new-food-hall/

Lots of fun details on the history of the building and its many uses over time. Definitely an ongoing part of the appeal of Pittsburgh, and in fact areas like Butler Street.

[eschaton]

NextPittsburgh has a bit more information on the planned 60-unit apartment building in Homewood South by the Busway. The ZBA approved the variances last month. It sounds like final financing of the project hinges on PFHA money, so it may still be somewhat in doubt.

Also, the January 8 ZBA agenda is online. Very small (only two items), which again seems to be a combo of being winter, construction being down, and reforms to the ZBA which have taken a lot of small projects away from review. The only two items on the agenda are expansion of existing restaurants - one of which is Square Cafe in East Liberty, and the other Tocayo in Shadyside (which is expanding onto the upper floor)

[eschaton]

So, I looked at the January Bloomfield-Garfield Bulletin, and there's a ton of information this month about the current status of various area developments.

1. An explanation of why the Mellon's Orchard development is stuck in development hell. Essentially, the 264-unit apartment building was defeated by a handful of local NIMBYs, even after community buy-in, who successfully got the ZBA to vote down the variances needed last September. By right the area can only contain 50 units of apartment, which is actually less than the vacant apartment complex on the block now. The developer is now working with the Planning Commission to spot rezone the area to RM-VH, which will allow the unit count/height, though additional variances would have to go through the ZBA still. The developer believes he has the support of the Department of City Planning and Mayor Gainey.

2. Further discussion of the plans of Echo Realty to appeal in court the ZBA rejection of the 248-unit Bloomfield Square project (which would replace the former Shur Save).

3. Information from the community meeting on the new 50-unit apartment proposed on the 3600 block of Penn Avenue in Lower Lawrenceville. The project is described as a three-story "garden apartments in an urban typology." Unfortunately, the only site picture is too low res to make anything out. The project may require a single variance for height due to residential compatibility standards.

On the whole, this all just reinforces to me what a regressive force the ZBA has become in the city. One could argue their hands are tied by the existing, restrictive zoning code though, since NIMBYs have appealed successfully to defeat projects it greenlit in the last few years. Regardless, we need zoning reform ASAP.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

NextPittsburgh has a bit more information on the planned 60-unit apartment building in Homewood South by the Busway.

I think this is a kinda cool project (hopefully the financing gets completed). It is in these three vacant lots right next to the senior multi unit that went in a few years ago:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ha...qh41?entry=ttu

That is the main path from the Busway into the commercial heart of Homewood, so I think it is nice to keep infilling it. The last of those blocks along Hamilton is where there would be a ground floor retail component (including a couple live/work units), so that would also be sort of expanding the commercial district just a bit, and kinda tying in a little more to Everyday Cafe and the building containing Fred and Max's Place.

[eschaton]

Albion has closed on the site for the new Upper Lawrenceville apartment building.

Also, Phoenix on Forbes was also approved by the Planning Commission.

So, good to see some apartment projects are still successfully getting launched.

[themaguffin]

Waltham-based photonics company Excelitas Technologies Corp. is relocating to Pittsburgh

The western Pennsylvania city, home to such major research institutions as Carnegie-Mellon University, already is famed for its friendliness to technology and life-science firms.

The company has promised to create at least 250 jobs in Pittsburgh over the next four years in exchange for a $2.3 million grant through the commonwealth’s Pennsylvania First program, which provides funding for machinery and equipment; job training; infrastructure and land and building improvements, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development’s website.

https://www.masslive.com/politics/20...ittsburgh.html

[Austinlee]

Wow, a lot of big news stories in the last day or two for Pittsburgh. I know some have already mentioned a couple of these and shared links but just to consolidate them to one post:




1.) 211 unit apartment building approved for Uptown. This sounds good for the urban fabric of that area:

The six-story building will include first floor retail space and wall-sized panel boards to display public art that can be changed over time.

https://www.wpxi.com/news/new-apartm...CVKBT2EEQOONI/


phoenixonforbesrendering2_900xx3270-1839-0-73 by Austin Daniel, on Flickr







2.) Ansys to be possibly acquired for $35 billion. This raises a lot of eyebrows when a city can produce companies of this size and value and I believe it raises Pittsburgh's profile on the national level.

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...-synopsys.html




3.) Sadly, Pittsburgh's Peregrine moon lander will not make it to the moon. Pretty big international news.

https://www.space.com/astrobotic-per...-anomaly-valve

TeamPhoto_Astrobotic by Austin Daniel, on Flickr




4.) Massachusetts company Excelitas Technology announces move to Pittsburgh, to create 250 jobs in the Strip District. That's a lot of good jobs!

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...-250-jobs.html


riverfront-west-3-crossings_1140xx4032-2265-0-639 by
Austin Daniel, on Flickr

[eschaton]

NextPittsburgh just posted a "2024 to watch" wrap-up of ongoing projects.

I think they might not have done the best work on it (they act as if the Wholey office tower is still gonna happen), but they do have a direct link to the Hazelwood Initiative page covering the new Hazelwood Green apartment, which has detailed renderings/floorplans we haven't seen yet. It's a nice little project.