PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[pj3000]

The US Steel Building was and is completely out of scale.

The Cathedral of Learning was and is completely out of scale.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by shantyside

...architecture sucks today because architects have no balls - they'll draw whatever the developer tells them to draw... the fictional hero howard roarke knew how to deal with clients - that spirit no longer exists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDI-afx6ejk

You're seriously citing a fictional work, conceived by a non-architect over 80 years ago, that celebrates individualism and the ego above all else, as an example of the ideal that architects should strive for in 2024?

You must have zoned out in architecture school when we were taught that architecture is a service-based profession, dedicated to promoting the health, welfare, and safety of the public above all else. Did that one ever come up in your crits?

Architecture is inherently a collectivist effort. Even the starriest of starchitects have to make compromises on aesthetics and materials to keep their commissions. There are things called budgets and pro-formas, that dictate a project's trajectory. Architects can either embrace that reality, as part of the larger design challenge, or else wander off into a dusty room, to live out a theoritical fantasy in their sketchbooks, where the only thing they build is their ego.

[srahman75]

Originally Posted by pj3000

The US Steel Building was and is completely out of scale.

The Cathedral of Learning was and is completely out of scale.

To be honest, the US Steel Building isn't completely out of scale today as it has buildings like One PPG Place, BNY Mellon Center, and One Oxford Center that complement it well in the skyline when built in the 1980s. It was quite out of scale when the US Steel Building opened.

Cathedral of Learning I agree with that. Pretty self-explanatory.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by pj3000

The US Steel Building was and is completely out of scale.

The Cathedral of Learning was and is completely out of scale.

For both projects I think that was the goal. Out of scale but highly visible.

[AaronPGH]

I wish y'all would also put shanty on ignore. I am blissfully unaware of their posts until one of you quotes them!

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by srahman75

To be honest, the US Steel Building isn't completely out of scale today as it has buildings like One PPG Place, BNY Mellon Center, and One Oxford Center that complement it well in the skyline when built in the 1980s. It was quite out of scale when the US Steel Building opened.

Cathedral of Learning I agree with that. Pretty self-explanatory.

Well, I guess it's still out very much out of balance, with basically nothing to its west. The new FNB center... kinda helps out a tiny bit since you can actually see it on the skyline, but it's just that, tiny in comparison. I'm not sure I can think of a building located in a downtown area that remains this much out of scale with its immediately adjacent blocks quite like US Steel.



Doesn't mean it shouldn't have been built or anything, just like the Cathedral of Learning... which is the point I was getting at, refuting the notion that the planned E Liberty Bakery Sq development is somehow "out of scale" and therefore shouldn't be built.

[srahman75]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Well, I guess it's still out very much out of balance, with basically nothing to its west. The new FNB center... kinda helps out a tiny bit since you can actually see it on the skyline, but it's just that, tiny in comparison. I'm not sure I can think of a building located in a downtown area that remains this much out of scale with its immediately adjacent blocks quite like US Steel.

Yeah I understand that, but you could say that for all of Grant Street really, and 579 next to it adds to that sharp contrast. But yeah I do agree with the rest of what you said about bakery square/east liberty. Even then, it isn't really out of place or too tall with the development surrounding it. The area used to be much taller. The Target there literally replaced a tower block.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

I wish y'all would also put shanty on ignore. I am blissfully unaware of their posts until one of you quotes them!

Same. I highly recommend it.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Same. I highly recommend it.

Alas, it was a moment of weakness, on my part. I unignored Shanty, after seeing a quoted comment myself.

Curiosity got the better of me. I am ashamed.

[eschaton]

The July 23 Planning Commission presentation is online. There's a ton of stuff for next week, though most of it is revisions/additional material for projects reviewed last week. Going through items on the agenda:

1. A series of zoning changes bringing the Pittsburgh Zoning code into alignment with the Fair Housing Act. Practically speaking, this is a loosening of zoning codes, ensuring that a number of group quarters housing options (personal care, senior housing, and assisted living) become permitted by right across most areas of the city where other multifamily is by right. There are other various changes as well, including expansion of where multi-suite residential (SRO-type projects) may be permitted, and allowing dorms to be built within 1,000 feet of an EMI-zoned area, even if not within the zoning envelope.

2. The initial presentation on the soil remediation project for Swisshelm Park (in preparation of the upcoming solar farm). Not the sexiest thing - particularly given it showcases again how NIMBYs defeated the planned final phase of Summerset at Frick Park.

3. I somehow missed it last week (I guess these projects go right to hearing now), but it looks like they'll be a big Edgar Snyder sign on one of the North Shore buildings now.

4. The Planning Commission is reviewing the Bakery Square expansion for the third concurrent session. It looks like Walnut Capital has lowered their requested maximum height to 180 feet.

5. More information is now available for the planned rezone of a block of Homewood to LNC. This is partially driven by a planned project on the west side of the block, which will take an existing church building and expand it with new office space.

Also, the August 15 ZBA is online. Not much here to note, with only four projects, and all of them small. The most interesting are a new community center, basketball court, and playground in the Upper Hill, along with a new project in Spring Garden. The latter is interesting both because they intend to restore a "shell building" with no roof (and add an additional story) into a mixed-use building with 10 apartments and ground-floor commercial, along with the layout for the parking lot across the street indicating at least four infill houses are on the way.

[pj3000]

Not sure if they've been posted before, but I don't recall seeing these renderings for the long-planned residential development on N Negley Ave. across from the former B'nai Israel synagogue.

Mellon’s Orchard pushes for zoning change to build East Liberty apartments

https://nextpittsburgh.com/city-desi...-east-liberty/

In December 2022, Mellon’s Orchard Acquisition LLC’s application to build 264 apartments in East Liberty was rejected by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Now, the company is trying to have the property rezoned to get the project built.

After Mellon’s Orchard appealed the zoning board’s decision, the city agreed that if Pittsburgh City Council passed new zoning, the developer could get the variances it needs to build the project provided it includes affordable housing.

Mellon’s Orchard’s request for rezoning is before the Pittsburgh Planning Commission, which will pass along its recommendation to council.

The property on North Negley Avenue runs from Rippey Street to Rural Street and includes a series of empty three-story apartment buildings that once contained 66 units. Two of the buildings were constructed in the 1920s and have arched porches along the front. The others, a series of brick apartment blocks, were constructed in the 1950s, Mellon Orchard’s attorney, Robert Max Junker, said during his presentation to the planning commission on July 9.

According to a slide presented at the development activities meeting with the neighborhood in June, the redevelopment has been in the works since 2017 as developers worked on the plans with East Liberty Development Inc., the local nonprofit community development organization that once owned the land. New Burgh Real Estate, which now owns the property and operates as Mellon’s Orchard Acquisition, is working with design firm AE7 on the plan.

[bdurk]

Hi all, this weekend I visited Pittsburgh for the first time as a Philadelphian. I loved your city! Very cool place and beautiful skyline. I stayed up on Vista St in a neighborhood just across the highway from Deutschetown. It was an interesting area and I enjoyed it, I could definitely see it developing soon. I was reading about how at one point they were considering making the US Steel Tower the tallest building in the world, does anyone have any info on that or know if there were any renders made of it?

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by bdurk

Hi all, this weekend I visited Pittsburgh for the first time as a Philadelphian. I loved your city! Very cool place and beautiful skyline. I stayed up on Vista St in a neighborhood just across the highway from Deutschetown. It was an interesting area and I enjoyed it, I could definitely see it developing soon. I was reading about how at one point they were considering making the US Steel Tower the tallest building in the world, does anyone have any info on that or know if there were any renders made of it?

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. I had coworkers from our Philadelphia office working here and attending our employers 30 year anniversary. They were impressed with the city as well. In addition to our 30 year celebration they were able to attend the Pickelsburgh festival and Kennywood.

The weather made for a perfect summer weekend!

[eschaton]

Looks like we might be getting a new 12-story condo building in the Strip soon?



Going here - right across from Wholey's.

I forsee a weird NIMBY freakout regarding this, since (even though it mostly replaces crappy surface parking) it's gonna be the first multifamily which directly abuts the heart of the Strip's commercial district.

[srahman75]

Good stuff hopefully it doesn't get downsized. Unlike that planned 21-story office tower, this one suits the strip district well.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by srahman75

Good stuff hopefully it doesn't get downsized. Unlike that planned 21-story office tower, this one suits the strip district well.

I was never mad at that 21-story tower, besides the fact that there's zero demand for that much office. It could have transitioned quickly to residential. I wish Pittsburgh would break out of the "tall building goes HERE only!" thinking when it comes to major business districts outside of downtown.

Also, glad to see Indovina on this project. I'm looking forward to a higher quality rendering from them.

[srahman75]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

I was never mad at that 21-story tower, besides the fact that there's zero demand for that much office. It could have transitioned quickly to residential. I wish Pittsburgh would break out of the "tall building goes HERE only!" thinking when it comes to major business districts outside of downtown.

Also, glad to see Indovina on this project. I'm looking forward to a higher quality rendering from them.

Oh, I don't mind the height of the building. My issue with that building was that the width or massing was too big. I think it would be better to fit in 2-3 buildings in that plot of land with a similar height planned.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by srahman75

Good stuff hopefully it doesn't get downsized. Unlike that planned 21-story office tower, this one suits the strip district well.

This team has already gotten one major condo project off the ground (no pun intended) in the Strip District.

That said, I keep thinking back to the original plans for a highrise condo building on the 2600 block of Penn. I can't find the articles, yet alone the renderings, but a building of some height was proposed on the site which now houses the Forte condo development. It was largely killed due to the efforts of the woman who operated Blumgarten across the street, who believed it was out of scale for the block.

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

I was never mad at that 21-story tower, besides the fact that there's zero demand for that much office. It could have transitioned quickly to residential. I wish Pittsburgh would break out of the "tall building goes HERE only!" thinking when it comes to major business districts outside of downtown.

The planned floor plates for the lower stories were massive, so if that building had been constructed, I think there was zero chance it would have been possible for a residential conversion.

[pj3000]

12 stories!!!! That just can't happen in the Strip -- too tall for Pittsburgh! Mondor & Co. will shut this down... unless of course the developer commits to establishing an official Equity District or some other BS on which her firm can "consult".

[eschaton]

Looks like the Planning Commission delayed a vote on the expansion of Bakery Square. Since they take August off, it won't be voted on until at least September.

The reasons for the hesitance of the Commission to vote in support (despite near-universal community support) wasn't well articulated, so I went back and watched on YouTube. It seems like the opposition was mostly around the Trader Joe's parking lot remaining largely as is, fronting on Penn Avenue, so at least they're blocking this for some of the right reasons. Several commissioners said they were "95% there" so I do expect it is passed on September 3.