PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

Yeah, I have a hard time seeing robust competition for local tech talent being a bad thing. I'm pretty sure we are still generating way more talent than can stay here, which means we probably have plenty of potential supply we can add as the local tech-related labor market continues to grow. And the more employment opportunities expand, the more people will likely stick around to eventually start their own spinoffs.

[GeneW]

The article treats the tech job and employee pools as if they were a zero sum game which obviously makes no sense. CMU and Pitt churn out a new class of CS grads every year and people move here to work here both from other cities and from other countries. If anything, it makes it easier to convince people to move here because the presence of big national tech companies like Google, IBM, Apple, NetApp, and even Disney make us more known as a real tech city.

Full disclosure, my wife works for the big G so I"m not a totally disinterested party here.

[BrianTH]

Asia Carpet is moving to 6025 Broad Street:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg....html?page=all

Not the biggest deal, but the Broad Street corridor in East Liberty is really starting to take off, and these same people have helped develop it so are contributing doubly.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg...rth-shore.html

First office tenant announced for North Shore Place

The first office tenant announced for North Shore Place II, the new 120,000-square-foot mixed-use project between PNC Park and Heinz Field, is an affiliated firm of the project's developer, Columbus-based Continental Real Estate Cos.

Continental Office Environments announced it will be moving from its current regional office at the Waterfront in Homestead to take a new 13,000 square foot office at the new North Shore development on which construction is nearing completion.

Continental Office Environments CEO Ira Sharfin said in a prepared statement of the reasons for the move: “Pittsburgh remains a critical market for us and we are in a growth mode. This new office, close to the urban core and heartbeat of the city, will allow us to not only more fully integrate our employees into downtown Pittsburgh, but will provide an opportunity to showcase the innovative products and solutions we offer. The space is truly an example of practicing what we preach.”

...

[mikebarbaro]

Took this while bike riding today. Seems the crane is finally going up at The Gardens at Market Square...

[BrianTH]

Pittsburgh housing remains very affordable. Courtesy of Chris Briem, here is a snapshot of housing affordability in various cities, and Pittsburgh is ranked at the top in terms of median monthly PITI and also (if I am doing the math right) ratio of median household income to median PITI:

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/...affordability/

Doing this in PITI terms is interesting--some people argue that looking only at home prices in Pittsburgh makes it look more affordable than it really is when you factor in the (nominally) high real estate tax rates. But it appears if anything the opposite is the case, at least when you also factor in interest and insurance.

Anyway, rising incomes and a gradual shift to newer builds is likely going to cut back on the super low PITI ranking eventually. But hopefully our future looks more like Minneapolis, where there is still a large positive gap between median incomes and the income needed to comfortably cover the median PITI, rather than many of the coastal cities, where the opposite is the case. Even Philadelphia or Baltimore would be OK--they are still in the black by this measure. So for that matter is DC. It is interesting the Mid-Atlantic coastal cities seem to have pulled off enough in terms of higher incomes to beat the higher home prices, unlike in BosNY or the West Coast.

[BrianTH]

An update on an ongoing master planning process in Homewood:

http://www.homewoodnation.com/apps/b...iness-district

I've noticed the new houses along the Busway appear to be selling quickly. In general, I suspect there could be a lot more positive change in Homewood a lot quicker than some have been willing to believe possible.

[themaguffin]

Housing affordability and Pittsburgh is kind of an odd thing. Yes, technically it's affordable, but there two big factors in this.

One the decades of population stagnation and second the overwhelming very old housing stock.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

One the decades of population stagnation and second the overwhelming very old housing stock.

That's basic economics, of course--well-built homes (not necessarily fancy) can last a long time here, which means ample supply, and population stagnation means relatively low demand.

But that is all still to the benefit of people here who have decent incomes. If you like older houses, this is a fantastic market. But even if you like newer houses, all the older stock relative to demand serves as a constraint on market prices, so you are not going to pay much more for newer houses than costs of construction and a reasonable profit for the builder.

In other words, here, you typically get what you pay for. Which may sound merely fair, but lots of other places are not so lucky.

[Evergrey]

of course they won't...

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/ci...s/201408270247

Foundations won't compromise with hotel developer on August Wilson Center's future

August 27, 2014 3:03 PM

...

In a letter to Matthew Shollar, a 980 Liberty Partner, Grant Oliphant, president of the Heinz Endowments, said there’s a basic difference between the two plans, one that appears to be insurmountable.

“It comes down to the simple truth that you want to build a hotel whereas we want to save the August Wilson Center — not a vestige of it, but the rich totality of what it stands for. For us, this building is a community asset and home to a noble ambition that still deserves to have a place of its own. That is the vision laid out in our bid, which would preserve 100 percent of this public asset to carry out the mission for which it was created,” he wrote.

“For our part, we cannot accept the notion inherent in your plan of converting a $40 million public asset into a privately owned hotel when a simple plan to save that asset in full is being put forward by our foundations. In our view, your plan does great injustice to both the architecture and mission of the center, treating it as little more than a part-time theater.”

...

blah blah blah... blah blah blah blah

[themaguffin]

Then Heinz should tell them to move ahead with the hotel without the center and that they (Heinz) will "save" the center with their magic wand somewhere else. Unbelievable.

[BrianTH]

Translation:

If your bid wins, you own the building. If our bid wins, we own the building. We want to own the building. Therefore, no compromise is possible.

Oh, and something about the AWC.

[BrianTH]

Penn Avenue bike lane renderings:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/ci...s/201408270027





I know some have reservations about giving up a direction on Penn Avenue, but this will probably look pretty cool and be good branding, in addition to providing an important first link to a usable bike system in Downtown.

[BrianTH]

The URA has taken back development rights for the Masonic Temple in the Garden Theater block:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg....html?page=all

Hopefully this is a first step to actually getting something done with the building--it is a lovely structure in a great location:



The plan appears to be that the URA is going to act as the master developer itself, using some TIF financing, with the anchor tenant being City of Asylum/Pittsburgh's "Alphabet City" project:

The redevelopment of the Masonic building is expected to go forward in order to build out the first-floor commercial space for North Side nonprofit City of Asylum Pittsburgh, which remains committed to build out Alphabet City, which the URA describes "as a a literary center that will include the organization’s offices, a bookstore, performance and workshop spaces, and a full-service restaurant." . . . At its July meeting, the URA established a contingency that if it terminated the deal with Allegheny City it would buy the construction documents and other related materials from the developer and pursue the project on its own using Tax Increment Financing funds.

More on that:

http://www.cityofasylumpittsburgh.or...es-citf-grant/

COA/P is the organization that also does the famous writers' residences with the public art on the outside:

[BrianTH]

CMU has selected a Santa Monica designer to do the new business school, the first building slated for the new Tepper Quad north of Forbes:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg...gn-tepper.html

The firm's home page:

http://www.moorerubleyudell.com/

Their prior campus stuff is interesting--sort of a blend of traditional and modern:

http://www.moorerubleyudell.com/projects/campus

[BrianTH]

Kind of tangential, but it sounds like Pittsburgh may get a lot of feature attention in this upcoming Starz series:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg....html?page=all

I also spent a year living in Hollidaysburg, so it amuses me Pittsburgh is going to be a stand in for that town in one of the films:

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/07/14/an...urg-the-chair/

[Brentsters]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Penn Avenue bike lane renderings:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/ci...s/201408270027

I know some have reservations about giving up a direction on Penn Avenue, but this will probably look pretty cool and be good branding, in addition to providing an important first link to a usable bike system in Downtown.

In other Cultural District bike news, 5 new public art bike racks are being installed, with 5 more next year.

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

[Brentsters]

Riverlife blogged about the Oxford Three Crossings project.

“From what we’ve seen so far, Three Crossings has the potential to fulfill many of the principles of the community-driven Green Boulevard plan,” says Lisa Schroeder, Riverlife president and CEO. “Oxford Development has embraced the Green Boulevard ideals by proposing a project that will set the stage to connect the current activity of the Strip to the riverfront.” The proposal includes a 575-space parking garage with commercial space to accommodate a transit center station, with half of the spaces available to the public. Plans call for the garage to provide charging stations for electric vehicles, as well as bicycle parking and kayak storage.

The intermodal garage can also accommodate existing bus routes as well as future light rail and a bicycle-pedestrian path as recommended in the Green Boulevard master plan. This type of multimodal planning is essential as the Strip District and Downtown Central Business District grow together and more residents, workers and visitors make their way to the Strip.

Oxford’s plan also calls for a generous building setback from the Allegheny River to provide room for public open space. “Not only does the Three Crossings setback provide the opportunity to reclaim and rebuild the failing riverbank, it also creates green space that will be attractive to the people who live in the building as well as the public that uses the riverfront for recreation and commuting,” says Schroeder.

http://www.riverlifepgh.org/blog/%20...d_development/

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Brentsters

In other Cultural District bike news, 5 new public art bike racks are being installed, with 5 more next year.

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bike racks by BikePGH, on Flickr

The bridge is pretty cool, totally appropriate, and very practical in design.

The others are just trying way too hard. Pittsburgh... I know its difficult, but resist the urge to overdo it.

[fflint]

The bridge one is brilliant.