PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Urbana

New planning presentation is up.

http://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/sch...ion-65-692.pdf

Lots of new renderings of the Saks site.

The Uptown zoning overlay seems like it might be big. Parking lots along Fifth, Forbes, and Boulevard of the Allies are banned, and vacant lots must meet "screening standards." Seems like there are additional protections against building demolition as well, although I'm not sure how much teeth that will have.

[BrianTH]

I wish the residential the portion of the Saks project was like twice as tall. However, I do actually like how much spacing it will give around the Park Building.

[daviderik]

Lawyers Building on Forbes ave being purchased by a New York firm. (Was mentioned here before.) Wants to make significant improvements to the 25 story structure. Including new elevators, A basement restaurant and changing the name back to "The Pittsburgher". The new owner also mentions he wants to hire an artist to paint a mural on the side facing the city county building. It's currently used as office space with 80% occupancy. Rob Pfaffmann is working with the firm. The article makes no mention when improvements will be complete.
http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201502060081

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by daviderik

Lawyers Building on Forbes ave being purchased by a New York firm. (Was mentioned here before.) Wants to make significant improvements to the 25 story structure. Including new elevators, A basement restaurant and changing the name back to "The Pittsburgher". The new owner also mentions he wants to hire an artist to paint a mural on the side facing the city county building. It's currently used as office space with 80% occupancy. Rob Pfaffmann is working with the firm. The article makes no mention when improvements will be complete.
http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201502060081

Rob Pfaffman's proposal for mural:

[Austinlee]

Also from Pfaffman's FB page:

"The Guckert Building : stay tuned for more on this great old Pittsburgh warehouse!"




Wow, I always admire this extremely sturdy looking brick warehouse when I drive by it. This + the Garden Theatre block will drastically change North Avenue and bridge an important gap between the desirable neighborhoods of the Mexican War Streets & Allegheny West (& Manchester).

[BrianTH]

Love the mural idea, and reusing the Guckert Building would be awesome. That whole block is primed for a potentially great blend of reused older buildings and appropriate infill.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by daviderik

Lawyers Building on Forbes ave being purchased by a New York firm. (Was mentioned here before.) Wants to make significant improvements to the 25 story structure. Including new elevators, A basement restaurant and changing the name back to "The Pittsburgher"

The comments to that article are hilarious. Some people reacted very negatively to the line: “We’re trying to bring New York hip and cool to Pittsburgh." But if you ask me, a truly self-confident city would not react so defensively to that sentiment.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The comments to that article are hilarious. Some people reacted very negatively to the line: “We’re trying to bring New York hip and cool to Pittsburgh." But if you ask me, a truly self-confident city would not react so defensively to that sentiment.

True, they shouldn't react so insecurely; BUT, it has always been a personal pet peeve of mine when anything remotely cutting edge/urban is referred to as New York style such as lofts. It does seem like the marketers are trying to describe something they have no frame of reference to so in their minds there is some kind of dialogue like "Ooh, fancy industrial space; Just like those progressives up thar in New Yark City!"

At least that's the way I envision it. Using lofts as an example, I think it would be much preferable to talk up a particular building in its significance to Pittsburgh history and name it/market it accordingly to local importance and character.
I hope that made sense.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

At least that's the way I envision it. Using lofts as an example, I think it would be much preferable to talk up a particular building in its significance to Pittsburgh history and name it/market it accordingly to local importance and character.
I hope that made sense.

Kinda like how these New Yorkers are reviving the 'Pittsburgher' moniker for this building?

[BrianTH]

I agree "New York" can be overused in branding, but in this case these are actually developers from NYC.

Personally, I also think it is fine to recognize that NYC is the largest, richest, and most international city in the U.S., and that not infrequently design trends start taking off there before spreading to other U.S. cities. I also think it is worth noting that a lot of the value in cities comes from their function as network nodes with other cities, and Pittsburgh is in fact close enough to NYC to rationally want to encourage interchange of all sorts with NYC.

So I understand the sentiment that we don't want to see ourselves as just a pale imitation of NYC. But being a place with strong ties to NYC, including borrowing some design ideas and such from NYC when they prove successful there, is nothing I think we should be ashamed about.

[daviderik]

I don't mind the whole "New York hip and cool" thing. If something works it works. Original ideas don't always happen. it's usually an amalgamation of many things into one. I would say though that the Lawyers Building transformation isn't exactly a perfect example. I mean you're upgrading it and putting in a restaurant. Calm down. Pittsburgh could have figured that out New York.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by daviderik

I would say though that the Lawyers Building transformation isn't exactly a perfect example. I mean you're upgrading it and putting in a restaurant.

I assume they meant whatever they do with the interior design. I'm imagining something pretty boldly modern.

[pghaedesign]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I wish the residential the portion of the Saks project was like twice as tall. However, I do actually like how much spacing it will give around the Park Building.

I'm happy with the rendering for the parking deck portion. I think its better that it looks like a surrounding building.

And I agree completely in wishing that the residential portion was designed to be taller. Even 4 to 5 more floors with larger units would increase its presence without adding a ton more additional units, that they seem to be afraid to add very many. Which is odd considering the boom going on around them.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pghaedesign

I'm happy with the rendering for the parking deck portion. I think its better that it looks like a surrounding building.

Yep, for what it is, it isn't bad at all.

they seem to be afraid to add very many. Which is odd considering the boom going on around them.

I wonder if that is because they want to do condos.

[photoLith]

DSC_4250 by photolitherland, on Flickr
Photo I took tonight of the new Gardens building, its almost topped out.

[ks2006]

Originally Posted by greg42

I think that's already being done at that price isn't it? I didn't think River Vue's 1BR were more than that, for example, or 201 Stanwix. Although I'm going only by fuzzy memory. They may be more like $1200. Which is really where I was starting from. Undercutting that $1500 loft price is one thing, that's easy and already done. I was thinking more along the lines of undercutting the downtown average by a notable amount, like a sub-$1k 1BR (not a lot sub-$1k, mind you, $950 or whatever would be enough to be more significant I think) figuring an average of around $1200. Sure every 100 bucks matters but $1100 1BR doesn't quite strike me as lower-end even in the new downtown market. I'm looking for a middle and not finding it. Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things necessarily, just something I noticed. Back in the day it might have mattered because I thought of moving down here, but at this point we likely wouldn't do that even if it were in the right price range.

It doesn't look like the Strip is going to be the place where something like this happens either, as the rents there are basically the same as downtown.

I'd think the best chance for apts in that range would be in the older fringe areas bordering downtown such as Uptown and parts of the north side. Still walkable to downtown pretty easily, but not in the most desirable neighborhoods. Though with new construction I'd guess they'd need to be pretty small units to make the math work out.

Mellon Sq. park renovation seems like a waste of 10 Million and a waste of space. I'd rather see a more traditional park area with lot less concrete, that is actually usable most of the year.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Kinda like how these New Yorkers are reviving the 'Pittsburgher' moniker for this building?

You proved my point. The New Yorkers know to capitalize on the authenticity of the building's local history.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I agree "New York" can be overused in branding, but in this case these are actually developers from NYC.

Personally, I also think it is fine to recognize that NYC is the largest, richest, and most international city in the U.S., and that not infrequently design trends start taking off there before spreading to other U.S. cities. I also think it is worth noting that a lot of the value in cities comes from their function as network nodes with other cities, and Pittsburgh is in fact close enough to NYC to rationally want to encourage interchange of all sorts with NYC.

So I understand the sentiment that we don't want to see ourselves as just a pale imitation of NYC. But being a place with strong ties to NYC, including borrowing some design ideas and such from NYC when they prove successful there, is nothing I think we should be ashamed about.

Good point; I'd rather our city lend on the best adaptive reuse ideas of NYC rather than say, Continental's 3 story urban "ideas" from Columbus, OH.

[PGHFan]

Too bad Pfaffman doesn't make it a shadow of the Empire State building-that would really give it that New York feel.

[daviderik]

Good Point. Rob's shadow technically should be on the Frick Building anyways.