PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[Urbanthusiat]

^^That will be quite prominent from the highway!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

^^That will be quite prominent from the highway!

Yep. Hopefully it looks good in general, but the bottomline is it will make it look like that side of the highway is a place worth doing new stuff, which is great.

[photoLith]

Hopefully its built with quality materials.....

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Hopefully its built with quality materials.....

yeah... it's a rather prominent location, so shoddy-looking cladding would be a disappointment... but it is a Comfort Inn after all, so I wouldn't be too optimistic. It's not like it's going to be the Four Seasons or even a Sheraton, for that matter.

[Dblcut3]

I'm pretty excited to see that the Chateau development is going forward! Hopefully they do a good job, its in a very prominent location. Maybe if we are lucky enough, we could get a T expansion to the new Chateau development (which would also benefit Manchester), but that's probably too much to ask for.

[photoLith]

What the heck is this? This thing just popped out of nowhere in SoHo. I drive down there all the time and never noticed it until today.

Untitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

Untitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

[joenicholas9]

^ That's the new steam plant

[PGHFan]

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Amazon has hired a new lobbyist to deal with the Georgia legislature, fueling speculation that Atlanta might be the HQ2 choice.

[Steel City Scotty]

Walkabout: Next phase of Allegheny Commons Park restoration set to begin early next year

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by photoLith

What the heck is this? This thing just popped out of nowhere in SoHo. I drive down there all the time and never noticed it until today.

Originally Posted by joenicholas9

^ That's the new steam plant

"NRG Uptown District Energy Center" to be formal.

It's a steam/chilled water/emergency electricity plant... and has significantly more impact on the potential size and tenants of future development on the former Civic Arena site than the City/Penguins have.

It is very purposefully being "overbuilt" to not only provide heating/cooling to UPMC Mercy and its proposed major developments, but also to the entire future fooprint of the Arena site. It will actually help to create demand for that real estate. UPMC would not be building the new hospital without it.

I know the focus is always on the City's and Penguins bs wrangling over developing the property and how it should look, but infrastructure construction projects like this are what gives things the kick in the ass to get shit done.

[themaguffin]

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Amazon has hired a new lobbyist to deal with the Georgia legislature, fueling speculation that Atlanta might be the HQ2 choice.

Georgia is not the only state where he has recently registered.

The AJC, state and locals take every little thing as to suggest it's going to be them without looking outside of their bubble.

[eschaton]

Lawrenceville United has posted meeting minutes and a new (crude) site rendering regarding the hotel project on 40th Street. It looks like they're going to be demoing two annexes to the building which aren't really visible except from Almond Way in order to make space for some valet spaces.

[BrianTH]

In a sign of the times, the Embassy Suites out in Coraopolis near the airport is being converted to senior living:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201712190022



I've heard people say we have overbuilt hotels, but I've also heard people point out it is the older periphery hotels struggling, and the new core hotels are doing relatively well. So this sort of conversion seems basically healthy to me--we need decent senior living and it is not a bad thing for the hotel scene to be somewhat more concentrated in the core.

[themaguffin]

The conversion doesn't necessarily reflect on the market, but on the property. It may have needed to have a significant overhaul/costly update and the owner decided to sell or get into the senior housing biz.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

The conversion doesn't necessarily reflect on the market, but on the property. It may have needed to have a significant overhaul/costly update and the owner decided to sell or get into the senior housing biz.

Sure, but there is an intersection between older properties in possible need of serious updates and not being in the core area.

At the end of the day I am fine with people building fancy new hotels wherever they think there is a market for them. But if it happens most of those fancy new hotels are in the core area, and meanwhile old hotels farther out are converted rather than updated, I won't complain.

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

In a sign of the times, the Embassy Suites out in Coraopolis near the airport is being converted to senior living:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201712190022



I've heard people say we have overbuilt hotels, but I've also heard people point out it is the older periphery hotels struggling, and the new core hotels are doing relatively well. So this sort of conversion seems basically healthy to me--we need decent senior living and it is not a bad thing for the hotel scene to be somewhat more concentrated in the core.

All of those hotels on Business 376 were built when PIT was a hub. Honestly, I don't know how they've managed to stay in business this long. I'm really curious what happens to the airport Hyatt in a few years once it is physically disconnected from the airport terminal.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

All of those hotels on Business 376 were built when PIT was a hub. Honestly, I don't know how they've managed to stay in business this long. I'm really curious what happens to the airport Hyatt in a few years once it is physically disconnected from the airport terminal.

Me too. On the plus side, there will be a bunch of land opened up right around it for development, so maybe it can survive as a shuttle hotel if all that is developed in a hotel-complementary way.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

I'm really curious what happens to the airport Hyatt in a few years once it is physically disconnected from the airport terminal.

As far as I can tell, there will still be some connection to the new terminal, possibly through the parking garage. I'd imagine that if any hotels stick around, it'll be that one considering it's directly on airport grounds.

[qwho]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

As far as I can tell, there will still be some connection to the new terminal, possibly through the parking garage. I'd imagine that if any hotels stick around, it'll be that one considering it's directly on airport grounds.

Did they say they intend to no longer operate / dismantle the people movers? Because if they kept them, if people park near a future structure on the old terminal site or stay at the existing Hyatt, it could still get people to the new terminal nicely.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by qwho

Did they say they intend to no longer operate / dismantle the people movers? Because if they kept them, if people park near a future structure on the old terminal site or stay at the existing Hyatt, it could still get people to the new terminal nicely.

When you say peoplemovers, you mean the moving "sidewalks" right? I don't know if it's officially said, but people on airline message boards seem to think those will remain in place, and be extended through the new parking garage to the new terminal. It'd be long as hell, but it'd work. Especially in cold weather. Better than having to board a shuttle I think.