PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[BenM]

Originally Posted by eschaton

It will be nice for the Hill District to have one block with some semblance of its traditional urban vitality once again.

Though right across the street is still a mess for the foreseeable future.

I hope this project goes through. There has been talk of developing the remains of the New Grenada for decades.

As for the police station across the street, its predecessor was one of the inspirations for the Steven Bochco (CMU grad) TV show Hill Street Blues.

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Man, I think you've been hanging around Dr. Avis too long.

No, I'm just being realistic.

[Wally G]

[QUOTE=Jonboy1983;8636352]I think there's a police station just across the street from this proposed development. At least according to Google Maps, this is anyway:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4437...ov%3D100?hl=en

If you look at the rendering, it's the greyed-out building in the bottom right corner. And no, I would NOT advocate demolishing/relocating a police station to accommodate a future development![/QUOTE
The police is across the street.

[eschaton]

PBT has some information on the "Shakespeare Street" Giant Eagle redevelopment - not behind a paywall for once!

The basic plan remains the same as was announced awhile ago - the current shopping center will be demolished, with a new, smaller Giant Eagle built fronting on Centre. There will be a 220-unit apartment development mostly along Shady Avenue which will have ground-floor retail broken into many potentially smaller storefronts. The interior of the site will have a 500-unit three-level garage, with half the space dedicated to the apartments, half to the store. This picture shows (in blurry form) a site plan. Strada is apparently the architect. If there will be as much ground floor retail as is suggested, this will be a great thing, essentially creating an entirely new business district, and framing both sides of East Liberty Station with retail.



Some interesting facts were shared by a representative from Pittsburgh for Public Transit about overbuilding of parking in other nearby developments (Target and Eastside Bond apparently have 30% excess capacity) and hopes to redevelop the intersection at Penn to be more pedestrian friendly, but it's unclear if they have anything to do with the plan for the site or were just interjections by the organization.

The Giant Eagle will have to be closed for approximately two years while the redevelopment takes place.

[photoLith]

^
Whoa, had no idea about that. Great news as I hate how suburban that area feels and that Giant Eagle is so dumpy. Now, if only they could redesign the layout of the suburban strip mall Giant Eagle on the Southside and along Centre and Negley.

[photoLith]

Was biking by the BLVD of the Allies a few days ago and sadly saw that jagoff tore down those early 1800s buildings next to Market Street, such a horrible shame that terrible family got their way with demolition through neglect.

[BrianTH]

This brochure (PDF) contains a lot more detail about the proposed Shady Hill redevelopment:

https://api-echorealty.reol.com/pdf?...pment_2_19.pdf

It is marked 2-19 so may already have been tweaked, but it looks like the ground floor plan is more or less the same as the one in the picture above, and the details are at least very similar (although this older brochure says 210 apartments, and apparently 220 was the number in the meeting).

All this is very preliminary, but one thing I found interesting is at least in this version, the apartment blocks did not reach all the way to Penn:







I suspect it is not a coincidence this would more or less put them as far away (and out of sight) of the townhouse development (Village of Shadyside) as possible, and conversely right across the bridge from Eastside Bond, and of course East Liberty Station:





You can already pick up from the coverage that some local homeowners are apparently concerned about adding more apartments to the area. Although I think the actual economics of this sort of thing is that these developments will, if anything, boost the price of local homes. But some folks still seem to associate rental units with lower-class neighborhoods.

[bmust71]

Thanks for sharing, BrianTH. Really like this project, and we're slowly bridging the gap between DT East Liberty and Bakery Square.

Don't mean to derail the conversation but wanted to share this before I forget. See the new Lower Hill community presentation for the Centre District below:

http://www.pghcentredistrict.com/upl...esentation.pdf

Since they are building the parking garage first my guess is the prospective office tenant for the tower may have backed out.

[BenM]

Originally Posted by bmust71

Thanks for sharing, BrianTH. Really like this project, and we're slowly bridging the gap between DT East Liberty and Bakery Square.

Don't mean to derail the conversation but wanted to share this before I forget. See the new Lower Hill community presentation for the Centre District below:

http://www.pghcentredistrict.com/upl...esentation.pdf

Since they are building the parking garage first my guess is the prospective office tenant for the tower may have backed out.

Does anyone know if the building renderings are actual architectural designs? Or are they just placeholders to show massing.

I like the indoor outdoor performance space. It's similar to Wolf Trap near Washington DC.



ETA I see they are back to calling it the Lower Hill.

[Wave]

Thanks for posting. Though it is still early, there are lots of positives with this development: Decent height and massing; six floors, mixed use, the updated plans seem to take the six stories to Penn & Shady so hopefully that is accurate; immediately adjacent to the East Liberty transit station; the parking is sufficiently hidden in the back and only visible seemingly from Aurelia street (though possibly a bit from Shady) . The artistic rendering looks promising, though there is still plenty of time to value-engineer that away. Mostly this is a very encouraging addition to the continuing urbanization/densification of East Liberty, eliminating a real eyesore, connecting Bakery Sq to the rest of East Liberty and allowing for a more continuous urban fabric on that growing stretch. Would be amazing to see this come to fruition.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

This brochure (PDF) contains a lot more detail about the proposed Shady Hill redevelopment:

https://api-echorealty.reol.com/pdf?...pment_2_19.pdf

It is marked 2-19 so may already have been tweaked, but it looks like the ground floor plan is more or less the same as the one in the picture above, and the details are at least very similar (although this older brochure says 210 apartments, and apparently 220 was the number in the meeting).

All this is very preliminary, but one thing I found interesting is at least in this version, the apartment blocks did not reach all the way to Penn:







I suspect it is not a coincidence this would more or less put them as far away (and out of sight) of the townhouse development (Village of Shadyside) as possible, and conversely right across the bridge from Eastside Bond, and of course East Liberty Station:





You can already pick up from the coverage that some local homeowners are apparently concerned about adding more apartments to the area. Although I think the actual economics of this sort of thing is that these developments will, if anything, boost the price of local homes. But some folks still seem to associate rental units with lower-class neighborhoods.

[eschaton]

Thanks to BrianTH and bmust71 for sharing these. It makes both projects much more comprehensible.

The Shakespeare Street redevelopment looks fine. I'd honestly want a bit more there, but I do realize with the Village of Shadyside NIMBYs right next door, it will be a battle getting anything through. At least the garage will be hidden from virtually all angles, and the layout seems to leave open the possibility for future upgrades if it becomes more politically palatable.

The Lower Hill presentation answers a question about why the unit count seemed rather low. The 7-acre superblock the development is going in on is actually being split into two different blocks for the purposes of development, with only the part closer to downtown being built out for now (the "back tier" of buildings in the shot we saw earlier was just theoretical). 288 units on 3.5 acres is a reasonable density, though the tower still seems to have an strangely low unit count to me, though it seems like that building has more 1/2 bedrooms and less studios/micros (probably few of the affordable apartments as well I'm guessing).

It's hard to tell exactly what's going on with the entertainment complex/garage (the two renderings don't seem to have anything to do with it), but it appears the parking is almost entirely subterranean, with the above-ground building largely a multi-story open space for concerts, along with some retail and commercial space. A cinema lobby is shown, though there's no other information about this.

[BrianTH]

So to me, the photo from the live presentation seems to have more or less the same drawing as this first-floor page from the PDF:



If that is right, what that is indicating is the location of the street-level retail portion, and the apartments could still be planned as before.

As an aside, I am sort of intrigued by that corner parcel. As I understand it, it has two stories that totals 20,000 sqft. That's pretty large, and among other things I think that gets into the range for some urban format versions of big box stores. Opinions may differ, but I'd still love to see an East Liberty Walmart competing with the Target . . . .

However, since all this is very preliminary anyway, it probably doesn't much matter.

[BrianTH]

I don't know if I knew that second tower in block G2 was supposed to be a combination of hotel and residential:



That would be cool. Should be great views from there.

Speaking of great views, I like to walk up along Crawford for nice views of Downtown. The strange scooped-out layout of the plan is designed to preserve those views, and regardless of what one thinks about that, I for one am looking forward to climbing to the top of this playset to look back down:



A couple places I have been that I hope capture the vibe from up there:

Paris (Square Louise Michel)



Taormina (Via Scalinata Timoleone)

[Jonboy1983]

Oh man... I LOVE that proposal for the East Liberty Giant Eagle! It reminds me of the development that they constructed near the Dunn-Lorring Metro Station near Falls Church, VA. Mixed use structures of 6-10 stories are just perfect for East Liberty as they bring the right amount of density to that part of the city. Now they just need to do something with that schlocky strip mall at the corner of Penn and E. Liberty Blvd; across from Bakery Square.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

As an aside, I am sort of intrigued by that corner parcel. As I understand it, it has two stories that totals 20,000 sqft. That's pretty large, and among other things I think that gets into the range for some urban format versions of big box stores. Opinions may differ, but I'd still love to see an East Liberty Walmart competing with the Target

Keep in mind that Giant Eagle is not just a tenant in the development, but the actual developer. I can't imagine that Giant Eagle would allow an urban-format Walmart to open up unless there was some sort of agreement to not sell groceries there (which I doubt Wal-Mart would do). They're not going to sign a lease for a competitor immediately next to their own grocery store after all.

[BrianTH]

TJ Maxx/Marshalls?

Best Buy?

Edit: The rendering says "p.j. NABB". Hmmmm . . . .

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

TJ Maxx/Marshalls?

Best Buy?

I was thinking maybe a Dave & Busters or something similar would do well in that location.

It's too bad the preliminary plans for a movie theater on site never really worked out.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

TJ Maxx/Marshalls?

Best Buy?

Edit: The rendering says "p.j. NABB". Hmmmm . . . .

p.j. NABB is my favorite store! And not just because of the initials. I'm always able to find name-brand fashion at discount prices. I'm a total NABBionista.

[eschaton]

So, a couple of new projects are moving along, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.

First, the same developer which is attempting to build the new 3150 Smallman Street Property closed on a commercial laundry building in Uptown for $2.2 million. The site in question is actually fairly large, spanning an acre and a half. The owner does not plan at this time to tear down the existing building, instead doing a gut rehab for "tech flex space."

Right across Penn (more or less) from the Shakespeare Giant Eagle site, the owners of Club One have confirmed they are closing the club in November, as they have sold the property to a developer. Club One has more property than it seems from Penn, with the total size again about 1.5 acres. With this and the Shakespeare Street Giant Eagle being redeveloped, it's going to put a lot of pressure on the nearby "Village of East Side" shopping center as the last big underdeveloped parcel between Bakery Square and East Liberty (The Village of Shadyside condos will look more and more ridiculous).

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by eschaton

So, a couple of new projects are moving along, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.

First, the same developer which is attempting to build the new 3150 Smallman Street Property closed on a commercial laundry building in Uptown for $2.2 million. The site in question is actually fairly large, spanning an acre and a half. The owner does not plan at this time to tear down the existing building, instead doing a gut rehab for "tech flex space."

Right across Penn (more or less) from the Shakespeare Giant Eagle site, the owners of Club One have confirmed they are closing the club in November, as they have sold the property to a developer. Club One has more property than it seems from Penn, with the total size again about 1.5 acres. With this and the Shakespeare Street Giant Eagle being redeveloped, it's going to put a lot of pressure on the nearby "Village of East Side" shopping center as the last big underdeveloped parcel between Bakery Square and East Liberty (The Village of Shadyside condos will look more and more ridiculous).

Are those the condos directly across the street from the Village? Those aren't IMO the best use for that piece of land, and it doesn't look like they were there for very long. You are absolutely right that the Village at East Side is going to look rather out of place as well. I never was a fan of auto-centric shopping centers, especially ones in an urban setting like East Liberty. Hopefully they'll revamp that sooner as opposed to later or not at all...

It's a shame they built those condos when they did; they back all the way up to Penn Avenue...