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  #3901  
Old Posted Nov 19, 2020, 2:12 PM
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Some new renderings of the proposed and much-maligned (by the Planning Commission) Strip District office tower. Looks like they broke up the single mass and threw a light feature and some greenery (that will not survive) on to appease the self-righteous protectors of Pittsburgh.

Switching bait: Developer makes big changes to massive Strip District office tower

JMC hopes city will approve 'mini-towers'

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202011180166

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Two months after being rebuffed by the Pittsburgh Planning Commission, JMC Holdings is proposing to carve the structure into four “mini-towers” — including one that would rise two stories higher than the 21 originally envisioned.

Two others “mini-towers” would remain at 21 stories and the other would be 19.

The complex at 1501 Penn Ave. will actually look higher than 23 stories in the middle because of the addition of translucent glass that will glow at night and hide rooftop mechanical equipment.

In materials presented to the commission for a briefing Tuesday, the developer is hoping to change such sentiments. It stated that the building is at its highest on the west end facing Downtown while the smallest of the mini-towers faces the Strip.

In addition, New York-based JMC is proposing to build outdoor terraces at the top of each of the four mini-towers and on a section of the complex that features street level retail and seven levels of parking.

There also would be balconies on office floors.

In all, the tallest of the mini towers would consist of one level of retail, seven levels of parking, an amenity level, and 14 office levels.

With the new design, the idea is to break down the massing and the scale by creating the mini-towers of varying heights and by adding terraces and balconies, JMC stated in its proposal.

In a bid to further dress up the design, the developer plans to indent the corners in each of the towers and make the glass more horizontal and detailed.

JMC also is paying more attention to the street level in an effort to address commission concerns about a raised colonnade along the Smallman Street side of the building that is to serve as public space.

Some commission members felt the covered colonnade, which included bleacher seating, might not feel welcoming.

To address such issues, JMC extended the bleacher seating and steps the entire length of the Smallman Street frontage and added bleachers to an adjacent plaza.

Furthermore, it increased the width of the colonnade by more than four feet and widened the plaza by 12 feet. It also added an accessibility ramp at the middle of Smallman and made other accessibility improvements.









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  #3902  
Old Posted Nov 19, 2020, 4:56 PM
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Alright, let's see what the council hates about this iteration!
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  #3903  
Old Posted Nov 19, 2020, 6:48 PM
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^ I particularly like how this rendering is taller than the previous iteration.

It could be a not-so-subtle f--- off to the planning commission members who complained about the height.

What is rather ironic about this new submittal is that it definitely puts more "decisions per inch" (as the planning commission president repeatedly said the previous version was lacking) into the now taller upper portion of the structure, which makes it stand out that much more than the last iteration, something that the commission seemed to have a problem with... that it was out of place and stood out too much from the rest of the Strip.

Well... they asked for "decisions per inch" on the upper portion, and they got it.
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  #3904  
Old Posted Nov 19, 2020, 10:54 PM
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This is a much better proposal. Don't see why people are complaining about the city when the net result is positive.
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  #3905  
Old Posted Nov 20, 2020, 12:54 PM
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New Planning Commission presentation up for next week. Four new items on the agenda - busy for this time of year:

1. Historic nomination of Mellon Park. I have to say I'm not entirely sure what the impetus is for this historic designation, but this may have something to do with the former Marshall Mansion/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts building, which is by my understanding in an advanced state of deterioration and will need significant work done. Certainly I do not disagree with the designation however.

2. A renovation of the "Triangle Building" downtown. The presentation is incredibly skimpy, including a lot of photos of existing site conditions and some crude floor plans. Eyeballing it though, it looks like the plan is to retain the first story as retail, and converting the upper five stories into 23 residential units. Considering the upper stories of the building always appeared to be quasi-abandoned to me, this a definite step up.

3. A new apartment building at 32 and Penn in the Strip District. Surprisingly, this is not a project we've heard any rumors about before being in the pipeline. It's a six-story, 114-unit building with 47 stalls of integral parking. It replaces some very under-utilized auto-centric uses. I feel the design is a bit boxy and the massing seems overpowering from the street renderings, but it straddles the line between contemporary and neo-traditional quite well.

4. Finally, the re-submission of 1501 Penn Avenue everyone's already talking about. I don't have that much else to add beyond what was already said. I don't think the last design should have been rejected, but this is an absolute step up, and the quick turnaround on redesign shows this isn't a blue-sky project and the developer is actually pretty committed to moving forward.

In addition, December's HRC is also online. It's a very light agenda - only four items, with several retreads. Only thing of note is some further revisions to the planned infill homes by October Development in Central Northside. Let's see if these get past the commission.

Last edited by eschaton; Nov 20, 2020 at 6:25 PM.
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  #3906  
Old Posted Nov 20, 2020, 2:15 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post

3. A new apartment building at 32 and Penn in the Strip District. Surprisingly, this is not a project we've heard any rumors about before being in the pipeline. It's a six-story, 114-unit building with 47 stalls of integral parking.
Once again, thanks for keeping us all up to date on the goings on around town -- your summaries allow me to amaze friends and family with my knowledge of what's to come in Pittsburgh

Re: the apt building proposal at 32nd & Penn... I really like the simple design for this spot in the Strip. The massing and materials give me a no-nonsense, quality vibe; a structure that blends in, but stands out at the same time... if that makes any sense. I think the "upper Strip" is really the place to be if one wanted to live in the Strip... I like how this area will likely retain a bit more of the light industrial, non-touristy vibe of the Strip and is a much quieter area for living. And how it's within easy walking distance of Lawrenceville and provides quick access to the 31st St. bridge and the East End.
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  #3907  
Old Posted Nov 20, 2020, 6:37 PM
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Originally Posted by pj3000 View Post
Once again, thanks for keeping us all up to date on the goings on around town -- your summaries allow me to amaze friends and family with my knowledge of what's to come in Pittsburgh

Re: the apt building proposal at 32nd & Penn... I really like the simple design for this spot in the Strip. The massing and materials give me a no-nonsense, quality vibe; a structure that blends in, but stands out at the same time... if that makes any sense. I think the "upper Strip" is really the place to be if one wanted to live in the Strip... I like how this area will likely retain a bit more of the light industrial, non-touristy vibe of the Strip and is a much quieter area for living. And how it's within easy walking distance of Lawrenceville and provides quick access to the 31st St. bridge and the East End.
I mean, I really do like the building much better than most apartment designs I've seen in Pittsburgh. My only concern is the Penn-facing façade feels a bit too long considering how flat and understated it is (plus the ground floor is a garage with no retail). Some sort of break in the building - maybe even just rotating the U shape to the front - might make for more interesting sidewalk-level engagement.
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  #3908  
Old Posted Nov 21, 2020, 2:05 AM
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A bit of a nod to One Oxford Center in that design. I like it.
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  #3909  
Old Posted Nov 22, 2020, 6:48 AM
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I was ok with the previous design, but this is definitely a significant improvement, in my opinion. I like how that narrow 19th century commercial building on Penn, with the tiny fourth floor dormer, will survive this development. Pretty cool. Except I wish they could ditch the hideous Lamar billboard adjacent. At any rate,I never loved the parking platform, and that stays, but the new design was worth engaging the extended municipal review process in my opinion, which isn't always the case. The developers seemingly retain the same Sq. footage, so likely win-win if approved.

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A bit of a nod to One Oxford Center in that design. I like it.
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  #3910  
Old Posted Nov 22, 2020, 7:33 AM
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1501 Penn is a disaster.
I don't even care about the tower above. Proposing a massive parking garage into this area is a disaster. They won't even show any details of the garage because they know
IT'S A DISASTER!
A crime against the community.
There needs to be a lot more talk about what this "screen" covering the garage will look like or did I miss something. Not on here often.
It's massive.
Perhaps a growing green screen would work.
It looks like they threw a tower on top of a garage just to justify building a gigantic garage.
DISASTER.
Doesn't Pittsburgh have any architects?
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  #3911  
Old Posted Nov 22, 2020, 3:17 PM
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12/10 ZBA is online. It's a relatively busy schedule for this time of year, with many small projects of interest:

1. A set of four new-construction townhouses in South Side Flats. These are truly tiny houses in terms of their footprint. The plot in question is a vacant corner lot. Instead of building one normal sized home facing S 12th, the developer wants to build four homes facing Sarah Street, meaning each will only be 18 feet deep. You can clearly see this in the site plan of the first story, with each home scarcely deeper than a car in the (two car) garage. Actually, I'm not a fan of the four curb cuts for the four double garages either. This is exactly the sort of project which should be considered with no parking.

2. A new two-unit building in Garfield. The site map is pretty bare bones, but it appears they want to have it take up two empty parcels on the corner of S Graham and Hillcrest. On the corner lot, they plan on having a garage and greenhouse, while the next one in will have the residential structure.

3. Redevelopment of South Side Park in the Slopes. Much of this presentation has to do with reorientation of parking, changing of the width of access roads within the park, and the issues related to the steep slopes and vegetation. This is only phase 1 of a comprehensive redesign of the park.

4. What is essentially a new home in Central Lawrenceville. Currently on site there is a small two-car garage, and the developer wants to build a two-story home on top of the existing structure. Unlike the other examples this week, there is an actual rendering of the design. This will be a prominent building - at least for now, because the angled lot at the corner of Butler and Plummer is currently vacant - though I'm sure it's just a matter of time until it fills in.
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  #3912  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2020, 1:56 PM
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December 8th planning Commission agenda up. Only three projects for next week - all of them relatively small - and things already known about.

1. Plans for the downtown Target on the first floor of the Kauffman's building. The façade changes are very minor here - mostly just returning the windows to their original dimensions (taking out metal paneling which had shortened the window openings) and adding Target signage. Although a small Target, this will be a nice downtown amenity in a prominent location, and I presume it will be well used post pandemic.

2. A "rooftop amenity" for the residential tower at 201 Stanwix. This is a mild disappointment because I had presumed from the ZBA agenda a few weeks back there would be a true restaurant up here, but it seems to be just a "lounge" for residents. Still, it's a smart idea.

3. Demolition application for Duquesne University's life-work building. The demolition of this building is necessary in order to make way for the planned new college of osteopathic medicine. The current building is not historic (and pretty ugly) and only fills in around 2/3rds of the block, so this is clearly a higher/better use situation.
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  #3913  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2020, 5:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
December 8th planning Commission agenda up. Only three projects for next week - all of them relatively small - and things already known about.
Pittsburgh is looking at a dearth of new big projects in the near future. A combination of the impacts of COVID and the City's increasingly antagonistic approach to development has damaged a commercial real estate market that wasn't that hot to begin with. Architecture firms that solely rely on local work are going to be hurting soon.

Universities may not need to increase their instructional and residential space moving forward so that work has dried-up.

Who knows what commercial office needs are post-COVID? Despite a large number of open positions, job growth numbers here are abysmal and have been for years, so that's another concern. Pittsburgh has been sold as a smart place to do business due to the education base, but it has not been business-friendly.

Multi-Family retail demand has declined thanks to COVID, but is looking a little weak in the future since recent projects in Pittsburgh may have finally met the current demand in a market with little population growth.

Word floating around the A&E world is that out-of-town developers that have finished recent projects aren't pursuing new opportunities in Pittsburgh because of the extreme difficulty of dealing with the city government. And the in-town companies are looking for opportunities in the suburbs for the same reasons.

One bright-spot is single-family homes, where there's a huge demand. However, it seems that every project gets held-up in planning review and community meetings, and requires some sort of variance from the zoning code which adds months of delays and thousands of dollars in project costs.

I hate to be negative and hope that I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that the leadership of Pittsburgh has created a situation where we are going to have a harder time bouncing back post-COVID.

Last edited by Don't Be That Guy; Dec 2, 2020 at 5:53 PM.
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  #3914  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2020, 6:23 PM
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^ I'm not sure about all that... I agree that it could be a bit touch-and-go around here as far as new large projects go for a while, but so much is speculation at this point. A hopeful covid vaccine deployment and new government can have big positive effects. Uncertainty/instability with the Trump administration in charge really forced many developers around the country to pause any aggressive chasing of financing and potential groundbreaking.

I have no idea about its accuracy, but I did hear a rumor that JMC Holdings (the 1501 Penn developer) was pretty close to telling the city to fuck off, leveling the Wholey building, and selling the site off, thus abandoning their planned office tower, cutting their losses, and putting their planned investment into the Raleigh, NC market instead.
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  #3915  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2020, 6:46 PM
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Originally Posted by pj3000 View Post

I have no idea about its accuracy, but I did hear a rumor that JMC Holdings (the 1501 Penn developer) was pretty close to telling the city to fuck off, leveling the Wholey building, and selling the site off, thus abandoning their planned office tower, cutting their losses, and putting their planned investment into the Raleigh, NC market instead.
We must be talking to the same people because that's the word going around. There are a lot more stories out there about projects that didn't happen because of various city-related issues.
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  #3916  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2020, 12:35 AM
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Wow, a $600 billion "Marshall Plan for the Ohio River Valley" (Pennsylvania, Ohio, WV, Kentucky) to jumpstart this region of the US and prepare for the huge additional loss of jobs coming as renewable energy overtakes fossil fuels. I have thought in the back of my mind for many years that something big is required to address the decline of the rust belt over the last 40 years. I love that this is being put forward and I hope something big comes out of it.
https://www.post-gazette.com/local/r...s/202012130002
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  #3917  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2020, 12:56 PM
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Man have I been away for a while!

Nice to see them redesign that Strip office tower. When I saw the first proposal, I thought "what the hell is that thing?" I'm all for height and massing, but if it doesn't fit in with the rest of the surrounding area, then I have to state my opposition.

Then, in today's PG article, I see that not only was it redesigned, but the PPC gave approval of it! It's a complete 180 from the previous design. I think it ties in much better with the rest of the Strip. Broken into 4 "mini" towers, almost like a mini One Oxford - only half the height.

Anyway, here's the article regarging the latest on this building. Pittsburgh Planning Commission approves!

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202012080143
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  #3918  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2020, 5:43 PM
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I agree the location isn't where I would want to live. However, the location is never going to get better without actually building some residential (and commercial - this will have ground floor commercial).

Maybe 20 years from now the green lots will be developed, and Pittsburgh Mercy will have moved, and there will be a whole little neighborhood in this area.

I've always wondered why there are literally no residential projects on the North Shore around the Andy Warhol Museum though. If there's one section of the North Shore that still feels "like a city" it's around there. And there are plenty of under-utilized vacant parcels and even prewar buildings.
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Man have I been away for a while!

Nice to see them redesign that Strip office tower. When I saw the first proposal, I thought "what the hell is that thing?" I'm all for height and massing, but if it doesn't fit in with the rest of the surrounding area, then I have to state my opposition.

Then, in today's PG article, I see that not only was it redesigned, but the PPC gave approval of it! It's a complete 180 from the previous design. I think it ties in much better with the rest of the Strip. Broken into 4 "mini" towers, almost like a mini One Oxford - only half the height.

Anyway, here's the article regarging the latest on this building. Pittsburgh Planning Commission approves!

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202012080143
I like the massing but I hope the huge parking podium doesn't look terrible at street level when it is completed.
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  #3919  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2020, 6:04 PM
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This version just fits in SOOOO much better with the architecture and character of the Strip. I couldn't even make it out in the renderings, it blends in so well! I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I thought the rendering was actually just a portion of the Produce Terminal.

The previous version was nothing but an "elite tower in the sky"!!

But this one... no way... this one here is a common man's building, a real down home pile of steel, stone, and glass that honors the guy selling t-shirts down the street. Hopefully Yinzers Steelers shop will get the plum retail space on the ground level.

The planning commission must be downright tickled... I'll bet that the trees and shrubs (that will surely die a slow death) added by the architect onto the multiple rooftops brought on a big group orgasm when the rendering was unveiled to them! And theat illuminated translucent thing sticking out of the top to hide mechanical equipment (only necessary due to the multiple rooflines)?... multiple orgasms all nite long for Pittsburgh's arbiters of sexy design.

But don't take my word for it, listen to the erudite and articulate Ms. Mingo, asserting that the redesign "begins to sort of make this building a building that can be about Pittsburgh".

I couldn't fucking agree more... this building can now be about Pittsburgh!
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  #3920  
Old Posted Dec 10, 2020, 1:40 PM
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In other news... amazing how quickly plans completely change. So much for the "tech hub" planned at the former Sears Outlet on the riverfront in Upper Lawrenceville. Sounds like the developer didn't even notify the community development corp they worked with about the change. I'm sure the developer saw the $$$$ and that was that.

Amazon primed to take all of former Sears Outlet space in Lawrenceville

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202012090185

Quote:
With business booming as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the e-commerce giant confirmed Wednesday that it will take all 260,000 square feet of space in the former Sears Outlet at 27 51st St.

It plans to use the space for a new delivery station, said spokesman Andre Woodson.

“The new station will power Amazon’s last-mile capabilities to speed up deliveries for customers in the Pittsburgh area,” he wrote in an email. It is designed to “support the growing volume of customer orders.”

The deal with Amazon also represents a change in direction for Spear Street, which had been planning to convert the warehouse that was used for decades to sell scratched and dented appliances into office and high-bay research and development space.

But Lawrenceville community groups that negotiated community benefits with Spear Street based on plans for office and research and development space weren’t thrilled to hear that Amazon is moving in.

Lauren Connelly, executive director of the Lawrenceville Corp., said that she has worries about the amount of traffic an Amazon distribution center could generate in the densely packed neighborhood and how that would be managed.

She also has questions about the size of the fleet and what the overall operation will look like. ‘We have concerns and we want to know exactly what is being proposed here,” she said.

Ms. Connelly said the community benefits agreement based on the original plan for the redevelopment included a riverfront trail, sidewalk improvements and a traffic mitigation plan designed to encourage tenants to use mass transit. She is hoping that stays in place.
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