PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I mean, it's not unlike what has been unfolding with the Garden Block on the North Side, where a single NIMBY (who doesn't even live in the state - he's an absentee homeowner who lives in NYC) litigated to block the project, and now it's likely that all the historic buildings will be lost.

Basically, as a NIMBY you can use the zoning code to stop something from happening you don't want. But you can't use it to make what you want to happen occur. Everyone always seems to forget that.

In the end the NIMBYs need to be stopped. Yeah.. I get what you're saying.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by The Best Forumer

In the end the NIMBYs need to be stopped. Yeah.. I get what you're saying.

That's not exactly what I'm saying. NIMBYs ruin things for everyone else, and make cities demonstrably worse. But they often don't even get what they want. I doubt these Lawrenceville NIMBYs wanted to have the church knocked down and replaced by an expensive new townhouse development. Yet that's what they're getting, because the church isn't a historic landmark, and the area is zoned for attached housing. Similarly, while I don't know what was going through the head of the Garden Block NIMBY, I'm guessing he wanted to see the original buildings restored. But what we'll ultimately get now is all three of the buildings east of the Garden Theatre demolished and replaced with a smaller-scale new construction building.

[BrianTH]

And then there is the whole Penn Plaza fiasco, where NIMBYs claimed to want more affordable housing in East Liberty, and instead as a result of their efforts housing supply will be lower and housing prices higher in East Liberty. And meanwhile there is just an empty lot sitting doing nothing at all.

[Jonboy1983]

On the subject of Penn Plaza, I side with the developer on that one. My understanding is the City was fine with the reduced height restriction to 150ft and the land set aside for public/open space was already sufficient enough. I don't see the bureaucrats winning this one. That was given approval; that is what they'll move forward with.

[eschaton]

So, earlier this week, City Council had hearings on the new Riverfront zoning. Apparently the hearings went well, although some developers (like Oxford) still came forward with some opposition to the plan. I'm cautiously optimistic here, because from what I have read it basically exchanges some strictures (creating design guidelines) for less structures elsewhere (parking requirements, use limitations, etc).

I wonder if everything in a RIV-zoned area will now go to the Planning Commission rather than ZBA?

[eschaton]

As expected, a new Planning Commission agenda has landed. Four new items this week, all relatively small:

1. Renovation of 320 Fort Duquense Boulevard - Gateway Towers. Looks like the work is limited to replacement of all the windows on floors 4-25, along with some repairs as needed once the old windows are removed.

2. A remodeling of the East Liberty McDonald's on 148 N Euclid Avenue. Despite being a small project, it goes in front of the Planning Commission because it's in the Baum-Centre corridor. I'm mildly let down, since this likely means the McDonalds is here to stay for the foreseeable future. The new design will be at least more contemporary and less run down looking however.

3. Duquesne is doing some work on 600 Fifth Avenue (Liebermann Hall). Basically limited to replacement of the HVAC, although there will be a small "addition" to house the new ductwork.

4. Proposed new signage for the PPG Paints Arena.

That's it. Pretty boring no?

Edit: I was in a rush yesteday, and I didn't notice that some of the old projects have had their presentations revised, so it's worth looking over the entire presentation. Desmone's 401 Wood Street restoration has ground-floor renderings I don't remember seeing before. And the Bakery Square 3.0 project has additional detail as well, most notably on the garage, where there are now renderings of the pedestrian bridge between the old and new garage, along with the planned location of the new Busway stop.

[BrianTH]

ApartmentList has ranked Pittsburgh the #1 metro for Millenials:

https://www.apartmentlist.com/renton...r-millennials/

That's because Pittsburgh gets above-average scores for jobs and livability, and a top score for affordability. As pointed out in the commentary:

Metros where millennials traditionally move -- San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York -- and where millennials have recently been moving -- Seattle, Austin, Tex., and Denver -- receive low scores for affordability. Despite strong job markets and high livability ratings, rents in these metros are too expensive for many millennials, and homeownership is far out of reach for most.

So that remains our pitch (affordability), and that is why it is important to make sure we don't let prices get out of control, at least not for reasons within our power to control.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

ApartmentList has ranked Pittsburgh the #1 metro for Millenials:

https://www.apartmentlist.com/renton...r-millennials/

That's because Pittsburgh gets above-average scores for jobs and livability, and a top score for affordability. As pointed out in the commentary:



So that remains our pitch (affordability), and that is why it is important to make sure we don't let prices get out of control, at least not for reasons within our power to control.

Pittsburgh's unique value proposition is affordability combined with a tech/med cluster. There are plenty of affordable cities throughout this country. That's not rare at all. However, there are very few US cities that have top tech schools AND remain affordable. In fact, are there any? It's only a matter of time until housing prices take off.

[BrianTH]

Lots of finger-pointing in this article about the delays in finishing the redevelopment of the former Kaufmann's, but the bottom line is everyone now seems confident they will start opening it up at the beginning of August:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201806080082

[qwho]

Went on the Gateway Clipper with my family for my mother's birthday, got to see a couple of construction sites.

Station Square - Not much to see here yet. They do have some sort of wall up though.


North Shore - By the way, from the river, you'd never guess there are seas of parking lots just beyond.


Smithfield Street bridge bike switchback


Strip district - Boy, I hope they clean up some of the trees along the river, what a mess.


Bonus cloudy day downtown shot

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

ApartmentList has ranked Pittsburgh the #1 metro for Millenials:

https://www.apartmentlist.com/renton...r-millennials/

That's because Pittsburgh gets above-average scores for jobs and livability, and a top score for affordability. As pointed out in the commentary:



So that remains our pitch (affordability), and that is why it is important to make sure we don't let prices get out of control, at least not for reasons within our power to control.

This topic will certainly get increasing amounts of attention. What I hope is that the masses start making a distinction that currently doesn't seem to be part of the discussion.

As Pittsburgh rebounds there will be some neighborhoods that experience skyrocketing rents. We already see it in Lawrencville. Those neighborhoods capture our attention and lead to a skewed impression of what's happening across the city. People are already convinced housing costs are skyrocketing despite the data saying otherwise. It's those trendy neighborhood in the news that are inaccurately shaping perception.

We will also have to find peace with there being expensive trendy neighborhoods and recognize that as a separate topic from overall housing affordability. My take is that we have so much vacant and under utilized property in close proximity to jobs such that there won't be a housing affordability crisis as seen in other cities.

Awareness is still valuable though. Perhaps in 20 years we might eat through the excess property and be back up to the population Pittsburgh had in 1950. At that point, housing supply could be constrained and prices could inflate to unacceptable levels. Somewhere along the way action would be needed to avoid a crisis like there is in San Francisco, Vancouver, etc.

[eschaton]

NextPittsburgh has an article up about apartment renovations in East Liberty. The units in question are in "Mellon's Orchard" - which is confusing because it's been used as a potential name for three or four different projects in East Liberty south of the Boulevard and north of Penn Avenue in the last decade. The units in question are somewhere around here - where ELDI owns three early 20th century walkups, and three mid-20th century bunker-style buildings. This is important because ELDI had planned to raze all of the buildings as of about three years ago, but lacked the capital to do so. I wouldn't mid the mid-20th century buildings going, but the walkups could be something special if properly restored - especially when you consider how rare early 20th century walkups are in Pittsburgh now (I wouldn't be surprised if we have less than 100 left).

Currently only 30 units are occupied. The present tenants will be helped to find temporary housing and be able to move into the complex (which will be mixed-income) once the work is done in around a year and a half.

I should note that some of the language in the article is confusing. The author seems to discuss a single building rather than multiple structures, and the occupied unit total seems very low considering there are six different buildings. It may be that they are only working on one of the buildings, or a subset of them, at this time.

[bmust71]

So over the weekend I came across an excel document on the city's website showing all the pending construction permits. Scrolling through I found an interesting item for 1450 Fifth avenue labeled: NEW CONSTRUCTION OF A 6-STORY BUILDING.
-6-STORY MULTI-UNIT RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE (35 UNITS) WITH INTEGRAL PARKING (13 REGULAR CAR, 1 ACCESSIBLE AR, 12 BIKES). GROUND FLOOR RETAIL (584SF).

Has anyone heard of this project? I know there's plans for a residential building closer to PPG but believe thats a few blocks over.

Here is the location I think: https://www.google.com/maps/place/14...!4d-79.9851694

I feel like I might have seen something for this area in one of the uptown master plans but at that point it was just conceptual.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by bmust71

So over the weekend I came across an excel document on the city's website showing all the pending construction permits. Scrolling through I found an interesting item for 1450 Fifth avenue labeled: NEW CONSTRUCTION OF A 6-STORY BUILDING.
-6-STORY MULTI-UNIT RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE (35 UNITS) WITH INTEGRAL PARKING (13 REGULAR CAR, 1 ACCESSIBLE AR, 12 BIKES). GROUND FLOOR RETAIL (584SF).

Has anyone heard of this project? I know there's plans for a residential building closer to PPG but believe thats a few blocks over.

Here is the location I think: https://www.google.com/maps/place/14...!4d-79.9851694

I feel like I might have seen something for this area in one of the uptown master plans but at that point it was just conceptual.

It was covered in the planning commission back in October, although it had the address 1430 Fifth Avenue at that time. Look here and scroll down to page 370 or so. There's a few crude renderings. It's pretty generic in terms of styling, but it somehow got through with the new Uptown zoning before it was approved, meaning it's both taller and has less parking than it "should have had" for when it was approved.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by qwho

Went on the Gateway Clipper with my family for my mother's birthday, got to see a couple of construction sites.


Strip district - Boy, I hope they clean up some of the trees along the river, what a mess.

Thanks for the photo updates. Good to see that Smithfield St bike switchback built! While the new SAP building is going to be nothing special, it does fill the space nicely.

And yeah, they should really cut all those trees down and pave the riverfront...

[pj3000]

$33 million PPG Science Pavilion opens with cool labs, exhibit space and killer views

https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/city-...-killer-views/

[pj3000]

Interesting concept opening this summer on 8th Ave in Homestead

Enix Brewing brings craft beer, bowling and Mediterranean food to Homestead

https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/eatdr...-to-homestead/

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Thanks for the photo updates. Good to see that Smithfield St bike switchback built! While the new SAP building is going to be nothing special, it does fill the space nicely.

And yeah, they should really cut all those trees down and pave the riverfront...

My sentiments exactly on removing the trees along the river.

[pj3000]

Highly-respected landscape architecture firm GGN https://www.ggnltd.com/ was awarded the contract to design the public plaza component of the former J&L/LTV Steel site in Hazelwood "Hazelwood Green". Glad that it went to them.

https://www.ggnltd.com/hazelwood-green-plaza

https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/lates...-announcement/

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

My sentiments exactly on removing the trees along the river.

Uhh...