PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by eschaton

One of my major issues with the "tiny house" movement is simply I don't think they fit the aesthetic of Pittsburgh, since they're usually built in bungalow or shotgun styles, which were rare here. It would up the price, but something in brick like this or this would be quite nice.

Or hell, Pittsburgh has tiny houses already. Build em to look like that.

Agreed. I have major aesthetic issues with these shotgun style tiny houses.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by bmust71

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg...the-money.html

Good news. The gardens is 100% financed and they hope to complete it in 2015.

They also say: "Construction crews will begin mobilizing immediately."

I hope that is true--it would be great to see work finally begin.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

One of my major issues with the "tiny house" movement is simply I don't think they fit the aesthetic of Pittsburgh, since they're usually built in bungalow or shotgun styles, which were rare here. It would up the price, but something in brick . . . would be quite . . . nice.

Agreed. I wonder if building in brick would be much of a cost problem for the larger permanent-foundation houses (I understand why they don't do that for trailerable "tiny homes"). This actually sort of reminds me of the mail-order catalog homes era. Lots of those were built in wood most places, sometimes with the whole kit being shipped by rail, but in Pittsburgh a lot of people apparently just got plans and maybe some trim and such, then used local brick for the main construction.

Another approach is to go sleek and modern, like a lot of the small houses in places like Europe or Japan.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg...r-eyes-up.html

Dec 20, 2013, 2:09pm EST

Another apartment player eyes Pittsburgh

Gary Holloway Jr. sounds like a man ready to get to know Pittsburgh better.

As an executive vice president of GMH Associates Inc., a Newtown Square-based company that’s engaged in more than $8 billion in transactions in multifamily housing, Holloway was the conspicuous out-of-towner in the Multifamily Summit panel discussion Bisnow hosted Dec. 19 at the Omni William Penn Hotel, downtown.

He seemed to fit right in during a fairly dynamic discussion about where Pittsburgh stands in terms of new apartment development, how new apartments fit into the established properties here and the variety of challenges for apartment development in the region.

So far, Holloway's company is involved in a 380-unit apartment complex at Southpointe in partnership with Horizon Properties Group now under construction. His company had one property here a number of years ago, which it sold off.

He sounded like he has every expectation of investing more in Pittsburgh, the panel discussion following a three-day tour of the region for Holloway, whose father servers as CEO of GMH.

“You have all these great things downtown that are intriguing for us,” Holloway said, noting the strength of downtown. “We want to be active in the central business district and Allegheny County.”

...

[BrianTH]

So Kevin Sousa is doing a kickstarter for his Braddock project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-and-farm-ecos

I'm thinking of throwing some of my Christmas money into this project--it would be fun to be part of actually financing an interesting development project, and this is a worthy one.

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

So Kevin Sousa is doing a kickstarter for his Braddock project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-and-farm-ecos

I'm thinking of throwing some of my Christmas money into this project--it would be fun to be part of actually financing an interesting development project, and this is a worthy one.

He tweeted last night: "If you're out and about tomorrow, maybe stop by and say hello."
https://twitter.com/sousapgh/status/414217390529183744

in case anyone is in the area.

[markson33]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

So Kevin Sousa is doing a kickstarter for his Braddock project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-and-farm-ecos

I'm thinking of throwing some of my Christmas money into this project--it would be fun to be part of actually financing an interesting development project, and this is a worthy one.

Not convinced its so worthy. It's cool, but what's to keep him from raising money and just pocketing it? He's asking people to give him money so he can make money - something's not quite kosher.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by markson33

Not convinced its so worthy. It's cool, but what's to keep him from raising money and just pocketing it? He's asking people to give him money so he can make money - something's not quite kosher.

So kickstarter explicitly isn't about charitable causes, but rather is about funding creative projects, which can be (and many are) profitable for the project creator. In return they can promise you certain sorts of tangible rewards or experiences (which are supposed to be tied to the project), but typically a big part of the reward for backers is just being part of the process of helping something cool get done. In that sense it is really just a modern crowdfunding version of the very old "patron of the arts" concept.

That said, I also think this project would be good for Braddock and in fact good for the future re-development of the Mon Valley in general--indeed, that would be all the more true if it ended up being nicely profitable for Sousa, as that sort of outcome would do the most to attract additional investment in Braddock and beyond. So "worthy" as I used it was supposed to cover a variety of concepts, including both the intrinsic creative merits of the project and also how it could help encourage reinvestment.

If a creator just pocketed the funds they raised, that would be a fraud, and you could potentially sue them (and in fact given this was being done over the Internet, in theory they would be subject to federal criminal prosecution as well). I believe kickstarter has also itself cancelled some projects due to discovery they were fraudulent. But really there just has to be a lot of trust involved, meaning you probably shouldn't choose to back a project if you don't feel comfortable trusting the creator.

In this case, I have no problem trusting the creator because I know a lot about him, know a lot about this project, and don't have any doubts he intends to follow through with this project if he can get funded. I might note as a person with several businesses in the area, he would have a lot to lose if he decided to try to commit fraud through kickstarter. So I'm not worried in this case.

Edit: Just pocketing the money would probably also be a violation of the Terms of Use:

http://www.kickstarter.com/terms-of-use

So a backer could probably sue such a creator under those Terms on a breach of contract theory. Again, though, I wouldn't suggest backing creators you don't trust regardless of your hypothetical legal remedies.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by markson33

Not convinced its so worthy. It's cool, but what's to keep him from raising money and just pocketing it? He's asking people to give him money so he can make money - something's not quite kosher.

That's how Kickstarter works. You have to have a little faith in the project if you want to contribute; there are no guarantees. There have been a few rip-offs over the years but Sousa has both a very successful track record in starting restaurants and has a local reputation to preserve. I find it hard to believe that he's not sincere in this.

[Jonboy1983]

I think that is an excellent idea for the Braddock community, and I do hope it all works out. So far it looks like he's close to the half-way mark in terms of funding. From the looks of things, he's looking to raise about 250k, and he's up to about 105k so far...

Still, that's about as local as anyone can get when it comes to their fresh produce and other farmed goods.

[BrianTH]

New AVR commuter rail article:

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yo...#axzz2oDvlzFZp

The most concrete news is they plan to present something to the City in January as part of asking the City to become an official sponsor for federal funding purposes. I was also pleased to see they are still considering service into Steel Plaza, which in my view would really be ideal.

[SkyPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

New AVR commuter rail article:

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yo...#axzz2oDvlzFZp

The most concrete news is they plan to present something to the City in January as part of asking the City to become an official sponsor for federal funding purposes. I was also pleased to see they are still considering service into Steel Plaza, which in my view would really be ideal.

My proposal:
Follow current ROW from Lower Burrell into the Strip.
2 Possible turnoff spots to get to Penn Station and then Steel Plaza:
1. 33rd Street elevated rail with a potential elevated station.
2. Short Cut and Cover Tunnel at 26th street to allow for train access to the 26th Street BRT ramp to get onto the NS Railroad.

It's also worth pointing out that there was a proposal to take the Brilliant Branch (Near the Highland Park Bridge) down to the NS line with a stop in Shadyside.

I see lots of different proposals, but I just hope that this project keeps moving.

[Found5dollar]

the map they included in that article

[BrianTH]

I actually don't see a problem with them running at the surface for a short while to get to the Busway and then the tracks into Steel Plaza. Service would be infrequent enough that shouldn't be a big deal.

[photoLith]

I wish they would just convert one of the existing rail lines into an actual useful light/heavy rail system, god knows theres plenty of rail lines all over Pittsburgh that could be converted. But then you'd have to worry about re routing the freight rail elsewhere which may not be possible. Id love to have a useful rail system that actually went fast like NYC rail.

[BrianTH]

Unfortunately most of the remaining freight rail lines in the Pittsburgh area are very busy and only likely to get busier. The ones that aren't are mostly not well-positioned for passenger rail.

But there are a few exceptions. The AVR line they are talking about is one of them--it does still have a decent amount of freight, but the plan is to time-segregate (freight at night, passenger during the day). DMUs using that line should be able to hit much faster peak speeds than the T.

The other line we have talked about before is the AVR/BPRR line that goes from the 33rd Street bridge, along 28 past Millvale and then up next to Route 8, and eventually all the way to New Castle. If you could tie it into the AVR system to Downtown, I think you could run commuter rail along that line at least into Butler County.

If you want to play commuter rail planner, here is a useful map:

ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf...ide/parail.pdf

[dfiler]

I'm in favor of increased rail funding. But it is strange that this route is a prioritized project.

Doesn't is seem way more useful to build rail lines between the most populace Pittsburgh commuting neighborhoods? Building a line out to Lower Burrell doesn't seem like it will do anything to alleviate traffic. Compared to servicing neighborhoods like oakland, the south side, lawrenceville or squirrel hill, rail service to Lower Burrell is massive boondoggle.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Doesn't is seem way more useful to build rail lines between the most populace Pittsburgh commuting neighborhoods? Building a line out to Lower Burrell doesn't seem like it will do anything to alleviate traffic. Compared to servicing neighborhoods like oakland, the south side, lawrenceville or squirrel hill, rail service to Lower Burrell is massive boondoggle.

The main reason this project is relatively advanced is that it would be relatively cheap. Most of the necessary tracks and ROW are already in place, including the final stretch of tracks, tunnel, and an unused platform in Steel Plaza (if they go that way). And while there would still be some new track sections, some necessary upgrades to existing sections, new signals and controls, and such, the costs of doing all that would be tiny in comparison to providing entirely new rail service to densely-developed areas like Oakland and Squirrel Hill. In fact because the costs are relatively low, this project can conceivably be done on a PPP model.

That said, I agree people should not be over-selling this project--it wouldn't be transformative in terms of local transit options, would only provide limited congestion relief in the 28 corridor, and so on. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth doing at the cost it would take.

The final thing I would note is that I do think the TOD potential is decent if they design and locate the stations well. If they are poorly located and/or surrounded by park-and-rides and such, then less so.

[Found5dollar]

^i was thinking the same thing. While it may not be connecting the most populated areas, the opportunity for massive development around stations is really why people are interested.

[Found5dollar]

The Wholey's Fish is moving:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/20...#ixzz2oJluqh7W

Vote will determine new home for Wholey's Fish Market signature sign
December 23, 2013 11:23 AM
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By Molly Born / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The owners of the Strip District landmark Wholey's Fish Market and Mayor-elect Bill Peduto are asking Pittsburghers to help choose a new home for the Pittsburgh staple's signature fish sign.

The 25-year-old smiling fish was erected on a nearby building, a former cold storage warehouse the company used for years, but will be moved once the new owners convert that space into a 144-unit apartment complex.

"We all saw what a duck can do to bring this city together," Mr. Peduto said at a press conference this morning outside the store, which will remain open. "We have a fish that's been smiling on this city for 25 years, so Pittsburgh, where should we put the fish?"

Wholey's owners will choose the location that garners the most nominations from the public. The sign must stay within city limits, and the property owner must give his or her permission. Mr. Peduto pledged to help with zoning.

The sign was erected in 1989 as a Christmas gift from employees to Robert Wholey Sr. He and his son, Sam, had just returned from a trip to Hong Kong and were taken by skyscrapers topped with a lighted animal, company president Jim Wholey said.

The sign kept blowing off the building, so Sargent Electric Company helped install it. It holds $16,000 worth of eco-friendly LED bulbs and measures 100 feet wide by 60 feet high.

"That's part of Pittsburgh," Mr. Wholey said. "That's part of the fabric. And we owe it to Pittsburgh to let them decide where that sign's going to go."

The campaign begins today and ends Jan. 31.

How to nominate:

• Stop in at Wholey's and drop a nomination in one of the red boxes

• "Like" Wholey's on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @wholeys. Post a nomination using the hastag #smilingfish -- and share your favorite memory of the sign

• Email a nomination to smilingfishsign@gmail.com.