PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Next Pittsburgh has a puff piece up on Hatfield Row, a four-townhouse infill project in Central Lawrenceville. This isn't far from my old house, immediately next to the old Bayard School which will is supposed to be come an 11-unit apartment building soon.

Regardless, here's a rendering of Hatfield Row. Not too different from when I first saw it years ago. I like that they aren't going ultra-modern, but I'm not sure with the front-loading garages the quasi-historic detailing looks right. Reminds me of some of the stuff I see going up in southern cities like Atlanta.



Sounds like the first of the units will be done this month, with the row finished up in October.

Honestly, I prefer this versus the shitty attempts at contemporary architecture that have been going up all over the place. If the materials on these are nice, they will look good. Only complaint is that I wish they had one more floor.

[pj3000]

Walnut Capital targets another site in Oakland

http://www.post-gazette.com/business...s/201804090152

A Shadyside developer is gearing up to erect a new office building on Fifth Avenue in Oakland, hoping to capitalize on high demand in a key market close to the major universities and hospitals.

Walnut Capital is spending $2.1 million to buy a building from Allegheny County at 3342 Fifth that formerly housed the program center for female offenders but which now is vacant. County Council will vote on whether to approve the sale at its meeting Tuesday.

Todd Reidbord, Walnut Capital president, said the developer intends to use the site and two adjacent properties on Fifth it already owns to construct an eight- to 10-story office building.

Walnut Capital is considering traditional office space as well as wet lab space for the building, which is located close to the UPMC hospital system, including UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and UPMC Presbyterian.

To make way for the new office building on Fifth, the former program center for female offenders property and the two others owned by Walnut Capital will be demolished.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Walnut Capital targets another site in Oakland

Interesting. I dunno what the "two adjacent buildings" are. One presumes the first two of these, but they're not listed as currently owned by Walnut Capital. Further, the same property owner has 3358 and 3360 (the historic building). One would presume Walnut would buy both the buildings. Even the buildings catty-corner on Forbes are not owned by Walnut Capital yet.

Regardless, the site is right next to SkyVue. Nearby Forbes is starting to get more of an urban canyon feel, and now perhaps Fifth will start to as well. Unfortunately Carlow doesn't appear to have any plans to build closer to the street on their campus, but I could see a lot of the lower scale buildings on the south side of Fifth along that two-block span eventually replaced.

[Minivan Werner]

It almost looks like Skyvue was designed with a reasonably tall development in that spot in mind, since the side of the building facing that site doesn't have a lot of windows.

[Captain Crash]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Interesting. I dunno what the "two adjacent buildings" are. One presumes the first two of these, but they're not listed as currently owned by Walnut Capital. Further, the same property owner has 3358 and 3360 (the historic building). One would presume Walnut would buy both the buildings. Even the buildings catty-corner on Forbes are not owned by Walnut Capital yet.

Regardless, the site is right next to SkyVue. Nearby Forbes is starting to get more of an urban canyon feel, and now perhaps Fifth will start to as well. Unfortunately Carlow doesn't appear to have any plans to build closer to the street on their campus, but I could see a lot of the lower scale buildings on the south side of Fifth along that two-block span eventually replaced.

The article uses the ambiguous "properties" rather than "buildings". This may include the empty lot and green space between the purchased building and 3356. Google Maps does show these as narrow parcels, for what it's worth.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Captain Crash

The article uses the ambiguous "properties" rather than "buildings". This may include the empty lot and green space between the purchased building and 3356. Google Maps does show these as narrow parcels, for what it's worth.

The article does say this:

To make way for the new office building on Fifth, the former program center for female offenders property and the two others owned by Walnut Capital will be demolished.

I imagine that those 2 buildings (and would not be surprised if all the older buildings remaining on that block) have a date with the excavator.

[eschaton]

Checking city parcel maps, the green space next to the county building is on the same lot as the county building. The parking lot next to that is a separate parcel from 3356 Fifth Avenue, but owned by the same people. The next two buildings are owned by a holding company based out of Murrysville, while the building on the corner is owned by UPMC (though occupied by a Pitt medical research office).

Thus - presuming the plan isn't to span across Euler Way (which would require taking over a Pitt-owned building), either Walnut will knock down just the first building, or three buildings, but almost certainly not two. I'm actually hoping for the former, because if the little corner building owned by UPMC remains as an "orphan" it's not going to ever be cost-effective to take it down and replace it with something of higher scale, whereas another nice midrise of the scale of the Residence Inn could easily replace the three buildings closest to the corner at a later time.

[PITairport]

Not to be confused with the Riviera office project discussed a few pages back.

$26 million and 126,000 sq. ft. over two phases and geared toward robotics and life sciences companies.
https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...roject-at.html

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by PITairport

Not to be confused with the Riviera office project discussed a few pages back.

$26 million and 126,000 sq. ft. over two phases and geared toward robotics and life sciences companies.
https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...roject-at.html

Hrrm...looking at the article, it discusses a four-acre property, on a "gateway site" and the parcel that Walnut Capital intended to use for housing. This can only mean the Second Avenue parcel.

Between these two projects and the new Hotel Indigo, the PTC is basically going to be built out now. There's a 1.5 acre riverfront parcel still available closer to the Birmingham Bridge, some developable land (which isn't its own parcel) right by the Second Avenue garage, and some bits and bobs which are more or less landscaping parcels.

What's interesting to me is the degree to which so many new office projects are suddenly coming in the pipeline here in the city. It's good timing, considering the hotel boom is done, and it seems likely the apartment boom is going to begin slowing down a bit too, given rents are getting a bit softer. Stronger office demand within the core means that residential demand will be getting more of a shot in the arm. I only wish that Downtown could get a single decent office tower out of it.

[eschaton]

URA agenda for tomorrow online. Items of interest, discounting the PTC sale, which was already covered:

1. The BRT Transit Revitalization Investment Districts (TRID) planning meetings will soon be scheduled for Downtown, Uptown, and Oakland. TRID planning is what got us Eastside Bond, so some large mixed-use projects could come out of this.

2. There's some sort of TIF being proposed for Smallman Street in the Strip District. At first I was a bit confused, because TIFs are usually considered only in distressed areas, but I this is the TIF related to the terminal redevelopment which has been years in the making. Regardless, $3.7 million for road redesign and public space improvements is a good chunk of change. Total public improvements will be more like $24 million when money allocated by all parties (including PWSA) is included. Pittsburgh Business Times has details, but they're behind a paywall.

3. Several housing-related items are on the agenda. The largest project involves nearly $24 million of funding for scattered-site infill in California-Kirkbride, Central Northside, and Perry South - 126 units to be built out over the next eight years, which are in part meant to replace Allegheny Dwellings. There's also a smaller project in the works for the Hill District (24 units in an old hospital building), and a trivial amount of money allocated to 10 housing rehabs in the Southern Hilltop. Pittsburgh Business Times has some information in a (non-paywalled) article.

Edit: In other news, Columbus-based Edwards Communites Development Co has dropped out of developing the 322-unit Pittsburgh Flats. A Cleveland-based company (NRP Group LLC - who is building Buncher's Riverfront Landing) is taking over the project however, so it's not dead. The unit count is likely to be about the same, but the design may be different. This is unfortunate, because I liked the neotraditional design which was being distributed.

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Edit: In other news, Columbus-based Edwards Communites Development Co has dropped out of developing the 322-unit Pittsburgh Flats. A Cleveland-based company (NRP Group LLC - who is building Buncher's Riverfront Landing) is taking over the project however, so it's not dead. The unit count is likely to be about the same, but the design may be different. This is unfortunate, because I liked the neotraditional design which was being distributed.

Lets hope the new design is attractive.

[Bricktrimble]

I saw today that the Tata Consultancy Services building near the CMU campus is getting a redesign. It seems like it will be larger than the first version and a different architectural look, not sure how yet.

[Urbana]

.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by Bricktrimble

I saw today that the Tata Consultancy Services building near the CMU campus is getting a redesign. It seems like it will be larger than the first version and a different architectural look, not sure how yet.

May I ask where you saw the redesigned TCS Hall design? Any pics or more description that you can offer? Thanks...

[eschaton]

So, I decided to do a Google Mymap of all of the major office projects which are either underway or have been discussed. Feel free to correct or add anything. I know there's 2-3 undeveloped parcels still at South Side Works, and I wonder if there's been any development news on those I missed.

The most notable thing: The Strip, Oakland, and East Liberty are booming in terms of office projects. But Downtown has literally nothing, minus the planned conversion of the Art Institute building. This is somewhat notable considering Downtown has several large residential projects in development. I realize skyscrapers aren't cheap, and our office rents likely still aren't quite high enough to warrant them, but at this point I'd take a solid midrise in the vacant lots along Grant and Fort Pitt Boulevard.

[eschaton]

A new planning commission presentation is up, but there are literally no new items for next week. Just review of the Burns-Scalo building, the UPMC Mercy amended master plan, and the planned zoning change for Susquehanna Street in South Homewood. Some of the plan of lots addresses are interesting because they show several minor projects are moving along, but there's not much here worth reporting. Oh well, looks like we're waiting another two weeks to see what comes.

The 5/3 ZBA agenda is also online. Only a few items of any real interest. First, this structure in East Allegheny is going to be converted into a six-unit residential building with ground floor office space. Second, a proposal for a small grocery store in Mount Washington near Boggs Station. Also in Mt. Washington, a propsal to convert this structure (which seems to be an old wood frame house that a mid-century storefront was grafted onto) into a nine-unit residential building.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

But Downtown has literally nothing, minus the planned conversion of the Art Institute building. This is somewhat notable considering Downtown has several large residential projects in development. I realize skyscrapers aren't cheap, and our office rents likely still aren't quite high enough to warrant them, but at this point I'd take a solid midrise in the vacant lots along Grant and Fort Pitt Boulevard.

It really seems as though the office energy is all about tech in this latest boom, and downtown is not really a favorite for that industry.

[UppaMahnt]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Also in Mt. Washington, a propsal to convert this structure (which seems to be an old wood frame house that a mid-century storefront was grafted onto) into a nine-unit residential building.

This is the apartment building I was talking about a few weeks ago.
These guys presented the plans at the most recent MWCDC meeting.
There is a rendering on their landing page.

[BrianTH]

There have been some expensive office renovations Downtown recently. I wonder if that is helping to absorb any interest in office space at the prices which would otherwise be needed to justify new construction Downtown.

[Austinlee]

This sucks. Vivien Li was a serious talent. I wonder what went on behind the scenes?

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbur...o-resigns.html