Penguins find arena funds
Partner in $1 billion plan would build facility -- if it gets casino license
Wednesday, December 21, 2005

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Penguins' partner in a proposed $1 billion development at the site of Mellon Arena is willing to put up $290 million to pay for a new, 18,000-seat home for the National Hockey League team.

The Penguins' development, which would secure the team's future in Pittsburgh, is contingent on winning a license for the city's slot machine casino.

Besides construction of a casino and a replacement for the aging arena, oldest in the NHL, the development would include a mix of offices, residential units and retail space.

The Penguins will team with a yet-unidentified gambling operator and with Nationwide Realty Investors of Columbus, Ohio., to handle development.

As part of its application for the Pittsburgh slots license, the gaming operator intends to pledge the money to build a new arena. It also would finance construction of the casino for 3,000 slot machines, with room to expand to 5,000.

The Penguins will not be the applicant for the state license, nor will the team take any profits from the slots casino. Once a new arena is built, it plans to turn ownership over to the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority.

In all, the casino and arena developments are expected to cost a total $600 million to $700 million. The team is planning at least another $400 million in development at the current 50-acre arena site.

The Penguins were expected to announce details of the proposed development today. David Morehouse, a consultant for the Penguins, would not comment on the proposal last night.

Nationwide Realty financed construction of the 18,500-seat Nationwide Arena in Columbus and spearheaded development of the 95-acre arena district, which includes bars, clubs and a movie theater. The firm also has been involved in development of the Waterfront complex in the Homestead area and other projects in Pittsburgh.

The mixed-use development proposed by the Penguins is similar to a $500 million office, retail and housing plan it unveiled several years ago in a bid to win public support for a new arena.

That proposal would have included shops, restaurants, parking garages, three to seven new office towers, and rental and for-sale housing. While the theme of the new plan essentially is the same, the mix probably will change, based on the current real estate and office climate.

The Penguins are planning to restore a street grid that will reconnect the lower Hill District with Downtown. The team also intends to use the former St. Francis Central Hospital property it purchased for $8 million in 2000 as part of its proposal.

In addition to teaming with a casino operator and Nationwide Realty, the Penguins are hoping to join with a local group so additional slots-related revenue can be returned to the community.

With today's expected announcement, the team will be the first of the potential competitors for the Pittsburgh casino to unveil detailed plans. The sports authority board also is expected to meet today to consider possible terms relating to a new arena should the Penguins secure funding for it.

Others expected to be in the hunt for the casino license are Station Square owner Forest City Enterprises, which will team with gambling power Harrah's Entertainment; Alco Parking Corp. President Merrill Stabile; MTR Gaming, owner of Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort; and Beaver County developer Charles Betters.



This certainly sounds great, but it's no surprise a private party would be interested with the endless cash cow of a casino as a the benefit for the arena investment. I am just surprised it took this long to get someone to committ, given the casino aspect. In any case, the overall development of this part of Uptown would be huge. Coupled with Duquesne's development on the Forbes block Uptown by their campus, the western portion of Uptown would really be nice.

Good to see the Penguins have a chance of staying in Pittsburgh. They shouldn't be anywhere else.

Welcome Pittsburgh!

I HATE your football team - but your city is fun!

I live in PA (Blue Ridge Summit) and I really don't like what the legislature did with gambling last year. It's good to see SOMETHING good may come of that mess. I believe the proceeds were supposed to lower our property taxes, but mine have gone no place but up.

They are trying to get a gambling license in Gettysburg, near my home, and EVERYONE is against it. I guess they want folks to come to the battlefield, then spend their money in a cassino and eat at the multitude of fast food joints that will surely be built. Sounds historic to me! I hope Pittsburgh gets the license and Gettysburg doesn't!

Yes, it's about time Pittsburgh got some representation here.

I HATE your football team - but your city is fun.

Hey, I hate all your teams lol. Though I've relaxed a bit on the Steelers, they don't bother me the way they used to.

Thanks for all of the kind words of my Black & Gold.

Anyway, Pittsburgh and Philly are both getting casinos and I know that a few racing tracks are getting slots as well. I could care less about the gambling in and of itself, but I like the idea of it as an entertainment option for those that do - and if it is part of what gets a new arena built (as well as turning the sea of parking lots near the current arena into a neighborhood again), then I really think it is something that works out well.
The casino though, should be in an appropriate area, and I think the best area is the already touristy Station Square, but that area is privately owned and the owner is yet another party bidding on the license.

Hey a Pittsburgh thread. Am I the only one who is shocked at both the fact that there wasn't one yet, and that I didn't notice?

Welcome to the "sticky" treatment, Pittsburgh! :) It's about time. :D

Hey a Pittsburgh thread. Am I the only one who is shocked at both the fact that there wasn't one yet, and that I didn't notice?

Yeah, I am in the same boat. When I saw the thread, I was like, "Did Pittsburgh get kicked out of the Midwest forum?" But apparently they were never in the Midwest forum either.

Oh well, I'm glad Pittsburgh is getting some representation here.

Don't tell a Pittsburgher that you thought of the city as a Midwestern city... no offense to our Midwestern neighbors, but Pittsburghers identify themselves with other Northeastern neighbors. Though being near the Cleveland, a city of similar size, industrial history and immigration etc, makes it a little blurry I guess.

I have visited this site for several months, but hadn't been on the board frequently and when I have been, I noticed not too much Pittsburgh activity here.

However, I thought with the flood of development news recently, I would start actively (well, when I can) posting and see how it goes.

So Pittsburghers out there, please start posting and of course its great to hear feedback on news from all of the other great Northeastern city forumers.

:)

welcome aboard pittsburgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! like ROCguy and StevenW said, this has been loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong overdue. can't wait to see the current & future developments in the steel city.

I live in Bmore, but I LOVE Pittsburgh.. all of my family lives out there and I think of it as a 2nd home.

Also, despite living in Bmore.. I am a hardcore Steelers fan! Go Black & Gold!

Very exciting to see a Pittsburgh thread! Keep us all posted on the goings on in the steel city

That's real good news that the Penguins may stay in Pittsburgh after all! They BELONG in Pittsburgh, I think Pittsburgh is a good hockey town! It was about time Pittsburgh got its own development thread!

In fact, next March me and a friend will be in Pittsburgh to see a Penguins game!

That's real good news that the Penguins may stay in Pittsburgh after all! They BELONG in Pittsburgh, I think Pittsburgh is a good hockey town! It was about time Pittsburgh got its own development thread!

In fact, next March me and a friend will be in Pittsburgh to see a Penguins game!

I had tickets to a Penguins game a few months ago, but I ened up staying home to watch the Steelers game b/c it was too good to leave home :)

Waste of money yes, but I had a good time anyway!

Pittsburgh is a great town. I think the Penquins will stay in Pittsburgh. There has been a lot of progress on the new arena lately.

Pittsburgh's skyline is awesome! A wonderful setting.

http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20051222hoarenaair_230.jpg


http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20051222hoarena2_230.jpg

http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20051222hoarena_230.jpg

http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20051222hoarena3_230.jpg


Above is the planned arena and district that would replace the old arena, sea of parking lots, and other wasted Uptown space.

New skyscraper planned for Pittsburgh.

Article 1 (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_404594.html)
Article 2 (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05353/624878.stm)

I had tickets to a Penguins game a few months ago, but I ened up staying home to watch the Steelers game b/c it was too good to leave home :)

Waste of money yes, but I had a good time anyway!

I'm thinking of doing the same thing for a Sabres/Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, in favor for a game or something else across the border in Buffalo or Detroit, instead, and after what happened earlier this week with a shooting on the city's most busiest street. Not that it's a big deal or anything. It's a waste, yes, but I'm trying to avoid TO as much as I can. :) I'm just too skeptical and "chicken" to go to Toronto anymore, still, even though my last experience was good.

Another competitor quits slots license race
Thursday, December 29, 2005

By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



MTR Gaming yesterday removed itself from the race to build a casino in Pittsburgh, skipping the deadline by which slot machine license applications were to have been submitted to the state.

MTR is the second would-be casino owner to drop out of the bidding for the one slots license available in Pittsburgh. Beaver County developer Charles Betters, who is planning to locate a thoroughbred track in the city's Hays section, backed out of the casino competition on Monday.

That leaves four possible casino sites in the city, barring any last-minute entries: Forest City Enterprises' proposed Station Square casino; the Pittsburgh Penguins-Isle of Capri's in Uptown; Alco Parking owner Merrill Stabile's on the North Shore near PNC Park; and Detroit businessman Don Barden's on the North Side between the Carnegie Science Center and West End Bridge.

In June, MTR, the owner of Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in West Virginia, revealed its intention to put together a group to pursue the city's lone available casino license, hoping to build on Pittsburgh's North Shore near the Del Monte plant.

At the time, MTR Chief Executive Officer Edson "Ted" Arneault pledged to earmark 2 percent of slots revenue -- about $6 million a year, or $150 million over 25 years -- to help build a new hockey arena, and he challenged other slots license applicants to make a similar pledge.

Some did.

One of the reasons Mr. Arneault pulled out of the race yesterday was because the Isle of Capri proposal earmarks $290 million for a new arena, theoretically keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh at no cost to taxpayers. That offer was difficult to match.

Even so, throughout yesterday afternoon, would-be MTR casino investors pushed Mr. Arneault to press on and submit the slots application. Mr. Arneault balked, and the deadline passed.

Mr. Arneault, through a spokesman, said he believed the company's focus would be better directed at MTR's thoroughbred track and casino, called Presque Isle Downs, now under development in Erie.

Because the 2004 slots law forbids a company from fully owning more than one casino in Pennsylvania, MTR could have been the "manager" of the Pittsburgh casino but could have owned only a one-third share in it.

The hefty Pittsburgh slots application was completed and ready for submission, said MTR spokesman John Brabender, and as recently as Tuesday afternoon, all signs indicated that the company still had planned to pursue the license.

The application for MTR's Erie racetrack casino was, however, submitted on deadline, Mr. Brabender said.

It's been a busy month for MTR. Earlier in December, a subsidiary of MTR Gaming Group Inc. struck a deal to buy a 90 percent interest in a Michigan harness racing track. Meanwhile, Mr. Arneault and investment partner Robert Blatt offered to buy MTR from its current shareholders for $9.50 a share. The $270 million takeover still is being considered by MTR.

Mr. Arneault and Mr. Blatt, MTR's two top executives, made the offer through their newly formed TBR Acquisition Group.



I really don't see how any bid can compare to the massive Isle of Capri bid, which really gives the city the most for the license.... it's not even close.

I've read about the planned development for the arena area. I think it's great that they are going to restore the street grid. Pittsburgh is so tiny (which actually works to make it very dense - a positive attribute) that the new streets pattern should also expand the scope of downtown somewhat. Not to mention that it will help to undo the horrible 'city planning' of the 40's and 50's that cut off the lower Hill from downtown. I always hated the way that barren, desolate parking lot surrounded the arena...so cold and empty. If you look at pictures of what was torn down, it appears to have been a very densely packed neighborhood of retail and residential. Granted, it was probably derelict. But had it been saved, it could have been rehabbed into a viable neighborhood today. Downtown is beginning to see residential life come back. The new arena plan includes residential, which is great.

I agree that the arena area of Uptown can be a great neighborhood again and act as an extension of development, not a wall.

Companies oppose latest North Shore casino proposal
Friday, January 06, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Two of the North Shore's largest stakeholders say a casino in their midst, whether beside PNC Park or near the Carnegie Science Center, could jeopardize possible development or expansion efforts.



Detroit businessman Don Barden wants to build this $300 million to $350 million casino on a 17-acre riverfront tract between the Carnegie Science Center and the West End Bridge.
Click drawing for larger version.



Representatives for Continental Real Estate Cos. and Equitable Resources said any casino would have a negative impact regardless of whether it's built between the stadiums or adjacent to one of them.

The two firms, along with the Pirates and Steelers, have long opposed a proposal by Alco Parking Corp. President Merrill Stabile to build a casino in a parking lot next to PNC Park.

But Equitable, Continental, the Steelers and Del Monte Foods Co. said they're equally opposed to the newest plan -- a proposal by Detroit businessman Don Barden to build a $300 million to $350 million casino and entertainment complex on the riverfront between the Carnegie Science Center and the West End Bridge. The Pirates said they would defer to the Steelers since Mr. Barden's proposed casino is closer to Heinz Field than PNC Park.

The 17-acre site, owned by MAXT Corp., a limited partnership controlled by Gateway Clipper Fleet owner Terry Wirginis, would feature a two-story casino, plus four restaurants, a sports bar, a beer garden, a coffee shop, two nightclubs and a 1,000-seat amphitheatre.

Barry Ford, Continental's president of development, said a casino could jeopardize future office and residential projects planned in the area. Continental was hired by the Steelers and the Pirates to redevelop the sea of asphalt between the two stadiums. Both Equitable and Del Monte Foods have built new headquarters there.

"In talking to the Equitables of the world, I know businesses aren't going to locate in a casino development. I know people aren't going to want to move to, buy a condo in, or lease an apartment in a casino [area] or adjacent to a casino," Mr. Ford said.

Patricia Kornick, a spokeswoman for Equitable Resources, said a casino "remains a deterrent" to any plans the company might have for expanding its North Shore headquarters.

She would not say, however, whether a North Shore gambling venue, if awarded the city's slots license, would cause the company to move elsewhere.

But not everybody is opposed to a casino next door.

Betsy Momich, spokeswoman for the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, said Mr. Barden's proposed casino shouldn't have any negative impact on operations at the Carnegie Science Center "if it's done well."

"If the planning and building is as it should be we don't have a concern with it," she said.

Mr. Barden said he plans to meet with all of the stakeholders on the North Shore to discuss his proposal. He believes that once those opposed see the details and understand his plans, they will have a different reaction.

He said one of the benefits of his proposal is a 4,000-space parking garage that would be built near the casino and which could help alleviate the off-street parking problems that occur in North Side neighborhoods during Steelers and Pirates games.

He also believes the casino will enhance housing, pointing out that some of the most expensive real estate in the country is in gambling mecca Las Vegas.

"All of this complements the redevelopment of the riverfront," he said of his proposal. "We did a lot of studies to make sure it blends in. It helps to complete the whole development stretch. This property is separate and distinct. It is far enough away that it should not have an impact."

Mr. Barden also said he might be willing to help in the funding of a proposed light rail transit stop and 1,700-space parking garage being planned by the Port Authority of Allegheny County near the science center.

He estimates that his casino, once it reaches 5,000 slot machines, will generate $230 million for the state each year at a 54 percent tax rate and $22 million for the city of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Stabile, meanwhile, is teaming with former executives from the Mandalay Resort Group in Las Vegas on a proposed $385 million casino and entertainment development near PNC Park he described as "very conservative and self-sustaining."

He said many of the casino proposals statewide feature mixed development like offices, housing or entertainment, including a $1 billion proposal by the Penguins and Isle of Capri Casinos to build an arena and redevelop the lower Hill District. "In my opinion, that validates my notion that these interests are all compatible," he said. "If I really felt these interests were incompatible I wouldn't have taken it this far."



I doubt with the Pens/Isle of Capri proposal that any other one has a real chance of becoming reality and in fact the Pens plan is the best of the city.

Regardless, I don't think that a casino on the North Shore makes sense, though I really don't like the idea of it being next to the new arena either. The best place for one is adjacent to Station Square but that is private property and a separate bid.

I've read about the planned development for the arena area. I think it's great that they are going to restore the street grid. Pittsburgh is so tiny (which actually works to make it very dense - a positive attribute) that the new streets pattern should also expand the scope of downtown somewhat. Not to mention that it will help to undo the horrible 'city planning' of the 40's and 50's that cut off the lower Hill from downtown. I always hated the way that barren, desolate parking lot surrounded the arena...so cold and empty. If you look at pictures of what was torn down, it appears to have been a very densely packed neighborhood of retail and residential. Granted, it was probably derelict. But had it been saved, it could have been rehabbed into a viable neighborhood today. Downtown is beginning to see residential life come back. The new arena plan includes residential, which is great.
great renderings of the arena i must say

18 ELECTED LEADERS ENDORSE PENGUINS’ PLAN FOR NEW ARENA, CASINO, DEVELOPMENT

01/11/2006

‘Pittsburgh First’ project has support from state, city and county representatives

A delegation of 18 prominent western Pennsylvania elected officials representing the state, city and county endorsed the Pittsburgh Penguins’ plan for a new arena, casino and accompanying development on Wednesday.

In conjunction with Isle Of Capri Casinos and Nationwide Realty, the Penguins recently announced their plan for a development project totaling more than $1 billion, on and near the site currently occupied by 45-year-old Mellon Arena. Isle of Capri has applied for the Pittsburgh slots license, and, if successful, will fully fund construction of a new multi-purpose arena that will keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh for the long-term. The Penguins, Isle of Capri, Nationwide Realty and various community groups have united in this project under the banner of “Pittsburgh First.”

The group of elected officials includes state senators and state representatives as well as members of Pittsburgh City Council and Allegheny County Council.

They are state senators Jim Ferlo, Jane Orie, Jay Costa and John Pippy; state representatives Frank Dermody, Dan Frankel, Joe Preston, Joe Markosek, Mark Gergely, Paul Costa, Sean Ramaley, Frank LaGrotta and Nick Kotik; county councilman Bill Robinson; city council president Luke Ravenstahl and city council members Bill Peduto, Jim Motznik and Tonya Payne.

The elected leaders became the latest group to endorse the Penguins’ plan. They called for the entire western Pennsylvania region to put the public interest first and unite behind the proposal to use Pittsburgh’s gaming license profits to spur the comprehensive billion-dollar development project that will produce thousands of jobs and new businesses, revitalize the Uptown and Hill communities and generate millions of dollars of revenue for the region, in addition to providing a new, state-of-the art arena for concerts, children’s shows, circus events, skating shows and a wide range of sporting events, including Penguins hockey.

State Senator Jane Orie said, “The Penguins’ proposal is a win-win situation for both the City of Pittsburgh and the region as a whole. This proposal will provide a new, state-of-the-art, multi-use facility to residents of the region without using taxpayer dollars.”

State Senator Jay Costa stated, “Pittsburgh First represents one of the largest economic development projects in the history of western Pennsylvania, including a $1 billion investment in the future that will produce thousands of jobs, new businesses, millions of dollars in revenue to the city and county, the revitalization of a neighborhood, a privately-funded arena and a world-class gaming facility. Most of all, this economic development project will put the people of western Pennsylvania first.”

State Representative Frank Dermody, chairman of the Democratic Allegheny County Delegation, added, “I believe the gaming license should be used to benefit the entire region – not just one developer or one company – by serving as the engine to spur one of the largest economic development projects in the history of the region. This is why I want all the public and private leaders in western Pennsylvania to join us in doing what is right for the people – unite in supporting this project.”

Since the project was announced shortly before Christmas, Pittsburgh First has continued to generate more and more support, with leading civic, religious, political, business and community leaders and organizations endorsing the project. They include Barbara McNeese, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce; Kathryn Klaber, executive vice president of the Allegheny County Conference of Economic Development; Jack Brooks, executive secretary of the Greater Pittsburgh Regional Council of Carpenters; the Reverend James Simms, former president of Allegheny County Council; and the Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh.

I'm oppossed to NHL teams moving to non-hockey cities, so whatever Pittsburgh needs to do, I hope it happens and the team stays put.

^ I am too, the Penguins BELONG in Pittsburgh.

More progess in East Liberty.


Hotel, condominiums planned

By Sam Spatter and Kim Leonard
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, January 13, 2006


A proposed Holiday Inn with enough parking to serve hotel guests and residents of a condominium building next door is the latest evidence that East Liberty's long-planned revitalization finally is taking hold, community leaders say.
Within the next two weeks, Pittsburgh's Zoning Board of Adjustment is expected to approve Terminus Real Estate's plan for a seven-story, 150-room hotel adjacent to the century-old Highland Building on South Highland Avenue.

The Knoxville, Tenn.-based developer also intends to convert the 13-story Highland structure into 84 condominiums.

Construction on both projects would cost a combined $25 million to $30 million and could be complete by 2008.

Board members indicated at a hearing Thursday that they'll approve the plan, which includes demolition of the three-story Stadterman Building at South Highland and Centre avenues, on what would become the hotel site. The developer needs the board's approval because the current zoning would allow only 40 hotel rooms.

"I couldn't be more excited about it," said Rob Stephany, director of commercial development for the East Liberty Development Corp. "In one fell swoop, the development team figured out how to park both the Highland Building and the hotel."

Rooms in the $17.8 million, full-service Holiday Inn would sit atop four levels of parking -- three above ground -- with a total 241 spaces. About 90 spaces would serve the condominiums, and the rest would be available for the hotel and the public.

The hotel also would have a restaurant and health club, and retail space is planned on the first floor of the Highland Building.

Terminus plans to demolish the Stadterman Building in the spring, said William R. Bannow, a local construction manager representing the development firm.

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority now owns the Highland Building, an abandoned office tower, and has removed asbestos and lead paint there. Terminus would do more interior demolition after acquiring it.

Bannow said Terminus was impressed by the success of a Courtyard by Marriott hotel near Shadyside Hospital and the Hillman Cancer Center and realized that another hotel in the growing academic and medical community could do well.


Home Depot, Whole Foods Market, Shop 'n Save and other businesses have moved into East Liberty and thrived, with more retail construction and a facelift for the rundown shopping area along Broad Street under way.

"All of a sudden there are businesses that wouldn't have considered East Liberty, (but now are) at least thinking about it," said Paul Brecht, executive director of the community's chamber of commerce

For what it is worth Federated Department Stores is gathering information on the Buffalo and Pittsburgh markets along with four others for a 2007 expansion of the Bloomingdales chain.

For what it is worth Federated Department Stores is gathering information on the Buffalo and Pittsburgh markets along with four others for a 2007 expansion of the Bloomingdales chain.

A local mall owner revealed that one would be coming. I would prefer that if there is one store, then it go to downtown, which would be central to all and obviously help the downtown retail area as well, but I expect that they will move into a mall, especially when it's easy to move into one of the closed Federated stores (with malls that had both Macy's and Kaufmann's).

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2006-01-23/0123master_plan-a.jpg

Station Square slots casino details unveiled
Monday, January 23, 2006

By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Harrah's and Forest City Enterprises unveiled their Station Square casino plans today, proposing a $512 million casino, more than 1,200 condominium units and several hundred new hotel rooms, a sweeping facelift of what is already considered Pittsburgh's top tourist destination.

In all, the companies are proposing $1 billion in new development. Construction could begin immediately after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awards the casino licenses, said Jan Jones, a senior vice president with Harrah's and former mayor of Las Vegas.

Harrah's and Forest City are in competition with three other outfits, all of which are seeking the lone license available for a casino to be built within Pittsburgh's city limits. Harrah's and Forest City are considered one of two frontrunners, the other being the Isle of Capri, a riverboat casino company that has partnered with the Pittsburgh Penguins and pledged to build a new hockey venue to replace Mellon Arena.

Forest City has made no such pledge. The main community investment component of the Forest City plan is a $25 million endowment for the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation and a $1 million community investment fund that would be headed by former Steelers running back Franco Harris.

The Harrah's casino complex, with 400,000 square feet of floor space, is roughly the size of seven football fields and is the largest of the casinos so far proposed for the City of Pittsburgh. The casino would sit on the west side of the Station Square complex, displacing the concert amphitheater that sits there now.

The condominium towers would be to the east of the Smithfield Street Bridge, likely displacing the warehouse building that is now home to several nightclubs.




The Isle of Capri bid is a better deal for the city, but this is the best location.

The housing development looks great. They don't need a casino to accomplish that though. A nice cluster of condo towers would fit well east of Station Square and offer great city views with close proximity.

It's a pretty good proposal... but I prefer redeveloping the struggling lower Hill District as opposed to further developing Station Square.

I prefer a logical place for the casino (touristy station square where casino traffic and concerns won't mess up downtown or a city neighborhood like the Hill) and want the Hill rebuilt... and don't see why the eastern edge of Station Square can't be built up - the land is there for condos and residents can have access to the T from there, as well as buses, or even walking to downtown.

I doubt with the Pens/Isle of Capri proposal that any other one has a real chance of becoming reality and in fact the Pens plan is the best of the city.

Regardless, I don't think that a casino on the North Shore makes sense, though I really don't like the idea of it being next to the new arena either. The best place for one is adjacent to Station Square but that is private property and a separate bid.

Looks like Pittsburgh is copying Buffalo on this one, there is a new Casino going up next door to the relatively new HSBC Arena in Buffalo, with a Bass Pro Store going in on the next block in the old Memorial Auditorium. Is Pgh planning on tearing down the Civic Arena or is it going to be converted to another use?

If the Pens Casino plan goes forward, then the old arena will be torn down and replaced with a mixed use development, which would be in that it would recreate the neighborhood that was leveled to create the old arena.

Pittsburgh ranks 39th out of 50 metro areas for small business
City slips by Hartford, Conn., but trails Cleveland
Pittsburgh ranks 39th out of the nation's top 50 metropolitan areas for small businesses, according to a new study.

But several local business people say the relatively low mark was a better ranking than they expected for the city.

The study was conducted by Bizjournals.com, part of American City Business Journals, the Pittsburgh Business Times' corporate parent. It looked at changes in population, the number of small businesses, number of all businesses, number of private-sector employees and total of private-sector payrolls from 2000 to 2003 in the country's 50 largest markets.

Pittsburgh ranked just ahead of Hartford, Conn., and just behind Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Philadelphia ranked 24th.

The five best markets, in order, were Miami-Fort Lauderdale; Las Vegas; Orlando, Fla.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; and Seattle. The bottom five markets included Detroit; San Antonio; Cincinnati; San Jose, Calif.; and Memphis, Tenn.

Ann Dugan, executive director of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh, characterized Pittsburgh's ranking as "pretty good."

"We hear about the population leaving, the 'brain drain,' and so forth," Dugan said. "In one sense, to be included in the top 50, it means we haven't lost as much as we sometimes think we have."

Mitch Dexter, who started his own small business, a New York NY Fresh Deli franchise in Collier Township, last July, also said the ranking exceeded his expectations.

"I'm surprised that we made No. 39. It seems like everything's leaving our city," Dexter said.

Dugan said if state and local governments want to improve the climate for small businesses, they should look at cutting taxes and reducing regulations.

"We do make entrepreneurs work very hard to figure out what the regulations are," she said. "The more that we can reduce taxes so that it's financially viable to open a business locally and reduce ... a maze of regulations between townships and counties and state governments, the more we can do to streamline that to make it easier for an entrepreneur to start and grow a business."

For instance, when Dexter opened his deli last summer, the township required him to install a grease trap. "We don't have grease; we don't have fryers or anything," he said. "We're cutting deli meats. There's a little bit of fat, but no grease."

Residents also can do something to make it easier for businesses to grow, Dugan said, starting with bringing an end to a longtime tradition in many Pittsburgh neighborhoods where parking is scarce.

"Every time you put your chair out to mark your parking space," it could be hurting a business by giving its customers less opportunity to conveniently park their cars, Dugan said. "Everyone has to come together and think of these things."

Dexter said Western Pennsylvania has its advantages, such as a relatively low cost of labor. On average, he pays his employees about $7 per hour, which he said was slightly below the national average. The Pittsburgh area also has an advantage in relative freedom of whom to hire, he said. Some municipalities require hiring an architect to get a project approved, Dexter said. However, small businesses still must overcome plenty of hurdles to survive and grow, he said.

Dexter is looking to open a second Western Pennsylvania franchise Downtown, where he's looking at rental rates of $22 to $25 per square foot. But a colleague in downtown Cincinnati, he said, pays just $12 per square foot.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06033/648378.stm

Condo developer eyes Fifth-Forbes corridor
Proposes residential development, market in old G.C. Murphy's, retail shops for ragtag shopping district
Thursday, February 02, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The developer who is building an 82-unit condominium tower on Fort Pitt Boulevard, Downtown, is setting his sights on the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor.

Ralph Falbo plans to meet with Mayor Bob O'Connor later this month to pitch his own plan for redeveloping the ragtag shopping district. It would include several hundred condominiums and apartments, a market in the former G.C. Murphy's store, and some retail shops.

The proposal could end up competing with a retail and residential complex being advanced for lower Fifth Avenue by Washington D.C.-based developer Madison Marquette, working with the private Pittsburgh Task Force and Montgomery County residential builder Toll Brothers.

Madison Marquette also is looking at housing, plus upscale retail, in city-owned structures in the corridor, including the Murphy's building. It is trying to entice trendy retailers like Crate and Barrel and Tiffany & Co. to locate in the corridor.

Its proposal would cost from $50 million to $60 million. There would be about $24 million in state and other public subsidies.

Mr. Falbo decided to offer a comprehensive plan for the corridor -- he previously had touted the idea of a market in the Murphy's building -- after Mr. O'Connor, since becoming mayor in January, decided to entertain proposals from all developers, not just Madison Marquette.

"It certainly ought to have a strong degree of local involvement. We tried the other way enough times," said Mr. Falbo, referring to the previous attempts at recruiting national developers to remake Fifth and Forbes avenues.

Mr. Falbo said his proposal not only would include the reuse of existing structures in the corridor, but also a "very large new addition" and possibly others. He said he also intends to preserve historical structures.

He is working with EQA Landmark Communities, his partner in the 151 First Side condominium tower on Fort Pitt Boulevard, and a New York financial organization he declined to name.

Mr. Falbo has yet to come up with a firm cost estimate, saying there are still questions about the underground parking he desires as part of the project. He said he is ready to undertake the redevelopment if the city and the Urban Redevelopment Authority are willing to relinquish the buildings they own in the corridor to him.

"If we can get accepted, we're committed," he said.

Mr. O'Connor confirmed that he has a meeting scheduled later this month with Mr. Falbo, as well as one next week with Madison Marquette. He said he is looking for the best proposal for the city.

He said interest in the corridor has picked up with the proposal by PNC Financial Services Group to build a $170 million office tower on Fifth across from G.C. Murphy's and the planned $49 million redevelopment of the Lazarus-Macy's store at Fifth and Wood Street by Washington County developer Millcraft Industries Inc.

"The timing is good for us to start listening to proposals. We have an opportunity to evaluate them all and pick the best one for Pittsburgh. This is almost like starting over again," Mr. O'Connor said. "Good people are coming to us. We're at a different time. This is a good time to start listening to proposals and evaluating them."

He added he still would like to make a decision on a plan for the corridor by summer. He said he would like to do so in consultation with Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, PNC, Millcraft, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and other stakeholders.

Herb Burger, chairman of the Pittsburgh Task Force, which recruited Madison Marquette, said he could not comment on a possible competitive bid, adding that "at this intersection, that is the province of Mayor O'Connor."


His interest in the corridor has been noted before, but not exactly how expansive it was. I hope that a worthy local contender is considered and I would like to hear more details of

would include the reuse of existing structures in the corridor, but also a "very large new addition" and possibly others.

Hmmm....

CONGRATS STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!! THE SUPERBOWL XL CHAMPIONS!!!!

CONGRATS STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!! THE SUPERBOWL XL CHAMPIONS!!!!
steelers bring the lombardi trophy home!!!!!!!!!!!! the "bus" said he's officially retiring. well atleast he's retiring a WINNER. big ben has his first of MANY superbowl rings. cowher finally gets first superbowl victory. hines ward named MVP. BREAK OUT THE TERRIBLE TOWELS, steel city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:dance:
:dance:
:dance:
:dance:

Big Seahawks fan here!

Officiating is just something that all teams have to deal with. The Steelers had some fucked up calls against them when they played the Colts and still came out on top. I love my Seahawks but you have got to give it up to the Steelers, they played like champions.

:applause: Congrats Steelers. Good Game :applause:

I posted this in the sky bar in response to people complaining about the officiating.
I love Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu

I think for the Steelers, the story remembered will be the road traveled to the Superbowl. Nothing against the Superbowl, but everyone had Indy in the game from day one.

Congrats to Seattle for a great season and good game as well.

What a way for the Bus to go. Go Stillers!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2006-01-23/0123master_plan-a.jpg

beautiful renderings.

Passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport fell 21 percent last year compared to 2004, according to statistics released by the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

In 2005, the airport had 10.4 million passengers get on and off airplanes at Pittsburgh International Airport, half of the 20.7 million it had at its peak in 1997, according to the Airport Authority's annual report.

The majority of the decrease came from US Airways, which saw traffic fall by 39 percent last year. US Airways, which merged with Tempe, Ariz.-based America West Airlines last fall, has cut flights from Pittsburgh by more than half since it announced that Pittsburgh would no longer be a primary hub for the airline

At its peak, USELESSAIRways had some 90% of PIT's gates. They were heavily involved in the new airport, but have done nothing, but screw Pittsburgh time after time in the last 5 years. I hope with their significant reduction at PIT, that others will take advantage of one of the best airports and also make the airport competitive price-wise to flyers.

At its peak, USELESSAIRways had some 90% of PIT's gates. They were heavily involved in the new airport, but have done nothing, but screw Pittsburgh time after time in the last 5 years. I hope with their significant reduction at PIT, that others will take advantage of one of the best airports and also make the airport competitive price-wise to flyers.
"USELESSAIRways". LOL....aw man that's funy.

"USELESSAIRways". LOL....aw man that's funy.
Don't forget their predecessor - Agony Airlines !!!

List of the 'Best Performing Cities" recorded by the Milken Institute.

The index, published annually by the California-based nonprofit economic think tank, ranks the top 200 metropolitan areas as well as a separate list for small cities. Job growth and wages are the key measurements of the ranking along with a measurement of technology.

For 2005, Buffalo leaped to no. 146, up from no. 173 a year ago. Albany no. 66; Syracuse no. 113; Rochester no. 181. Pittsburgh fell to # 141 and Cleveland ranked # 194.

Milken places three Florida metro areas at the top of the index, lead by Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, which jumped to no. 1 from no. 31 a year ago.

The entire report can be found at www.milkeninstitute.com.

In 2005, the airport had 10.4 million passengers get on and off airplanes at Pittsburgh International Airport, half of the 20.7 million it had at its peak in 1997, according to the Airport Authority's annual report.

Ouch!! 10.4 million?? But didn't everyone take a big hit since 2001?
I think these may be numbers representing the trend around the country since then, but I'm not sure. I'll look it up.

2005 was a record year for air traffic in the United States up approximately 8% over 2004

Origin and Destination traffic at Pittsburgh has increased despite the loss of total passengers.

Will the airport ever again reach 20 million passengers? If not, isn't a half empty airport going to run at a major deficit? How many gates are currently being unused out of the total number of gates.

I think that it will climb back up. There's a void, eventually somone will want to take advantage of it. However, given the sad state of the airline industry, it's sounds like this will take time, as the only ones doing well are the low cost ones (and Southwest is expanding at PIT).

I don't know about that, it is my understanding that the local Pittsburgh market is not large enough to support a full hub operation especially considering the location of the city itself. Pittsburgh is simply not centrally located enough to be a major hub. I think it was that realization that led US Air to drastically curtail operations there after taking a financial bath for years. Simply put the City is too small and too far North to be a major hub again.

The reasons why things didn't work out had nothing to do with market size or location. Yes there are larger markets, but Pittsburgh has a good geograhic location. USAir's original roots pulled it different directions (Philly and Charlotte) hubs. This made no sense. The current airport opened in 92 to be a hub and be as modern as possible. The only thing holding the airport back was the not well managed dominent player, US Air. At this point, I don't see any one airline taking up all of the slack, but there is opportunity for a few airlines to take advantage of the airport. With the right couple airlines, the airport could be at more of its potential.

Big plans for lot next to PNC Park
Stabile development will include hotel
Saturday, February 25, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Merrill Stabile has given up on putting a slot machine casino on the North Shore, but he still has big plans for the parking lot he owns next to PNC Park.

The Alco Parking Corp. president is teaming with Kratsa Properties to put together plans for a proposed residential, retail, entertainment and hotel development at the site, where Mr. Stabile was hoping to build a casino before pulling out of the competition for the Pittsburgh slots license.

While still in the preliminary stages, the new proposal is expected to include an extended-stay hotel along the lines of a Residence Inn, restaurant space, perhaps condominiums or townhouses and an entertainment venue, most likely a nightclub. The site covers about 31/2 acres.

"Obviously, this is a piece of land that, in my opinion, has matured to the point that it can't remain a parking lot forever," Mr. Stabile said. "This is a site that can accommodate a significant amount of development."

Kratsa was the developer behind the 198-room Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel that opened last April next to PNC Park. The $21 million hotel was named Marriott's opening hotel of the year. It routinely sells out for Steelers home games and already is sold out for the All-Star game this summer and several days leading up to it.

David Cocco, vice president of hotel operations for Kratsa, said the company believes there's a market for more of an upscale extended stay hotel at the urban core. He said the proposed hotel would be the first such type in the Downtown area.

"There are obviously a lot of corporations on the North Shore. There's a hospital on the North Side. We think we'll be able to service that market very well," he said.

Neither Mr. Stabile nor Mr. Cocco would offer a cost estimate on the development, saying plans were still too preliminary. They hope to submit a formal proposal to the city within six months.

"Basically, we're exploring a lot of different options," Mr. Stabile said. "One thing I can tell you is definitely not offices. We have way more office space in the city than we need right now."

He acknowledged that the proposed project could put him and his partner in competition with Continental Real Estate Cos., which is developing the land between the stadiums for the Steelers and Pirates. But he doubted whether it would have much of an effect, given the magnitude of the Continental development.

"We don't want to see ourselves competing with them," Mr. Cocco added. "We have a great relationship with the Steelers and the Pirates and we want to work in conjunction with that development."

Continental already has built two office buildings on the North Shore, the Equitable Resources and Del Monte headquarters, and recently announced the addition of three restaurants in time for the All-Star game in July. It also is planning residential development near the stadiums. It also is looking for more office tenants and restaurants.

The Kratsa-Stabile project would remove prime parking for Pirates and Steelers games, although the city Stadium Authority is building a 1,255-space garage in the vicinity to accommodate sports crowds as surface lots are taken for development.

Pirates spokeswoman Patty Paytas declined comment on the proposed development. Continental Chairman Frank Kass could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Stabile said the development would be privately funded, adding he would not go ahead if public subsidies were required.

Kratsa has yet to settle on a franchise for the hotel. It is talking to various operators, Mr. Cocco said.



--

The reasons why things didn't work out had nothing to do with market size or location. Yes there are larger markets, but Pittsburgh has a good geograhic location.

Actually it had everthing to do with both. Locationwise Pittsburgh is not centrally located. There is little to the North to draw traffic from except Buffalo. To the east are all major cities are all hubs and all much larger than Pittsburgh, so you are not going to draw traffic from them. From the South Pittsburgh make no sense because for most destinations you would fly from South to North land in PGH then get in a plane and head back South since as I've already noted there is not much to your North.

Look at the successful hubs they are all either centrally located like Denver and Cincinatti or else they are huge markets like Atlanta or Chicago. The only exception seems to be Charlotte which is used because of over congestion at Atlanta and because it is also one of the fastest growing markets in the United States. Pittsburgh on the other hand is one of the fastest shrinking markets in the nation. As it has lost more HQ's there has been a corresponding decrease in the demand for Corporate travel. Didn't Alcoa just announce it HQ move to NYC in the last few days?

Face it, if it were not a matter of market size and geography someone else would have announced plans to step in by now. The economics just do not work. Don't look upon this as a bad thing though. For the locals not being a hub is a good thing because HUB's generally have much higher ticket prices than non-hub airports.

The geography can work fine. I would agree if you were saying PIT was trying to compete with Atlanta etc, but it maintained 20 million per year for several years, only after 9/11 and US Airs troubles in the years since... serious troubles... that everything fell apart. The aiport can be 20 million again.

Didn't Alcoa just announce it HQ move to NYC in the last few days?

When the current CEO took over (in 99?), coming from New York, he didn't want to be in Pittsburgh, so he moved the executives to NYC. The announcement the other day reflected their action 5-6 years ago. 2000 employess are at the headquarters in Pittsburgh and other area research facilities and 60 are in Manhattan.

Paul O'Neill was livid when he heard of what his successor did and stockholders should be to. There is no practical reason do what this ass did, he did it for personal preference, not for business reasons.

For the locals not being a hub is a good thing because HUB's generally have much higher ticket prices than non-hub airports.

You don't have to remind Pittsburghers of that. I don't want a repeat of the 90% gate control that USELess Air had.

Republic Airlines flying to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Business Times - 12:03 PM EST Monday
Republic Airlines will begin operating out of Pittsburgh International Airport and build a plane maintenance plant here that will employ 140, under a deal with Pennsylvania officials announced Monday.

The Indianapolis-based airline, part of Republic Airways Holdings, will fly out of former US Airways gates, Gov. Ed Rendell said.

There was no word when the airline, which flies regional jets to 21 destinations, including Dallas and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., would start flights from Pittsburgh.

The incentives package to bring Republic Airlines to Pittsburgh is valued at $21.4 million, only $530,000 of which was provided by the state. The rest is privately funded, Rendell said.

The $530,000 financial package includes a $150,000 state grant, $100,000 in job training funds and $280,000 in job creation tax credits.

A spokeswoman for Rendell did not immediately return a call.

The 140 employees will be maintenance technicians, flight attendants and pilots.

Republic Airlines entered into a contract with the Allegheny County Airport Authority to lease hangar No. 2, which has more than 52,000 square feet.




--

Pittsburgh has a really great, high-capacity, international great airport, one with plenty of potential for future flight expansion. However, even when I was flying back to Pittsburgh on business fairly regularly a few years ago, I noticed that quite a few of the gates were little used. Clearly,the decline of air traffic owes to both the persistent problems of US Air as well as to the demographic & economic decline of the surrounding region. Not just metro Pittsburgh, which along with Buffalo has been the only consistly declining major metro, but also much of western Pennsylvania, & the adjacent areas of eastern Ohio & West Virginia, which are struggling. Clearly corporate downsizing is also a factor. Hopefully, if the region begins to turn around, then so will the airport.

I'm not sure how far back you flew, but (and because of US Air) most gates were in operation until 9/11. At one point most of at least on Concourse was closed (of 4) which makes sense since they cut many, many, flights.

Actually the region's economy hasn't really had a negative impact (except that an economy that is growing well would increace traffic X % etc.) as traffic steadily grew at the airport - it never rapidly grew, but it grew.

Some positive business updates from recent days...

Dick's reports increased earnings
Pittsburgh Business Times - 10:40 AM EST Tuesday
Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. reported fourth quarter earnings were up by 25 percent.

The Pittsburgh-area company saw fourth quarter profits increase to $54 million, from $42.3 million the year before. That translated to earnings of $1 per diluted share, up from 79 cents in the same quarter in 2004.

---------------------------------

Rue21 eyes major expansion
Pittsburgh Business Times - March 2, 2006by Tim Schooley
On the heels of celebrating its move into its new headquarters in Warrendale, Pa., rue21 is hinting at major expansion plans.

Bob Fisch, president and CEO of the specialty clothing retailer, said the company expects to open 50-60 stores this year and to more than double in size over the next five.

"With the rapid growth and building of new stores, rue21 is poised to open 400 stores over the next five years while exploring the opportunity for an initial public offering," Fisch said.

Focusing on value-priced clothing for juniors and young men, rue21 is the company formerly known as Pennsylvania Fashions. Currently, rue21 has 250 stores in 40 states.

-------------------
Equitable takes over Dominion's Pa., W.Va. customers
Friday, March 03, 2006

By Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Equitable Resources Inc., the smallest of the region's three natural gas companies, is buying the largest, Dominion Peoples, in a transaction worth approximately $970 million.

Pending regulatory approv-al, which Equitable expects to receive by the end of the year, Dominion Peoples and its West Virginia sibling, Dominion Hope, will be integrated into the Equitable Gas Co. unit of Equitable Resources.

The acquisition will add almost 475,000 customers to Equitable's natural gas operations in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia, tripling Equitable's customer base to more than 750,000.

Equitable also will take on about 800 Dominion workers and create up to 200 additional jobs, pushing its total work force up by about 1,000 to 2,240.

-------------------


American Eagle sees stock jump 13 percent
Strong sales growth, income boost outlook
Thursday, March 02, 2006

By Teresa F. Lindeman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Investors sent shares of American Eagle Outfitters Inc. up more than 13 percent yesterday after the Marshall teen clothier said the new fiscal year was off to a solid start even as it wraps up the old one.

The retailer reported a 6 percent increase in February sales at existing stores and projected first-quarter earnings would come in on the high end of analysts' expectations.

Total sales for the fiscal year rose 22.8 percent to $2.31 billion from $1.88 billion, while sales in those stores open at least a year were up 15 percent.

Net income totaled $294.2 million, or $1.89 per share, vs. $213.3 million, or $1.42 per share, the previous year. The company's fiscal year ended Jan. 28.

Sales in the key holiday quarter rose 13.4 percent to $764.4 million from $674 million.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2006-03-14/0315pforbes-a.jpg


Duquesne University broke ground Tuesday on a $30 million recreation center and retail complex in Uptown - the first phase of a development that eventually could cost more than $70 million and complement investment in the Fifth-Forbes corridor, Downtown.
"This new facility is a catalyst for Uptown," Mayor Bob O'Connor said at the ceremony yesterday.

The first floor will host a Barnes & Noble Booksellers, a campus-themed restaurant and other retail space. The upper floors will have basketball and racquetball courts, deck hockey, fitness facilities, locker rooms, exercise and dance studios, ballroom, kitchen and roof-top deck.

"Young people today are health-conscious," said Duquesne President Charles Dougherty. "It's part of their social life."

Duquesne University expects to open the 125,000-square-foot recreation center on Forbes Avenue by the end of 2007. A pedestrian bridge will connect the center to the other side of campus. The second phase of the project could involve student housing, other university offices and classrooms, a pharmacy and other retail development.

The university had planned to develop the remaining commercial part of the site on its own but now is open to the possibility of working with a developer, Dougherty said. No timetable has been set for starting work on that portion of the project, he said.

City officials have focused their redevelopment efforts in the Fifth-Forbes corridor, Downtown. Duquesne's project at the other end of Forbes is not being coordinated with the city's.

"However," Dougherty said, "the mayor in his campaign stressed how important the area between Downtown and Oakland is to the Forbes-Fifth corridor. We think this is contributing to developing that corridor."

O'Connor has opened the city's Fifth-Forbes project Downtown to other developers, in addition to Madison Marquette, a Washington, D.C.-based company that was invited to develop a dozen city-owned properties in the area.

PNC Financial Services has announced plans for a $170 million project in the area, with offices, a hotel and condominiums. And Millcraft Industries, of Washington County, plans to develop the former Lazarus building into retail shops and luxury condominiums.

Downtown developers and government officials welcomed the launch of the project.

"Duquesne University is a real important part for what Downtown has to offer," said Mike Edwards, chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. "The other piece of the Duquesne investment is we realize we need to be surrounded by healthy neighborhoods, so Duquesne's investment in Uptown is pretty important."

Ralph Falbo, chairman and chief executive officer of Falbo Corp., a developer of Downtown condos, also endorsed the project.

"We think anything that creates activity in and around Downtown is a good thing," he said.

Dean McHolme, president of McHolme Builders in Elizabeth Township, said he likes to see projects, like Duquesne University's recreation center, energize blighted areas of Uptown. His company is converting old Downtown buildings into student housing.

"Any development along that corridor is going to help in any fashion," he said. "Hopefully, it'll turn around like the South Side did."

About a year and a half ago, the Urban Redevelopment Authority designated Uptown as a neighborhood for redevelopment.

"We're delighted that they're spreading their campus into the Uptown area," said redevelopment authority Executive Director Jerry Dettore.

"The Uptown area fits between Oakland and Downtown," he said. "Both areas are inching their way into the area."

About one-third of the cost of the recreation center will come from loans; another third from gifts; and the remainder from other money in the university's budget.

Duquesne University spent $8.5 million for eight properties on the 2-acre site. The dilapidated buildings were razed, and the block converted into a landscaped parking lot.

Since no one else brought this up on this thread I thought I would. Due to continuing out migration as well as the number of deaths exceeding births last year, the Pittsburgh area continues to bleed population. According to Census estimates released yesterday the population of Allegheney County declined by 11,671 or approximately 1% during the past year. In actual numbers this loss was exceeded only by Cook (Chigago), Wayne(Detroit) and Cuyahoga(Cleveland) counties. As a percentage only Cuyahoga County lost a larger amount of population during the past year.

So far this decade Allegheny has lost a population of 45,825 or 3.58% of it's 2000 total.

Since no one else brought this up on this thread I thought I would. Due to continuing out migration as well as the number of deaths exceeding births last year, the Pittsburgh area continues to bleed population. According to Census estimates released yesterday the population of Allegheny County declined by 11,671 or approximately 1% during the past year. In actual numbers this loss was exceeded only by Cook (Chigago), Wayne(Detroit) and Cuyahoga(Cleveland) counties. As a percentage only Cuyahoga County lost a larger amount of population during the past year.

So far this decade Allegheny has lost a population of 45,825 or 3.58% of it's 2000 total.

more good news for PIT

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06076/671812.stm

JetBlue to fly out of Pittsburgh to N.Y., Boston
Growing carrier to bring lower fares to Pittsburgh
Friday, March 17, 2006

By Dan Fitzpatrick and Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Discount carrier JetBlue Airways is arriving in Pittsburgh this summer, with six daily flights to Boston and New York starting as low as $64 each way.

The fast-growing, six-year old airline will unveil its plans this morning, ending a four-year, on-and-off courtship with local officials. The first flights will leave Pittsburgh International Airport on June 30, with four a day to JetBlue's home base of New York, where it operates from John F. Kennedy International Airport, and two daily to Boston's Logan Airport.

Both East Coast routes now have little competition and are among the most expensive for Pittsburgh-area passengers.

JetBlue said tickets to JFK will start at $64 one way and go no higher than $129 and flights one way to Boston will start at $74 and go no higher than $139.

JetBlue, an industry darling that was profitable its first five years before losing money in 2005, offers assigned seats and satellite-equipped TVs for all passengers, distinguishing itself from the no-frills approach of discount king Southwest Airlines, which started service from Pittsburgh last year.

The dramatic downsizing of US Airways, which once offered more than 500 flights out of Pittsburgh and now has about 200, created openings for both Southwest and JetBlue.

Southwest, a low-fare pioneer, has been around for more than three decades. JetBlue is more of an upstart, founded in 2000 by industry veteran David Neeleman.

It employs 10,000, but unlike Southwest and US Airways, it has no union workers. A non-union work force allows JetBlue to operate with a much lower cost structure than larger carriers such as US Airways, United Airlines and American Airlines, not to mention the bankrupt Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Lower labor costs, in turn, allow JetBlue to charge cheaper fares and still have a chance at making money -- although even it is suffering from the industry's persistently high fuel prices, a key factor in its $42 million in losses last year.

As it tuns out, the Forest Hills, N.Y.-based airline has been watching Pittsburgh for a number of years but talks with the airport heated up in the last six months, according to spokesman Todd Burke. The draw was a city "that has been plagued with high fares," he said.

The flights out of Pittsburgh will be flown on new Embraer 190 jets, which seat 100 and offer each passenger a choice of 36 TV channels and 100 channels of XM Satellite radio. JetBlue recently took delivery of 10 new Embraers, which are feeding the airline's expansion into new cities.

Today, it also scheduled to announce new service from Jacksonville, Fla., and in coming months, it will begin service from Richmond, Va., Bermuda and Portland, Maine. Pittsburgh will be its 39th city.

Pittsburgh International Airport chief Kent George predicted last May that there was a "very, very strong possibility" of JetBlue's arrival this spring.

For Mr. George, the announcement culminates a courtship that began nearly four years ago, as the airport tried desperately to recruit low-cost alternatives to US Airways, which then had a lock on the local market.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority, headed by Mr. George, stepped up the pressure last fall, after the airline began taking delivery of the new Embraer jets. The airport finally got a firm commitment from JetBlue Tuesday.

"We're elated that they made the decision to come in," Mr. George said. "It provides an additional alternative for the business traveler and the discretionary traveler in the southwestern Pennsylvania region and it does so with lower fares."

The Airport Authority has been trying for some time to stimulate competition on the New York and Boston routes. In fact, US Airways is still the only carrier that flies non-stop to Boston from Pittsburgh.

As part of its deal with JetBlue, the airport authority will provide the airline with reduced landing fees -- half the normal rate -- on four of the six daily flights and a $50,000 allocation to market the service. Mr. George said the incentives are the same as those offered to any airline that provides new service on non-competitive routes.

The authority also is trying to generate more competition on the Washington and Dallas routes. Since the demise of Independence Air earlier this year, walk-up fares for flights to Washington have jumped from about $220 to $700 or $800, Mr. George said.

The landing of another low-cost carrier also could help the Airport Authority's efforts to generate more local traffic, he said. The authority has launched a $370,000 campaign this year to do just that.

"With Boston and New York, it really helps with the competition, and will continue to drive down the cost for the consumer and to increase our [local] traffic," county Chief Executive Dan Onorato said.

"Every time a new airline comes in, it sends a signal across the industry that Pittsburgh is a market they should be in or where they should expand," he added. "It's the best PR we can have."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.)

Don, thanks for being a part of this thread and reminding us of everything wrong with our city.

Since no one else brought this up on this thread I thought I would. Due to continuing out migration as well as the number of deaths exceeding births last year, the Pittsburgh area continues to bleed population. According to Census estimates released yesterday the population of Allegheney County declined by 11,671 or approximately 1% during the past year. In actual numbers this loss was exceeded only by Cook (Chigago), Wayne(Detroit) and Cuyahoga(Cleveland) counties. As a percentage only Cuyahoga County lost a larger amount of population during the past year.
I know the results usually come out this time of year, but I haven't seen them yet.

Don, thanks for being a part of this thread and reminding us of everything wrong with our city.
To the contrary I think Pittsburgh is a great town. What's better then cominh through the tunnel and seeing the golden triangle? Or sitting on the hill in Schenley Park looking towards the Cathedral of Learning and downtown? If you have ever heard the song "Ode to a Pittsburgh" by Louden Wainwright III, then you know how I personally feel about Pittsburgh. If you do not know the song it would behoove you to get a copy of it. It is not enough to read the lyric you must hear the vocal to appreciate it.

I went to college there and now cover it. It is a part of my territory along with western Ohio from Youngstown up to Cleveland and upstate NY all the way through Albany, check my profile for more details. It is truly amazing to see how similar Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland are. They are all on the same road with minor variations. Pittsburgh has the added problem of older demographics with deaths outnumbering births. This poses a problem when trying to lure certain typed of businesses into town. On the other hand to locals have a better self image than their counterparts in Buffalo and Cleveland. All three are once grand ladies whose rebirths have been greatly exagerated and do not have the raw data to back up the rebirth myth.

The other cities I cover lack the stature and are really considered third tier markets. I.E. Youngstown, Erie, Rochester and Syracuse. Of all that I cover only Albany has a healthy growth rate although there are some signs that Syracuse is starting to have some real growth as well.

It's good to see that you like Pittsburgh. Realize that this is a development thread though. What does bringing up negative population trends have to do with these projects? It doesn't belong in here. If you want to discuss it, why not start a thread on it somewhere else?

I respectfully disagree with you. One of the largest factors leading to economic growth is population growth. An increasing population drives an economy, conversely a declining population can stop any economic revival dead in it's tracks.

I respectfully disagree with you. One of the largest factors leading to economic growth is population growth. An increasing population drives an economy, conversely a declining population can stop any economic revival dead in it's tracks.

Is a declining population going to stop these projects dead in their tracks even though they're already approved and some under construction? I wonder if these developers know about the declining population? Somebody should tell them so they can cancel everything! I mean, why would they want to build all of this stuff in a metro area of roughly 2.4 million people that is slowly leaking population? Since 45,000 people left the entire metro region recently there surely can't be anyone within the other 2.4 million that stayed here that would actually want to live or work downtown. Now that you've enlightened me with these facts I suddenly find myself not wanting to live or shop anywhere. You're so right Don!

This stuff is going to happen whether or not Pittsburgh is declining or increasing in population. Population trends have nothing to do with these projects or this thread.

Is a declining population going to stop these projects dead in their tracks.


Fifth and Forbes, 'nuff said.

The population issue (and its root, jobs) is a major concern, but when looking at it - it doesn't mean that people aren't moving to Pittsburgh. In the late 90s, 150,000 people left the metro and 100,000 came to the metro. It's a significant net loss, but the loss will continue with the unusually high senior population. The area did make some minor gains in the early 90s and the trend is not like it was in the 80s. The economy has diversified and improved, but it needs to gain much ground to overcome the demographic gap.

As for Fifth Forbes, it's coming together. There has never been a time downtown where so much housing has been planned or developed.


The two big projects recently announced will deifinitely be catalysts for improving the corridor...

3 PNC

http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20060116HO_pnc_450.jpg



Piatt Place:


http://www.stradallc.com/files/piatt_place_1_2.jpg

The population issue (and its root, jobs) is a major concern, but when looking at it - it doesn't mean that people aren't moving to Pittsburgh. In the late 90s, 150,000 people left the metro and 100,000 came to the metro. It's a significant net loss, but the loss will continue with the unusually high senior population.

As for Fifth Forbes, it's coming together. There has never been a time downtown where so much housing has been planned or developed.


I agree that the population decline will continue for the next 15 or 20 years until the older population dies off. The massive exodus of the young in the 80's and 90's left Pittsburgh with one of the lowest birth rates in the entire country.

With the continued decline and in City population I don't expect the Fifth and Forbes project to succeed as a retail venture. Look at the Lazarus failure, throwing public dollars to attract retail was foolish. The housing must come first, but even at that you can expect a continued decline in downtown retail. The population numbers and 21st century shopping habits are just not going to support it as it did in days gone by.

I agree with the above 100%. Population density, jobs, tourists, and high incomes are what will make the retail work downtown. Specifically, 10,000 downtown residents seems to be a trigger point. People will not put up with the inconvience of making a trip downtown just to go shopping.

Baltimore and Pittsburgh are similar (Except you have a better football team - FOR NOW!) Damn. Durning 2005, our mayor commissioned a national study of retail specifically focusing on downtown. I read the report, and it mentioned the money you guys used to subdize the two department stores that are now closed.

Unfortunately, I can no longer find the entrie report on line. It was very interesting to read because it was so National in scope. I did come up with the press release which gives some insight to what retailers are after when they locate stores. Here is a link to it. It is only 3 pages long, so it's a quick read. Enjoy.

http://www.godowntownbaltimore.com/Publications/Press%20Releases/retail_handout.pdf

By the way, we recently reached the 10,000 housing unit mark. A new Best Buy and two new Office Max stores just oppened. Urban Outfitters just announced a new downtown store two weeks ago. Apparently quite a few other stores are coming!

Well.....the plans for downtown aren't very retail heavy. It's all about housing this time. With housing follows retail. It won't be down for long now that the population downtown is supposed to double within the next few years.

Yeah the money for L&T and Federated was a waste.

Though Kaufmann's (now Macy's) has done well downtown for years and so has the Sax downtown. I really don't see a need to have any more dept stores there anyway. hell, Pittsburgh is fortunate to still have two dept stores downtown, when you look across the nation.

However Nordstrom just announced that it is coming to town... though to a suburban mall. It's unfortunate because it would be great to have a unique (one location) store like them downtown, but oh well.

The shift of development Fifth and Forbes and around downtown is largely residential.

Piatt place and PNC will have some street level retail, but nothing too big to be risky anyway. While PNC will have some office space, both buildings will be home to many condo units. Additionally, Piatt plans on having a grocery store as well, which is a significant boost to living downtown. Of course many more are needed.

This report lists current/planned activity:

http://www.pghliving.com/images/properties/Market%20Status%202005.pdf


I'm glad that Baltimore hit that threshold. It appears that a lot is happening there and its only the beginning. I can't wait to see the new tower get underway there.

For those who haven't seen this before, here is a video from the Isle of Capri/Pittsburgh Penguins group that shows their vision of what the lower Hill District will become.

http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/penguins/video/pghfirst-1.asx

That's interesting. I hadn't seen that. I love what Uptown will look like. The issue I have with the whole plan is actually having a casino there (it just doesn't make sense to me), but the arena is badly needed as is a facelift for that area (plus this will build more housing and offices) So far Harrah's hasn't compared (though I think that Station Square makes sense for a casino, but the other aspects don't compare).

Point Park University buying Downtown properties for expansion
Thursday, March 30, 2006

By Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Point Park University said yesterday that it is poised to acquire five properties along Forbes and Fourth avenues as part of a new Downtown expansion.




The university plans to use the properties for classrooms, housing or even athletic facilities.

The school's acting president, Paul Hennigan, said Point Park expects by today to close on a $2.5 million deal that has been in the works for about a year.

The properties are owned by Central Parking Service of New York City, university officials said.

They are just east of Point Park's University Center on Wood Street, formerly the Library Center, and include 322, 326, 328 and 330 Forbes Ave., as well as a parking lot on Fourth Avenue.

The parcels' location could enable Point Park to connect whatever it builds to the University Center, which houses the school's library, an auditorium and academic space. And the land's proximity to the Fifth and Forbes avenues redevelopment site offers an additional strategic advantage, Dr. Hennigan said.

"Whoever is the developer of the Fifth-Forbes corridor will need to interact with Point Park in terms of development of that parcel," he said.

Unable to fill its existing high-rise residence halls a decade ago, Point Park has seen its enrollment grow over the last nine years from 2,400 to 3,400 students, who have filled those halls and prompted the school to lease dormitory rooms from Chatham College to accommodate overflow.

Point Park already is constructing a new performance space and dance studios along the Boulevard of the Allies and, by the fall, expects to complete its first housing expansion in 40 years by moving 160 students into two buildings near campus. It will lease those buildings and operate them as suite-style residence halls.

Point Park, which has been acquiring properties Downtown for several years, is in the midst of a strategic planning initiative that will include a study of what academic areas are most prime for growth. Dr. Hennigan said Point Park is confident there is enough demand for significant campus growth in the years ahead.

"We're going to build what I consider a dynamic urban university," he said.

The Forbes Avenue buildings being purchased house a pizzeria and nail salon. Dr. Hennigan said the school plans to demolish them in advance of settling on an exact use for the land.

Central Parking Service could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Point Park has previously indicated that it may one day use a Downtown parcel as the new home for its Playhouse, now in Oakland. Officials said, however, that is not part of this property acquisition plan.

The land to be acquired is next to the Forbes Avenue building that houses the Honus Wagner sporting goods store, a property that is currently not available to the university for purchase, said Point Park spokeswoman Ginny Frizzi. If the property were to become available, Point Park would be interested in acquiring it.





http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20060330PointParkUniversityMap.gif

Piatt Place plan grows

By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, April 8, 2006


The developer of Piatt Place, the $49 million mixed-use project slated for the former Lazarus-Macy's department store building Downtown, plans to purchase, raze and expand into the adjacent Revco building on Fifth Avenue.
Millcraft Industries Inc., of Cecil Township, Washington County, also wants to talk to officials of Saks Inc. to determine its interest in moving its Saks Fifth Avenue store Downtown to its expanded development site.

"We also will be contacting Saks to determine if it wants to use part of the site to expand its store," said Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate for Millcraft, which in January completed purchase of the Lazarus-Macy's building from Federated Department Stores Inc.

As reported, Saks' lease at its Downtown store, at the corner of Smithfield Street and Oliver Avenue, is due to expire in 2011, according to Herb Burger, former chairman of the Pittsburgh Task Force, a private group that under the administration of former Mayor Tom Murphy had been spearheading efforts to reinvigorate the Fifth-Forbes corridor.

Mayor Bob O'Connor has expressed a desire to keep upscale retailer Saks Downtown.

"They (Saks) are good neighbors and I want to make sure, as mayor, they stay here," O'Connor previously told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The Revco building is one of close to 20 properties acquired in recent years by the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority along and around Fifth and Forbes avenues with the idea to attract a master developer for the corridor.

Millcraft, which has had an option on the Revco site, has recently expressed interest in expanding its role to other properties beyond Piatt Place, a project that is to include 50,000 square feet of first-floor retail space that could include a specialty grocer, restaurant or other merchants, 47 luxury condos and rooftop town homes and 180,000 square feet of class "A" office space.

It is scheduled to present its plans for the Fifth-Forbes corridor to O'Connor on April 18, according to Piatt. The concepts the firm is considering for Downtown include a movie theater and a 1,000-seat venue near Market Square for live music.

Millcraft's will be one of at least three proposals for the area to be presented within the next two weeks, said Dick Skrinjar, spokesman for the mayor.

Others interested in Fifth-Forbes include local developer Ralph Falbo of Ralph Falbo Inc. and Madison Marquette, a Washington, D.C.-based firm recruited by the Pittsburgh Task Force.

Falbo said he has not scheduled a meeting with the mayor to present his plan, but hopes to do so soon.

"I would be interested in acquiring most, if not all, of the buildings owned by the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority)," Falbo said.

While declining to reveal his complete project plans, Falbo in the past has said those plans would include a grocery store in the former G.C. Murphy building, some retail, and perhaps up to 200 housing units offering a mixture of condominiums and apartments.

Madison Marquette recently met with O'Connor and voiced continued interest in Downtown. However, the company has declined comment on its plans.


--


--

Fuck the Steelers! :jk:
So anyways looking good in steel city, nice projects, cant wait till the 2006 season for a re-match. haha

From: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_446511.html
_________________________
Wanted: Airline to fly overseas
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW REAL ESTATE WRITER
Sunday, April 23, 2006

Business and political leaders agree Pittsburgh needs nonstop international air service.
But even with more than 260 foreign-based companies in Western Pennsylvania, a problem has been getting an airline -- any airline -- to agree.

Area leaders have made progress in recruiting such top-flight discount air carriers as Southwest Airlines and Jet Blue to make up some of the significant loss of domestic air service in the wake US Airways' downsizing of operations at Pittsburgh International Airport.

However, its been since late in 2004 the airport last could travelers a nonstop connection across the Atlantic.

That chagrins people such as Elie Saad, vice president at Lanxess Corp., a German-owned maker of chemicals and polymers.

Saad, a frequent flyer, is among dozens of Lanxess employees who must take flights toPhiladelphia, New York, Newark, Charlotte, and even Chicago and Detroit to connect to nonstop flights overseas.

"It can cost you a whole day's worth of work," said Saad.

"It's a huge problem," said Randall Dearth, chief executive for Lanxess, a spinoff from Bayer AG, with its North American headquarters in Findlay. It is one of 70 German-owned companies in the region, who collectively employ about 9,500 people.

When Pittsburgh had direct flights to Germany, the company's employees could leave Pittsburgh in mid-afternoon for a flight to Frankfurt. Now, they must leave by 10 or 11 a.m., which is "a big inconvenience," Dearth said.

It also results in lost productivity, according to Lanxess officials. The company's employees lost about 1,300 hours of precious work during the 260 flights they made overseas in 2005.

If those employees worked in Cincinnati, they would have no such problem.

Cincinnati is a similarly-sized city. There, however, Delta Airlines operates nonstop flights to London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Rome.

There is a simple reason, said airline industry expert Robert W. Mann.

Summed up in one word, it's "hub," said Mann, head of R.W. Mann & Co. Inc., of Long Island, N.Y.

Mann notes that The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is Delta's second largest hub airport, a claim Pittsburgh no longer can make about US Airways.

"The difference there is it's still operating as a hub; it has substantial feed (flights from other Delta-served cities) into Cincinnati, and that's what keeps it going. It's not Cincinnati originating business that makes the difference, its the feed from surrounding cities that use Cincinnati as a connecting point," Mann said.

"What has happened at Pittsburgh is that a lot of those spokes were removed by US Airways. What remains is a lot of service, but spread among a lot of carriers. So there's no single carrier that controls Pittsburgh's feed to the extent that US Airways once did, and that's really the difference."

Delta boasts it is the fastest growing major U.S.-based carrier in international service, with 15 new routes announced, added or applied since Jan. 1, 2005. It flies to Europe, India and Israel.

By summer, it expects to be flying 51 daily departures to 29 different cities in those countries, including the five from Cincinnati. Pittsburgh is not on Delta's expansion list.

The airline does not disclose financial or occupancy data about specific flights, said spokeswoman Gina Laughlin. She said the fact that the flights from Cincinnati to Europe are expanding is an indication they are performing satisfactorily.

Pittsburgh lost nonstop flights to Europe in November 2004, when US Airways ended service to Frankfurt. It also used to have nonstop service to London and to Paris.

In March, US Airways officials said they don't believe it is financially feasible to fly from Pittsburgh International now.

Scott Kirby, executive vice president of sales and marketing for US Airways, said a Frankfurt flight would need to generate between $70 million and $80 million annually.

However, "There is just not that much revenue coming out of Pittsburgh," he added.

"If we can make it work -- fine," said Doug Parker, the airline's chief executive. "But we also have a problem with aircraft (being able to fly the route)."

German-based carrier Lufthansa has taken a similar stance, telling Pittsburgh area leaders there is not enough traffic to justify a new European flight, said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

But that doesn't mean its time to give up. Onorato said recently the effort to get some type of nonstop European air service is his top economic development priority.

"We all believe we can get this done," said Onorato. He is working with the Allegheny County Airport Authority, and the Regional Air Service Partnership, a coalition of 50 area business leaders brought together by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development to spearhead efforts to help the region attract replacement air service.

The coalition talks to "three or four" air carriers regularly, according to local leaders. But there are reasons why the process can be slow, said F. Michael Langley, chief executive of the Allegheny Conference.

"Airlines don't make these decisions overnight," he said, adding that companies often take two or more years to do so. Such decisions also may be delayed by factors such as the availability of planes to fly a route, or gates open for use at international airports

Local leaders might take heart in a similar effort waged by business and community leaders in Portland and neighboring Vancouver, Wash., after Delta stopped its nonstop service to Japan.

Not only did that effort find success in 2002 when Lufthansa agreed to start nonstop service from Portland International Airport to Frankfurt, but over the next two years it also helped convince Northwest Airlines to provide a flight to Japan and Mexicana Air to start service to Mexico.

"One of the key points ... was development of what we called a travel commitment" said Steve Johnson, spokesman for the Port of Portland, one of the partners in the community coalition. "Through our partnership we were able to raise almost $11 million in advanced commitment and pledges from local corporations to support the new nonstop service," he said.

Local leaders have made similar pledges of business in hopes of convincing airlines to fly here.

Flyers suck! lol

Buffalo a top arts destination, say magazine's readers

Business First of Buffalo - 3:16 PM EDT Monday
Readers of American Style have elevated Buffalo to the top spot in the magazine's ninth annual poll of leading arts destinations.

Buffalo placed first in the mid-sized cities category, rising all the way from no. 23 in 2005.

The publication's editors wrote, "Sure, it's cold, and often snowy. But indoors, you'll find a surprising amount of art in a variety of venues, including the Albright-Knox Gallery and the Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, which relocated early this year to a renovated Methodist church owned by musician Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records. Architecture buffs will want to make a pilgrimage to the Frank Lloyd Wright Darwin D. Martin House Complex. Three of the five buildings on the complex had been demolished in the 1960s, and are the first Wright buildings being reconstructed from the ground up. The complex remains open for tours during construction."

Albuquerque, N.M., held onto its second-place ranking, followed by Pittsburgh, Scottsdale, Ariz., and New Orleans.
New York City was first among big cities and Corning placed third among small cities

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/930penn.aspx

20 units now leasing at 930 Penn downtown
930 Penn Avenue, a 20 unit, $6.5 million downtown loft project in the heart of the Cultural District, has begun signing leases. The project is the partnership of no wall productions and Rugby Realty.


Lofts in the building range from 1550 ro 1725 square feet and each unit has two bedrooms, two-baths, and an office. Rent is $2,400 per month.


The project is a conversion of the warehouse that was built in 1901 by the Phipps family to house a variety of furniture companies. “The renovation was sensitive to the building’s historic roots,” said Project Manager Francisco Escalante. The lofts include such details as original historic windows, wood floors, freight elevator doors, and a restored Art-Deco façade.


The building also includes a host of current amenities, most notably in-building parking. “This is an unusual and highly desirable feature for a renovation project downtown,” said Escalante. Other amenities include balconies, high-speed internet and cable wiring, 12- to 17-foot ceilings, urban views, in-unit washer and dryer, and large designer kitchens.


The project was made possible by investment of First Commonwealth Bank, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the ERECT Funds, and National City Community Development Corporation.


The property is being offered for lease exclusively by we do property management, inc. For more information on leasing the property, please call Ann Paul at 412-434-7080, or visit wedoproperty.com.



Source: Francisco Escalante, no wall productions, inc.



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photo caption:

930 Penn Avenue


photograph copyrighted by Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2010/930penn.jpg

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/striphotel.aspx

143-room hotel first in the Strip District
The Strip District will soon have its first hotel with construction underway for the 143-room Hampton Inn and Suites scheduled to open May, 2007. Unlike other Hampton Inns, this eight-story hotel at 1247 Smallman St. will feature a brick façade to blend in with its neighbors, The Senator John Heinz Regional History Center and One Waterfront Place, home of Seagate.


"We’re hoping to create a better business environment for our office tenants and enhance the area,” said Bill Doring, executive vp and treasurer of the Buncher Company, the general contractor for the project. Indovina and Associates is the architect.

The intent, Doring said, is to feature a more moderately priced hotel as an amenity to the existing office buildings. The Buncher Company owns the Strip-based One Waterfront Place and Penn Liberty Plaza One and Two.


Not only is the hotel the first for the Strip District, but “it fills a niche in the Pittsburgh hotel system,” said Becky Rodgers, executive director of Neighbors in the Strip. “Currently the hotels downtown rates range from 139 to $359 dollars but the Hampton Inn will probably have a $110 price point,” she estimated, “which will make coming to the convention center more accessible.”


Another plus? Aside from its standard breakfast buffet, the hotel won’t have a restaurant so guests will “have to experience the Strip and downtown,” said Rodgers.


Source: Bill Doring, The Buncher Company



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photo caption:


Hampton Inn construction site


photograph copyrighted by Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2010/striphotel03.jpg

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/wallnutphase2.aspx

New 6000 square foot office condo building planned for Baum corridor
Walnut Capital announced the planned construction of a new, 6,000 square foot office building for office condos at the corner of S. Millvale and Baum Blvd., next to the building owned by the same company which is now leasing and ready to occupy.


The three-story office building will be the second phase of the project, said Tony Dolan of Walnut Capital. “There’s not a lot of office condos in this market, let alone the Baum corridor,” he said, adding that they know the demand for office condos in this market is is high.


The two existing buildings, once single-family residents that were converted to offices, will be razed in the fall and construction will start soon after. Architect David Morgan of Morgan and Associates will design the building. A contractor has not yet been named.


Meanwhile, at the one-story retail building next door also owned by Walnut Capital, Aspen Dental, Super Cuts and a drycleaner will be opening followed by Qdoba in mid-May then a Verizon store sometime in June.



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photo caption:


Walnut retail shops on Centre Avenue


photograph copyrighted by Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2010/walnutretail03.jpg


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http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/ssworks.aspx

75 new condos, new H&M store at Southside Works
Southside Works continues to grow with the addition of new retail--the hip H&M, for the latest international styles in men, women's and children's clothes opens in June--and its first residential project: two new condominium buildings by the Soffer Organization on South Water St.

Plans for Phase One of the condos call for a 180,000 square foot, 75-unit building designed by Cambridge Seven Architects and the Pittsburgh firm of Perfido Weiskopf Architects. Completion is expected in late 2008. Phase Two, also by Soffer is not yet designed. Price range has not been established for the condos.

Although the Southside Works has 84 rental lofts and flats, and there are condos nearby, this is the first within the development. Demand is high as the area continues to grow with a mix of offices, retail and residential.

"It's a wonderful place to live within the Southside Works and the vibrant South Side community," said Christine Fulton of the Soffer Organization.

H&M will join retailers such as BCBG, MAZ Azra, American Eagel Outfitters, Cole Haan, Kenneth Cole New York, Roberta Weissberg Leather, Steve Madden Urban Outfitters and Forever 21, among others.


Source: Christine Fulton, Soffer Organization

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photo caption:

South Side Works


photograph copyrighted by Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2010/southsideworks01.jpg

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http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/5858Beacon.aspx

14 of 28 condos at 5859 Beacon pre-sold
Pre-sales have reached 50% at 5859 Beacon, a $14 million, 28-unit condominium project by S&W investment properties.


5859 Beacon is one of several new construction developments in Squirrel Hill over the last several years, including the Mosites Company’s condominium project at Forbes and Murray, Cozza Enterprise’s three-story retail and office development at Forbes and Murray, and the renovation to the Squirrel Hill branch of the Carnegie Library.


Prices for the units at 5859 Beacon range between $375,000 and $691,000. Buyers can select between a wide variety of one, two and three bedroom floor plans, ranging in size from 1,400 to 2,400 s.f. Buyers will also have the opportunity to customize the finishes in their space. “We wanted to design a building that both Squirrel Hill and the city as a whole could be proud of,” said Charles Staley, the project’s developer.


Staley expects the sales office to be ready for the public in September, and to have units ready for buyers by November of this year.


The project boasts a wide range of amenities, including on-site parking, an exercise room, bike storage, wine storage, balconies, and granite counters. Additionally, S&W is offering to buyers one year of free movies at the Squirrel Hill and Manor theaters. “Squirrel Hill is such a great walk-able neighborhood that we wanted to provide an amenity that would encourage people to take advantage of all that the neighborhood has to offer,” said Staley.



For more information on this project, call Charles Staley at 412-897-2599, or visit 5859beacon.com.







Source: Charles Staley, S&W Investment Properties



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photo caption:


5859 Beacon Condominiums


photograph copyrighted by Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2010/beaconcondos02.jpg

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http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pi...ml?t=printable

FirstSide developers find raising condo prices doesn't deter buyers
Prices have gone up an average of 26 percent
Pittsburgh Business Times - April 21, 2006by Robert Sandler
Living Downtown is proving to be far more popular than even some of its biggest supporters thought.

The 82 condominiums under construction at 151 FirstSide have been so popular that the developers have raised prices five times in the year the sales office has been open. While prices at most new condominium buildings typically increase 10 percent or 15 percent during construction, prices at 151 FirstSide have gone up by an average of 26 percent.

"We've raised them, but not necessarily equally across the board, so that the increases have reflected the market and the market's preference for the units," said Carole Clifford, a Coldwell Banker Pittsburgh agent who leads the 151 FirstSide sales office.

A person who bought the smallest one-bedroom condominium with a view of Downtown when sales started in March 2005 would have paid $188,000. Almost all of those small units with city views have sold.

The least expensive unit still available costs $290,000, while it originally was listed below $260,000, Clifford said. The penthouses, which started at $1.4 million, are now asking $1.8 million, she said.

And the steel has barely come out of the ground.

Developers expect that with any new condominium construction, prices will increase as time passes. Some of that is due to higher prices of materials, but much of it is because of demand. As the building rises out of the ground, the theory goes, more people will see it as a potential home and not a construction site.

Buyers also will pay more because there are fewer units available -- "kind of like the market economy," Clifford said.

But the price increases on 151 FirstSide, especially for the lowest-priced units, have exceeded all expectations.

Clifford, a veteran residential real estate agent Downtown, said she's seen housing prices increase that fast one other time.

"About five years ago, right around the time PNC Park was being built, values at Gateway Towers shot up 37 percent almost literally as they broke ground," she said. "If you look at that experience and what we're seeing now, it seems that people need to be reminded that there's a residential neighborhood called Downtown Pittsburgh."

The FirstSide building, developed by O'Hara-based Zambrano Corp., Strip District-based EQA Landmark Properties and Downtown-based Ralph A. Falbo Inc., is expected to welcome its first residents in late spring or early summer of 2007.

"To have gone through the winter (and) had the kind of sales we had, we're elated," Ralph Falbo said. He said he expects sales to increase even more when the building's structural steel comes out of the ground in late May or early June.

rsandler@bizjournals.com | (412) 481-6397 x223

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pi...ml?t=printable

Developers say Mount Washington condos will satiate building demand
Work on luxury condos to start this summer
Pittsburgh Business Times - April 21, 2006by Robert Sandler
Sometimes good things do come to those who wait. Even if those people aren't waiting by choice.

After years of delay, developers are preparing to break ground this summer on three separate luxury condominium projects on Mount Washington, together building about 60 units, all of which will sell for more than a half-million dollars.

Since 2002, developers Craig Cozza and Dan DiPardo have been fighting for their separate projects, getting the proper zoning and defending lawsuits from nearby residents. Now that they've won the battles and are in the process of getting their permits, other high-end projects have gotten under way around town, and the market is waiting for their buildings, Cozza said.

"I think there's such a pent-up demand for Mount Washington, we feel great about it," Cozza said. "The market's come to us now. We were struggling with the comparables before. It's actually worked out well."

Both developers pointed to the success of sales at other new condo buildings including 151 FirstSide, Downtown, and The Metropolitan Shadyside. Those buildings are bringing in sales at between $300 and $340 per square foot, they said. That has told Cozza and DiPardo where they can price their Mount Washington projects.

"Hopefully, we can bring our numbers in below that," DiPardo said. "If we do our homework and build them right, we could be very competitive and give you the Mount Washington view."

DiPardo expects prices on the 10 condos in his building to start at $500,000 and go up.

Cozza says his two buildings, the Vici and Bella Vista, will be the first two buildings over 40-feet tall on Mount Washington since the Trimont was built in the 1980s. At about 76-feet tall, the Vici will be have 14 condos that start at about $900,000. The nearby 100-foot-tall Bella Vista will have 37 condos priced as low as $525,000.

The name Vici is Italian for victory, which Cozza says celebrates the Pittsburgh Steelers' recent Super Bowl win, Bob O'Connor's win last November as mayor and his winning approval of all necessary zoning permits for the project. The Bella Vista name has been a source of such controversy during the legal battle that Cozza is trying to come up with a new name.

"I'd rather be open in the building and finished now, but it has worked somewhat to our advantage," Cozza said.

"Before, we were creating the market, we were going to be the ones out front. Now we're actually seeing that it does happen with projects that really aren't that far ahead of ours."

Cozza said he expected all three projects would work well together, offering different city views, different amenities and slightly different price points.

There's plenty of pent-up demand for condos on Mount Washington, DiPardo agreed.

"I don't think you can call this a zero-sum game," DiPardo said. "The fact that he's building something is great. It all depends on what you're looking for."

Both developers were impressed at the high prices that units in all three buildings are expected to fetch.

"I still shake my head," DiPardo said. "Where's this money coming from in Pittsburgh?"

rsandler@bizjournals.com | (412) 481-6397 x223

it's so frustrating trying to get anything done on Mt Washington.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06130/688849-28.stm

Council clears way for PNC tower work to begin
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

By Mark Belko and Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One effort to revitalize the downtrodden Fifth and Forbes corridor, Downtown, advanced yesterday, while the number of developers interested in other projects fell to two with the pullout of a national company.

City Council gave final approval to an $18 million subsidy for a new PNC Financial Services Group tower planned for Fifth Avenue.

Its action allows PNC to begin demolition of 13 buildings along the north side of Fifth, from Wood Street to Liberty Avenue, in July to make way for Three PNC Plaza, the city's first new skyscraper in almost two decades.

PNC and city officials are hoping the new building, which will house the Reed Smith law firm, a 150-room luxury hotel, and 30 or so top-floor condominiums, will help to jump-start the redevelopment of the corridor.

The approval of the $18 million in tax increment financing will allow the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority to borrow the money, and the city, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh Public Schools will forego most of the new taxes on the tower to pay off the debt. The county and school district have already approved the plan.

The state will provide another $30 million toward the $169.5 million project.

Only Councilman William Peduto opposed the plan. He has said PNC doesn't need the help.

PNC plans to begin "de-constructing" the buildings that will be demolished within the next month. A local contractor will be removing doors, fixtures, finishes, plumbing, moldings and other building parts for recycling before tearing down the structures.

Gary Saulson, PNC director of corporate real estate, said the financial institution took the same approach in demolishing the city's old Public Safety Building a couple of years ago. In that project, 98 percent of all building materials ended up being recycled.

The few tenants still in PNC-owned buildings to be torn down have been working under month-to-month leases and will be notified immediately that the company does not intend to renew them, Mr. Saulson said.

"We will work with them to provide some kind of orderly transition out of the space," he said.

PNC hopes to have the 23-story office tower completed in 2008 in time for the celebration of Pittsburgh's 250th birthday.

The project was advanced on the same day the city learned that Washington, D.C., developer Madison Marquette no longer was interested in redeveloping nearly 20 city-owned structures in the corridor.

Madison Marquette founder and Chief Executive Officer Amer Hammour notified city URA Executive Director Jerome Dettore of the decision in a telephone call yesterday. Mr. Hammour tied the decision in part to a recent reorganization by the firm.

"Madison Marquette had big plans for the corridor six months ago, but its interest appeared to wane more recently. Mayor Bob O'Connor balked at the $24 million in public subsidies the firm wanted for its proposed $50 million to $60 million residential and retail complex on lower Fifth, that would have included the old G.C. Murphy's store.

It wanted to build 150 to 200 for-rent apartments and bring in upscale retailers like Crate and Barrel and Tiffany & Co. to attract shoppers.

Mr. O'Connor refused, however, to give the company exclusive rights to redevelop city owned properties, choosing instead to open the competition to other developers.

The decision leaves two local developers -- Millcraft Industries Inc. of Washington County and Ralph Falbo Inc. of Downtown -- in the running to redevelop nearly 20 city-owned buildings in the corridor, including Murphy's.

With the local interest in Fifth and Forbes, the loss of Madison Marquette "doesn't faze us at all," Mr. O'Connor said.

"I think [Madison Marquette] looked at the competition and probably realized they were up against some very stiff competition," he said.

Millcraft Industries, which is engaged in a $52 million redevelopment of the former Lazarus-Macy's store, is proposing $217 million in work involving 45,000 square feet of offices, 200,000 square feet of retail space, and 805 residences.

Mr. Falbo, who is developing the 151 First Side condominium tower under construction on Fort Pitt Boulevard, is pitching a $90 million project that would include a marketplace and a 280-unit residential high-rise on Forbes, and creation of a destination-type outlet for diamond wholesalers and retailers.

The mayor said there is a possibility that other developers could become involved before he makes his selection by the end of the month.

Madison Marquette is the fourth national developer to pass on redeveloping Fifth and Forbes, a once-thriving corridor.

It follows two Philadelphia developers, Carl Dranoff and Kravco Co., and Chicago developer Urban Retail Properties out of town. All were recruited by former Mayor Tom Murphy.

Mr. Dettore said he doesn't see the latest pullout as another blow to the corridor.

"Frankly, I don't see any great impact. We have two very interested and committed and enthusiastic developers. Things are happening there already," he said.

From: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06130/688744-28.stm
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US Airways doesn't see much 'international' in future

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker dismissed the idea of bringing back major international service to Pittsburgh International Airport, saying yesterday the numbers just do not add up.

"Try as we may to try and make that work, we can't figure out a way to make it work," Mr. Parker said in a conference call with analysts and reporters. "Try as the community does to figure out ways to induce us, the inducements don't come close to getting the route to look like it would be profitable enough for us to reallocate flying to international service in Pittsburgh."

US Airways pulled most its international service in November 2004, during its second bankruptcy, dropping trans-Atlantic routes to London and Frankfurt as well as flights to several cities in Canada. It still flies to Toronto and had one weekend flight to San Juan and Cancun. Local officials have been after the company to restore some of the international service now that the company is out of bankruptcy and on firmer footing with merger partner America West Airlines.

"We don't stop trying just because we hit a hurdle," said Ken Zapinski of the Regional Air Service Partnership, a group involved in the campaign. "We know this was not an easy task. It is important to the region, so we keep moving ahead on that."

Mr. Parker and another US Airways executive, Scott Kirby, attributed the weak environment for international flights on size of the Pittsburgh market and the airport's successful attraction of low-cost carriers, including Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways.

The increase in competition drives down US Airways' connecting traffic, Mr. Parker said, "and when you do that, you lose international service."

But US Airways pulled many of its connecting flights well before the airport landed Southwest, which started service a year ago this month. "That is a difficult statement to respond to," said airport spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny. "The decline in connecting traffic occurred before we had some of the competitive low-cost carriers come to Pittsburgh. That was a business strategy that US Airways implemented that impacted Pittsburgh."

US Airways once had more than 500 daily flights at Pittsburgh International -- now it has fewer than 200. US Airways executives said they have no plans to reduce service further, although the market will lose 16 more daily flights when the job of supplying certain routes transfers from two US Airways code-share partners (Colgan Air and Air Midwest) to another (Regions Air).

Regions Air will transfer the routes -- Morgantown, Clarksburg and Parkersburg in West Virginia and Bradford and Jamestown in Pennsylvania -- to Cleveland instead. US Airways was not certain yesterday when that transfer would take place.

No surprise, they have screwed PIT for years now. The airport will be more balanced in the long run.

From: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06138/691052-28.stm
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US Airways chief says Pittsburgh is now 'marginally profitable'

Thursday, May 18, 2006

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker yesterday said Pittsburgh International Airport was now "marginally profitable" for the carrier because of cutbacks made since last year's US Airways-America West merger and that he does not expect any more dramatic reductions in local flights or employees.

The region's largest carrier now has fewer than 200 flights and about 3,000 employees at the airport, down from more than 500 flights and 12,000 employees at the beginning of the decade.

"We feel good about where it is now,'' Mr. Parker said, adding that before the changes, the airline "lost lots and lots of money in Pittsburgh over the last five years.''

His comments came in an interview following US Airways' annual shareholders meeting at the Charlotte Convention Center.

It was only a year ago that the boyish-looking airline CEO announced the US Airways-America West merger from Tempe, Ariz. At the time, US Airways was in the midst of its second bankruptcy in just over two years and America West was almost out of cash and contemplating a bankruptcy filing, too.

Now, thanks to rising ticket prices and a reduction in money-losing flights and despite record-high fuel prices, the new US Airways is profitable -- it was one of three U.S. airlines to make money in this year's first quarter -- and its stock is up 150 percent since the merger closed in September. Its shares closed yesterday at $46.63, off $5.00 and down 9.7 percent from a 52-week high of $51.63 set a week ago Tuesday.

Mr. Parker still expects US Airways to make a profit for all of 2006, which if it holds would mark its first year in the black since 1999. "The theme of this year is what a difference a year makes," Mr. Parker said yesterday.

But it was also clear yesterday that all is not perfect as Mr. Parker works to complete the merger by 2007.

One sign of trouble was a showing by 75 to 100 US Airways pilots, all of whom walked single file through the streets of downtown Charlotte and into the convention center, before taking the first four rows in a banquet room to face Mr. Parker.

When US Airways pilots chairman Jack Stephan got up to speak, he told Mr. Parker that he hopes the pilots, who along with other employees as a whole gave up billions of dollars in concessions during two US Airways bankruptcies, can now get back some of what they lost. "We expect to share in the good times, as well," Mr. Stephan said.

US Airways still has to reach a new contract with the pilots and several other employee groups, and Mr. Parker does not want the new contracts to increase the airline's overall costs and threaten its path to profitability.

When US Airways merged with PSA Airlines and Piedmont Airlines in the late 1980s, US Airways boss Ed Colodny raised wages to buy labor peace -- a move that made it more difficult to compete with low-cost carriers following the collapse of the industry following 9/11. Now pilots, Mr. Parker told reporters yesterday, would "like to see costs increase."

Mr. Stephan, asked later about Mr. Parker's comments, cited bonuses recently taken by top managers at the new US Airways -- Mr. Parker rejected a $770,000 bonus for 2005 but three other executives did collect bonuses ranging from $135,000 to $382,500 -- and noted that pilots "should be at the head of the line" for profit-oriented handouts.

"We don't expect just to be poor-weather friends," he said. "One thing about pilots is that they don't forget."

In the coming months, he said, "it's going to be fun [talking about how] to split the pie." And Mr. Parker "needs to know wherever he goes, we will be there."

From: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691666-28.stm
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Charlotte, N.C. is now king at US Airways

Sunday, May 21, 2006

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette




Chuck Burton, Associated Press
A US Airways jet passes by the skyline of Charlotte, N.C., as it approaches Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in this file photo.
Click photo for larger image.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Among all towns served by US Airways, the Queen City is king. Proof of its importance to the nation's fifth-largest airline was evident last week in the choice of gathering spot for the first shareholders meeting since last fall's union with America West Airlines.

It was no accident that US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker landed in Charlotte, flying cross country from his office in Tempe, Ariz.

Nor was it random that Mr. Parker began the meeting on Wednesday morning by praising this sunny southeastern city, its government officials and local business boosters, saying he was "extremely impressed" with their attentiveness to the importance of air travel.

There is perhaps no better symbol of US Airways' resurgence and hope for long-term survival than the once-sleepy and now-vibrant Charlotte. Named after the wife of King George III, it is one of the fastest-growing cities in the Southeast and the nation's second-largest banking center, a place teeming with young, smartly dressed workers, many of them employed by hometown giants Bank of America, the nation's second-largest bank, or Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest.

A four-year-long retrenchment in Pittsburgh has left Charlotte as the largest hub in the US Airways network, with more than 500 daily departures and 121 nonstop destinations -- also more than US Airways strongholds Philadelphia, Phoenix, Las Vegas and New York. Charlotte is central to the airline's long-term, post-bankruptcy survival strategy, ferrying passengers every day from the big coastal cities of the Northeast south to more than 20 vacation spots in the Caribbean, and the airport is planning a fourth runway and a new parking deck to accommodate the demand for space.

"There is a real resurgence here in Charlotte, which will drive more and more opportunities for us," said Chuck Allen, who is in charge of government relations and city affairs for US Airways in Charlotte.

The sunny story of Charlotte acts as a foil to Pittsburgh, which lags the rest of the country in job growth, continues to lose population and, at Pittsburgh International, has seen its status as an air transportation hub decline dramatically.

It was only five years ago that Pittsburgh, not Charlotte, was king of the US Airways network, with 517 daily departures and more employees -- topping 12,000 -- than any other city.

Then came 9/11, two bankruptcies by US Airways and a change in strategy -- away from the heavy reliance on Pittsburgh connections between big cities in the Northeast and the rest of the country -- to more north-south connections along the East Coast, and to Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America.

US Airways now has 170 flights per day out of Pittsburgh, down from 236 last May, when the America West merger was announced. It has no flights overseas to Europe, and Mr. Parker said the chance of that returning was not good, with the airline not able to "make the numbers work" despite "inducements" offered by local officials.

Mr. Parker said last week that US Airways lost "lots and lots of money" in Pittsburgh over the last five years, as low-cost competition around the country drove down fares and profit margins.

But he said the carrier's service reductions at Pittsburgh International -- US Airways now accounts for just 55 percent of all flying at the airport -- took out the money-losing routes, making the local operation "marginally profitable." That's a far cry from when US Airways accounted for more than 90 percent of all airport traffic and the operation was a "cash cow" for the carrier, recalls local airline analyst Bill Lauer. But it does suggest further cuts are unlikely, a conclusion that Mr. Parker made in an interview last Wednesday.

Less likely are hopes held by some that US Airways will revive the Pittsburgh hub, perhaps as a way of alleviating congestion at delay-prone Philadelphia International Airport. "What I have heard through the grapevine," Mr. Lauer said, "is telling me that US Airways route network planners are in fact looking at reviving a lot of that transcontinental flying out of Pittsburgh as a transit point for [the airline's] East Coast operations. That was always very profitable for US Airways."

Mr. Parker dismissed such talk, saying Philadelphia, being a much larger city, could draw from a larger base of local air travelers. That is a message, he knows, that is not popular with Pittsburgh-area employees -- 3,000 of whom remain. "It is so emotional there still," he said.

Charlotte, he said, has not suffered from the same retrenchment because it is virtually the only option, other than Atlanta, for travelers in the Southeast hoping to make connections to the Caribbean or Latin America, the West Coast or the East Coast, whereas Pittsburgh has more geographic competition, occupying a denser part of the country.

"We connect all the Southeast here," said Mr. Parker, speaking from the Charlotte Convention Center, where the annual shareholders meeting was held.

And Mr. Parker has already proven he will fight for that prized turf.

When low-cost upstart JetBlue Airways announced plans for the start of Charlotte-JFK International service July 12 and JetBlue Chief Executive Officer David Neeleman said in a news release, "Until now, the people of North Carolina have overpaid for substandard service," Mr. Parker responded with three daily flights to the New York airport starting in September and a promise to "compete aggressively" with JetBlue.

In a letter to his 35,000 employees, Mr. Parker cited JetBlue's poor performance recently in on-time arrivals and the New York-based carrier's prediction that it would lose money in 2006. US Airways predicts a profit this year.

"It doesn't appear that our customers are overpaying; rather it appears that passengers aren't willing to pay JetBlue enough for them to be profitable," Mr. Parker said in the letter. "US Airways is going to be here long after JetBlue."

In Pittsburgh, though, US Airways made no such statements after JetBlue announced plans to fly from Pittsburgh International to JFK and Boston's Logan Airport starting June 30. When asked earlier this month about JetBlue's Pittsburgh incursion, Mr. Parker said, "We think our service is adequate."

As long as Charlotte continues to grow -- the city added an estimated 68,000 inhabitants and the six-county area, 184,000 in the past four years, pushing their population to 648,000 and 1,595,000, respectively -- and to emerge as a corporate center (it is home to nine Fortune 500 companies compared with seven in the Pittsburgh area), US Airways will do what it can to keep competition out.

At least for now, Pittsburgh can still claim the more popular airport.

Pittsburgh International still has twice as many shops as Charlotte-Douglas International, and passengers like the shopping options, spending twice as much on retail purchases while at the airport than do passengers in Charlotte.

But Charlotte is gaining in that area, too. It recently added an airport wine bar and a spa, where anxious passengers can receive a massage, a manicure or a pedicure before their next flights.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_454912.html

Public can affect eastern transit service

By Jim Ritchie
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, May 22, 2006


Transit leaders want to get input on improving service in the densely populated eastern suburbs during five hearings scheduled for today and Tuesday.
Officials intend to narrow the list of five proposals -- including commuter rail service, extending the T or building the East Busway beyond Swissvale -- within six months. They say the decision will be based largely on what the public has to say.

"I think it's extremely important for people to show up," said Charles Martoni, a member of the Port Authority of Allegheny County's board and an Allegheny County councilman. "We need fresh ideas."

The Port Authority is participating in the study, which is spearheaded by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, a Downtown-based regional planning agency. The Westmoreland County Transit Authority and Allegheny County also are participating.





The five alternatives under consideration are:


Allegheny Valley Railroad: Add commuter or light rail from Downtown to New Kensington, Westmoreland County, along the Allegheny River.

Greensburg: Add commuter rail along the Norfolk Southern line from Downtown along the East Busway to Greensburg.

Oakland: Extend the T system from Downtown to Oakland and possibly into Wilkinsburg or Homestead.

Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway: Extend the busway from Swissvale to Monroeville or convert it to light rail.

Mon Valley: Build a commuter rail line from Downtown to McKeesport and Etna along the CSX railroad tracks.
Expanding transit service in the eastern suburbs is important because the area is packed with public transit riders. About 40 percent of Port Authority's 68 million annual riders come from the eastern suburbs.

"Public transportation, especially in the east, is vitally important," Martoni said. "It's not just because of getting people to the city, but also because along the transit routes there's the possibility for economic development."

A large part of the push for more transit service in the eastern corridors is an attempt to reduce severe congestion on the area's roadways, including the Parkway East and Route 28. Transportation officials say the roads can't handle projected demands and thus could inhibit economic development opportunities.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said he has not made up his mind about which options are best. He also chairs a transportation committee within the commission that's looking at similar options.

"They're looking at the same projects and some other ones, and he is going to listen to what they have to say and the input from (this) week before he makes some sort of endorsement," Onorato spokesman Kevin Evanto said.

Onorato previously has discussed his desire to link Downtown with Oakland by light rail and improve transit service to the Allegheny Valley.



Jim Ritchie can be reached at jritchie@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7933.


Transit schedule

Five public meetings on improving mass transit service between Pittsburgh and its eastern suburbs are scheduled today and Tuesday. Each includes a 45-minute presentation and a 45-minute discussion period. For details, call Carol Uminski, of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, at 412-391-5590, ext. 363.
Greensburg: Today, 6-7:30 p.m., Westmoreland County Courthouse, 2 North Main St.

McKeesport: Today, 6-7:30 p.m., YMCA, 523 Sinclair St.

Oakland: Tuesday, 12:30-2 p.m., University of Pittsburgh's William Pitt Union, 3959 Fifth Ave.

New Kensington: Tuesday, 6-7:30 p.m., New Kensington Municipal Building, 301 11th St.

East Pittsburgh: Tuesday, 6-7:30 p.m., Keystone Health Club and Cafe, 655 Braddock Ave.

Developer has big plans for North Shore complex
North Shore Live! would feature glass-roofed concert venue, restaurants, shops
Friday, May 26, 2006

By Mark Belko and Teresa F. Lindeman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



A proposed entertainment district near Heinz Field on the North Shore would feature an open air concert venue with a glass top, restaurants and shops, and an outdoor "performance plaza."


http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20060526North_Shore_map.gif

The new details were included in a handout distributed at the International Council of Shopping Centers show in Las Vegas this week by the Cordish Co., the entertainment and retail developer involved in the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

Cordish is working with the Steelers and Continental Real Estate Cos. to develop the entertainment complex, dubbed North Shore Live! The company, which also developed similar districts in Louisville, Kansas City and other cities, is teaming with Continental to buy and lease property between Heinz Field and PNC Park for the project.

The proposed concert venue, long part of the Steelers vision for land adjacent to Heinz Field, would be open air with a glass roof to protect patrons from the elements.

"Having a roof is such an advantage. It offers weather protection but is open at the sides. It allows you to never have to cancel an event," said Reed Cordish, a Cordish Co. vice president. "That's an element we want to bring to North Shore Live!"

The concert area would be surrounded by restaurants, clubs and shops, with entrances facing in so that patrons would have access to them from the event space. During colder months, smaller concerts and other entertainment would move inside, to clubs and restaurants, which would be open year-round.

"What this offers the North Shore is the possibility of being a yearlong venue," Continental Chairman Frank Kass said earlier this week in Las Vegas.

Mr. Cordish said the glass roof has become one of the trademarks of Live! districts developed by his firm.

"Our Live! districts change very much from location to location," he said. "However, one thing we're sold on and is a staple now is the glass roof structure. It gives us some flexibility and allows us to activate the district to its fullest."

Fourth Street Live! in Louisville also has a concert area covered by a glass roof. From that area, patrons have access to bars, restaurants and shops, including Hard Rock Cafe, T.G.I. Friday's and Borders bookstore.

The North Shore project also would feature an outdoor "performance plaza" area between the Live! district and Heinz Field to be used for smaller concerts and entertainment, as a gathering spot, and for Steeler-related activities.

While renderings made available in Las Vegas showed four large buildings surrounding the open air concert plaza, Mr. Cordish said the design is not written in stone.

"The plans we had out there were truly conceptual plans," he said. "They will change 100 times. It was to give people an idea."

The Steelers have wanted to build a 5,600-seat outdoor amphitheater at the site for several years but have been repeatedly delayed trying to negotiate a deal with a promoter and finalizing the economics of the project. At one time they also had plans for an indoor nightclub.

Mr. Cordish did not know how many people the open air North Shore Live! concert area would hold. Venues in other cities have accommodated more than 5,600 people, however. He would not discuss prospective retail or restaurant tenants, saying it was too early for that.

But he added Cordish tries to find restaurants, shops and entertainment unique to the market.

In Louisville, some Fourth Street Live! offerings such as Borders, Hard Rock Cafe, T.G.I. Friday's, Lucky Strike bowling lanes, Red Star tavern, and Saddle Ridge rock-n-country saloon already have a presence in the Pittsburgh area.

"We very rarely replicate tenants from project to project. Fourth Street Live! is 100 percent different than Power Plant Live! (in Baltimore)," he said. "In Pittsburgh, North Shore Live! will be markedly different than any other one we've done."

Mr. Cordish said his firm was still in the process of "working through final documents" with the Steelers and the city Stadium Authority on the project but added the company hopes to get started "in the not too distant future."

A North Shore concert venue potentially could compete with the Chevrolet Amphitheater at Station Square. However, that could change if Station Square owner Forest City Enterprises wins the state license for the Pittsburgh slot machine casino.

The amphitheater would be done away with to make way for a $512 million Harrah's casino, and Forest City has no plans to relocate the tent-like structure on Station Square property.



--

when are they gona level allegheny center... man that place is an eye sore, and ghettoy

From: http://icsc.org/srch/sct/sct0506/feature_lazarus.php
___________________________
DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH’S LAZARUS STORE GOES MIXED-USE

By Ed McKinley

A plan to transform Pittsburgh’s vacant Lazarus-Macy’s department store into a complex of condominiums, offices and stores could spark the rebirth of a faded but magnificent downtown retail corridor.

Sources say the $50 million project, on Fifth and Forbes avenues and announced in January by Canonsburg, Pa.-based Millcraft Investments, could spur further investment downtown. That’s because the deal represents a show of confidence in the central business district by an experienced local mixed-use developer.

The complex would also create the residential space needed to entice suburbanites back into the city, development officials say. The project may get a grocery, an amenity very much in demand, according to the local press.

“People feel downtown’s time has come,” said Jerome N. Dettore, executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), a city agency that buys distressed properties for resale and channels subsidies to developers. “You are going to begin to see an upswing now.”

Plans for the development, called Piatt Place, after Millcraft Chairman Jack Piatt, call for grafting three stories of mostly midprice residential space onto the eight-year-old, four-story, granite-and-glass building, says Lucas B. Piatt, Jack’s son, the firm’s vice president of real estate. The original store was built with the help of government subsidies.

Stretching the structure skyward will increase total floor space from 240,000 square feet to 300,000, with condominiums constituting that additional space. The fifth floor will house 25 condos, and the sixth and seventh will contain 20 two-story town houses with courtyards.

The fifth-floor condos will range in size from 920 square feet to 2,000 square feet and are expected to sell for between $275,000 and $500,000, Lucas Piatt says. Most of the town houses, with rooftop terraces and multiple balconies, will measure between 2,000 and 2,800 square feet and go for between $600,000 and $850,000. Two units will measure 4,000 square feet and fetch over $1 million dollars each.

“They don’t have river views, but you will really feel like you’re in the city,” said Lucas Piatt, meaning that the units overlook the area’s many venerable churches. Further, he says, across the street is the Duquesne Club, a Romanesque building that dates to 1890.

Residents will not have to fret over city-style parking, though. The Pittsburgh Parking Authority will maintain possession of the site’s existing 500-car underground garage, but Millcraft has arranged to buy 75 spaces to sell with the condos, Lucas Piatt says. Parking will also be available for lease to office tenants.

Retail will dominate the 50,000-square-foot ground floor, but how much of that will be devoted to grocery retail was still unknown at press time. Downtown promoters believe a supermarket in the business district could drive an influx of consumers into the area.

“Grocery stores have been identified as the number one amenity in every survey we’ve ever done about downtown residential, whether it’s potential, existing, or past residents,” said Patty Burk, director of housing and economic development at the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, an agency that promotes the central business district.

Right now people who live downtown shop for packaged food at convenience stores, walk to the wholesale food markets nearby for produce and imported products or drive about five miles to the nearest supermarket, says Kathy R. Wallace, sales director at Coldwell Banker’s Pittsburgh Condo Connection.

The local media are rife with reports that Millcraft is negotiating with three supermarket chains, including locally based Giant Eagle, to lease all or much of the first floor. But Daniel Donovan, a Giant Eagle spokesman, downplays it. “There’s nothing in the works,” he said. “There are no plans.” He will say only that “we were approached,” and he points out that the chain’s prototype store measures 75,000 square feet.

The discussions with supermarket chains are “very preliminary,” says Herky Pollock, executive vice president of the local office of CB Richard Ellis, which is handling the retail leasing. “Our vision is to have something that might not be a full-service, full-blown, 50,000-square-foot grocery, but something that is more traditional in an urban setting,” Pollock said, meaning that the store would encompass a smaller space and include prepared food.

The supermarket could share the ground floor with at least one marquee restaurant and perhaps a dry cleaner, a pharmacy, an art gallery or a home furnishings studio, Pollock says. And retailers could lease space above the first floor, he says. But offices may wind up occupying most of the 180,000 square feet of the second, third and fourth levels, according to Lucas Piatt. Tenants on the lower levels could open for business soon, long before the completion of the upper floors within the next three years, the developers say.

Though the area cries out for groceries, the need for office space appears less acute. A study by GVA Oxford, a Pittsburgh real estate firm, puts the downtown office vacancy rate at 18.5 percent.

Millcraft is paying $8.5 million to Federated Department Stores for the old Lazarus building and is paying off the $2 million in subsidies Federated received from the URA for construction of the original Lazarus building.

As much as $11 million more in original costs would come due to the URA if Millcraft sells the building, uses it to generate sufficient profits or raises money through a refinancing, Lucas Piatt says.

Millcraft will also assume Federated’s obligation to pay $440,000 annually for five years to retire the tax increment financing that helped fund the garage, Lucas Piatt says. The state subsidies that will flow through the URA to Millcraft come to about $3.75 million, says the agency’s Dettore. Of that, $2 million is earmarked to help buy spaces in the underground garage from the parking authority, he says, while $1.7 million is to be used to rebuild curbs, replace sidewalks and touch up the building’s facade.

The total cost of the original building, much of which Federated and government agencies will not recover, came to $70 million, including the parking garage, published reports say. The cost of constructing the above-ground portion of the building that Millcraft is buying came in at about $35 million. At $100 per square foot, the building, not counting the parking garage, would have a value of $24 million, Lucas Piatt says.

Dettore points out that the parking garage aside, the original deal with Federated also converted the old Horne’s department store into retailing space and offices that brought 6,000 jobs downtown.

Some Pittsburgh residents have criticized the URA, saying the arrangement gives government too much control of redevelopment. Many of the same people admit, however, that leaving the private sector to its own devices was not reviving downtown.

The Fifth and Forbes retailing corridor has been the scene of revitalization attempts for years, says Herb Burger, a former advertising executive who now heads the Pittsburgh Task Force, a collection of executives from several agencies who came together two years ago to encourage redevelopment.

Besides bringing the stores back to life, the city wants to entice the residents of outlying areas to move to the district as part of an effort known as the Fifth and Forbes Project. The two avenues are parallel and just a block apart, which determines the width of the narrow district, says Burger. The neighborhood stretches four or five long city blocks along those two streets, he says. Massive two- and three-story retail buildings built between the late 1880s and early 1930s line the streets in parts of the district.

Preservation Pittsburgh, a nonprofit advocacy group that works to protect the region’s historic buildings, categorizes Fifth and Forbes architecture as “high Victorian, Edwardian baroque, classical and art deco.” “Store after store is faced with cream-and-white terra-cotta, giving the district its distinctive image, while a colossal order of Corinthian columns stretches almost an entire block,” the group said in a report.

Fifth and Forbes is located in Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle, the tip of a peninsula wedged between the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers where they join to form the Ohio. Both avenues feed into Market Square, also known as “The Diamond,” a plaza laid out in 1784 and noted for smaller, 19th century storefronts. More old facades have survived on Market Square than on Fifth and Forbes avenues, says Pittsburgh Condo Connection’s Wallace. The still-successful, 13-level Kaufmann’s department store, built in 1913, anchors the avenues, presenting a blockwide face adorned with a gingerbread-trimmed clock that many local residents associate with shopping trips downtown.

The population of the Golden Triangle, a land area of less than one square mile, has risen from 2,500 in 1990 to 2,700 in January 2006, says Burk of the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership. Researchers expect the addition of 1,300 housing units there by 2008, she says. Calculating how many people the new residential space will bring to the Golden Triangle can be tricky, though, says Burk, because student housing (Duquesne University is downtown, while The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are both near downtown) averages 3.9 people per unit, while market rate housing averages 1.3. But “Greater Downtown” — an area covering about two square miles will grow from 8,000 residents today to 11,000 by 2008.

Millcraft’s project is not the only redevelopment helping to increase that population. Just days after the announcement of Piatt Place, Pittsburgh National Corp., parent of Pittsburgh National Bank, unveiled plans for a high-rise with ground-level stores, a 150-room hotel and 30 top-floor condos, says Burger.

In another highly publicized redevelopment, Pittsburgh native and former New York Times style editor Holly Brubach is converting the nine-story, 115-year-old Granite Building next to the Duquesne Club into loft living space, the local press says. Brubach is one of many who have noted Pittsburgh’s emergence as a livable city with a wealth of easily accessible cultural opportunities, according to sources. Memories of its blue-collar past are fading, they say.

Young professionals and empty nesters appreciate the short commutes to downtown offices and the views from their living rooms high above street level. Moreover, developers themselves have no special immunity to urban charms. Millcraft, which made its name in the steel business before becoming a developer best known for the massive Southpointe and Crossroads mixed-use projects well outside Pittsburgh, is one example.

Lucas Piatt grows expansive when describing the excitement of his city. The way he tells it, not much can match the thrill of emerging from the Fort Pitt tunnel by car and getting a sudden dose of skyscrapers, especially when the skyline is flooded with light to celebrate a home game for the NFL world champion Steelers. “You come out on the other side and bang — it’s sitting right there,” he said of the Oz-like view of his own Emerald City.

It is the sort of moment that makes everything worthwhile, he says. “A lot of people my age left Pittsburgh,” said the 29-year-old, “but I stayed, and I’m glad I did. I see a real renaissance happening, and I’m glad to be part of it.”

Major site search under way

PRA seeks 800,000 sq. ft. of space for tenant

Pittsburgh Business Times - June 2, 2006by Robert Sandler

In what could turn out to be the region's largest real estate deal in years, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance is quietly searching for at least 800,000 square feet of office space for a potential, unnamed tenant, sources with three local real estate brokerages told the Business Times this week.

The PRA's move, dubbed "Project Growth," could require as much as 1 million square feet of office space, according to the sources, two of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because the PRA required confidentiality regarding the transaction.

Rachel Gogos, a vice president of regional marketing with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, declined to confirm the project's existence. The PRA, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference, frequently helps businesses find suitable office and manufacturing facility locations. "We work with several partners on several projects, and I can't confirm or deny this," Gogos said.

Just a handful of sites in southwestern Pennsylvania have room for 800,000 square feet of office space. Real estate brokers suggested Cranberry Woods office park in Cranberry Township and Tech 21 Research Park in Marshall Township, as well as sites near Pittsburgh International Airport, as potential locations.

The time frame for finalizing the search was unclear.

Jason Stewart, a broker with Grubb and Ellis Co., Downtown, confirmed that the PRA had contacted him seeking 800,000 to 1 million square feet. He speculated that it involves Monroeville-based Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC. But, Stewart said, regardless of the tenant, it would mean major economic growth for the region.

"This is one of the most exciting growth opportunities that Western Pennsylvania has seen," Stewart said.

By comparison, one of Pittsburgh's largest companies, H.J. Heinz Co., has less than 400,000 square feet of office space between its world headquarters in the U.S. Steel Tower and North American headquarters at the Heinz 57 Center, both Downtown.

Given the standard presumption of four workers per 1,000 square feet of office space, Stewart said, the site search could open the door for 3,200 to 4,000 employees.

Westinghouse has said it will look to hire as many as 2,000 engineers to accommodate the growth and will need additional space. Company spokesman Vaughn Gilbert declined to confirm whether the PRA's "Project Growth" is being done on behalf of Westinghouse.

Gilbert did say that Western Pennsylvania is competing against Connecticut, North Carolina and South Carolina to be the home of Westinghouse's nuclear engineers. Last month, the company eliminated Georgia, Maryland and Virginia from its search.

Westinghouse technology has been chosen by a U.S. consortium for 12 new plants across the Southeast, Gilbert said. The company's technology already is being used in new nuclear plants in South Korea, and it also expects to be a part of the 30 nuclear plants coming online in China over the next 20 to 25 years, Gilbert said.

Allegheny County director of economic development Dennis Davin previously told the Business Times he had pitched the Tech 21 Research Park to Westinghouse. Tech 21 is listed in the Business Times' spring Commercial Real Estate Guide as having 800,000 square feet of available office space.

Ned Doran, an executive vice president with Downtown-based GVA Oxford who is not involved in the search, said he was "flabbergasted" by the amount of office space being sought. He speculated that a tenant needing that much space would probably look to locate along Interstate 79 or the Parkway West.

Election-year politics also may make this a perfect season for businesses to be looking to secure real estate, Doran said.

"If a corporation is looking around and looking for dollars, how many politicians are going to be (looking for a way to impress voters)?" he said. "They can say how many jobs they can bring into town."

Here is a link to the 2006 List of Best Cities for Relocating Families. Pittsburgh ranked #35, Buffalo #47 and Albany #48 for large metro areas, defined as those with a population over 500,000. Neither Rochester nor Syracuse made the top 50. I am not sure but I believe that there are almost 100 metros that have more than 500K population for this study as areas such as Orange County and Nassau-Suffolk are ranked apart from LA and NY. Erie Pa. did make it to #7 for the medium metro category.

http://www.primacy.com/news/BestCitiesReloFam06PR.pdf

(If a moderator sees this post, please delete it.)

High-rises coming
Developers plan mixed-use towers for Oakland
Pittsburgh Business Times - June 16, 2006by Tim Schooley
Guy Totino wants to park something much larger than cars on the public parking lot at the corner of Craig Street and Centre Avenue in North Oakland.

Totino plans to replace the 35-space metered parking lot and five nearby houses with a 17-story, mixed-use development expected to cost between $50 million and $60 million. He said the project, called The Chelsea, is expected to include 156 apartments outfitted with hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances, a parking garage and 9,000 square feet of first-floor "neighborhood-serving" retail space.

"Oakland is obviously a bustling community that's undergoing a huge redevelopment," said Totino, a Duquesne grad and Brookline native pursuing the project through his Cleveland-based Polaris Real Estate Equities LLC.

The proposal is one of a growing number of development projects in Oakland that could bring a new generation of tall buildings to the burgeoning university district. Along with The Chelsea, a similar-sized condo tower is planned nearby. Also, Green Tree-based Fransol LLC soon is expected to announce a major mixed-use project on Oakland's Fifth Avenue that could include between 250,000 and 800,000 square feet of new office space. In addition, Downtown-based The Elmhurst Group is planning a nine-story office building that would front on Bigelow Boulevard.

Polaris already has the five Centre Avenue houses under agreement and is negotiating with the Pittsburgh Parking Authority over acquiring the parking lot. Polaris is also considering acquiring other nearby properties.

Parking Authority director Dave Onorato said the authority is still working to determine the asking price for the property and expects its board to make a decision on the sale within the next few weeks.

Totino emphasized the project will make 35 parking spaces available to the public, with garage parking on three floors.

The public parking lot -- as is typical of most of the authority's surface lots -- is not financially self-supporting, Onorato said.

"Sometimes the development of an area is better use than a surface parking lot," Onorato said. "We'll look to see if that's the case with this one."

Totino hopes to establish control of the parcel within 90 days and begin construction on the project sometime next year.

The Bellefield Area Citizens Association, a local community group which recently got a preview of the Polaris project, likes what it has seen so far.

Dan Rossi, BACA's board president and associate executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of Pittsburgh, a nonprofit located near Polaris' planned development, said his organization has one minor issue with the project: plans to include four-bedroom units that could function as student housing and might deter other residents from moving in. The Chelsea is likely to include two- and three-bedroom units, as well.

But Rossi praised the developer's plan for the site and for meeting with BACA early in the process.

"Overall, we're really excited," he said.

Rossi added that the "value of land in North Oakland has gone up dramatically and that really is a prime corner. Its current status as a metered lot is dreadfully underused."

The Baum-Centre Planning Initiative, a two-year community planning process establishing development guidelines for an area stretching from North Oakland to East Liberty, calls for high-density residential development in the area, Totino said. He credited city councilman Bill Peduto for spearheading the Baum-Centre plan and helping to create a vision for the area.

"He's been instrumental in introducing the project to the neighborhood groups," Totino said.

Rossi noted the Polaris project would be comparable in scale to other projects proposed nearby. Within the same block as the Polaris proposal, Springdale-based R.E. Crawford Construction has acquired six single-family houses and has sought zoning approval to redevelop the site into a 17-story condominium development, with 56 units expected to cost more than $300,000 each, said Rossi, whose organization has met with R.E. Crawford officials. R.E. Crawford declined comment on the project.

Also in the vicinity, Downtown-based Elmhurst Group plans a 140,000-square-foot office building on what is now a parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh.

"We're happy to see these higher-end places going in," Rossi said.

He added that the parking lot Totino plans to develop on Centre Avenue was previously occupied by an apartment building decades ago.

Isle of Capri Casino, Pittsburgh, USA
Client Isle of Capri
Status Ongoing
Construction cost £135 million

Carey Jones are responsible for the interior design of the proposed Isle of Capri Casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The interior fit out, valued at $240 million, is part of an ambitious scheme which includes the construction of a new casino and a 19,000 seat arena for the Pittsburgh Penguin’s Ice Hockey team.


In all, the site extends to 42 acres and when other parts of the proposal are taken into account, the overall development cost is in the order of £1.5 billion.


The casino includes nine bars and restaurants including Italian, Oriental, Steakhouse and a 400 seat Buffet. The gaming floor accommodates no less than 5000 slot machines and is supported by an extensive conference / events centre, a health spa and a 400 bedroom hotel tower.


Overall, the casino facility extends to more than 46,725 sq m (500,000 sq ft) - over 280,370 sq m (3,000,000 sq ft) when the parking and the ancillary areas are included.


Carey Jones are working with Cope Linder Architects of Philadelphia (casino shell) and HOK Sport of Kansas City (arena), and a long list of specialist consultants from all over the United States.


http://www.careyjones.co.uk/images/upload/arch_les_lrg/1_isle%20of%20capri,%20pittsburgh_image_410.jpg

http://www.careyjones.co.uk/images/upload/arch_urbmast_lrg/6_isle%20of%20capri,%20pittsburgh,%20bargozza_410.jpg

http://www.careyjones.co.uk/images/upload/arch_les_lrg/5_isle%20of%20capri,%20pittsburgh,%20farradays_410.jpg

http://www.careyjones.co.uk/images/upload/arch_urbmast_lrg/7_isle%20of%20capri,%20pittsburgh_sketch_410.jpg

PNC skyscraper on Fifth Avenue to be largest green building in U.S.
Saturday, July 08, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Pittsburgh already has the world's largest certified green building in its convention center. Now PNC Financial Services Group wants to add to the collection.

PNC officials said yesterday that the 23-story skyscraper it is erecting on Fifth Avenue, Downtown, will be the largest environmentally friendly mixed-use building in the United States when it opens in late 2008.

It will be designed and constructed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. At least 50 percent of such construction materials as structural steel, carpet and paint will be made from "green" or recycled materials.

While green construction can cost a little more, PNC sees long-term savings in maintenance and energy consumption, said Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate.

"We think it's the right thing to do for shareholders, employees and customers," he said.

Work on Three PNC Plaza, the city's first new skyscraper in two decades, is expected to start in August with the deconstruction of 13 PNC-owned properties on Fifth Avenue between Wood Street and Liberty Avenue.

The building will feature 11 stories of office space, nearly half of which will be occupied by the venerable Downtown law firm of Reed Smith. PNC is expected to take the rest of the office space.

An upscale hotel with 185 rooms, about 35 more than originally planned, will occupy the upper 10 floors along with 30 luxury condominiums. The condos and hotel will share floors, but be separate from each other, with access by different elevators.

The design enables PNC to have three condos to a floor, each with "phenomenal views" of the city below, Mr. Saulson said. The condos will sell for about $300 a square foot, he said.

PNC, which unveiled the final design of the building yesterday, decided to add more hotel rooms because of "demand in the market," Mr. Saulson said. It currently is negotiating with a potential hotel operator, one he would not name.

"It's a well-known hotel flag," he said. "It will be a step above the Renaissance, which I think is probably considered the highest-end hotel in Pittsburgh today."

Rounding out the construction will be retail and restaurant space on the first floor and a 300-space parking garage underneath the building. Mr. Saulson said interest in the project has been high, with potential retail and restaurant tenants seeking out PNC.

"I just think there's a lot of excitement with regard to what is happening in the corridor," he said.

Total cost of the project is expected to be in excess of the original $170 million price tag, largely because of the additional hotel rooms.

The building is being financed with the help of $48 million from public sources -- $30 million from the state and $18 million in tax increment financing. The project is expected to generate 800 on-site and indirect construction jobs with a payroll of $35 million.

PNC also expects to add 1,000 employees in Pennsylvania in the next three to five years, with some working from the new building. It will be next to PNC headquarters at Fifth and Wood Street.

The bank has opened 24 "green" branches since 2002. Its Firstside Center also is environmentally friendly. Overall, Pittsburgh ranks as among the top five cities nationwide for green construction

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20060710_CDRD_Day_Perspective_450.jpg

700-unit housing plan chosen for Cultural District
Monday, July 10, 2006

By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Post-Gazette
Above: A view of the Cultural District Riverfront Development from the Ninth Street Bridge overlooking the Allegheny River. A multi-use floating stage is one of several proposed performing arts elements of this project.
Below: The Three Sisters Gallery is a proposed public space that will connect the Cultural District Riverfront Development with the Allegheny Riverfront Park. Wind turbines are expected to generate enough energy to light the exterior public spaces.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust today announced plans for a $460 million housing development that will link the Downtown Cultural District with the Allegheny riverfront.

The development, which features 700 rental and condominium units, will be along Fort Duquesne Boulevard between Seventh and Ninth streets. Parking lots currently dominate the area.

A central design feature will be a boulevard featuring art galleries and other amenities designed to attract Pittsburgh visitors as well as Downtown residents. The boulevard will extend over Fort Duquesne Boulevard and down to the river.

After a design competition lasting several months, the Cultural Trust chose a proposal from an alliance known as RiverParc. It includes Concord Eastridge, of Washington, D.C., as the lead developer with a design team led by Stefan Behnisch, Behnisch Architekten, Stuttgart, Germany/Venice, Calif.; Adrian DiCastri, architectsAlliance, Toronto, Canada; Oliver Schulze, Gehl Architects, Copenhagen, Denmark; and Richard DeYoung, WTW Architects, Pittsburgh.

Parking spaces for 1,500 cars will be scattered throughout the area.

Construction is to begin in summer 2007 and last for several years

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20060710_CDRD_View_of_the_Lanes_450.jpg

While I live in Baltimore now, I consider Pittsburgh my second home. I lived in Verona for a year, and I am encouraged by the residential growth downtown. This will hopefullt sustain the retail.

THe lightrail extension to the north side has also received federal approval.

It has takng to least twenty years, but taller buildings are finally coming to this Oakland neighborhood. I lived on the 200 block of N. Dithridge St from 1980 to 1985. It always amazed me that the area was stuck in some kind of time warp where almost nothing got built. There was the occasional project, but given the perfect location in the city, there was not nearly enough going on building-wise in relation to its potential. Apparently the same miserable surface lot still exists at Craig and Centre. I'm glad to see a high-rise is going in its place. Oakland is a purely urban area and it should have buildings that reflect that nature.

Yeah, the recent news for Oakland is overdue. I have felt for a while that there is built up demand - there beyond any other part of theregion. The universities keep expanding and growing - with its own research or affiliated research and of course so is the population who studies or works at the universities. The city created a plan for Baum/Centre and the two planned condo/apt towers seem to be the beginning of that plan realized. Additionally the plans for the other buildings makes sense too.

Now if they can just clear up South Oakland/Parkway area....

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/airport.aspx

Fly the Friendlier Skies
By: Anne Lutz

Ten years ago, more than 10 million people passed through the Pittsburgh International Airport. About seventy percent of those passengers came from other cities to connect to other flights in U. S. Airway’s elaborate hub-and-spoke system. Pittsburgh airfares were some of the highest in the country, and the airport catered to the business traveler who could afford to pay them.


In 2004, when U.S. Airways announced its second bankruptcy and eliminated Pittsburgh’s hub status, many predicted the area’s state-of-the-art airport would become a dinosaur. On the contrary; Pittsburgh’s International Airport has emerged as a phoenix with benefits for local travelers who have long been subjected to higher fares--and sometimes drives to the Cleveland airport to avoid them.


Today, low-cost carriers have slashed Pittsburgh’s airfares. Local traffic is at an all-time high, and less than 30 percent of the airport’s traffic is connecting to other flights. Total airport traffic is finally on the rise: it was up in April for the first time since September 2004.


“U.S. Airways’ diminished presence has opened the door for low-cost carriers, says Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. “As a result, competition among airlines has increased, fares have decreased, and passenger traffic is growing.” It's yet another good sign for an airport that was just recently included in the USA Today list of "10 Great Places to Hang Out During a Layover."


The hub of it


Pittsburgh was one of the first airports in the country to feel the dramatic impact of de-hubbing. As local innovators joined forces to combat the losses, Onorato, the airport authority and the Pittsburgh business community formed the Regional Air Service Partnership (RASP) to keep Pittsburgh’s air service competitive, regardless of U.S. Airways’ eventual fate.


Ken Zapinski, RASP staff director, says they quickly surveyed local businesses and identified the top 30 destinations accounting for 80 percent of business travel. RASP’s goal was to secure two flights per day to each of those cities and, while they were at it, reduce airfares.


“U. S. Airways had been such a strong presence here for so long, competition wasn’t present,” says Kent George, executive director and CEO of the Allegheny Airport Authority.


“We decided we needed to attract low-cost carriers,” says JoAnn Jenny, director of communications for the Authority. AirTran was Pittsburgh’s first low-cost carrier—even before 9/11, recalls George. But the company had to discontinue its service to Philadelphia, New York and Chicago due to low passenger count. At that time, U. S. Airways’ presence was so strong, everyone wanted the frequent flyer miles, says George.


Today it's a different story. Other airlines have filled the gaps left by U.S. Airways’ flight reductions. Midwest now flies nonstop to Kansas City, Northwest flies nonstop to Memphis and Southwest and AirTran provide a lot of options today, says George. Of the top 30 markets identified by RASP, only Manchester, New Hampshire does not have nonstop service.


Ahead of the pack


With so many airlines now in bankruptcy, Zapinski believes other airports will soon see the same dramatic flight losses that Pittsburgh experienced in 2004. “I think we will see other cities face the same issues we have,” says Zapinski. And while other airports grapple to find solutions, “we’ve already come out on the other side.”


Now that Pittsburgh boasts a number of low-cost airlines, the costs of fares have plummeted: Airfares today are the lowest since the airport opened in 1990. “Airfares have gone below the national average for the first time,” says George. For a city long subjected to high fares, this is major.


Overall, Pittsburgh airfares dropped 5.8 percent vs. prior year, while fares in the top 50 cities increased 6.4 percent, according to third-quarter U.S. Department of Transportation data. The average fare in Pittsburgh is now $130 vs. the national average of $132.


As of June 30, Pittsburghers have yet another option to save on airfares. Jet Blue, one of the most courted airlines in the industry, started daily—and cheap—

flights to New York and Boston.


“Pittsburgh is a great market that we can grow,” says Jet Blue spokesperson, Bryan Baldwin. “If there is demand, we’d love to add more flights.” As soon as Jet Blue announced the routes, fares at other airlines immediately dropped, says George. And competitive carriers increased the number of flights to the cities Jet Blue serves. Who reaps the benefits? Local travelers.


As a result, Pittsburghers are flying more. Local traffic set records in 2004 and 2005, with nearly 4 million people boarding planes in Pittsburgh in ’05. That’s nearly 20 percent more than 10 years ago.


That sucking noise you heard


While that reflects nationwide trends, there's another factor to note in this market. The addition of low cost carriers has strengthened the airport, says George, who notes "we were having leakage" before their arrival. He estimates that each year 1.5 to 2 million people drove to other cities’ airports to reap lower fares. With his belief that an active airport with hassle-free access for businesses strengthens the regional economy, that statistic motivated Onorato to become an active part of low-fare airline recruitment, making personal trips to visit CEOs of airlines they were courting.


The airport, says Onorato, can be the “economic engine that will help turn this region around.”


Case in point: Nova Chemicals CEO Jeff Lipton chose to relocate the company’s headquarters from Canada to Pittsburgh, based on the effectiveness of Pittsburgh’s airport.


The future looks brighter than it has in a long time. Now, even U.S. Airways is on the rebound. The company reported a profitable first quarter, joining only Southwest Airlines in that coveted spot. U. S. Airways CEO Doug Parker says its Pittsburgh operations, which still account for 55 percent of all the airport’s flights, are now profitable. He says he does not expect further reductions in flights or employees.


More good news for the airport that both J. D. Powers and Associates and Conde Nast Traveler ranked #1 in the country and #3 in the world. Since it opened, the Pittsburgh airport has been known for innovation. It pioneered the AIRMALL concept -- mall stores with mall pricing at the airport--and was the first major airport to offer wireless service in the concourse.


Evanto calls the airport “an amazing facility—world class.” It doesn’t have the delays of other airports, and planes get from the runways to the gate quickly without wasting a lot of fuel.


George says the airport authority wants to make sure it’s a pleasant experience to come to the Pittsburgh airport. More security lanes and valet parking with car detailing are just two additions designed to improve travelers’ visits.


In order to retain the airport’s world-class status, RASP’s # 1 priority these days is regaining Pittsburgh’s transatlantic service. “Pittsburgh is a global city doing international business,” says Zapinski. “We have a good story to tell, and it’s borne out on the domestic side.”


With dozens of German-owned businesses in Pittsburgh, Zapinski believes the region has a particularly strong case for air service to Germany. The airport has a draw of 5 million people, he says, and U. S. Airways’ international service in 2004 was profitable.


He admits, with oil topping $70 a barrel, it’s not a good time to convince airlines to try something new, but Zapinski believes the strength of the Pittsburgh market and economy would drive profitable international service. “It’s going to be a tough, tough job, but we’re not giving up,” says George.


In addition to gaining transatlantic air service, George says the airport authority wants to continue to offer Pittsburghers more flight choices and lower fares.


So forget that dinosaur analogy.


“We think we’ve done a better job of coping with aviation change than any other region in the country,” says Zapinski. “Our future is bright.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Anne Lutz, a former businesswoman, is a freelance writer from Mt. Lebanon whose last story for Pop City was on how relocation firms sell Pittsburgh.

Interesting artcle.

Really glad to know that Pittsburgh's airport has not only survived but thrived in the face of US Airway's woes. Looks like a Pittsburgh's been helped by having more competion & less monopoly domination by US Air.

The latest rendering of 3 PNC Plaza... 23-story mixed-use "green" tower. Work began yesterday, though interior demolition of existing structures has been underway for some time..

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2020/PNC.jpg

Looks like a very nice design. Should be a great addition to Pittsburgh's street scape. At 23 stories, not really sure how much of an impact it will have on the skyline. But it's crisp, clean lines should really freshen up that area of downtown.

By the way, does anyone know when the cultural district complex will get started? I read about it in the on-line edition of the Gazette, but forget the timeline. It sounded so good, I may want to move back to Pittsburgh.

Looks like a very nice design. Should be a great addition to Pittsburgh's street scape. At 23 stories, not really sure how much of an impact it will have on the skyline. But it's crisp, clean lines should really freshen up that area of downtown.

By the way, does anyone know when the cultural district complex will get started? I read about it in the on-line edition of the Gazette, but forget the timeline. It sounded so good, I may want to move back to Pittsburgh.

Construction is to begin in summer 2007 and last for several years

I think that it looks sharp. Yeah, it's shorter than its neighbors, but it's tall enough to be nseen and it blends in and adds something to the block.

The cultural district sounds like an incredible project. Developments like that will help Pittsburgh regain it's prominence on the national stage.

Big tenants seek Downtown space
Pittsburgh Business Times - July 28, 2006by Robert Sandler


A number of major tenants are simultaneously searching for substantial amounts of Downtown office space, just as real estate professionals say overall interest in the business district is beginning to increase.

The biggest potential user may be the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which is looking for between 100,000 and 400,000 square feet of space, two real estate sources familiar with the search told the Business Times this week. The health system is also looking to put its logo at the top of a high-profile Downtown building, the sources said.

The U.S. Steel Tower, with 421,000 square feet of vacant space, is believed to be the leading contender to land UPMC, according to the sources, who are from two different real estate companies and requested anonymity because of the confidential nature of ongoing negotiations.

UPMC spokesman Frank Raczkiewicz declined to comment on the speculation, referring instead to a statement he issued in early June about the organization's search for office space.

"The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is exploring options to bring together its corporate services into a single headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh," Raczkiewicz said. "This exploration is still in its early stages, and we are discussing a range of options with a number of parties including, but not limited to, (the U.S. Steel Tower). No decisions have yet been made."

UPMC's administrative personnel are currently located in multiple offices.

Another major tenant, natural-gas supplier Equitable Resources Inc., is searching for 350,000 square feet of office space to accommodate its purchase of Dominion Peoples. Equitable spokeswoman Pat Kornick said that total includes the 156,000 square feet the company currently has at its North Shore headquarters. The company is keeping its options open in terms of where to locate, she said.

Other large tenants are continuing their search for Downtown office space, including law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, which currently has more than 200,000 square feet at the Henry W. Oliver Building. The firm has been searching for space elsewhere for more than a year.

Consulting firm Deloitte Inc. also continues to look for between 90,000 and 100,000 square feet either Downtown or on the North Side, real estate sources said.

Ariba Inc. also may be considering a move, sources said, since the company listed its entire 180,000 square feet of office space for sublease in the Business Times' spring commercial real estate guide. Sources indicated the company is seeking about 90,000 square feet; a spokeswoman said the company is keeping its options open.

Downtown-based law firm Cohen & Grigsby PC also has said it is searching for 80,000 square feet, and Cleveland-based law firm Jones Day said this week it is looking to expand its presence from 65,000 to between 70,000 and 80,000 square feet.

H.J. Heinz Co. had looked earlier this year at moving its headquarters out of 123,000 square feet of space at the U.S. Steel Tower, but real estate sources have said that search now appears to be on hold.

'A PERFECT BALANCE'
With so many large firms searching for space Downtown, it's likely that 2006 will trump the past few years in terms of the largest office leases signed, said Jeremy Kronman, an office broker with Downtown-based CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh.

According to Business Times' lists of the largest local leases, the largest new office lease signed in 2005 was one for Unison Health Plan, which took 64,000 square feet in Monroeville. The largest lease in 2004 was for Del Monte Foods, which took 179,000 square feet on the North Shore.

The glut of large users hitting the Downtown market comes at a time when tenants have begun to lose the upper hand they held in lease negotiations for the past five or six years, real estate brokers said.

When the economic recession started in 2000 and businesses stopped expanding, tenants gained leverage because they were such a precious commodity. As the economy's improved and businesses are expanding again and looking for large chunks of space, that leverage has mostly been wiped out, they said.

Patrick Sentner, a broker with North Side-based NAI Pittsburgh Commercial, said he believes landlords and tenants are now at "a perfect balance." Landlords aren't able to cut back on tenant-improvement allowances, but to some extent, "the landlord has the ability to dig their heels in," he said.

Downtown still has a fairly high vacancy rate of 17.8 percent, according to Grubb and Ellis Co., but Kronman said those numbers don't reflect the likely choices for large-scale users. Small or midsize chunks of office space may be available, but there aren't many locations available for tenants who are looking for about 100,000 square feet, he said.

The Business Times reported in 2001 that top-level Class A buildings Downtown were available for about $24 per square foot. Class A rental rates today are closer to $21, according to Grubb and Ellis Co.

And rental rates are on the rise again, a sign of economic expansion, Kronman said.

"People are hiring again or have put off expanding for as long as they could, and we're now seeing the results of it," Kronman said. "It is not officially a landlord market yet, but it sure is less of a tenant market for the larger users."

That would represent a major shift in the market, which has favored tenants since about 2000, Sentner and Kronman said.

"There's an upward pressure on rental rates for sure. It's both supply and demand driven," Kronman said. "You have both the finite supply of big blocks of space, and you also have a tremendous pressure on rental rates," with landlords' costs of fuel, insurance, construction and wages on the rise.

---------------------------------------------

hey do you guys have any stats on the office space in Pitt?

like the total office space in class A, B

whats vacant and whats occupied?

I have read various things, but your question made me curious. I found a real estate site with all of the info.

I think that there's around 28 million square feet of total space in the city proper. There's 34 million class A space in the office market and 10 million class B. Judging from the pdf, there seems to be around 20 million square ft of class A space in the city (if I am reading it correctly) and it doesn't seem to breakdown class B by area.


for the overall market, the available space is 19%.

Downtown seems to be at 17%.

Oakland (a part of the city) is at 11.5% which seems to be high (the third busiest business district in the state after Center City and the Golden Triangle)

http://www.grubb-ellis.com/PDF/metro_off_mkttrnd/Pittsburgh.pdf

thanks so much...It would be interesting to see a breakdoown of numbers by city in the US...to kinda show who has space, who has available space and who just has a shit load of towers.

Interesting artcle.

Really glad to know that Pittsburgh's airport has not only survived but thrived in the face of US Airway's woes. Looks like a Pittsburgh's been helped by having more competion & less monopoly domination by US Air.
Intersting article but unfortunately inaccurate. As one who travels to the airport regularly it is clear that it has become a mere shadow of itself, with dozens of empty gates.

Here are the stats:

Total passenger traffic 2002 17,248,783 27th busiest in North America
Total passenger traffic 2005 10,478,604 40th busiest in North America

a decrease of 6,770,179 passengers from 2002 which was already depressed due to the lingering effects of 911.

While that is a problem... PIT has shown growth in O&D traffic and has cheaper fares than when it was a hub. While PIT has lost some flights and transatlatic service... Southwest, JetBlue, etc have introduced affordable flights to what was previously one of the most expensive airports to fly out of.

It's a major problem in that the port authority has do deal with a majordecrease in revenue due to all of the empty gates. An underutilized airport is a drain on a community. Plus there were thousands of local jobs lost through the near demise of US Air and the drop in airport traffic.

The last steel beams were raised for the new LEED-certified Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville a few days ago. This hospital is expected to be a huge boon for Lawrenceville/Bloomfield and the Penn Ave. business district (and the guy who always stands on Penn with flowers in his hands).

http://www.chp.edu/pressroom/newsrelease285.php

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Topping Off New Hospital in Lawrenceville – Final Three Beams Will Be Put in Place

Milestone in Children’s history as 100 guests watch the rising/placing of the final steel beams


PITTSBURGH – June 28, 2006 – The last steel beams of the new Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Lawrenceville were today raised and welded into place.

Children’s and UPMC executives, Mayor Bob O’Connor, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, patients, board members, legislators, community leaders and more joined steelworkers today at the construction site to “top off” the steel superstructure, a significant milestone in the building project. The last three beams were raised – topping off the steel structure for what will be the new 900,000-square-foot Children’s Hospital, part of a 1.5-million-square-foot new campus development.

The topping-off ceremony is a long-standing tradition of construction workers, particularly steelworkers. The three beams are more colorful than most on the building frame – because the beams display the signatures, pictures and drawings of Children’s patients, families and staff; residents and children of Lawrenceville and neighboring communities; legislators and many more.

Following a short program, Children’s patients joined executives to place the final signatures on the steel beam, which will have the ceremony’s traditional American flag, broom and evergreen tree on top.

“We are truly excited to celebrate the topping off of the new Children’s Hospital. It is a tremendous milestone in our history, and signifies a huge leap in the building project,” said Roger A. Oxendale, Children’s president and CEO. “As the largest building project in the Pittsburgh region, we at Children’s and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are grateful to everyone who had a hand in this project. A lot of work has gone into this, and we’re excited to see it become more of a reality each and every day.”

The new hospital building will serve as the centerpiece of the multi-phase development project that is situated on this 10-acre campus. Patient rooms in the hospital will be private and have sleeping accommodations for parents. Other facets of the project include a major research facility, office space for faculty and staff, a new central utility facility, three new parking structures and more.

“This extraordinary medical campus will not only enable Children’s to maintain its current level of excellence, but will now be housed in a world-class facility,” said Greg Peaslee, senior vice president at UPMC. “All of us at UPMC, and Children’s, are extremely pleased and excited about the direction of the project. We look forward to its opening in early 2009, which is just around the corner.”

Go here to see a movie on the hospital: http://www.chp.edu/about/new_building.php#

Changing lives for the better is what our new hospital is all about. Designed with our Children’s family – staff, patients, and families -- in mind, our new Children’s will inspire positive transformation for all who pass through our doors.

For our patients and their families, we promise comfort and a healing touch by offering spacious, private rooms (with overnight accommodation for parents) designed with kids in mind, and the largest family resource center of any pediatric hospital in the world.

For our staff, we promise a state of the art facility utilizing breakthrough technology, enhanced research facilities, and an intelligent design to maximize efficiency in patient care.

Located in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, our new facility is situated on 10 acres – 1.5 million square feet of usable space. Its design is based on input from physicians, nurses, and families – to ensure it meets the unique requirements of pediatric healthcare providers and the patients they serve.

Our new facility is grounded in three principles: family-centered care, technological sophistication and environmental sustainability. Our new facility will offer the following:

9-story clinical services building
262 licensed beds, including 79 critical care beds
41-bed Emergency Room and Trauma Center
13 Operating Suites
36-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
12-bed Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
31-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Atrium, Library, and Healing Garden
10-story, 230,000-square foot research facility
Conference Center
Day Care and Fitness Center
2 office buildings that will house all faculty and administrative offices
Three parking garages
Incorporates “environmentally friendly” technology
Designed as a “quiet” building
State-of-the-art technology including a nursing workstation for every two patient rooms in addition to computer and communications equipment that enhances efficient communication within teams of caregivers
Paperless information management system that allows physicians to place nearly all inpatient care orders electronically, eliminating handwritten and verbal orders.

http://www.chp.edu/about/new_building_green.php

The new Children’s Hospital is designed as “green” campus, meaning that buildings will use key resources such as energy, water, materials, and land more efficiently than buildings erected simply to building code. It’s been established that green (or environmentally sustainable) buildings contribute to improved health, comfort, and productivity of their residents by utilizing more natural light and promoting better air quality.

And while two buildings will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, Children’s commitment to employ green practices extends well beyond its bricks and mortar. This means Children’s will employ new operating policies and procedures regarding facility maintenance, housekeeping, food service, and waste management. Children’s will also foster its green philosophy by working with our clinicians, academicians, and community to conduct research on the subject of sustainability and its health effects on children. Here’s a brief look at how Children’s will be environmentally friendly:



Easy access to public transportation
Availability of bike racks and showers
Preferred parking for car pools
Water efficient landscaping
Recycling of water (when appropriate)
Use of building materials with recycled content (including recycled post-consumer structural steel)
Use of local/regional construction material to reduce transportation issues
Use of low VOC materials such as sealants, adhesives, paints, and carpets
Installation of air filtration systems that increase indoor air quality.
Installation of water fixtures that reduce water use
Maximum use of daylight and views
Children’s is also committed to environmental responsibility by:

Employing a “green” education program for staff, patients, and visitors
Installing a healing garden/rooftop gardens
Continued use of recycled content and local materials whenever possible

http://www.chp.edu/about/new_building_quiet.php

Quiet Building
Research shows that a quiet hospital environment enhances patient healing and satisfaction among health care providers. For this reason, and in keeping with Children’s commitment to be a benchmark facility for pediatric care, we’ve designed one of the quietest hospitals in existence. Children’s plans to reduce noise in patient areas, public spaces, conference rooms, lounges and consultation rooms by utilizing more than 30 measures including the following:

Masonry exterior walls at most patient rooms
Floor to deck full-height partitions, sealed and insulated
Multi-layer drywall partitions at patient rooms
Acoustic ceiling tile in lieu of hard ceilings
Extensive use of carpeting and door seals
Remote locations for staff work areas and consult rooms
Sound deadened elevator cab enclosures
Extensive use of vibration isolators
Remote central plant location, eliminating boilers, chillers, and generators
Cast iron piping for storm and sanitary stacks
Strict adherence to sound mitigation requirements
Use of personal communication devices in lieu of overhead paging
Silent notification of nurse call through integration of wireless communication devices
Silent notification of alarms from monitoring equipment through integration to wireless communication devices
“Soft” wheels on mobile carts

http://www.chp.edu/images/newbuilding/CHP_Campus.jpg

http://www.chp.edu/images/newbuilding/CHP_Front.jpg

Our healing garden helps restore the spirits of our patients and their families by offering respite in times of stress, fear and anxiety.
http://www.chp.edu/images/newbuilding/Healing_Garden.jpg

Research Tower
http://www.chp.edu/images/newbuilding/Research_Tower.jpg

Go here to see interior pics: http://www.chp.edu/about/photo_gallery.php

Here's a picture I took from the 40th St. Bridge a few months ago
http://i.pbase.com/g4/86/571686/2/59151210.100_5487.jpg

I just thought of a rather significant project that was never mentioned in this thread.

East Liberty's long-vacant 13-story Highland Building... which is undergoing conversion to 84 condo units (avg. $167k) with hotel construction and retail. Demolition of the nearby Stadterman Building will make way for structured parking and 132-room hotel This was announced last Sept. It will welcome residents next summer.

I haven't seen any recent updates on it... but here's the article from last Sept.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05269/577859.stm

"Pittsburgh's just really fun. If I had a choice of living in Pittsburgh or Atlanta, it would be hands down Pittsburgh," said Tennessee developer Burch, whose company's name, Terminus, was the original name for Atlanta.

photos I took last July
http://i.pbase.com/g3/86/571686/2/57349777.100_1423.jpg

http://i.pbase.com/g3/86/571686/2/57349785.100_1439.jpg

http://www.ura.org/images/maps/Highland.jpg

This is pretty interesting... Butler County, the fastest growing area of Western Pennsylvania, has seen a dramatic decline in its housing market... while Allegheny County has surged... the Pittsburgh region as a whole has been holding steady while the rest of the country has seen significant declines...

looking at a street map... it does appear Cranberry Twp is pretty much at build-out (in its current low-density form)... and most of the rest of the county is just too far away or lacking freeway access... for serious suburban development...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_463563.html

Cranberry's housing market cools; region avoids big drop

By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 27, 2006


Cranberry, Butler County, long one of the region's housing hot spots, is experiencing a cooling off, according to a report Wednesday that said Western Pennsylvania's overall housing market is holding up well despite a national slowdown.
The report by Tall Timber Group, a Ross-based market tracking firm, showed that 1,382 single-family housing permits were issued in six area counties during the first half of 2006, down 1.4 percent from 1,402 units in the same period in 2005.

That compares with an almost 15 percent decrease in national housing starts so far this year, said Jeff Burd, Tall Timber's president.

"There haven't been many good macro-economic indicators for housing during the first six months of the year," said Burd. "The stock market has tanked, interest rates are quite a bit higher than last year, and building materials have spiked again, yet the impact on demand for new housing here seems unfazed."

The overall market remains steady, but Burd said there have been changes locally, including a surge of about 40 percent in housing permits issued in Allegheny County, and a 27 percent decline in permits in Butler County, where Cranberry has seen its total slip to about 31 single-family units, from about 76 single-family units a year ago.

That drop-off was enough to take Cranberry out of Tall Timber's top 10 communities for single-family construction, which is now headed by North Huntingdon in Westmoreland County, with 95 units.

"I have seen some leveling off on new housing starts," said Jerry Andree, Cranberry Township manager.

But he said that 500 to 600 approved lots for new housing are in the pipeline.

"We had a record year in 2005 in total construction costs, reaching $108 million, with 40 percent of that for housing starts," he said.

"If Cranberry's big subdivisions are wrapping up and there are some others in the approval loop, the number of permits will be temporarily lower," said Burd. "It may be that Cranberry, or Butler County generally, is becoming built out, but I think it will take more than two quarters (in 2006) to judge."

Kevin Mihn, a Coldwell Banker Real Estate agent, said he's not surprised by the drop-off.

"After five years of strong real estate sales, it is only natural to expect a slowdown, even in Cranberry," he said.

Allegheny County was the leader in single-family permits issued, with 535 units, followed by Westmoreland County, with 334 units; Washington County, with 199; Butler, with 177; Beaver, with 98; and Fayette, with 39 units.

For total housing permits, including both single-family and multifamily units, Tall Timber's statistics show Pittsburgh as the overall leader, with 262 new single-family housing permits issued.

Overall, the region saw a 60 percent jump in multifamily permits, with 1,025 permits issued, up from 639 units through the end of June 2005.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06207/708519-298.stm

Big East End development firm eyes Reizenstein school building
Wednesday, July 26, 2006

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Developer Walnut Capital Partners, already interested in redeveloping the old Nabisco bakery on Penn Avenue, also has its eye on the Reizenstein Middle School site across the street.

But the Shadyside real estate company may have to wait two or three years to have a shot at buying the school building and surrounding grounds. The Pittsburgh Public Schools would have to sell the vacant Reizenstein through a public bidding process -- and a decision on such a process is at least two years away, according to school district chief of staff Lisa Fischetti.

In the meantime, the district may use Reizenstein as temporary classrooms for students at Schenley High School, which is scheduled for renovation.

Walnut Capital met with the school district a few months ago to discuss the property.

While a decision to sell has not yet been made, "we want to keep all options open," Ms. Fischetti said.

Walnut Capital President Todd Reidbord said his company "absolutely" would be interested in competing for the property in the event of a sale.

"I think it is a fantastic piece of property ... a great candidate for some kind of mixed-use residential, possibly retail."

Walnut Capital, one of the most active developers in Pittsburgh's East End, has drawn up plans that would turn the former Nabisco plant on Penn into the anchor of a six-acre, mixed use project that would blend about 130,000 square foot of retail with 150,000 square feet of office space, a 1,200-car parking garage, a hotel, 38 residential units and a fitness center. Having Reizenstein would give Walnut a major presence on both sides of Penn.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. )

Great news IMO... take that, NIMBYs!

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06207/708574-53.stm

Developer clears hurdle for more buildings at SouthSide Works complex
Wednesday, July 26, 2006

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The city planning commission yesterday approved a zoning change that would allow the developer of the SouthSide Works complex to increase the heights of several proposed buildings.

Some South Side residents had objected to the change, which would need City Council approval.

The Soffer Organization wants to construct three condominium buildings with a height of 165 feet that currently are limited to 110 feet. The company also wants to build two 110-foot-high office buildings that now are limited to 75 feet.

For 11 years, Soffer has worked in close collaboration with the South Side Planning Forum, a consortium of local citizen groups in the neighborhood, on planning and building the SouthSide Works. But the two interests could not reach agreement over building height. The forum was concerned about creating "massing," or a wall-like effect between the riverfront and the rest of the development.

"It's hard to come here without their support," said Mark Dellana, Soffer's vice president of development, "because it hasn't happened in 11 years.

"We don't want to create a wall," he said. "We need to make the next phase better than we already have done" of the SouthSide Works.

He said Soffer first proposed a height of 220 feet and scaled back the number of buildings from seven to five.

The developer also changed its plans so that the condominiums would be built west of 27th Street, toward Downtown, and two proposed office buildings closer to the Hot Metal Bridge.

A hotel and conference center are also proposed for the riverfront development.

The plan as it appears now shows wide pedestrian walkways linking the current development to the waterfront, with shoreline access.

Mr. Dellana and members of the forum said they will continue to work together as the properties and streetscape are being designed.

The commission also yesterday recommended approval of a plan for 3 PNC at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street, which calls for the demolition of existing buildings to build a 63,000-square-foot, 23-story building that would combine a hotel, condominiums, office space, retail, restaurants and underground parking.

It also voted to recommend that a building at 100 Smithfield be renovated into apartments, proposed by the architect as housing for university students.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )

http://www.timesonline.com/site/inde...d=478569&rfi=8

Pittsburgh looks again to transatlantic service
Tom Fontaine, Times Staff
07/18/2006
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FINDLAY TWP. - Airlines will make a record number of flights to Europe this month, according to a USA Today study, but none of them will be departing from Pittsburgh International Airport.

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Airport officials say bringing back nonstop transatlantic flights has been their top priority since US Airways ended direct flights to Frankfurt, Germany, and London in late 2004. But even the airport's top executive, Kent George, conceded that it could be some time before nonstop transatlantic service returns - if it does at all.

According to the USA Today study, U.S. and foreign airlines are offering 386 nonstop flights a day to Europe, 21 percent more than they did three years ago. And the number of flights has gone up despite the fact that the average one-way fare on a transatlantic flight, $549, is 44 percent higher than it was in 2003.

George, executive director of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, described the quest to restore nonstop transatlantic service as his "No. 1 priority" and said the airport has been negotiating for 18 months with several carriers, though he would not identify them.

"We're continuing to work on that, but it's not going to happen overnight. After all, it took us five years to bring Southwest Airlines here and 3½ to get JetBlue. And it's going to be very, very difficult to get international service in a community of this size without feeding traffic (from elsewhere)," George said.

There is less so-called feeding traffic than ever before at Pittsburgh. While the majority of the airport's passengers had stopped briefly in Pittsburgh on connector flights when the airport was a US Airways hub, today 60 percent of its passengers are either departing from Pittsburgh or heading here, and that level is increasing.

"We have to depend on our market, and that may only be able to support international flights seven or eight months out of the year," George said, noting demand typically isn't great between November and February, when there is less vacation travel.

For business travelers, though, there is year-round demand.

"On any given day, there are 300 passengers who fly from Pittsburgh to destinations in Europe," said Ken Zapinski, a senior vice president with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development who also heads the Regional Air Service Partnership, which represents dozens of companies in the region and has made its top priority restoring transatlantic service out of Pittsburgh.

"We think transatlantic service can be profitable for a carrier that's willing to take a risk," Zapinski added.

For business travelers, a connecting transatlantic flight can be a "double risk," said Joy Chandler, director of corporate communications for Latrobe-based Kennametal Inc., which has locations in Europe.

"In the winter, you might have to connect somewhere, and if the weather's bad there, you can get stuck in a storm and miss an important meeting. The same could happen with a direct flight, but if you have to connect, you're doubling your risk," Chandler said.

Chandler estimated that connecting flights add "a minimum of four or five hours" to a business trip, and in business, she said, "Time is money."

Tom Fontaine can be reached online at tfontaine@timesonline.com.

I'm glad that the airport seems to be making some (albeit minor) progress of late - the blow from USEless Airways was rough. It would be great if (new) a discount airliner would be based at PIT, adding more options, jobs, and some sense of the hub activity.


Evergray

I'm excited by the SSW plans and it's nice to hear the NIMBY's lose for once.

Imagine how much progress was lost on Mt Washington due to them.

Development seemed to be slowly building on the Southside in the 90s, but now it's really taking off - as it should it's a great neighborhood.

Are there any renderings of the proposed buildings or neighborhood views showing how it will look when built?

Also, just a question, but if one were to live in the Southside, where would you should for food day in day out? How are the local markets..or are there any? Such deli's, butchers, bakeries, produce, etc?

Well, there's a Giant Eagle in the South Side... it's a full-scale regional supermarket chain...

In addition to that... there's Schwartz Market on Carson St. It's been there for 80 years.
http://i.pbase.com/g4/86/571686/2/61315403.100_6436.jpg



go to Mediterranean Market for your fava beans and grape leaves... Chocolate Celebrations for chocolates and the antique soda fountain... Carson St. Deli (http://www.carsonstreetdeli.com) ... fresh made pierogies from the old ladies at St. John's Ukrainian church...
http://i.pbase.com/g3/86/571686/2/53714311.100_3523.jpg

There's a Farmer's Market on Carson every Tuesday as well...

and when you dont' feel like cooking... South Side is home to a huge array of restaurants, diners, coffeeshops, sandwich shops, etc etc... of all kinds...

you might enjoy these links:

http://www.phlf.org/spotlightonmainstreet/
http://www.southsidepgh.com
http://www.betatesters.com/penn/sahside/
http://www.southsidepittsburgh.com

I haven't found a rendering of future SouthSide Works development... but here's their website: http://www.southsideworks.com

As someone moving to the Pitt, I've been doing a fair amount of research on the area. And I have to say, the Giant Eagle (Iggle?) monopoly situation is one of the most baffling things about your city. Milwaukee has five or six major chains. What's with the lack of variety?

Well, there's a Giant Eagle in the South Side... it's a full-scale regional supermarket chain...

In addition to that... there's Schwartz Market on Carson St. It's been there for 80 years.
http://i.pbase.com/g4/86/571686/2/61315403.100_6436.jpg



go to Mediterranean Market for your fava beans and grape leaves... Chocolate Celebrations for chocolates and the antique soda fountain... Carson St. Deli (http://www.carsonstreetdeli.com) ... fresh made pierogies from the old ladies at St. John's Ukrainian church...
http://i.pbase.com/g3/86/571686/2/53714311.100_3523.jpg

There's a Farmer's Market on Carson every Tuesday as well...

and when you dont' feel like cooking... South Side is home to a huge array of restaurants, diners, coffeeshops, sandwich shops, etc etc... of all kinds...

you might enjoy these links:

http://www.phlf.org/spotlightonmainstreet/
http://www.southsidepgh.com
http://www.betatesters.com/penn/sahside/
http://www.southsidepittsburgh.com

I haven't found a rendering of future SouthSide Works development... but here's their website: http://www.southsideworks.com


Thanks for the grocery info. As a self-avowed foodie, it sounds as if the South Side would be a good place to relocate.

As someone moving to the Pitt, I've been doing a fair amount of research on the area. And I have to say, the Giant Eagle (Iggle?) monopoly situation is one of the most baffling things about your city. Milwaukee has five or six major chains. What's with the lack of variety?


There are a few other grovery chains in the area, but Giant Eagle, a locally based chain seemed to take off over the years. They have also just recently opened two stores under the name Market Village, targeting upscale competitors like Whole Foods which is in the city and also likely to expand into the burbs soon - Trader Joe's is also on the way). But yes Giant Eagle is the dominent chain in the region and more so in the city.

There are also still some corner markets in the area and a grocery will be opening the Piatt Place building (currently under construction/renonvation right now) downtown.

...and of course, there's the Strip District which is a great place to pick up fresh almost everythings in the various stores and vendors.

Giant Eagles are pretty common but not as ubiquitous as Publix supermarkets in South Florida. There are plenty of other grocery options other than G Eagle, it also doesn't hurt that Giant Eagle is a pretty good grocer.

Foodland also has many grocery stores in the Pittsburgh area.

There are a few other grovery chains in the area, but Giant Eagle, a locally based chain seemed to take off over the years. They have also just recently opened two stores under the name Market Village, targeting upscale competitors like Whole Foods which is in the city and also likely to expand into the burbs soon - Trader Joe's is also on the way). But yes Giant Eagle is the dominent chain in the region and more so in the city.

There are also still some corner markets in the area and a grocery will be opening the Piatt Place building (currently under construction/renonvation right now) downtown.

...and of course, there's the Strip District which is a great place to pick up fresh almost everythings in the various stores and vendors.

Oh right, I forgot about the Strip District. When all is considered, there seems to be lots of good food options in the South Side.

Oh right, I forgot about the Strip District. When all is considered, there seems to be lots of good food options in the South Side.


Southtowner, if you're a foodie... you might want to check out these recent articles

A Bounty of Fresh Foods (http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/22farmersmkt.aspx)

Most Unlikely Foodie Haven (http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200607/ideas.asp)

Southtowner, if you're a foodie... you might want to check out these recent articles

A Bounty of Fresh Foods (http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/22farmersmkt.aspx)

Most Unlikely Foodie Haven (http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200607/ideas.asp)

Interesting sites. Thanks! There's more and more to Pittsburgh the more I look. And yes, I am definitely a foodie. While I shop at the local Publix, which is actually a great store, I also would love to see small groceries return. I know in this day and age of super competition, the volume just has to be sky high to be economically viable. But sometimes you just don't want to wander those huge stores. And here in Florida, they actually sell Canadian tomatoes in summer! Meanwhile, local tomatoes from Ruskin are wonderful. So I really like the idea of farmer's markets and the urban gardens.

There are plenty of other grocery options other than G Eagle...


Like what? This is good news...for all I could tell the only other option was CoGo's, which sounds more like a 7-11 than a grocery store.

Like what? This is good news...for all I could tell the only other option was CoGo's, which sounds more like a 7-11 than a grocery store.


Giant Eagle has a 60% market share in the Pittsburgh area (it controls a similar percentage in Northeast Ohio). Wal-Mart continues to increase its market share in this area. Other options are Shop N Save (similar scale to Giant Eagle, but not quite as good) and Foodland (smaller).

You also have discount, ethnic, independent, speciality, organic grocers all over the place like Save-A-Lot, Aldi's, Whole Foods, Wholey's, Sheraden Market, East End Co-Op, Trader Joe's (coming soon), FreshMarket (also coming soon), etc.

Then you have the Strip District with all its ethnic stores and sausage-makers and noodle-makers and whatnot... and the ubiquitous farmers markets in Southwestern PA... you will not have any trouble finding good food at good prices in Pittsburgh.

Co-Go's is a gas station / convenience store.

Business complex plan takes shape for Bald Knob Road
Thursday, August 17, 2006

By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Take the Mall at Robinson and Ross Park Mall, combine them and toss in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. That's about 2.8 million square feet of floor space.

That is what Steve Thomas, of Chapman Properties, Leetsdale, is proposing adjacent to an interchange on the soon-to-be-open Findlay Connector. Chapman has 300 acres of former strip mine land on what is now Bald Knob Road in Findlay, and is advertising a mixed-use development with about 2 million square feet of light industrial and distribution space and 800,000 square feet of offices, retail shops and hotel rooms.

"I think it's a hotel site at some point, given the proximity to the airport," Mr. Thomas said, proximity, in this case, meaning a three-minute drive on a brand-new highway.

And this is only the beginning. Chapman bought 300 acres from Imperial Land Co., sitting right at the interchange. Imperial Land still owns 900 acres of adjoining property and 1,800 more behind it.

"It's a new frontier, if you will, for Allegheny County," Imperial Land President Gerald Bunda said. "There are a lot of synergies there."

This has, of course, been the talk for 20 years as political leaders worked to get the Findlay Connector built. Among other benefits, it would open for development huge tracts of otherwise essentially worthless land, providing one thing the region sorely lacks: large-scale building sites near Pittsburgh International Airport.

The six-mile toll road, Pennsylvania Turnpike 576, is expected to open in October, linking Route 60 at the airport with Route 22 in Washington County. It is the first link in the Southern Beltway, a long-planned and much-hoped-for interstate looping south of Pittsburgh, connecting the airport with Monroeville.

Imperial Land has been part of the process all along.

The successor to a company that mined much of the land in the southwestern corner of Findlay, Imperial held thousands of acres that were scarred from mining, had no access and no utilities and which were largely under flight paths from the airport, making them unsuited to residential use. So it donated 185 acres to make way for the connector, and got an interchange at Bald Knob Road to solve the access problem.

State grants and loans worth $7.1 million are helping get sewer and water lines built. Mr. Bunda said their completion was imminent. Natural gas lines are also in the works; he expects them to be finished by late winter or early spring.

The Chapman center plans show that these plans are coming to fruition, yielding the kind of large-scale development leaders have been hoping for.

"We haven't had pad-ready sites which are served by utilities" at the scale that is now available, Findlay Manager Gary Klingman said. "You're not going to find 300 acres. That's what's missing."

"We see a demand for Class A distribution space," Mr. Thomas said, spaces combining offices, warehousing, multiple loading docks and flex space. "That's under-served in this market."

The commerce center is designed to put that kind of use to the rear of the property, with the office, retail and hotel uses at the front and substantial landscaping to blend it all. Much of it, especially the office, retail and hotel space, will be done on a build-to-serve basis, to meet demand as it arises, Mr. Thomas said.

He said that, while he expects to see some high-tech and research-oriented companies in the park, his vision is not quite TechWorld, a flashy proposal put out for the area a few years ago.

"TechWorld was someone's vision, I'm not sure whose," he said. Given demand and airport access, he sees his park and surrounding property booming with distribution business, with the other uses mostly serving that business.

"With several thousand acres here, there should be a critical mass" to support service-oriented retail shops, restaurants and gas station/convenience stores, he said.

Other benefits of the site, he said, are visibility and topography. "The site is Ohio-flat," he said. "Most projects around here involve an incredible amount of cutting and filling."

Something he's less thrilled about is the name of the road he's building on. "Some coal miner had a sense of humor," he said with a chuckle, noting that his company is talking with Findlay officials about a new name. "We're all in agreement that it ain't gonna be Bald Knob."

That's only one of many issues facing the township, and a small one at that.

"This is definitely a change, hopefully a change for the good," Mr. Klingman said. But it's also a change Findlay has long been preparing for, with zoning based on a 1991 comprehensive plan that was updated over the winter.

"We want to develop the township so that residential communities are not adversely impacted," he said. That includes making the southwest corner largely commercial and industrial, uses that will benefit from the fact that the land was mined and will not be adversely impacted by jetliners overhead.

The township also is looking for commercial and industrial development at the newly finished interchange of Route 60 at Moon-Clinton Road, where the Airport Authority is already developing Clinton Commerce Park. That interchange, part of the Findlay Connector project, opened July 21. The Route 30 corridor and the Flaugherty Run/Route 60 interchange are targeted for mixed-use growth, with residential areas tucked into quieter spots.

Meanwhile, there is still some coal being mined, and mine sites being reclaimed. "We're working from the old world to the new world," Mr. Klingman said.

Ultimately, the plans call for a Findlay with a population of about 12,500, village centers in Clinton and Imperial and retail areas along major roads and highway interchanges, all driven by a burgeoning industrial and distribution sector feeding off the airport.

With what's already starting to happen, it all seems possible.

"But you have to know where you're going," Mr. Klingman said.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06232/714922-53.stm

Ambitious city housing plan takes shape
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is force behind Downtown residences to support art scene
Sunday, August 20, 2006

By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's ambitious riverside housing project, the biggest Downtown housing development in the city's history, "is different from most, if not all," privately funded real estate projects in the United States today, says Robert Campbell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for The Boston Globe.

What makes the Pittsburgh project different, he said, is its "higher architectural and social ambitions." Besides being a housing project, it is meant to support the city's arts scene and continue its commitment to environmentally friendly buildings.

The trust announced the 700-unit, $460 million project last month after more than a year of study. Work is still in the red-tape phase, but tentative site plans are done and a series of further public announcements is set to start in October.

The only other project that mixed the arts and housing at the Cultural Trust's level, said Edward A. Feiner, the former chief architect of the U.S. General Services Administration, might be the housing tower Cesar Pelli designed for New York's Museum of Modern Art in the late 1970s.

"Pittsburgh, perhaps unfairly, doesn't have the reputation of being an arts city particularly," said Mr. Campbell, who, with Mr. Feiner, helped jury the Cultural Trust's housing plans.

"To the extent that the project becomes known, it will help the reputation of the city as a place to live," Mr. Campbell said by phone last week.

First, the trust and its development team, called RiverParc, have to get people to live there. Construction is scheduled for next year, with the first phase of homes opening in 2009, and housing prices are not set.

To make the project work, developers are keen on attracting a mix of ages, incomes and housing needs to the site.

"Downtown living works for a lot of people, but not for others," Susan Eastridge, CEO of Phoenix-based developer Concord Eastridge said last week. "We're very cognizant that, to make this project successful, we have to create housing options, both from a price point and style of living, that will attract people who would enjoy living Downtown."

That means the latest ideas on the drawing board have everything from high-priced townhouses with private garages to small, 800- to 900-square-foot loft-style "flats" with open kitchens and floor plans, to more typical two- and three-bedroom condos in high-rise buildings.

All of the development would emphasize new retail and restaurant spaces, the arts and green building concepts.

"What makes this project different is we're going to come out of the box with four to five different products that will be unique to different markets," said Howard "Hoddy" Hanna III, whose real estate firm will sell the units. "We're not trying to hit four different markets with the same product, which has historically been what occurs here."

The Cultural Trust was founded in 1984 to spur Pittsburgh's economic development through the arts. For years, it has done so by supporting performance spaces such as Benedum Center and the Byham and O'Reilly theaters in the city's cultural district in the Penn-Liberty corridor.

Its massive housing project, unveiled July 10, is meant to be another kind of economic engine, one that ties Penn Avenue to the Allegheny River, infuses Downtown with hundreds of new residents and makes a bold statement about Pittsburgh's support of the arts and environmentally friendly buildings.

The trust, said Mr. Feiner, the director of Skidmore Owings and Merrill architects in Washington, D.C., "continues to take a leadership role in taking risks, taking risks for the greater good of the long-term redevelopment of the city."

Pittsburgh already has the world's largest green-certified building in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The trust housing project would be built under the same standards and include energy-collecting wind turbines to light the site's public spaces and "urban living rooms" in garden spaces across the site. Architectural drawings emphasize a lot of glass, just like the Alcoa headquarters across the river.

Building green isn't bad business, either.

"There's a feeling that people, especially the Generation X and Y buyer, really like that and it gives it a sense of newness, excitement," Mr. Hanna said. "It's better for utility bills and should be better, long term, for the environment and the occupant."

Ms. Eastridge, who has 24 years in the commercial real estate business, said the project's unique properties made it challenging.

"It has some commitments to objectives you don't run into very often. The objective to have an entire development create an environmentally sustainable neighborhood, that just hasn't been experienced yet in the country. ... Certainly, there have been a lot of large, mixed-use projects with prominent residential uses in any major city, but the commitment to the green, the cultural and the arts, I don't know where that's been replicated."

The project still has no official name, but it is supposed to be unveiled at the trust's annual fund-raiser Oct. 5, which will be held in tents on the development site. Tentative names for streets and alleyways throughout the site could also be revealed.

The six-acre site is on two full city blocks bordered by Seventh and Ninth streets, Penn Avenue and Fort Duquesne Boulevard. Construction of all 700 units is estimated to take 10 years, through 2017.

The first phase of up to 250 units is set to start next summer. It is planned to include a 20-story building and an eight-story building on Fort Duquesne Boulevard, followed by townhouses on Eighth Street. A 30-story building on Penn Avenue and a 22-story building on Fort Duquesne are set for later in phase one.

Plans include renovating two buildings in the southwest corner of the site into a hotel and another high-rise, and perhaps changing the six-story headquarters of Local 1058 of the laborers union headquarters on Eighth Street into a performing arts space. (Union officials, who have said they do not want to sell their building, were out of the office last week and could not be reached.)

Plans include placing a lid on the 10th Street Bypass, allowing people to walk directly from the housing site to the Allegheny River. The trust has proposed a new riverfront park there called the Three Sisters Gallery, after the three yellow bridges over the river. Talks with government officials are continuing on those plans, Ms. Eastridge said.

Developers might also propose building two levels of parking under Fort Duquesne Boulevard. The boulevard would have safety features for walkers.

The run-up to construction next year includes the usual issues with infrastructure repairs, moving utilities and signing contracts with the many firms and stakeholders involved, but there's no change in the $460 million budget the development team announced last month, she said.

While all of the buildings are different to help attract a mix of people, they all have components of retail and restaurant spaces on their lower floors and parking, much of it underground.

"It's kind of a Swiss watch, as far as development planning goes," Ms. Eastridge said.

Howard Hanna Real Estate has a list of about 60 prospective tenants. Sometime after the Oct. 5 Cultural Trust event, it will start creating its "first choice" list. For a refundable $1,000 payment, those on the list will get the first look at housing plans. Those still interested will then pay an estimated 5 percent down payment.

Prices of the units are expected to be decided early next year.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Tim McNulty can be reached at tmcnulty@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1581. )


http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20060820cultural_district.gif

This project is great on so many levels. And it works out so well, with what it's mostly replacing.... parking lots etc.

The combination of housing and the fact that it is planned in this manner, will make it a really interesting development.

Soffer Organization seeking new W aloft hotel for SouthSide Works
Pittsburgh Business Times - August 18, 2006by Tim Schooley


The Soffer Organization is in talks to bring a new concept hotel, called W aloft, to SouthSide Works.

Christine Fulton, vice president of external relations for Wilkins-based Soffer, confirmed the company is negotiating with developer Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co. about the project.

W aloft is one of a new breed of "upscale, limited-service" hotels that takes the bare-bones approach of limited-service hotels and upgrades it for a higher-ticket, more-urban and style-conscious clientele.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. announced last year it would launch W aloft, an upscale, limited-service version of its popular W Hotel brand, featuring high ceilings, a slew of technology options and high design quality in everything from its lounges to landscaping.

Instead of emphasizing amenities such as in-house restaurants and concierge services, upscale, limited-service hotels invest more heavily in in-room amenities, such as large-screen plasma TVs, and other technology, such as wireless Internet service.

"We really want to service the university demographic," said Fulton, noting the main customer base for SouthSide Works lodging comes from nearby Oakland. "This is the kind of hotel that that market wants."

While Soffer has no commitment in place yet for the hotel, the selection of W aloft, as well as the introduction of another new competing brand from Global Hyatt Corp., called Hyatt Place, would bring the upscale limited-service concept to the Pittsburgh market for the first time.

In addition to Starwood's W aloft, Hyatt, which last year acquired AmeriSuites -- an established limited-service brand with 143 hotels in the United States -- said it would launch its own upscale limited-service hotel, called Hyatt Place. It will convert its AmeriSuites hotels, including one near Pittsburgh International Airport and another in Cranberry Township, into Hyatt Place hotels, at a cost of about $2.5 million per location.

Frank Kass, chairman of Columbus, Ohio-based Continental Real Estate Cos., said this week he is considering including a Hyatt Place in Continental's North Shore development, between PNC Park and Heinz Field.

Kass said the upscale, limited-service hotels are more efficient and less costly to develop and operate, while still giving guests choices.

"It's a function of where our consumers' heads are right now," said Kass. "On balance, they want value and choice."

Britt Colbert, a Ligonier-based hospitality consultant, said to expect more upscale limited-service hotels in the region.

"It reflects what the consumer wants," said Colbert. "It's really an a la carte hotel that's been put together for the convenience of the consumer."


..

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7656/nighttime3doverview600x416ne5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Night rendering of Cultural Trust development.

^ Beautiful rendering. Thanks for posting it.

Great view of the new neighborhood planned for downtown. I always thought it was good sense to plan an area of at least several blocks.

Wow thats an amazing picture...great find!

I live one block over so should be interesting to follow. Pretty happy with where I am, excellent views and great amenities.....but who knows, maybe I'll move down the street!

PNC Firstside Park creates connections with labyrinthine landscape
Tuesday, August 29, 2006


Astorino
With 101 trees chosen for fragrance and seasonal interest, PNC Firstside Park will be an urban forest on a Downtown block bounded by Boulevard of the Allies, Grant Street, First Avenue and Ross Street. Construction has begun, and completion is expected in the spring.

By Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh's newest park promises to be a green gateway to Downtown, with a meandering, diagonal path leading visitors from the end of the rustic, riverside Eliza Furnace Trail to the bustling intersection of Grant Street and Boulevard of the Allies.

When it's complete next spring, PNC Firstside Park also will feature seven smaller, spiraling paths, some or all of which are expected to lead, in a later phase, to sculptures. The spirals will snake their way through a mounded landscape of trees, ferns, flowering bulbs, ornamental grasses and other perennials.

The design is surprisingly park-like, forested and organic; even the park's perimeter of buff-colored terrazzo sidewalks and gray granite curbs will be rounded at the corners, contributing to a romantic landscape seen as contrast and counterpoint to the orthogonal PNC Firstside Center, opposite the park across First Avenue.

There is a small eating area, seating 24, and benches interspersed throughout, but this is not your standard urban plaza with copious seating and reams of pavement. This is mostly a park for strolling or striding, one that brings welcome new connections and 1.5 acres of green space to a section of Downtown that sorely lacks it.

The privately owned park should be an amenity not only for the banking center's 1,500 employees, but for anyone working or living on the southeast edge of Downtown and anyone willing to make their way to it.

"PNC wanted this to be a destination spot" for trail users, families, office workers and others, said Steven Gillespie, one of the park's two designers.

Gillespie and Rachelle Wolf, both landscape architects at Astorino, collaborated with PNC staffers, including Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate, and a California artist whom PNC wouldn't identify -- even though the spirals grew out of the artist's idea of how the sculptures would be placed in the park.

"PNC plans to wait until it makes a final decision about what sculpture(s) it may choose and announce the sculpture(s) and artist at the same time," PNC spokeswoman Darcel Kimble wrote in an e-mail. "The decision is close to being finalized."

In announcing the park in 2004, Saulson said PNC, which operates a day-care center for employees at PNC Firstside Center, wanted to "create a child-friendly environment -- someplace kids want to go. I don't want to give away too many ideas, but it will definitely appeal to children."

At the time, Saulson also said the park would interpret some of the history of the site, which in the early 1800s was adjacent to the Scotch Hill Market, burned in the Great Fire of 1845. The Boulevard of the Allies ramp is on the market site now.

In recent years, the park site held the seven-story Public Safety Building, a 1960s expansion of the four-story, former Post-Gazette building. PNC paid $4.2 million for the Public Safety Building in May 2004 and soon began a careful deconstruction, recycling 98 percent of its materials, including some crumbled into gravel and used as fill on the site. PNC declined to reveal the cost of the park.

Some of its spiraling paths will open to other walkways, allowing a different diagonal stroll through the park opposite the main diagonal path. The main diagonal will be paved in buff terrazzo and lined with white birches and pedestrian-scale light poles. The labyrinthine spirals, done in chipped, compacted limestone, could make the park a meditative or playful experience, but much depends on the form and content of the sculptures.

One aspect of the park could encourage a contemplative environment: The back of each of its perforated-metal benches will incorporate a short quotation, about 2 inches tall, from a notable person, including Helen Keller, Martin Luther King and Confucius.

The park also includes a small plaza area, paved in scored, dark gray-tinted concrete, with six silver-colored tables, each with four attached chairs. Like the benches, they will be contemporary in style, taking their aesthetic cues from the design of Astorino's PNC Firstside Center. The park's buff, gray and silver color scheme also was inspired by the center, for which Gillespie and Wolf designed the surrounding landscape, with its cascading fountain along First Avenue and the inlaid compass that terminates the Eliza Furnace Trail.

One of the park's greatest amenities will be its 101 trees, with varieties chosen for fragrance and four-season interest: red maples, lindens, zelkovas, river birches, white birches, redbuds, saucer and sweetbay magnolias, and flowering cherry, crab-apple and callery pear trees.

The park's perimeter sidewalks, interior paths, benches, tables, chairs, trees and sod should be installed by the end of October. Ornamental grasses and flowering perennials and bulbs will be added in the spring.

Asked if the park was a placeholder for a future building, project manager Susan Golomb said it isn't, but added, "you can never predict what will happen in 20 years."

--

I was watching the Steeler/ miami game and I noticed all those criss crossing floodlights on the 6th st. btidge and on the CBD side of the Alleghany.

Is that new or special for football? I have not seen that befor and it looked cool.

good game BTW...I'm glad the Pitt won that one.

The lights were part of the NBC/NFL show. They looked great.


good game BTW...I'm glad the Pitt won that one.

Aside that I'm always happy with a Steelers, win, it was tough day in the city - the mayor who died last weekend was buried Thursday. His son though was at the game and waved the fist Terrible Towel which was nice to see. Emotional day and I think that Mayor O'Connor wouldn't want it any other way. I didn't post the news, but it the mayor sudden and tragic decline. He had only become mayor this year and already had a positive impact on the city.

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7656/nighttime3doverview600x416ne5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Night rendering of Cultural Trust development.


wow thats a nice looking group of buildings. Go Pittsburgh :cheers1:

Piatt Place attracting significant local and national interest

By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, September 29, 2006


Interest in Piatt Place, Downtown, from local and national retailers is so strong that a grocery store already announced may have to be relocated to the vacant G.C. Murphy store, developer Lucas Piatt said Thursday.
The strong interest could mean the entire 50,000 square feet of first-floor retail area in the former Lazarus/Macy store at Fifth and Wood streets will be leased by the end of 2007, Piatt said.

"Recently, a major retailer expressed interest in occupying space in the building, and that could lead to relocating the grocery store, which has been named Tresantis European Market," said Piatt, vice president for real estate for Millcraft Industries of Washington County.

He declined to name the retailer, but did say the cost of developing Piatt Place has reached $60 million.



"We can't provide space for big box retailers, so our goal is to find unique retailers because that's the only way this will work," he said at a meeting of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties at Piatt Place.

Tresantis European Market will feature prepared foods made by DeLallo Italian Foods of Jeannette, Westmoreland County, and special steaks from Omaha Steaks, Piatt said.

Already committed to space there is Capital Grille, a national restaurant that is slated to open next summer.

Piatt also said the three floors to be built atop the existing building, containing 65 condominiums, probably won't be started until late this year, and 10 of the condo units are under contract. The first occupancy should occur next year. The condos will be located along the four walls of each floor with a central courtyard.

Enough interest has been shown by companies, both locally and out of town, to lease 2 1/2 times the 180,000 square feet of office space on the second, third and fourth floors of Piatt Place, but no signed leases have been obtained, he said.

Other plans include demolishing the vacant Revco building, adjacent to Piatt Place, and building a structure that could include retail and rental apartments.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06276/726870-53.stm

Workshop to handle rise of ideas for 'Bakery Row'
Tuesday, October 03, 2006

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20061003ho_bakery_450.jpg
Walnut Capital's plan for Bakery Square at Eastside in East Liberty/Shadyside would combine retail, office, hotel and residential space.



By Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Board of Education won't decide whether to sell the Reizenstein Middle School building for at least two years, but that isn't stopping developers from eyeing the site -- and it isn't stopping community planners from thinking about what would be best for the neighborhood.

Make that neighborhoods. The Reizenstein site touches Shadyside and East Liberty, and it's a stone's throw from Point Breeze.

The 2004 East Liberty master plan established a vision and strategy based in part on what already was happening, as Home Depot, Whole Foods Market and the rest of the Eastside development moved in: Strengthen the edges of the business district and work toward and within the center, bringing Penn Avenue back as a regional Main Street with offices and apartments above first-floor shops and restaurants. The plan, detailed in my Aug. 24, 2004, story, also spells out the roles of East Liberty's other primary streets and reinforces connections to its adjacent communities.

"East Liberty is starting to pick up some steam, and I believe in large part because we have a community-supported master plan that provides developers an opportunity to plug into it," said Rob Stephany, director of commercial development for the nonprofit East Liberty Development Inc.

But the plan stops short of that stretch of Penn Avenue.

"We never thought it would be on the market," Stephany said.

Now that it might be, ELDI plans to host a community design workshop for an area it's calling Bakery Row, named for the Nabisco buildings and the long-lost Baur Bros. Co. bakery, built in the 1890s on part of the Reizenstein site. Co-sponsored by Shadyside Action Coalition, the workshop will focus on Penn Avenue from the East Liberty commercial core to Fifth Avenue. It'll be held from 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow in Calvary Episcopal Church, 315 Shady Ave., Shadyside.

Old maps show that part of Penn Avenue, then still known as the Greensburg Pike, was a mix of residential and commercial buildings. In 1872, houses sat where Reizenstein is, opposite the Eastern Exchange Hotel, the back of which overlooked stockyards and the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. In the triangle at the juncture of Fifth and Penn avenues sat the Point Breeze Hotel. By 1904, there were brick and frame houses on both sides of Penn, but the Point Breeze Hotel had vanished. In the 1920s and '30s, the street became more commercial following construction of the first Nabisco building in 1917, but as late as 1939, and likely later, there were still clusters of houses.

Behind Penn Avenue, on land now occupied by Reizenstein's parking lot and the adjacent Village of Shadyside, there was an ethnically diverse neighborhood of small-scale streets, historic houses and businesses, all swept away in the late 1960s to create a Great High School that was never built.

"To a certain extent the neighborhood has come to realize that urban renewal is not a good thing, that rebuilding some fabric is a good thing, but they are specific about what the quality level of that development should be," Stephany said.

Restoring the old street pattern and creating a new residential and commercial neighborhood could be desirable, he said, and that's what some neighbors have expressed -- if the restored streets connect to a development that enhances the neighborhood.

But with a dozen or more flat acres close to affluent neighborhoods, the Reizenstein site also would be appealing to big-box retailers.

Across the street, Walnut Capital Partners has designs on -- and designs for -- turning the former Nabisco plant on Penn into the anchor of a six-acre, mixed-use development called Bakery Square at Eastside, with retail and office space, a 1,200-car parking garage, a hotel, 38 residential units and a fitness center. It's considering a bid on the Reizenstein site, when and if it becomes available.

Also up in the air is Giant Eagle's plan to add a GetGo gas station and perhaps a corner coffee shop on Shady Avenue near Penn.

"We're still looking at that strategic opportunity," said Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts.

The plan met with vocal opposition when it was unveiled at a community meeting in July 2005.

"Shady Avenue is such a grand place until it gets to that Giant Eagle area," Stephany said. "I'd like to figure out how it can maintain dignity through that zone."

At tomorrow's meeting, architect Rob Pfaffmann, ELDI's urban design consultant for Bakery Row, will present a brief overview of the neighborhood, which will be followed by small-group breakout discussion sessions.

Residents, property owners, business people, institutional leaders and developers are invited to attend the workshop, the beginning of a community design process that should lead to a community vision for what might be the juiciest piece of East End real estate to come down the pike in a long time.

I just put together a rundown of all new "high-rise" construction within the city (10 floors or 100 ft).


Some of the Approved and Proposed residential towers are working under generic names at the moment. There are several major projects featuring multiple residential high-rises including the Cultural District project, the South Side Works project and the Fifth/Forbes/Market Square project.

Under Construction (2):
Three PNC Plaza (23 fl, ? ft)
151 FirstSide (18 fl, ? ft)




Approved (11):
Cultural District Residential Tower I (30 fl, ? ft)
Cultural District Residential Tower II (22 fl, ? ft)
Cultural District Residential Tower III (20 fl, ? ft)
Bella Vista (10 fl, 100 ft)
Forbes Village (20 fl, ? ft)
South Side Works Hotel (? fl, 165 ft)
South Side Works Condominium Building I (? fl, 165 ft)
South Side Works Condominium Building II (? fl, 165 ft)
South Side Works Office Building I (? fl, 110 ft)
South Side Works Office Building II (? fl, 110 ft)
One International Center / Surety Center (9 fl, 110 ft)






Proposed (8):
Schenley Place (10 fl, 140 ft)
Convention Center Hotel (20 fl, ? ft)
The Chelsea (17 fl, ? ft)
North Oakland Condominium Building (17 fl, ? ft)
Cultural District Residential Tower IV (23 fl, ? ft)
Cultural District Residential Tower V (17 fl, ? ft)
Strip District Mixed-Use Tower (18 fl, ? ft)
Duquesne University Residential Tower (15 fl, ? ft)


Unknown (2):
There is currently a "casino sweepstakes" going on in Pittsburgh between 3 competiting groups looking to land the new casino license for the city. 2 groups have proposed $1 billion dollar casino/development plans while the 3rd plan is about half that. The two larger plans incorporate high-rise proposals in the renderings. One plan for Station Square features 1250 residential units in multiple towers, supposedly up to 25 stories. The developer here may go through with the residential component even if the casino license goes to a competitor. The other large group has a mixed-use development plan for the Lower Hill District that looks to include a number of mid-rise buildings in the 10-20 story range. Details for these projects remain ambiguous.

Canceled (1):
Pittsburgh Fireside Inn (29 fl, ? ft)

Built since Jan. 1 2000 (2):
Mellon Client Services Center (14 fl, ? ft)
The Encore on 7th (18 fl, ? ft)


As you can see the first half of this decade was positively pathetic concerning high-rise development... now we are experiencing an explosion of new buildings in the 10-30 story range.

Downtown housing boom no illusion
Commitments more than adequate for 246 new high-priced condominiums
Sunday, September 24, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette





Bill Wade, Post-Gazette
Buyers have been lined up for 20 of the 61 condos for sale at the Carlyle in the former Union Bank Building, at Wood Street and Fourth Avenue.


Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette
Residents of the Encore on 7th, Downtown, can get a view across the Allegheny River toward PNC Park.


Downtown's residential renaissance is producing its first fruits.

Developers say they are having little trouble finding people willing to spend $250,000 or more to buy a Downtown condo or as much as $3,275 a month to rent an apartment.

Since opening at the end of April, the new Encore on 7th has leased 73 percent of its 151 units, with most rents ranging from $1,400 to $3,275 a month.

The Golden Triangle's newest condominium building, 151 First Side, has commitments on 43 of 80 units, with prices ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. Piatt Place at the former Lazarus-Macy's building has lined up buyers on 10 of 65 condos, with prices running from $335,400 to $634,500, in the four months the sales office has been open.

"It exceeds our expectations. We're excited about it," said Jack Piatt, chairman of Millcraft Industries Inc., the developer.

A few blocks away, at Wood Street and Fourth Avenue, the Carlyle has secured buyers on 20 of 61 condos, ranging from $236,000 to $1.2 million for a top-floor penthouse, and expects to have all sold by next September.

"I think we've done better than a lot of cities with emerging housing markets. I'm very happy with the progress that we're making," said Patty Burk, vice president of housing and economic development for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

In all, 246 condominiums are under construction or in final development stages Downtown. That doesn't take into account another 1,285 condos or apartment units being planned, including 700 in the Cultural District.

It's a whole lot of housing to add to the 1,290 rental and condo units available in the Golden Triangle. But several studies over the past five years have indicated the demand is there to match it.

They suggest the Downtown market can absorb 100 to 250 units a year, at rental levels below $1.60 a square foot (the current level is $1.34) and at sales prices of $200 a square foot, translating into a monthly rent of $1,742 for a 1,300-square-foot apartment or $260,000 for a condo of the same size.

And a recent Carnegie Mellon University study found that demand for Downtown housing among young professionals far exceeds the supply. For that category of buyer or renter, it estimated there is a need for at least 162 more units, up to as many as 2,061.

"We're very confident that the marketplace can hold and support this amount of residential Downtown [development] that's going to roll out over the next five years," said Greg Hammill, regional vice president of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.

Howard Hanna is the marketing and sales agent for the 30 luxury condominium units being built as part of the 23-story Three PNC Plaza tower under construction on Fifth Avenue. They will sell for $500,000 or more, with some topping $1 million.

It also will handle the sale of 700 units of housing planned within an ambitious $460 million development in the Cultural District announced by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Mr. Hammill said Howard Hanna's own marketing studies have suggested that demand exists. He said the Encore, with nearly three-quarters of its units rented, is a "great indication" of demand for Downtown living.

"We're very optimistic about that market," he said.

In building high-end units Downtown, developers are primarily targeting two types of people -- empty nesters who are looking to trade their big suburban homes for smaller city units and young professionals who love city life and have the cash to afford it.

Ralph Falbo, the developer of the 151 First Side condominium project, said that research has shown that the most likely buyer of a Downtown condo is a 62-year-old single woman. But he added his buyers have run the gamut, from young professionals without children to doctors and lawyers from all age groups.

Mr. Falbo believes there's more than enough demand to support the higher end development, at least at this stage of the game.

"We're all moving ahead cautiously and not getting overbuilt. I don't think what we're looking at now is an overbuilt situation. If it is, it's not by much," he said.

But one who fears the boom could become a bust is Tom Sullivan, a commercial broker for Colliers Penn, Downtown. Unlike Mr. Falbo, he believes there are too many residential units being built in the Golden Triangle at the same time.

"There are going to be some winners and losers, depending on what type of project they have going on," he said.

He also thinks too much of the construction is high-end. He believes the demand is higher among people looking for condos in the $150,000 to $200,000 range than $350,000 and above.

"They've got to come down to earth. Too many people are shooting on the high end," he said. "People who could care less about amenities and love being in the city are younger people. A lot [of the units] are priced such that younger people can't afford it."


Incentives offered
In at least two cases, apartment developers are offering some incentives to attract renters, but Ms. Burk attributed that more to competition than any weakness in demand.

The Encore, at Seventh and Fort Duquesne Boulevard, is offering free parking to some residents, in particular those with lower-level apartments on the city side of the building.

At 930 Penn Ave., a building converted into 20 apartments, developers are offering a free month's rent to tenants, the first of whom moved in in June. So far six units have been rented, at a rate of $2,400 a month.

"Any new apartment building is going to offer concessions or enticements, especially when you've got choices," Ms. Burk said. "Tenants and residents are looking for the best deal for themselves. It's just the way it goes. I don't think it's anything to be concerned about."

At Piatt Place, Millcraft is adjusting its housing plan, scrapping expensive two-story townhouses that were to be built on top of the Lazarus building in favor of more condos, smaller in size and less expensive. Brian Walker, chief financial officer, said the change was made because the market "was crying for smaller units."

But few see such things as a concern, particularly given the apparent high demand for Downtown living.

Whatever momentum there is could be lost, though, without more amenities Downtown, such as grocery stores, laundries, dry cleaners and longer store hours, Mr. Sullivan said.

The CMU study made the same point, saying that many young professionals "are still hesitant [to] pay the rents currently being charged" Downtown because existing amenities don't meet their wants or needs. The study listed the top amenities for that group as a grocery store, pharmacies, bars and pubs, health clubs, retail stores and a movie theater.

Perhaps the biggest unfulfilled need Downtown is for more moderately priced housing. Ms. Burk said studies have found a very high demand for such housing Downtown. The CMU study found that young professionals are willing to pay $900 to $1,100 a month to live Downtown.

As a result, a group of business, civic, political and foundation officials have begun meeting to try to find ways to entice developers to build more moderately priced "workforce" housing.

"We definitely recognize the demand and the need," she said. "There's a lack of supply for workforce housing."

The problem is that building in downtowns is expensive for a number of reasons, from the red tape involved to the price of land to tougher building and fire codes. And that doesn't even take into account the skyrocketing increase in the cost of construction materials over the last year.

"The difficulty in most cities is that it is too expensive to develop market rate housing to make it affordable for young people or teachers or government workers without some kind of city subsidies or assistance," said John McIlwain, senior fellow for housing at the Washington D.C.-based Urban Land Institute.

Without incentives, developers tend to gravitate toward building more expensive units Downtown because it is the only way they can make money.

Ms. Burk said the Working Group on Downtown Housing is looking at the possibility of tax abatements or other incentives to interest developers in building more affordable housing.

Mr. McIlwain said cities such as Columbus, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Philadelphia are experiencing much of the same downtown housing boom as Pittsburgh. In many other cities, there's a lot of upper end housing, but also starter housing of 700 to 800 square feet geared toward young professionals.

Over the last five to 10 years, the market has been so strong "that developers by and large have been able to do pretty well" with downtown housing, Mr. McIlwain said.

He said the 246 units under or near construction in Pittsburgh are not a lot, a "first toe in the water," as he put it.

"You don't know how strong the market's going to be at first when you start doing this. My guess is that they will sell them. The question is how long it will take and will they get the asking prices or will they roll them back?" he said.

Millcraft's decision to scrap two-story townhouses for smaller, less expensive condos probably was the right move, he added.

"I think that's a reflection of conservatism on their part. They are cautious about the market. They think there's a deeper market at the lower price point, which is probably right," he said

Wow, this is my first time on in several weeks it seems. I haven't been able to get on to this site until today, though after a while I started only trying every few days.

Below is an article from the Steubenville Herald Star, noting the completion of the relatively close Findley Connector... the usual stuff on the Souther Beltway and MFE mentioned, but there's an interesting tidbit:

IMPERIAL — While the Findlay Connector opens a new world of possibilities for the Pittsburgh International Airport area and the Weirton-Steubenville area, it is supposed to be part of a network of roads to provide an effective bypass of the overtaxed Parkway East and Parkway West.

The beltway and the associated Mon-Fayette Expressway east of Pittsburgh is not funded through completion and is in various stages of design, clearance and construction along its many segments.

The final environmental impact statement for the preferred alignment of the segment that would carry Turnpike 576 from U.S. Route 22 to Interstate 79 north of Canonsburg and south of Bridgeville, is being circulated for comment through Nov. 9.

With approval of the statement anticipated by the end of the year or early in 2007, final design and right-of-way acquisition for the Route 22 to I-79 segment could begin in 2007.

The segment that would connect the Southern Beltway into the portions of the Mon-Fayette Expressway that already are completed is awaiting completion of a draft environmental impact statement and is about a year behind the Route 22 to I-79 segment in the highway planning process, according to Thomas A. Fox, public involvement manager for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s Western Regional Office.

He said published reports that the whole Southern Beltway is facing a shortfall beginning with a need for an additional $603 million in the right-of-way acquisition for the Route 22 to I-79 segment alone, let alone construction, design and land acquisition for the remainder of the system, should not be cause for alarm. “We have funding up to the final design and right-of-way acquisition” for the Route 22 to I-79 segment, he said.

“Construction is another matter, but all highway projects of this magnitude operate this way in this country,” he said.


He said funding sources will not set aside huge amounts of money until it’s needed.

The Southern Beltway is not being constructed as a fully federally funded project, he said.

“We are at a point where we will go as far as we can in tapping all the traditional sources we can tap,” he said.

Fox explained the transportation committee in the state Legislature in Harrisburg is considering action that will allow greater flexibility for highway funding in the future. He said Pennsylvania law currently doesn’t allow for public-private partnerships to build highways. He said changing that could open up new sources of funding for the Beltway in 2007 and 2008.

Further, he said, the federal government could kick in a larger share of the project funding.

The highway has been in the planning stages for 14 years, with the Findlay Connector groundbreaking occurring in November 2003.

On the Mon-Fayette end of the Beltway projects, there are several segments opened including a segment stretching 17 miles from I-70 in Washington County to state Route 51 in Jefferson Hills in Allegheny County.

Projects in construction or design phases on the Mon-Fayette end of the project include links to I-68 near Morgantown across the Pennsylvania border to a segment that opened in 2000; a segment crossing 15 miles from Uniontown to Brownsville; and the link from Jefferson Hills to the Parkway East at Monroeville, including a spur running to the Parkway East at the Squirrel Hill area.


Given the recent (PG I think) report that things are not looking good, seem to be rebuffed here and it does make sense, though it is frustrating to no end how much Western Pennsylvanians have to pay for roads on top of the usual taxes that everybody pays.

Pittsburghers are going to have to wait a long time for the mon-fayette to ever be finished. In its current configuration it is up to a 3 billion project. The PA highway dept can barely keep up with the amount of bridge repairs/replacements as it is.

Additionally the Port authority cannot continue much longer in its current state, it is hemmroging money and patrons and the latest state bailout is running out.

This is a rather huge project. The architectural renderings look very appropriate for the site, and this will definately help push the Mexican War Streets over the edge. This portion of Federal St. and adjacent blocks is currently the tattered northeast fringe of the MWS.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/34fedhill.aspx

October 25, 2006

$13 million Federal Hill to bring 60 new homes to Northside

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2034/federal_hill_300.gif

Construction begins in November on Federal Hill, a development on upper Federal St. that will bring 60 new three-story homes to the central Northside. Phase one of the $13 million three-phase project is expected to be completed during spring 2007.

The Central Northside Neighborhood Council (CNNC) and S&A Homes are developing the project and Rothschild and Doyno Architects are designing the homes.

“The focus is to hit different income levels,” says Becky Davidson-Wagner of the CNNC, who calls the project “a milestone,” in terms of its scale, ten-year history and location within a neighborhood "still in transition." Prices range from $120,000 to $225,000 and the URA has committed funds for second deferred mortgages.

“It’s great for folks moving from the rental market, and for people wanting to live near the city and amenities,” says Wagner, who worked closely with area residents to identify community solutions for dealing with the blighted street. “This project is happening because of volunteers—the Federal Hill Committee and residents.”

CNNC has received grants from the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development, PA Housing Financing Agency and Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group. “We still need bank financing,” says Wagner, who expects a lender to fall into place.

“Other things are starting to spur development here,” says Wagner, citing Franco Harris’s proposal for a North Avenue eatery and the library’s new Federal Street location. “We feel the synergy--things are moving forward.”

“This is a closely followed, highly visible development,” says Trey Barbour with the URA, who adds that street improvements such as new lighting and benches will follow the housing.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Rebecca Davidson-Wagner, CNNC; Trey Barbour, URA

Image courtesy of Rothschild Doyno Architects


floorplans: http://www.centralnorthside.com/marketinginsertFH7-19-06

architectural sketches: http://www.rdarch.com/3_sketchgallery_plan.html

5500 jobs sounds good to me!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_476682.html

$7M grant will begin work on Findlay plot

By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 26, 2006


Allegheny County development officials envision using 400 acres off Business Route 60 in Findlay for a complex geared for cargo, maintenance companies, offices and possibly corporate headquarters.
To start the process, the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority Board on Wednesday approved using a $7 million state grant to begin development of the North Field section by the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

The money will be used for developing the first phase of the site, which Dennis Davin, director of the county's Department of Economic Development, said has about 280 useable acres. Development at the site could eventually provide 5,500 jobs, Davin said.

Davin envisions corporations locating their headquarters adjacent to Pittsburgh International Airport, "so that executives and other key personnel of these corporations could walk out of their offices and get on a plane to take them to their destinations."





The airport authority has received letters of intent from two national companies interested in being the developer of the site, Davin said.

The redevelopment authority also amended an existing Economic Development Fund loan agreement it has with the developers of Imperial Business Park in Findlay -- located within several miles of the airport.

CSG Properties LLC. of Oakdale, the developer of the business park, has received $210,000 in additional financing from its lender, and the authority agreed to the added funding because it backs the loans.

"We are happy that the developers continue to support their developments by raising considerable private funding, without any public money involved," Davin said.

Negotiations have begun with several out-of-town companies -- several of which may put manufacturing facilities in a 100,000-square-foot building already built, and plans are to begin construction of a 200,000-square-foot building before the end of the year, said Buddy Johns, a CSG principal.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_476685.html

Neighborhood undergoes powerful retail rebirth

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 26, 2006


Friday's opening of the trendy Trader Joe's is the latest of a steady stream of new retail stores, residential housing, restaurants, and office space to the city's East Liberty neighborhood.
East Liberty, once the city's second-busiest retail district, at long last is seeing a substantial rebirth after years of deterioration.

"There a lot of positive energy in East Liberty, and the opening of Trader Joe's is added proof of the success of the district and the purchasing power of the city's East End," said Lars Olander, president of the East Liberty Chamber of Commerce.

"The community continues to be revitalized, and we're very excited about that success."

Neighborhood advocates agree the first seed for the neighborhood's rebirth was planted when a Home Depot home improvement center opened off Penn Circle North in 2000.

Two years later, organic foods seller Whole Foods made a successful debut on Centre Avenue.

Mosites Co., a local development company, is now running full bore in building the next phases of what is called its EastSide project along Centre.

In addition to the Whole Foods, EastSide already includes a Walgreen drug store, Starbucks coffee shop, and a state premium wine and spirit store. Coming within a few weeks is a Borders book store, with a Eva Szabo's day spa, a mooi organic children's clothing store and Trek Bicycle Shop expected to open soon.

Also, negotiations are under way with a hair salon and a restaurant, according to Mosites, which recently disclosed it is in negotiations to bring a Target discount store to the complex.

Another major project announced recently is Bakery Square. Shadyside developer Walnut Capital Partner's plan to build a 120-room hotel, 38 residential units, 380,000 square feet of retail space and an 800-space parking garage at the site of the closed 495,000-square-foot Nabisco cracker factory on Penn Avenue.

Walnut Capital has said it wants to fill a "pent-up" demand for retail, hotel and other uses in East Liberty and the nearby neighborhoods of Shadyside and Oakland.

The rebirth has not been without its setbacks.

For example, the neighborhood this month is losing a Shop 'n Save supermarket that opened in 2005 in the Village of East Side shopping complex.

However, it was announced the same day that a portion of the 50,000-square-foot space will be occupied by a Staples office supply store, which is expected to open a 20,000-square-foot Super Store in early 2007, according to East Liberty Station Associates, owner of the shopping complex.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developm...s/34libpk.aspx

Event celebrates construction of $14 M Liberty Park
On November 2, a celebration of the construction of Liberty Park will take place at the corner of Broad and Collins Avenue in East Liberty.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Congressman Mike Doyle and Maelene Myers, executive director of East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI) and others will address community members and lay bricks on one of the site’s new buildings.

Slated for completion in October of 2007, phase one of the $14 million, 35,000 square-foot project features 124 rental apartments and townhouses.
A variety of one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 1,000 to 2,575 square feet, will be available at market and subsidized housing rates.

Located at 6201 Broad Street on the site of a high-rise apartment demolished in 2005, Liberty Park is designed to reconnect the area with greater East Liberty through the reconfiguration and construction of new public streets.

Stephen Ponter of Devlin Architecture designed the project; contractor is Mistick Construction. McCormack Baron Salazar (MBS), the nation’s top for-profit developer of economically integrated urban neighborhoods, is developing the project; landscape designer is LaQuatra Bonci Associates.

"We are pleased to take an important step in returning a neighborhood to East Liberty--getting it that much closer to a truly vibrant place where people of all incomes and races can eat, live, play and shop." says Karl Sclachter with MBS.

The project is financed with assistance from the URA, PA Housing Finance Agency, ELDI and SunAmerica Housing Partners.

Future phases of Liberty Park may include additional rental housing, more than 50 for sale homes, and a public park.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: ELDI

Italian grocer considering entry into SouthSide Works
Pittsburgh Business Times - October 27, 2006by Tim Schooley


Opening a new store is a big decision for a small family-owned market.

But Leonard Labriola Italian Stores Inc., a specialty Italian market more than 40 years old, which has locations in Aspinwall, Monroeville and Penn Hills, is considering an expansion into the SouthSide Works.

Leonard Labriola Sr., who operates the business with the rest of his family, confirmed the business has a letter of intent with Soffer Organization for a new location on Carson Street. He hopes to make a final decision by January.

"We found our area. We have a nice following," said Labriola. "We just like to spread out a little bit."

Helping in his decision is his son Leonard Jr., a recent college graduate, who is moving into SouthSide Works and finds the idea of operating the family store nearby appealing.

If the business makes a final commitment, it would be the first time the Labriolas operated a store within the city limits since it closed its earliest store in East Liberty in 1970.

Labriola said he also is considering opening a location in Cranberry.

In an age of big box chain stores, Labriola said business is strong. His markets offer a wide variety of specialty Italian foods such as oils and pastas, as well as weekly staples such as deli meats and cheeses.

"The big box stores leave a lot of room for you to compete with," said Labriola. "Especially with Giant Eagle, we'll come way under their pricing."

Giant Eagle Inc. spokesman Dan Donovan wouldn't comment specifically about a competitor. But his company always strives to provide competitive prices to its customers, noting its fuelperks! gasoline incentive program as an example.

Officials for Soffer Organization, the developer of SouthSide Works, were unavailable for comment.

Molly Blasier, a principal of Shadyside-based Blasier Urban LLC who helped attract Whole Foods Market to East Liberty, believed such smaller markets were often overlooked in the discussion over the need for supermarkets in the city.

A similar kind of market is expected to open Downtown, supplied by another local Italian food purveyor, George E. DeLallo Co. Inc., based in Jeannette.

"These types of stores add so much style and their own uniqueness to any neighborhood. But it's difficult for family-owned businesses to expand," said Blasier, noting they often need other family members to open new stores. "It's not like a machine like the national stores are."

Another North Shore building possible
Saturday, November 11, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Another office building could be in the works on the North Shore between Heinz Field and PNC Park.

Continental Real Estate Cos., chosen by the Pirates and Steelers to develop land between the two stadiums, is talking to a large law firm and to an accounting firm about locating on the North Shore, Chairman Frank Kass said yesterday. He would not name either.

He also said there is a possibility that Equitable Resources, which already has its headquarters on the North Shore, could be adding more space if its purchase of Dominion Peoples wins regulatory approval.

"We're getting close," Mr. Kass said yesterday. "Hopefully by the first of the year we can land one of the three."

Equitable would need more space if its purchase is finalized, given its plans to add up to 200 jobs in the region, spokeswoman Pat Kornick said.

"At this point, we're looking at all options, including the North Shore," she said.

Any new construction would supplement the existing Equitable headquarters and the Del Monte Foods building, both of which have been erected since PNC Park and Heinz Field opened in 2001.

Mr. Kass said there are two likely sites for another office building. One would be next to the Equitable building. Another would be west of that, closer to Heinz Field.

A third possibility would be near a proposed residential site closer to PNC Park. But Mr. Kass said that site probably won't be available until tunneling for the light-rail extension from Downtown to the North Shore is done.

At this point, nearly all of the space in the Del Monte and Equitable buildings, 470,000 square feet in all, have been leased, Mr. Kass said. Only 15,000 square feet of office space and 12,000 square feet of ground floor restaurant and retail space remain available.

The Hyde Park steakhouse opened in the Equitable building last month, and Fox Sports Network Pittsburgh is expected to move into the Del Monte building in January.

"We're very happy with the activity," Mr. Kass said.

In addition, he is expecting the Steelers to soon finalize a deal with the Cordish Co. on development of an entertainment district next to Heinz Field, the centerpiece of which would be an open air concert venue with a glass top.

Other features would include restaurants, shops and clubs and an outdoor performance plaza. There's also a chance Cordish will put in one of its NASCAR Sports Grille restaurants.

Mr. Kass said construction of the entertainment district could begin before the end of 2007. Steelers President Art Rooney II declined comment


While continued growth on the N Shore is great, as is developing the land between the stadiums, I would prefer encouragement of leasing downtown and getting the vacancy rate improved first.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developm...38941penn.aspx

November 22, 2006
$8 million condo coming to downtown
A new condo planned for the Cultural District will soon join downtown’s growing number of residential opportunities. By 2007, construction will start at 941 Penn Avenue, next to the Courtyard Marriott.

The $8 million condo will feature seventeen for-sale units ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet. Four stories will be added to the stone, brick and glass structure’s existing five floors. Vacant for ten years, the building was once an electrical supply company’s warehouse. Construction is expected to be completed during the fall of 2007.

“The location is amazing because it's truly an existing downtown neighborhood,” says Kathy Wallace with Benyon & Co., who is marketing the condos. “It’s a somewhat rare opportunity--the first condo in that Penn corridor.”

Two- and three-bedroom units will feature 16-foot floor-to-ceiling windows, terraces and wine lockers. Developed by Jack Benhoff of Solara Group, Inc., the project is being designed by Rob Indovina.

“This building is ripe for development," says Wallace. “It’s really coming along down here, with individual developers bringing a richness to downtown.” Calling the condo an “elegant, boutique type project” with “highly customizable units,” Wallace says a Steeler is considering the location. “We have people interested without any marketing.”

Starting at $225 per square foot, Wallace feels the condos are more reasonable than the downtown competition. “We’re more Tribeca and everyone else is Park Avenue.” She adds that Benhoff is looking to develop a second project in the city.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Kathy Wallace

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2038/941_penn_300.jpg

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06324/739760-53.stm

Federal Hill may revitalize neighborhood
Today's groundbreaking a glimpse of hope after decades of decline
Monday, November 20, 2006

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Since its last days as a dense, full-service Victorian-era corridor in the 1970s, the central North Side segment of Federal Street has exemplified the social rebuke of cities in the decades before.

By 1990, the stretch was still dense with buildings, but most were lifeless. Progress came to resemble a swath of barren lots.

A groundbreaking today signifies the first explosive infusion of tax-base potential on Federal in decades. Federal Hill, a 60-house, 40-condo project of the Central Northside Neighborhood Council, will occupy several blocks of Federal and adjoining portions of Alpine Avenue and Jacksonia Street. The 11 a.m. groundbreaking, at Federal and Hemlock Street, will begin construction of the first row of five homes, to be finished in the spring and financed for $1.8 million.

The development coincides with planning for a new Carnegie Library branch on the site of a former gas station at 1210 Federal.

By moving its Allegheny branch from an historic 115-year-old Richardsonian Romanesque landmark inside Allegheny Circle, the Carnegie system is acknowledging Federal's viability for investment.

"When the Allegheny branch sat in a traffic circle, we lost access to the pedestrian thoroughfare," said Barbara Mistick, director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

The building was hit by lightning last April and needs repairs worth millions. The Carnegie will make repairs but has rejected its space in the shared building as too big, its operations too costly.

"We looked all across the North Side and chose the core of the neighborhood," said Ms. Mistick.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority secured the Federal site for the library.

The library's design is in the community-input stage, but Ms. Mistick said she wants it to move forward quickly. "It would be our intent to get the project started next year. And I can't tell you how excited I am about this convergence."

Allegheny General Hospital gave the corridor its first big boost when it built an office building on Federal in 2003.

The Federal Hill project hit many bumps, said Rebecca Davidson-Wagner, the neighborhood council's development specialist. Some building owners resisted selling. Properties the council had first thought could be rehabilitated became too far gone. They joined a list of demolitions to wait their turn.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency rejected the first applications because land acquisition was not advanced enough. The neighborhood's project chairman moved away and had to be replaced.

The URA helped assemble land, but much of it was heavily liened. Some land slated for future phases of construction still is, said Ms. Davidson-Wagner, "and we're going to have to pay the liens or get the city to, but it's been a struggle to get them to replenish the city buy-back fund."

Finally, there's the overarching reason for all the effort in the first place: blight. Not an easy sell to investors.

"You have bankers who say, 'You want what?'" said Ms. Davidson-Wagner, "and private developers who say, 'You want to sell a house for what?'"

The three-story brick rowhouses will match the architectural character of the neighborhood, but the comparison ends there. In blighted areas, even the most basic new house often costs more than double or triple the market value of any existing home within blocks.

In one stretch of five houses on Alpine within two blocks of Federal, every house is assessed below $40,000. The new townhouses will be priced from $120,000 to $220,000, with second deferred mortgages for people who meet income requirements.

The URA will offer the second mortgages by floating bonds. Qualified buyers' incomes can't exceed 80 percent of the median, said Jerome Dettore, executive director of the URA.

The 40 condos scheduled for later phases will cost less, and there will be scattered moderate- to low-income rental units. But Federal Hill will not address the housing needs of the poor, as almost no one does these days.

"We're having an erosion in dollars for the lowest-income people," said Elizabeth G. Hersh, executive director of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, "and it's because of federal policy and a steady stream of cutbacks. There's a myth that the private market will provide these units."

Some longtime central North Side residents have cried gentrification in recent years as housing prices in parts of the neighborhood have shot up. Some have even claimed the neighborhood council is conspiring to get rid of low-income homeowners and renters.

"It's frustrating to hear that when we worked so hard to make it as affordable as we could," said Ms. Davidson-Wagner.

This back-and-forth is echoed throughout the city where neighborhood nonprofits struggle to attract investment. The near desertion of the city by those who could afford to relocate to the suburbs in the 1950s and '60s set in motion a Catch-22 for low-income people left behind, who now plead for investment and attention from the city but who, when it comes, often feel alienated by the influx of new people.

A restoration of population is good as long as economic segregation doesn't result, said Ms. Hersh. "The only thing that works is balance."

Financing for Federal Hill includes soft loans through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency's Home Ownership Choice program, started in 2000 as a hand-up to distressed neighborhoods. One stipulation is that the developer work with a nonprofit group.

The agency makes a loan to the developer -- in this case, the neighborhood council and the builder -- and takes 10 percent off the top to buy securities to pay itself back so the developer doesn't have to. The money comes on the condition that the municipality match the loan.

"It's a tool to drive the cost of housing down," said Brian Hudson, CEO of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. "And it offers incentive" for nonprofit neighborhood groups.

The prices of the townhouses could not be as low as they are without incentives, said Andy Haines, a vice-president at S&A Homes, the builder.

With minimum quality standards, "you can't build a house for less than $100,000," he said. The range of cost now is $80 to $120 per square foot. These [townhouses] range from 1,400 to 2,000. Do the math."

The math puts a 1,400-square-foot house, at $120 per, at $168,000 in costs.

"Building new housing in the city is difficult," he said. "You have old water and sewer lines" that have to be separated. "Just to get water and sewer taps takes a long time. Old basements from previous houses have to be dug out. That's why a lot of developers like us -- suburban home builders -- tend not to do much work in cities. It costs more."

"Without a neighborhood group that has a commitment to economic diversity, you don't have levels of affordable [housing]," said Joan Kimmel, the Federal Hill project chairman, "It is our commitment to do that. How to build for the poor belongs to a larger national dialogue."

Mr. Hudson of the PHFA said affordability "has always been an issue."

Some counties have housing trust funds that use money from title insurance, realty transfer taxes, appropriations and unclaimed property, he said. "We're going to push for a statewide housing trust fund, and we're going to be lobbying hard" for the federal government to restore housing subsidies.


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(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_480423.html

Greensburg-Pittsburgh rail lines inch closer to reality

By Rich Cholodofsky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, November 18, 2006


Westmoreland County transit officials will move ahead with plans to build rail lines into Pittsburgh -- one from Greensburg that would travel through the central part of the county and a second from Arnold that would run along the Allegheny River.
Members of the county transit authority this week announced the agency has applied for $500,000 in state money to pay for the final feasibility study needed before a decision can be made on whether to build the rail lines.

The grant would come from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and could be approved before the end of the year, said state Rep. Tom Tangretti, D-Hempfield Township. Tangretti also serves as a member of the transit authority.

"These are good alternatives to what we have available to us now. It will enhance the credibility of the entire central Westmoreland County corridor and prove a consistent, frequent, convenient and cheap option for travel every day," Tangretti said.





Local transit officials characterized the feasibility study as the last hurdle before construction funding can be sought and the system can be built.

Cost estimates for the Greensburg-to-Pittsburgh rail project range from $190 million for a limited service system to a more ambitious $300 million line that would operate every 30 minutes during peak times.

Preliminary studies have indicated that the more expensive system could carry about 8,800 passengers every day for the 49-minute trip between Greensburg and downtown Pittsburgh.

Rail service would utilize existing tracks and train stations in Greensburg and Pittsburgh. Other stops have been proposed for Jeannette, Irwin, Trafford, Wilmerding, East Pittsburgh, Braddock, Swissvale and Wilkinsburg.

Planners have also suggested extending the line eight miles east to Latrobe.

The proposed rail system from Arnold to Pittsburgh's Strip District received the highest level of support in the regional study.

That rail line is projected to cost between $140 million for a system that originates in Arnold with stops in New Kensington, Oakmont, Verona and Lawrenceville. A $330 million option that would extend the line into downtown Pittsburgh and possibly Oakland also has been discussed.

Initial estimates have suggested that the proposed Allegheny rail line would cater to about 1,900 passengers to as many as 6,700 daily riders making the 34-minute commute.

The proposed rail lines were singled out earlier this year in a study conducted by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission as two of four preferred options to improve transportation in the region.

Officials with the transit authority, which now exclusively runs bus service throughout much of Westmoreland County and commuter service into Pittsburgh, said they are unsure whether their agency or some other entity would operate the rail lines.

Authority Executive Director Larry Morris said the final study is expected to answer that question, as well as outline possible funding options for the projects and better gauge better ridership projections.

The authority already has endorsed both rail systems.

"They are alternatives to provide additional transportation options. Anybody who has commuted to Pittsburgh understands how long and difficult that can be," Morris said.



Rich Cholodofsky can be reached at rcholodofsky@tribweb.com or (724) 830-6293.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/37windhill.aspx

$2.4 million Windom Hill Place completes phase one
Windom Hill Place’s first four town homes, located above 10th Street on the Southside, are now complete. The project’s model unit was showcased during an opening celebration on November 9.

The three-story, 2,800 square-foot units feature three bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms and finished lower levels. Amenities include ten-foot ceilings, two-car garages and balconies overlooking downtown. The contemporary craftsman style town homes were designed by John Martine of Strada Architects and constructed by Sota Construction Services; developer is Windom Hill Place, LLP.

“We were careful to make decisions with a lot of thoughtfulness, so that when we were done, we would not need to change much,” says Ernie Sota, whose work on Windom Hill was recently profiled in The New York Times.

Sota, who expects phase two to begin soon, is particularly excited about the use of native plants, such as American cranberry and asters, which require lower maintenance and provide a habitat for birds and butterflies.

Designed to significantly reduce energy consumption, Windom Hill is Energy Star compliant, meeting strict guidelines set by the EPA and U.S. Department of Energy. The project utilizes renewable and recycled materials, including bamboo and cork flooring, exterior aluminum panels and cast stone.

“The high quality design, meticulous attention to detail and sustainable green features are what everybody should be conscious of in the way they live,” says Barbara Kurdys-Miller with Prudential Preferred Realty, who is marketing the four untis now for sale.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Ernie Sota; Barbara Kurdys-Miller

Image courtesy of Sota Construction Services, Inc.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2037/windom_hill_300.jpg

http://www.sotaconstruction.com/WindomHill/images/rendering.jpg

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06318/738145-57.stm

Airport development finally gets fast-tracked; start near on new tract
Tuesday, November 14, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



It took local officials nearly 14 years to begin developing thousands of acres of land around Pittsburgh International Airport. Now there seems to be no stopping it.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority, which now oversees the land, hopes to start development of a 60-acre parcel adjacent to Cherrington office park before the end of the year.

It would be the second large tract under development in less than 12 months. In January, the authority began road, utility and other infrastructure work and grading for Clinton Commerce Park, a 240-acre site at Route 60 and Clinton Road.

Yesterday, the authority board awarded an $8.6 million contract to Oakdale Construction to begin similar work on the Cherrington Extension tract, with hopes of having it ready for development by next fall.

The project, totaling $10 million in all, involves grading and utility work and construction of a road from Cherrington office park to Ewing Road, unlocking the land for development. Also, another lane will be added to two-lane Ewing.

Even before the first shovel has hit the ground, the authority has secured a letter of intent with DiCicco Development to lease about half the parcel, with plans to develop it in phases with a mix of tech, flex and professional office space, said Randy Forister, authority economic development director.

DiCicco erected the headquarters building for Lanxess Corp. in RIDC Park West and also developed Westpointe Corporate Center Two in Moon for Nova Chemicals. The company is headed by Sam DiCicco.

"He does a really nice quality product so we're excited to have him on the team," Mr. Forister said.

DiCicco will have a 30-year lease with options to renew. Mr. Forister said under the terms of the lease, it will be responsible for developing another building every 18 months.

He would not disclose any other terms.

He said DiCicco will not begin any development until the site work has been completed next fall.

The Cherrington Extension project is being done in conjunction with the Moon Transportation Authority. Of the $10 million cost, $8 million is being covered through state grants. The airport authority and Moon Transportation Authority will pay the rest.

As the airport authority starts development of the Cherrington Extension project, it is finishing up grading and infrastructure work on Clinton Commerce Park. Mr. Forister said that work should be completed by early next month.

The Buncher Co. already has begun work on a 400,000-square-foot warehouse at the Clinton Commerce Park site under agreement with the authority. It will lease and manage the warehouse and pay a base rate of 8 cents a square foot to the authority, plus additional amounts based on the success of the venture.

Clinton Commerce Park initially will involve five sites over 100 acres, allowing for the development of 1.5 million square feet of building space. The county and airport authority believe the park will create 750 to 1,500 jobs.

The authority took over control of the land from the county after its creation in 1999, and has made a concerted effort to get development moving.

"I think we're making great progress," Mr. Forister said.



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(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06314/737184-147.stm

Little disruption promised during subway work
Officials say boring under river to North Shore won't impact Downtown streets as 1980s construction did
Friday, November 10, 2006

By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Building a $435 million light-rail extension from Downtown to the North Side will take four years but won't be as disruptive as subway construction of the early 1980s, Port Authority officials said yesterday.

"I've heard the horror stories of the past," said Henry Nutbrown, engineering-construction manager for the authority. "This project takes a different form, mostly out-of-sight, not top-down," explaining how tunnels will be mostly bored below ground rather than being excavated from street level, as they were during the notorious "Big Dig."

Also, the project footprint will impact only a relatively small section of the city compared to the original subway under Sixth and Liberty avenues, which cut a long, linear path through the heart of the Golden Triangle. That project meant wooden decking over streets and a dozen intersections along with temporary, clumsy and often makeshift sidewalks.

Mr. Nutbrown and other officials yesterday explained the details of the North Shore Connector to members of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership of business and civic interests during an informational session co-sponsored by Sustainable Pittsburgh.

No specific dates were given for street closings, since a multitude of permits are being finalized and details are being worked out with 13 public and private utilities whose facilities stand in the way of construction -- from steam heating pipes to fiber optic cables.

But initial work on Stanwix Street, between Liberty Avenue and Fort Duquesne Boulevard, will take place during overnight hours and on weekends to minimize inconvenience, possibly getting under way in three weeks.

"We're interested in impacts not only in daytime but at night because of the number of people who come to the Cultural District," said Michael Edwards, executive director of the Downtown Partnership. "We want to make sure we won't be negatively impacting all of the high-energy activities taking place Downtown."

The Port Authority has awarded only one of 18 contracts needed to extend the line north of Gateway Station to the North Shore, which will require boring twin tunnels under the Allegheny River and construction of three stations.

However, the $156.5 million contract represents about half of civil construction and 2,400 feet of the 1.2-mile line including the bored tunnels, "cut-and-cover" sections and the transition to ground level on the North Shore.

The next contracts in the sequence will involve building the shell of a relocated Gateway Center Station in a triangular-shaped, landscaped parcel of land between Liberty and Penn avenues, followed by the structures to elevate the line along Reedsdale Street from Heinz Field west to the Miller Printing Co. building, the terminus near the West End Bridge.

A "launch pit" will be built near PNC Park to accommodate the behemoth tunnel-boring machine that will cut a 22-foot-diameter hole under the river, ending up in a "receiving pit" on Stanwix Street, in front of the former Horne's Department Store building.

The receiving pit will be a big hole in the ground -- 55 feet deep, 60 feet long and curb-to-curb wide on Stanwix.

Mr. Nutbrown said the one-block stretch of Stanwix Street will be closed up to 150 days, making it the most disruptive piece of Downtown work. Traffic will be detoured around the block but pedestrian access will be maintained.

The authority's inability to provide specific dates and hours for work generated some criticism.

"Thirty days is not quite enough time to do any real planning," Mr. Edwards said.

Authority officials promised to provide timely information, including e-mail alerts, a construction telephone hotline, and meetings like the one held yesterday. People can sign up for the info at www.portauthority.org.

There were several questions raised frequently in light of controversy surrounding the project. Here are a few:

Q: Why was the alignment selected?

A: It's the shortest distance to the North Shore. It has the most potential for development and ridership, estimated at 14,300 on an average weekday. Pitt, Steelers and Pirates events are expected to account for 12 percent of annual ridership.

Q: Why tunnels?

A: While existing and new bridges were analyzed during the planning process, tunnels were shown to be cost-effective and cause minimal disruption to traffic, business and proposed development. Mr. Nutbrown also said boring tunnels has become "garden variety construction," with five companies manufacturing tunnel-boring machines and 750 of the machines in operation.

Q: What about all the dirt and rock?

A: It will be removed from the launch pit on the North Shore and hauled away by trucks. "We picked a point nearest the interstate (279) to be as sensitive as possible to businesses and sports venues," Mr. Nutbrown said.

Q: What about the 10th Street Bypass?

A: It will be closed 130 days (an extra 30 days in the eastbound direction) between the Fort Duquesne Bridge and David L. Lawrence Convention Center, starting early next year, so the retaining wall can be modified to accommodate tunnel construction. About 9,000 drivers a day who use the road have been detoured many times in recent years for Fort Pitt Bridge work, convention center construction and floods.


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(Joe Grata can be reached at jgrata@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1985. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06305/734543-53.stm

East Liberty development of new mixed-income housing at halfway point
Wednesday, November 01, 2006

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette
Alethea Sims leads an East Liberty citizens group that has helped the community transition to a housing mix for all income types, like the new Penn Manor units under construction on North St. Clair Street, where Ms. Sims stood yesterday.

At the midpoint of East Liberty's latest housing transformation, Saundra Truss lives in the only high-rise still standing.

In a year, according to her plan, she will be ensconced in her chosen apartment in the new Liberty Park low-rise apartments at Broad Street and Collins Avenue. A high-rise on that site was razed in 2004.

When finished, the first phase will include 16 three-story buildings with 124 units of mixed-income rental housing.

Alethea Sims is passing on Liberty Park and Penn Manor, a three-story development of 55 units that will be ready for rent next month. She wants to live on the footprint of the East Mall high-rise, where she lived for 20 years.

Plans are nascent for redevelopment of the site where the 17-story building straddled Penn Avenue. It was razed last summer, and Ms. Sims watched the effects of the wrecking ball from a replacement apartment at Penn Plaza across the street.

When all the East Liberty high-rises are gone, most former residents -- about 300 -- will have bided time in temporary housing with dibs on their more community-friendly replacements. Rents will be commensurate with what people were paying before.

Six years ago, East Liberty's comeback centered around 10 new townhouses on Mellon Street and the arrival of Home Depot. But the journey started a decade ago, said Rob Stephany of East Liberty Development Inc.

"In 1996, the citizens began meeting, and the consensus was that East Liberty was a 'traditional town' that needed to undo the effects of urban renewal," he said.

Many low-income people tolerate musical-chairs housing scenarios cyclically. In the most recent cycle, planners and policy makers have deemed high-rises big mistakes and devised human-scale, streetscape planning that avoids isolating the poor and the social problems that shadow them. But it also usually avoids their input.

Ms. Sims, president of the Citizens Organization for East Liberty -- called CORE -- asserted the right of its membership to sit at the table when East Liberty's planners began building a master plan.

"It wouldn't have been done right if it wasn't for CORE," said Ms. Truss. "People would have just been put out."

Ms. Sims said it has taken awhile for the people she calls "the suits" to see the wisdom of listening to people who actually live the plans being hatched.

"They're getting better at it," she said. "I don't know of any other neighborhood where the residents had this much input."

The staff at East Liberty Development Inc. say they have been committed to the needs of displaced tenants.

"It was imperative that we were," said Mr. Stephany, the group's director of commercial development. "With the earlier urban renewal [of the 1960s], the people didn't see the plan, but they bought it, and they got burned."

"When we started the process with residents," said Ernie Hogan, East Liberty Development's director of residential development, "it was agreed we would replace unit for unit for tenants who wanted to return." Mr. Hogan said his group did a four-day outreach to former high-rise tenants this past summer.

The discussions "went back and forth a lot until they were a little friendlier to people who are low- to moderate-income," she said. "Our thing was we didn't want it to be like Crawford Square [in the lower Hill], where people who gave up their homes can't afford to live now."

The company that developed Crawford Square -- McCormack Baron Salazar -- is the developer of the new Liberty Park.

Another housing plan involves scattered-site apartment buildings along the border with Highland Park. Some will include support services for the disabled and recovering addicts, in partnership with East End Cooperative Ministries and Sojourner House, said Mr. Hogan.

He said people are on waiting lists for all the proposed housing.

Some of Ms. Truss' neighbors in the Penn Circle high-rise will be moving into the spanking-new Penn Manor at Penn Avenue and St. Clair Street next month, but she's satisfied to wait another year for Liberty Park.

"There's a smaller number of units in the buildings," she said of her choice. "I'll have my own washer and dryer, central air and a security system. I'm excited to have a new apartment."

Liberty Park is on a 13-acre site, four acres of which will be configured into a public park, said Kendall Pelling, planning and acquisitions coordinator at East Liberty Development.

He said the three-phase project will be completed by 2010.

Some of the homes for sale in the last phase will have deferred mortgages to help entry-level homeowners, "but we will also have market-rate rentals, something the neighborhood hasn't had," said Mr. Hogan.

"East Liberty lost 4,000 houses to urban renewal" in the 1960s, he said. "We know we won't be able to bring it all back, but we're looking at how to bring some of it back in the most meaningful way."



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(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )

more print on the Penn Ave. condo project

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06326/740401-53.stm

More condos planned for Downtown
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



A long-vacant former dry goods store is set to become the latest entrant in Downtown Pittsburgh's housing boom, developers told the city planning commission yesterday.

Philadelphia-based Solara Ventures intends to turn 941 Penn Ave. into 17 condominiums with a ground-floor store, said Jack Benoff, president of the firm.

Condominiums in front of the building would be 2,400 square feet, while those in the back would be 1,800 square feet. Each unit would have a 5-foot-deep balcony.

The design by architect Robert Indovina involves building four new floors atop the existing structure, replacing those destroyed by a fire in the 1940s. The cost of the project is expected to be $5 million to $6 million.

Mr. Benoff said he may pursue a small public facade renovation loan, but intended to rely primarily on private funding.

"We'd like to have people moving in by this time next year," said Mr. Benoff. Sales prices would range from $335,000 to around $700,000 for the penthouse unit.

The commission must approve the plan because the project is Downtown and involves more than $50,000 in facade renovations. It may vote in two weeks.

There are 246 condominiums under construction or in final development stages Downtown, and another 1,300 planned.

In another matter, the commission delayed a vote on placing a blight designation on a one-block area of Larimer, bounded by Penn Avenue, East Liberty Boulevard, Fifth Avenue and the East Busway. One of the property owners on the block, George F. Eichleay of Eichleay Engineers Inc., wanted more information on the effects of the designation.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority has requested the designation so it can pursue a $13 million to $14 million package of aid for the Bakery Square project, which would turn the former Nabisco bakery complex into offices, shops, a hotel and homes. Some of the package, to be raised through tax-increment financing, would go toward improvements in nearby Penn Circle.

Bakery Square is expected to be a $105 million to $125 million investment, led by Walnut Capital Partners.


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(Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542. )

While the Liberty Ave project is "small" I love that these old buildings are being converted and adding to the new residential ones, especially in the Cultural District (though it's happening elsewhere is good news too).

this article is about anti-crime measures in the Strip District... but contains some info on development projects there:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06334/742407-53.stm

Anti-crime group plots strategy for Strip District
Thursday, November 30, 2006

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



An anti-crime task force yesterday outlined strategies for keeping the Strip District's entertainment area safe as it takes another growth spurt of tourist and residential development.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. led a forum of about 35 people, some of them business owners and residents, yesterday at Gilda's Place on Smallman Street.

After two non-fatal shootings attributed to night clubbing on Smallman last summer, a task force of businesses, service agencies, elected and law enforcement officials convened with Neighbors in the Strip, an advocacy group, to begin plotting against recurrences.

"We have been increasing our presence at night," said Assistant Police Chief Paul Donaldson, adding that violent crimes and car thefts were down 12 percent in the first 10 months of this year and down 14 percent overall, as compared with a 2 percent drop in all crime citywide.

Becky Rodgers, executive director of Neighbors in the Strip, allowed that "the Strip is one of the safest neighborhoods," but that these measures are necessary to keep it that way.

Yellow Cab President James Campolongo said his hope is for three new, well-lit taxi stands. The city Department of Public Works still has to approve the sites, he said.

Since the end of summer, his company has increased its cab presence in the Strip by 35 percent and demand has jumped 12 percent, which is "unheard of in our industry," he said.

Mr. Zappala said that in August, "the suggestion was made that Duquesne Light had to be part of" the anti-crime team. The utility responded by tripling what it refers to as "pavement foot-candle value" -- 26 additional 400-watt street lights on Smallman.

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership joined the team, and yesterday PDP executive director Mike Edwards said Downtown's health depends on the health of adjacent neighborhoods. He showed images of the investments throughout the Golden Triangle, including 500 new housing units this year and 1,000 next year.

"We're tracking investment, and a lot of it is near the Strip," he said.

A Hampton Inn Express is being built across from the Heinz History Center on Smallman. Plans are moving ahead to redevelop the terminal produce building on Smallman into the Strip Market Hall, a 45,000-square-foot attraction Neighbors in the Strip estimates will increase local tourism by 35 percent.

In mid-November, the Cork Factory Lofts opened its first 100 of 297 units, and property owners are increasingly interested in turning upper floors into residential rent opportunities, said Ms. Rodgers.

She said Neighbors in the Strip is raising matching funds of $70,000 for a $345,000 grant from U.S. Rep,. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, to upgrade the portal to the Strip District from Downtown -- 11th Street at Penn and Liberty avenues and Smallman Street.

Mr. Edwards cited the current look of the portal, notably the underpass on Penn Avenue, as a hindrance to anyone wanting to make a smooth connection between the Strip and Downtown.

"From an urban planning perspective, it's a very hard edge," he said, noting that the entrance to the Strip is a pretty grim area.

"The smell of urine does nothing to improve the experience of being Downtown or in the Strip," he said.


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(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06334/742404-53.stm

Apartments, not condos, for G.C. Murphy site
Struggling with economics of project, developer chooses rental units in plans to renovate old Market Square store
Thursday, November 30, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Apartments are in, condos are out in a Washington County developer's latest plans for the reuse of the old G.C. Murphy store on Fifth Avenue, Downtown.

Millcraft Industries now is looking to put upwards of 50 apartments in the old store with rents priced to attract Downtown workers earning $40,000 to $50,000 a year, Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate, said yesterday.

"They will be some of the less expensive in town," he said.

The developer originally had planned a mix of condos and apartments at the site, but decided to go with all apartments to get federal historic tax credits to help lower the cost of the project. The tax credits can cover up to 20 percent of all renovation costs, but are not available for condominiums.

Millcraft has been struggling for months to find a way to renovate the Murphy store -- actually five separate buildings with varying floor plans -- at a reasonable cost. At one time, it faced a $12 million gap between its financing and the cost of the renovation.

Jerome Dettore, executive director of the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority, said yesterday that Millcraft and partner Ira Morgan have made progress in closing the gap.

"They've brought the gap down, but there's still work to be done," he said.

Mr. Piatt said he believes Millcraft has found the right balance in terms of cost and the mix of amenities, which would include street-level retail. The total cost of the renovation is now estimated at $30 million to $40 million, up from $21 million.

"It's still not beautiful as far as the economics go. We're not making a lot of money. We're doing something good for the city," he said.

The apartments would target people with incomes of $40,000 to $50,000 a year, including Downtown workers and recent college graduates.

The average apartment would feature about 1,100 square feet, with rents running "much less" than $1.50 a square foot, Mr. Piatt said. Most apartments would be 11/2-- to two-bedroom units, although studios and three bedrooms also would be available.

"We feel the day we start moving forward, these units are going to be in high demand," Mr. Piatt said.

He said there is a chance the apartments at some point could be converted to condos. To get the historic tax credits, they must remain rentals for at least five years.

Millcraft and Mr. Morgan are expected to present their proposal to the URA board Dec. 14. They are seeking to develop 19 URA-owned properties in the Fifth and Forbes corridor, including the Murphy buildings.

Mr. Dettore said he likes the idea of doing all apartments in the Murphy's conversion.

"Frankly, I think it's better to have rental apartments," he said. "Our goal is to have them moderately priced. I think the market is stronger for rentals. I think it's better that they are rentals."

Gov. Ed Rendell has pledged $11 million in state funds for the renovation and a separate $50 million Forbes Village project, an 18-story high-rise on Forbes Avenue near Market Square featuring 150 to 200 apartments and condos and retail space.

Millcraft has asked for $18 million from the state for the projects, and Mr. Piatt said the parties are continuing discussions. Mr. Rendell has said in the past more money may be available as the projects advance.

However, Mr. Piatt said the developer's primary focus at this point is the Murphy's project, which he sees as the linchpin of the corridor. If the URA accepts the plan next month, Mr. Piatt hopes to begin work in six to eight months.

He said late Mayor Bob O'Connor's vision for the corridor included a "sustainable G.C. Murphy building. To take this and make it happen, I'm sure he would be honored.

"I guess it's really a trademark of Fifth and Forbes. So many people have looked at it and it has sat there so long, it's time to get it done," he said.


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(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06335/742700-55.stm

Officials hoping to spur growth near Waterfront
45 sites would be converted into housing, retail
Friday, December 01, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Local development officials are hoping the success of The Waterfront will spill over into the streets of Homestead.

The Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority is looking for developers willing to take a chance on converting about 45 publicly owned properties perched at the doorstep of the popular shopping and entertainment strip into housing and retail.

While The Waterfront is booming with shopping and nightlife, the complex itself ended up being "walled off from Homestead," said Dennis Davin, county economic development director.

The county is hoping to rectify that through the proposed redevelopment. Over the past four years, it has acquired the 45 properties with an eye toward potential rehabilitation or reuse.

Most of the properties are on East Sixth Avenue or East Seventh Avenue within a couple of blocks of The Waterfront's Amity Street entrance. Another group of properties are on Eighth Avenue, the main thoroughfare through Homestead. It intersects with Amity.

Mr. Davin said the county and the borough are looking for street-level retail reuses on Eighth Avenue with upper-floor residential. Closer to The Waterfront, they generally see residential development, though they are not wed to any one plan.

"We'll listen to anything right now," he said.

As part of the effort, the county intends to reuse any historic buildings it owns, though non-historic structures could be demolished in favor of new construction. To help stir interest, money already has gone to improve sidewalks, lighting and facades in the area.

The request for proposals is based on the Steel Valley Redevelopment Plan created by officials in Homestead, West Homestead and Munhall. Local officials will review the proposals in conjunction with the county.

The goal of the development, according to the RFP, is to create a "vibrant destination to supplement existing arts, cultural, and restaurant amenities" and to complement The Waterfront.

"There's a lot of synergy. The other thing is there's a lot of traffic that comes in from Eighth Avenue. The idea is there's so much traffic, let's get a piece of that and it helps Homestead," Mr. Davin said.

Proposals are due Jan. 5. The Redevelopment Authority sent proposals to developers Nov. 20. Based on the number of inquiries so far, interest appears to be good, Mr. Davin said. "We feel pretty comfortable that we're going to get something," he said.

One person the county has talked to about the redevelopment is Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch, who has spent a lot of time and money helping his hometown. Mr. Davin said Mr. Batch also owns a piece of property in the proposed redevelopment area.

"We sent a proposal to him. He's done some terrific work in Homestead with residential homes he has rehabilitated. He's really made a commitment to Homestead," he said.

Mr. Davin said he isn't sure at this point whether the county will offer subsidies to help spur development.

"If developers come back and say they need no assistance, that's great. If they do need assistance, we'll look at it on a case-by-case basis," he said.


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(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/40pennhls.aspx

Redevelopment of 206-acre Penn Hills brownfield to start this month
Plans to prepare one of the region’s largest brownfields for development could start as early as this week. Located on Universal Road in Penn Hills, the 206-acre site will feature 250-300 single family homes and a 20-acre industrial park.

Formerly used by Universal Atlas Cement, the site is being developed by Salt Lake City-based Erekson Corporation, which purchased the property from MM&G Associates of Tennessee in November.

"Due to its location and large useable acreage, this former industrial site represents an economic development opportunity; it has very good access and tremendous potential,” says Dennis Davin, Director of Allegheny County's Department of Economic Development. “It will be great to have a private developer put this property back into productive use and back on the tax rolls.”

Estimated to cost $4 million, site preparation entails filling coal mine pits, crushing and removing 300,000 tons of concrete, building demolition and asbestos remediation. “The developer is considering local firms to perform environmental assessments of the site,” says Davin. An economic analysis of the site, conducted several years ago, recommended clearing up the site’s lingering tax issues, initiating an environmental site assessment and developing a reuse plan that includes infrastructure improvements. “It appears the new owner intends to do all of that.”

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Dennis Davin

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/40phipps.aspx

Phipps to become first conservatory of its kind with new $10 million green facility
On Dec. 9, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens opens its new 12,000-square-foot Tropical Forest Conservatory. Designed by IKM, Inc. and built by Turner Construction Company, the $10 million facility is an international model for green conservatory construction and operation. Featuring cascading waterfalls and an overhead catwalk, the 60-foot high space debuts with a "forests of Thailand" theme.

The facility incorporates two major eco-technologies. It is the first conservatory in the world to use a solid oxide fuel cell--an energy-efficient, highly-reliable fuel source that produces no harmful waste. Buried 15 feet below Phipps’ greenhouses, 1,800 square feet of earth tubes--manufactured by Pittsburgh-based Siemens Power Generation--create a sustainable, non-electric passive ventilation and cooling system. Unlike traditional conservatories, the facility employs an open roof design that allows hot air to exit naturally.

In 2005, Phipps’ visitor center received the country’s first LEED certification rating for a fine arts building. “We thought, why should we stop there? This is important for our entire operations,” says Phipps’ executive director Richard Piacentini.

After completing phase two of its capital campaign, Phipps now employs comprehensive energy efficiency, waste reduction and recycling strategies. “We looked at other conservatories and realized not a lot has changed in 160 years,” says Piacentini. “We wanted to do better and adopted a total green approach.”

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Richard Piacentini

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/40oakhomes.aspx

Oakland planning and development corporation completing six new houses
The Oakland Planning and Development Corporation (OPDC) is completing work on six new houses in South Oakland. Located at Dawson, Frazier and Ward Streets, the homes are being designed by TAI + LEE Architects; contractor is Infiniti Homes and Construction of Penn Hills.

“In 2002, the Oakland Task Force developed the Future of Oakland Plan, a master plan for the community” says David Blenk, executive director of OPDC. “We're trying to fulfill that role—it’s an overall vision for the neighborhood.”

Five homes are being built in a modular style manufactured by SMI Homes of Strattanville, PA. A sixth, located at 3510 Frazier, is a traditional duplex. Constructed on formerly vacant lots, the 1,500 square-foot, three-bedroom homes feature two-and-a-half bathrooms, basements and porches. Homes will sell at a mix of market and affordable housing rates.

“It’s a new way of doing things,” says Blenk of the modular construction.
“In the right application, we would definitely continue it.”

Two of the homes will be occupied by February. Financing is provided by the URA, Citizens Bank and the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: David Blenk

Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2040/oakland_house_300.jpg

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/40borders.aspx

Borders celebrates grand opening during Eastside open house
From Dec. 8 through Dec. 10, Borders celebrates the grand opening of its new Pittsburgh location. Designed by San Francisco-based URS, the two-story 24,000 square-foot bookstore is located at 5896 Penn Circle South in the new Eastside development. Developed by The Mosites Company, Eastside is hosting an open house on Dec. 8.

“We’re serving a very diverse audience—the store will evolve as we see what events the community thinks are important.” says Borders’ spokesperson Rae Whitfield. The LEED-certified (Silver rating) store, shares its new Eastside digs with a LEED-certified Starbucks and PNC complex, Walgreens and Pennsylvania Wine & Spirits.

Opening events include family scavenger hunts, Pittsburgh trivia contests and live music. Featured entertainment includes musician Joe Grushecky, cartoonist Joe Wos and author Dave Crawley. Customers will have opportunities to win $250 Borders gift cards and Sony MP3 players, and learn about year-round community benefit days and educational discounts.

“I’ve never seen so much excitement as I have about East Liberty,” says Whitfield, who feels the additional businesses in Eastside are complementary. “The stores match us very well—we’re all already working well together.”

With five superstores in the region, the Michigan-based Borders operates more than 1,300 stores and employees more than 34,000 people worldwide. Borders Eastside will employ 50 people.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Rae Whitfield

Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2040/borders_300.jpg

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2040/borders_300.jpg

$89 million Gates Center for Computer Science underway at CMU
Following the demolition of three buildings, the construction of Carnegie Mellon University’s new School of Computer Science is underway. Located on a 5.6-acre west campus site, the 210,000 square-foot complex will be adjacent to CMU’s new Collaborative Innovation Center, which houses Google. Expected to open in 2009, the $89 million contemporary complex will house the Gates Center, Planetary Robotics Center and a 150-space underground garage.

“The most significant part is that it was designed from the inside out to support the research of the school,” says Guy Blelloch, CMU’s associate dean for strategic planning. Supported by a $20 million lead gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the complex will feature new classrooms, offices and labs, a 250-capacity auditorium and 8,000 square-feet of open project space. “The design features will support collaboration and innovation,” says Blelloch. “The new West Quad will bring a lot of people together who have been scattered.”

The Gates Center is being constructed on the site’s southern end; a smaller trapezoid-shaped building will serve as a welcoming facility facing Forbes. Organized around an outdoor winter garden, the buildings will be connected by a four-story lobby containing pedestrian walkways.

Designed by Atlanta-based Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam, the complex will seek a LEED-certification Silver rating. Significantly expanding the area’s greenspace and walkability, the complex will feature five green roofs and landscaping designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Guy Blelloch

Image courtesy of CMU School of Computer Science

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2040/gates_center_300.jpg

Bakery Square gets a TIF... and 941 Penn will have 17 condos + retail

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06340/743833-53.stm

Blight designation prepares Larimer block for developer
Wednesday, December 06, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



A proposed redevelopment of the old Nabisco plant cleared a key hurdle yesterday when the city planning commission approved a blight designation for a one-block area in Larimer that includes the site.

The move will enable the Urban Redevelopment Authority to pursue $13 million to $14 million in aid for the Bakery Square project, which would include offices, shops, a hotel and homes.

Commissioners acted after one of the property owners in the block, George F. Eichleay of Eichleay Engineers, wrote a letter to them saying he supported the project. At the commission's last meeting, Mr. Eichleay had asked for more information on the effects of the designation.

The aid for the project would come in the form of tax increment financing. In a TIF, the URA borrows money to help a development and then uses new tax revenue generated by it to pay off the borrowing.

Part of the aid for the $105 million to $125 million Bakery Square project would go toward improvements for nearby Penn Circle. The designation will affect a one-block area of Larimer, bounded by Penn Avenue, East Liberty Boulevard, Fifth Avenue and the East Busway.

In a separate action, the commission approved the conversion of a vacant one-time dry goods store at 941 Penn Ave., Downtown, into 17 loft-style condos with street-level retail.

The developer, Solara Ventures, hopes to begin construction in February and have the units ready by the end of 2007 or early 2008. The units will range from $350,000 to $600,000.


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(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06340/743976-100.stm

Downtown condo developer finds strong demand
Wednesday, December 06, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The developer of Downtown's newest condominium tower is more than half way home in his effort to fill the building.

Ralph Falbo, head of Ralph A. Falbo Inc., said this morning that he has sold 47 of the 80 condo units in the 18-story 151 First Side building on Fort Pitt Boulevard near Stanwix Street. Prices for the condos range from $180,000 to a $1.8 million penthouse facing the Monongahela River.

Mr. Falbo said he has begun offering six units on each of the 15th and 16th floors for sale, with prices ranging from $310,000 for a one-bedroom condo to $700,000 for a three-bedroom with a river view. Most of the condos sold so far have been on the lower floors. One exception is a top-floor penthouse facing Downtown.

During a press conference with Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Mr. Falbo said he hopes to have the building ready for occupancy by mid-summer. This morning's press conference was held to coincide with a "topping off" ceremony later today to mark the completion of the building's framing.

Even though the 151 First Side project is just one of several luxury condo developments under construction Downtown, Mr. Ravenstahl said he does not believe too many units are being built Downtown. He said the fact that developers are taking the risk indicates that the demand exists.

"I think people are excited about investing in Pittsburgh and living in the Downtown area," he said.

Mr. Ravenstahl acknowledged that there is a need for more affordable housing Downtown and was supportive of Millcraft Industries, the developer of the old G.C. Murphy store on Fifth Avenue, for deciding to build apartments aimed at renters with incomes of $40,000 to $50,000 a year.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06341/744226-53.stm

Sales of Downtown condos encouraging
Buyers, developer, city officials praise progress with First Side
Thursday, December 07, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



By this time next year, Dennis Spyra will be able to roll out of bed and tumble into his office on First Avenue, Downtown, or so it might seem.

As one of the Golden Triangle's newest residents, Mr. Spyra's home will be right across the street -- in the 151 First Side condominium tower that's under construction.

With two daughters in college, Mr. Spyra and his wife will be trading in their Squirrel Hill house for a three-bedroom condo on the eighth floor with views of the Monongahela River, Station Square and Mount Washington.

Mr. Spyra, an attorney, said he always had a nice view of Station Square from his third-floor office -- until the 151 First Side construction blocked it.

"I had to buy the condo to keep my view," he joked.

He was one of a half- dozen or so buyers to gather with a host of dignitaries, including Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, in the dwindling afternoon light yesterday to watch the last steel beam put in place on the 18-story high-rise.

No one was happier than 151 First Side developer Ralph Falbo, who is more than half way home in his effort to fill the $26 million structure as he heads toward a mid-summer opening.

The head of Ralph A. Falbo Inc. said he has sold 47 of the 80 units in the building on Fort Pitt Boulevard near Stanwix Street. Prices range from $180,000 to $1.8 million for a top-floor penthouse facing the river. He had estimated it would take three years from the building's ground-breaking in September 2005 to sell all 80 units. With 58 percent of them sold at this point, "we're ahead of schedule," he said.

Those 47 units have buyers even though the 15th and 16th floors, each with six units, have yet to be offered for sale. They are just now going on the market, priced from $310,000 for a one-bedroom condo to $700,000 for a three-bedroom with a river vista.

Most of those sold are on lower floors. One exception is a top-floor penthouse facing Downtown. It fetched $1.3 million. Buyers have come from as far as San Francisco and New York City. About 40 percent are from out of town, though most have some connection to the area, Mr. Falbo said.

Mr. Ravenstahl is hoping yesterday's "topping off" ceremony will signal a new momentum for Downtown, one propelled by people first.

"We obviously have seen that we failed miserably, for example, when we did the Lazarus building because it was a concept that just didn't work," he said at a news conference earlier in the day. "To have individuals in Downtown Pittsburgh on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis is something that we need."

The 151 First Side tower is just one of several luxury condominium projects under development Downtown. In all, some 250 condos are under construction or in final development stages. And another 1,285 condos or apartment units are being planned.

"I think people are excited about investing in Pittsburgh and really living in the Downtown area," the mayor said.

The mayor acknowledged a need for more affordable housing. He supports Millcraft Industries, the developer of the old G.C. Murphy store on Fifth Avenue, in switching from condos to apartments targeting renters with incomes of $40,000 to $50,000 a year. Rents will range from $750 to $1,500 a month, said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft's vice president of real estate.

John and Christianna Elash are trading in their Carnegie home for a condo at 151 First Side. They are looking forward to the day they can walk to work -- she to Gateway Center, he to the Allegheny County Courthouse -- and kayak to Station Square or the South Side for recreation.

And they're thrilled about being able to trade their rush-hour commute for a lingering cup of coffee.

"We plan on staying in Pittsburgh a long time and having a family here. This is just absolutely perfect for us. We're not going anywhere," Mr. Elash said.


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(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

good to see Pittsburgh is filling condos, I was wondering how that market was going for them.

More condos....

More housing slated for Strip
Pittsburgh Business Times - December 8, 2006
by Tim Schooley


A long-vacant 19th-century Strip District warehouse with a distinctive brick tower could be converted into a new, mixed-use development that would include as many as 70 condominiums.
Suburban Philadelphia-based Solara Ventures LLC has an agreement of sale to buy the Otto Milk building from Ironrite Corp., a defunct commercial laundry business.
Solara president Jack Benoff emphasized this week that he has yet to decide on a final plan for the property but said he has been studying the condo project for months and believes it will dovetail with other development nearby.
"The only thing I knew nine months ago was I loved the look of the building," said Benoff, who was recently granted approval for a 17-unit condo project at 941 Penn Ave. in the Cultural District. "I think the location is just great, and I think the timing is perfect."
Located between Smallman Street and Penn Avenue at 25th Street, the property includes a complex of several smaller buildings that total 82,000 square feet and span much of two city blocks.
Rich Beynon, president of Downtown-based Beynon & Co., said the sale price will be close to the $1.2 million Ironrite was seeking. Solara should close on the sale in the spring, Beynon said.
He compared the potential of the Otto Milk building with the nearby Armstrong Cork development, a former cork factory that Chicago-based McCaffrey Interests Inc. is renovating into 297 apartments.
"It's one of the most unique properties in the Strip," Beynon said of the Otto Milk building. "We needed a buyer who could see through its current condition."
That wasn't easy, Benoff said.
He was only able last week to remove years of debris to see what the floors look like, and it took nearly six months to get accurate measurements of the neglected property.
Benoff said many have called him crazy for acquiring the property. But he said it has great history and architectural detail.
He believes it originally was built for the Phoenix Brewery, one of the city's first, before becoming headquarters for the Otto Milk Co. Otto Milk equipment still inside the building suggests to Benoff that much of the property hasn't been used since the 1940s or 1950s.
Working with Shadyside-based Indovina Associates Architects, Benoff said he has interest from a professional services firm for a 7,000-square-foot office there.
Solara might build onto the property or tear down some of its smaller structures toward the rear.
With the Cork Factory offering rental units, Benoff sees great potential in marketing condos of between 800 and 2,000 square feet for $200,000 to $250,000.
"My ultimate goal is to sell somebody a unit for about what they could rent on a monthly basis," Benoff said.
After pursuing a variety of smaller commercial and residential projects in Philadelphia, he said the Otto Milk building renovation will be his largest project.
Jerry Dettore, executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, said his organization is working to help Solara become eligible for some state funding.
Aaron Stauber, president of New Rochelle, N.Y.-based Rugby Realty Co., sees the development as another positive sign for the Strip District, which has seen an influx of development projects in recent years. Rugby has plans for a new condo development nearby on Smallman.
"I think without any question anyone who looks at anything going on in the Strip District would say it's trending hugely upwards," Stauber said.

Vacant for 60 years? That's amazing.

http://www.pbase.com/deadwing/image/56560850.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/deadwing/image/56560544.jpg


I believe that Rugby Realty project is a proposed approx. 8-17 story "mixed-use" tower at the present site of that Ayoob Fruit Warehouse building next to St. Stanislaus.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/41solara.aspx

December 13, 2006

Up to 70 new condos planned for the Strip District
Jack Benoff, president of Solara Ventures, plans to bring up to 70 new condos ranging in size from 800 to 2,000 square feet, to the Strip District. The Philadelphia-based developer is purchasing seven buildings along Smallman and 25th Streets from the Ironite Corporation for approximately $1.2 million.

“During my first trip to Pittsburgh, I drove past and saw the original tower,” says Benoff in discovering the site’s 19th-century Otto Milk Building, which once housed Phoenix Brewery. “I like the location with the restaurants and bars.” Benoff also cites the Strip's new residential projects as a draw. “There will be 300 rental units across the street and Rugby Realty has a project there.”

Benoff, who is also developing condos downtown at 941 Penn, is working with Indovina Associates to create preliminary designs and determine remediation costs. The 86,000 square-foot project may incorporate existing architectural and industrial elements, including the brick tower, stainless steel tanks and 1940s-era milk cartons. “We’ll do condos in a couple of phases—lofts with mezzanines and some penthouses with roof decks.”

Part the property’s 12,000 square-foot first floor may be leased to a professional services firm. The project will involve a combination of rehabilitation and new construction and will expand an existing 9,000 square-foot parking facility.

“We’re very interested in making this affordable,” adds Benoff, who says some condos will start at $200,000. “We’re working with the URA for remediation and façade loans.” Benoff expects to break ground during the second quarter of 2007. “I’m exited about being part of the vibrancy of the community--to really create a neighborhood there."

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Jack Benoff

Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2041/otto_milk_300.jpg

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06347/745671-53.stm

URA is ready to sell; Millcraft is ready to start
Price tag is $2.5 million for G.C. Murphy's parcel where apartments slated
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority is poised to sell old G.C. Murphy's store buildings and other properties to a Washington County developer for $2.5 million -- another key step in the redevelopment of the downtrodden Fifth and Forbes corridor, Downtown.

Millcraft Industries Inc., doing business as Downtown Streets Pittsburgh LP, intends to convert the former store and the adjacent properties into shops and apartments targeting middle-income wage earners and renting from $750 to $1,500 a month.

"We're finally getting it off the ground, so we're excited," said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft vice president of real estate. "We're ready to start digging."

URA board members are expected to vote tomorrow on a proposal to sell six Fifth Avenue parcels, including three that make up the Murphy's store, to Downtown Streets Pittsburgh.

Downtown Streets is a subsidiary of Millcraft. Mr. Piatt said Ira Morgan, a friend of late Mayor Bob O'Connor, no longer is part of the development team.

The purchase price represents a bargain of sorts for Millcraft -- the URA paid $3.83 million for the buildings, all of which were purchased over the last four years. Mr. Piatt said the $2.5 million is in line with the values provided by an appraiser hired by the URA and Millcraft.

Millcraft originally had looked at converting the Murphy's store to condominiums and apartments, but switched to all apartments in order to take advantage of federal tax credits available to developers of historic structures, thus lowering redevelopment costs.

The apartments would target $40,000 to $50,000 wage earners and offer a more affordable alternative to the luxury condos under construction in the Golden Triangle, including those at Piatt Place in the former Lazarus-Macy's building, Millcraft's other Downtown project.

Millcraft now estimates that the cost of converting the Murphy's store will run $30 million to $40 million, up from the initial $21 million estimate.

The URA board also is expected to act tomorrow on a proposed agreement with Millcraft on 10 other authority-owned parcels on Forbes Avenue and Wood Street in the Fifth-Forbes corridor.

They are to be developed in phases by Millcraft, and would include a $50 million, 18-story Forbes Village high-rise on Forbes near Market Square that is to offer a mix of condos, apartments and shops.

As part of the action, Millcraft would have exclusive control over the properties for an unspecified period, with redevelopment proposals to be made at a later date.

URA Executive Director Jerome Dettore could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Once the Murphy's project gets rolling, there will be two major redevelopments occurring simultaneously on Fifth Avenue in the heart of the Downtown retail corridor.

The other, across the street from the Murphy's construction, is the $170 million Three PNC Center skyscraper that will house offices, a hotel and luxury condos. It is expected to open in 2008. Construction has started.

Also tomorrow, the URA is expected to sell three parcels, one on Fifth Avenue and two on Market Street, to a subsidiary of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation for $257,000.

The foundation intends to convert the vacant structures into upper-floor apartments, with street-level retail.



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(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06347/745659-53.stm

Ravenstahl envisions a city that's affordable, fun, smart
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Mayor Luke Ravenstahl would love to be the guy who reverses the city's six-decade population plunge. His formula for doing that includes affordable living and merrymaking Downtown, more fun development like the SouthSide Works, and engagement between the city and its school district.

Those were the broad visions the mayor laid out yesterday to Post-Gazette editors and a reporter. His 100th day in office passed Sunday, and he asserted that he has gone beyond being a steward for the late Bob O'Connor, and offers a distinct vision for the city's future.

In the near term, it may include tax breaks for housing, free parking some days, and a joint effort with the Pittsburgh Public Schools to improve education that is to be unveiled today.

After Mr. O'Connor's Sept. 1 death and Mr. Ravenstahl's ascent from City Council president, the latter focused mainly on finishing things started by the former. The 311 service line, creation of a second redd-up crew, a deal to collect trash for Wilkinsburg and the buyback of old tax debts from a private company were efforts started under Mr. O'Connor, or even earlier.

Now, with a mayoral election looming next year, some of what Mr. O'Connor started is getting a Ravenstahl twist. Take the Downtown housing surge.

The mayor and his wife, Erin, toyed with moving Downtown, but determined that on his $96,511 salary and her earnings as a beautician, they'd be hard-pressed to afford it. The lower-end condominiums are coming on the market at around $200,000.

The mayor wants people earning even $50,000 to be able to consider the center city.

"It's definitely a challenge, and one I'm well aware of, and one my administration is looking at in terms of making that more affordable," he said. "Philadelphia has been very successful with a 10-year tax abatement for Downtown, something we're looking at internally."

Philadelphia's 10-year tax abatement on residential construction citywide, launched in 1997, spurred $375 million worth of new housing that wouldn't have otherwise happened, said Joe Grace, spokesman for Mayor John Street. It has been used mostly by Center City developers, pushing the downtown population to 88,000 now, and a projected 100,000 in a year, he said.

"By any standard, the tax abatement in Philadelphia has been a success," Mr. Grace said.

A property tax abatement for new Downtown housing here would be helpful, said Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate for Millcraft Industries, which hopes to spearhead a Downtown redevelopment. He said the firm hasn't studied its likely effect on price but is striving to keep all costs down.

He said he's responding to the mayor's call for less expensive Downtown digs and will present a plan to the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority tomorrow that "will show that work force housing is possible Downtown." The plan deals with the former G.C. Murphy building, which would become Market Square Place and the Market Square Lofts.

Mr. Ravenstahl said he's looking for creative ways to keep Downtown parking costs from scaring away visitors. Lot operators have said they won't reduce rates next year, even though the city's parking tax is set to dip from 50 percent to 45 percent.

The mayor said he met last week with Pittsburgh Parking Authority officials and urged them to consider giving something back, maybe in the form of a dozen or half-dozen days of free Downtown parking next year. Festive days like the Fourth of July and Light Up Night would be candidates.

Free parking would create "opportunities for people to come Downtown on days when they might otherwise not be able to afford it," he said. That could boost retail activity.

And what if those visitors want to buy books? Barnes & Noble announced in October that it will close its Downtown store next year.

"Symbolically, it is not a good thing for the Downtown," the mayor said of the loss of the only large bookstore there. Millcraft's effort, though, brings new hope. "I am confident that a bookstore will be in that mix in some way, shape or form."

Mr. Ravenstahl said he recently visited Baltimore's Inner Harbor and came across an accounting firm that moved there from the suburbs, in spite of higher rents and taxes. Why? "That's where their young [employees] wanted to be."

SouthSide Works has the same effect on young talent, he said of the development that lured American Eagle Outfitters from a perch in Marshall. He wants to replicate that development's style elsewhere, and intends to tap Gov. Ed Rendell for dollars to get that done.

The works has "the cool factor" because it combines homes, stores, jobs, places to party and outdoor amenities like trails, said Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project Executive Director Erin Molchany. "What makes it cool is all of those amenities. [Living or working there] is a lifestyle change."

Surveys of PUMP's youngish membership indicate that they want good education -- and not just grad schools. "Good public schools are definitely something that's of interest to our members," said Ms. Molchany.

Schools don't just educate kids but also affect the stability of neighborhoods and the value of property, she noted.

Mr. O'Connor increased the level of cooperation between the city and the Pittsburgh Public Schools, working with Superintendent Mark Roosevelt to create safe zones around schools. Mr. Ravenstahl said he'll expand on that collaboration.

He and Mr. Roosevelt are scheduled to announce a multiyear, multimillion-dollar joint initiative today, about which neither the city nor the district would provide details yesterday.

"I'm a firm believer that if you feel safe in your community, and if you feel confident that your children are getting a good education, you're not going anywhere," Mr. Ravenstahl said.



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(Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542. )

Don't let the door hit ya Ballsilly. As most of us already knew, that ass wanted to move the team along.

Balsillie refuses to buy Penguins
NHL may have had too many stipulations
Saturday, December 16, 2006

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie yesterday withdrew his offer to buy the Penguins after he and the National Hockey League reached a stalemate over terms in a last-minute consent agreement.

Among the NHL's several stipulations, sources close to the sale process said, are that Mr. Balsillie promise to keep the club in Pittsburgh regardless of the arena situation, and that he agree to contingencies for the NHL to step in and take over ownership or management of the team.

After receiving Mr. Balsillie's notice of termination, Penguins President and CEO Ken Sawyer said there was no dispute between Mr. Balsillie and the team. He declined to comment on what led to the withdrawal but confirmed there were "a number of points" of disagreement.

"There's a lot of work that's gone into it," Mr. Sawyer said. "It was almost there, and now it's not there."

The timing of the sale's breakdown could be critical, as gaming officials are scheduled to award the state's licenses for stand-alone slots casinos Wednesday. The prospects for a facility to replace Mellon Arena are tied to that announcement.

Mr. Sawyer said the Penguins will re-evaluate their sale process after that announcement.

The Penguins have a contract with Isle of Capri, which will provide $290 million toward construction of a new arena if it gets the license to build a casino in Uptown and ensure that the team stays.

If the license goes to one of the other two finalists, Forest City Enterprises or PITG Gaming LLC, the Penguins would be left to negotiate an alternate funding arrangement under what state officials have called Plan B. Initial plans call for the team to put up $8.5 million up front, plus about $4 million a year for 30 years, with contributions also coming from the state and casino owner.

If a buyer for the Penguins honors a consent agreement with the league to keep the team here under any circumstances, it might undermine their negotiating leverage if Plan B comes into play.

"There's no question there's a degree of uncertainty back here again, which makes the decision on Wednesday absolutely critical," Mr. Sawyer said. "If Isle of Capri should win, then the team's here and all that is settled. If they don't, then we'll just have to evaluate where we are at that point in time."

Mr. Sawyer declined to speculate whether the current ownership, which includes Hall of Fame player Mario Lemieux, might reconsider selling the team if Isle of Capri gets the license, thus settling the team's future.

"Today's development was unfortunate," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "If the Isle of Capri is not granted the license on Wednesday, then an already difficult and volatile situation will be aggravated. It is imperative that the Penguins have a new arena on economic terms that make sense for the franchise for the team to remain in Pittsburgh."

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said that if the NHL put conditions on the sale that would make it harder to move the team from Pittsburgh, "I think that's good news for Penguins fans and good news for the city."

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said:

"While news of Mr. Balsillie's decision to withdraw his offer to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins comes as a surprise, our goals remain the same -- to build a new multipurpose arena and to keep the Penguins here in Pittsburgh for a long time."

Mr. Balsillie was not available to elaborate. It is not known whether he might reinstate his offer, believed to be for about $175 million, if the league softens some language in the consent agreement.

Mr. Balsillie is chairman and co-CEO of Research in Motion, the company based in Waterloo, Ontario, that makes and markets the popular wireless Blackberry devices. He signed a purchase agreement with the Penguins Oct. 4 and was interviewed by the executive committee of the NHL's board of governors Dec. 2.

He apparently was on the verge of closing on the sale late last week or early this week when he received the consent agreement and declined to sign it.

If Mr. Balsillie does not reinstate his offer, it's likely that earlier bidders will re-enter the picture.

New York businessman Andrew Murstein counted among his partners Mt. Lebanon native and NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Shadyside real estate development company Walnut Capital.

Sam Fingold, a Hartford real estate developer, got as far as signing a letter of intent with the Penguins last summer before things broke down.

Two other finalists were Hartford real estate developer Lawrence Gottesdiener and Ohio mayor and businessman Jim Renacci, a Ringgold High School graduate.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06354/747581-100.stm





PITG wins slots casino license for North Side
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

By Tracie Mauriello and Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG -- The state Gaming Control Board today approved PITG Gaming Majestic Star to receive Pittsburgh's stand-alone casino license.

PITG plans to build a slot machine parlor on the North Side near the Carnegie Science Center.

PITG is headed by Detroit developer and casino operator Don Barden, who also celebrates his 63rd birthday today.

In unanimously approving PITG, the board rejected proposals from Isle of Capri, which wanted to build a parlor in the Hill District, and Forest City Enterprises, which set its sights on Station Square.

Mr. Barden held hands with his wife Bella as the vote was taken and shed tears when he knew he had won.

"My heart skipped several beats. It was an exhilarating, incredible feeling."

Mr. Barden said he plans to talk with Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato to discuss support for a new arena, which is being sought by the Penguins. Local officials had pressed all three slots applicants for commitments to fund an arena, but Isle of Capri had the most definitive pledge of support.

Mr. Barden has already agreed to the so-called Plan B pushed by Gov. Ed Rendell. That means he has pledged $7.5 million per year for 30 years from casino revenue toward an arena.

Mr. Barden said he is not planning a temporary casino. Instead he plans to open the permanent facility with at least 3,000 machines in March 2008. Eventually he hopes to offer 5,000 machines.

He said the casino would be "first class" and very similar to Las Vegas.

He also noted that he would proceed on his pledge to help redevelop parts of the Hill District.

Mr. Barden also became teary eyed when he talked about Johnnie Bettis, father of former Steelers star Jerome Bettis. Mr. Barden knew the Bettis family from Detroit and brought them into his investment group.

Johnnie Bettis recently died.

"I think he had a little to do with the success today," Mr. Barden said.

Michelle Sherman, chief financial officer for Barden Cos., also burst into tears of joy when the vote was taken. "Oh my God, I'm crying, oh my God. I'm overwhelmed. Mr. Barden is the consummate visionary and entrepreneur. This is something he deserved."

Mr. Barden owns five other casinos; this will be the largest.

"This changes the whole direction of our company. We're going to be bigger, stronger," she said.

Brian Ratner, Forest City executive vice president of East Coast development, said, "We had a lot of plans for that (Station Square) site. I don't know what we're going to do now. I don't know what their reasoning was.

"All we can do today is congratulate Don Barden. It's hard to know what the board's rationale was."

This isn't necessarily the end of the road for applicants rejected today.

The losers can appeal, but to win they will have to prove that the board's decision was arbitrary and capricious -- in other words, that there was no rational basis for it, said board spokesman Doug Harbaugh.

Appeals must be filed within 30 days of when the board issues its formal orders, which could take weeks. Orders are legal documents that outline the requirements for the licenses.

Appeals, if any, will go directly to the state Supreme Court.

Pittsburgh Council President Doug Shields said after the vote that the North Side appears to be the best physical location.

"The North Side site, in my mind, offers probably the best access given the highway infrastructure available," Mr. Shields said. He also applauded the riverfront access of the casino and said it could generate development of the Manchester neighborhood.

But Mr. Shields noted that the vote leaves open the question of the future of the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Isle of Capri had an agreement with the Penguins to provide $290 million for an arena, which the team has been seeking to replace Mellon Arena.

"We will begin to sit down and assess what we need to do in regards to a public auditorium, both the city and the county," Mr. Shields said.

The Penguins ownership group issued a statement this afternoon expressing disappointment and saying it would evaluate its options. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato pledged to continue to work for a new facility.

The decision also disappointed the Steelers, who didn't want a gambling parlor as their neighbor.

"It seemed it was a process that was designed to give little weight to local interests and the result is indicative of that," Steelers President Art Rooney II said in a statement. "We will have to consider all of our options in determining how to respond to this decision."

City Councilwoman Tonya Payne, in whose district the casino will sit, said she was "totally shocked" by the decision. An ardent supporter of the Isle of Capri's bid, she nonetheless welcomed the news that the facility would be on the North Side. "This is good news for the City of Pittsburgh, period. This is revenue we get without any overhead."

She said the city should make sure that Mr. Barden's group goes through with the development of the Hill District.

Some Hill District leaders had opposed the proposal for a casino in their neighborhood.

The Rev. Tom Smith, the pastor of Monumental Baptist Church in the Hill, was pleased with the vote.

"This neighborhood has been spared a lot of suffering," he said. "The main thing for us was the protection of this community against the impact of gambling, the whole gambling industry."

Smokey Robinson, a partner in PITG Gaming, called today's vote "one of the most gratifying things that's ever happened to me," although he didn't call it a miracle.

"First of all to be a minority. Don Barden is a wonderful man and he's black and to get a thing like that in a city like Pittsburgh is a wonderful honor.

"We plan on doing so many wonderful things for the city of Pittsburgh," Mr. Robinson said, also mentioning the plans for the Hill District.

"We thought all along that we were going to get it because we had the best location, we had the best man at the helm."

Before the Pittsburgh vote, the board approved HSP Gaming and Philadelphia Entertainment and Development for the two available licenses in that area. Both Philly winners are riverfront developments estimated at at least $550 million.

The board also awarded the two licenses available outside the big cities to the Las Vegas Sands for Bethlehem and Louis DeNaples for Pocono Mountain.

The board chose those over a controversial proposal to locate a casino near Gettysburg National Battlefield. Janice Pietrone, a former Pittsburgh teacher who is one of the leaders of the Gettysburg casino opposition, was part of a contingent at the meeting.

She said the battlefield already brings in substantial tourist dollars.

Ron Heinning, who with his wife Violet just moved to the Gettysburg area from Eden, N.Y., because of their enthusiasm for the area and its proximity to Washington, said, "I just really think (the casino) is unneeded. If you want that experience, go to Las Vegas," he said.

He and his wife have been to the battlefield many times and were taking friends on a tour today. He is a retired salesman.

Ruth Nolt, 54, of Mount Joy, Lancaster County, said "People gave their lives here. To be playing games seems to detract from that."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post-Gazette staff writers Rich Lord, Jerome Sherman and Ann Belser contributed to this story. More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Hamilton will get the team in the end.

I heard on sports center that the deal fell threw and the casino is a no go? I hope im wrong because the penguins would suck if its not in Pitt. I truley hope that they stay in Pitt.

There are no surprises here.

The arena plans have already been in motion.

The Pens aren't going anwhere.

what arena plans , Mario said today on sports net that he would explore moving the team if the civic government doesnt step up to the plate.

There is a "Plan B" which would use money from the Casino group that won ($7.5 million per year over 30 years), some state money, and some money from the team. Mario has to wait until the agreement with Isle of Capri is officially over before he can negotiate. Mayor Ravenstahl seems genuinely interested in getting something done, while the other politicians will be doing it to save their faces. There will definitely be attempts, but Mario has waited for 7 years, I am not sure if this will be too little too late or not.

It's been in the works for a while though the media has been such a PR arm of the Pens, you wouldn't know it. Land has been acquired and as recently as this morning, preparations have begun for the tearing down of the structures on the site. Work will begin shortly.

The NHL is hurting and Pittsburgh is its best performing TV market in terms of local ratings. I really don't see the team moving or it being in the interest of the NHL for the team to move especially, as the only issue, an arena is being worked on...

Everybody in KC is excited about the Penguins situation right now. The local media is practically saying it's in the bag for KC. I'm not too confident of that. But IF the Penguins were going to move, I would think that KC would be at the top of the list. There are tons of hockey fans here and we have an organization here called NHL21 that has been trying to get an NHL team here for the past several years. We're building the most state of the art arena in the world downtown and all of the suites are already sold out. I don't want to take the Pens from Pitt though since they've been there so long and they're in one of the best hockey markets. It would be like when the Browns moved from Cleveland. We faced a similar situation with the Chiefs and Royals, but the voters approved of a tax increase to help renovate both stadiums. Now the teams will be here for at least another 30 years.

Hopefully in the next couple years KC will get an expansion NHL team, or if the Pens move, Pitt would get an expansion team.

Here are some pics of the new arena. Next to the arena we're building a $850 million entertainment district as well, called the Power & Light District.

www.sprintcenter.com

Best of luck!

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i214/ianjoseph40/sprint1.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i214/ianjoseph40/gallery1-3.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i214/ianjoseph40/3-1.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i214/ianjoseph40/2-2.jpg

Everybody in KC is excited about the Penguins situation right now. The local media is practically saying it's in the bag for KC. I'm not too confident of that.

When I was in KC back in Fall 2005, and the media sound like it was in the bag back then.

Say the Pens stay in Pittsburgh, where they belong, then what is KC going to do with the Sprint Arena?

When I was in KC back in Fall 2005, and the media sound like it was in the bag back then.

Say the Pens stay in Pittsburgh, where they belong, then what is KC going to do with the Sprint Arena?

That's the million dollar question. They'd still be trying to get another NHL team or an NBA team. There was some talk about trying to get the Kings (NBA) to come back to KC, where they were before Sacramento. Everything is pretty much up in the air though.

I believe the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA is supposed to come here, but I'm not sure of that. Also, we have an arena football team, the Brigade, and they'll probably play in the Sprint Center if we don't get an NHL or NBA team. I just want a pro team in there....don't want it to be sitting empty or just hosting WNBA games. Not my type of entertainment. :lol:

holy crap! for a second when i saw that first picture i thought they destroyed mellon arena!

feeew... so i guess there not gona get that new stadium they have been requesting all these years hu?

The guy who is in the lead for purchase of the team wants it in Hamilton and has the money to do so.

I am sorry to break the news to you guys, but you dont even deserve a team. I hope the pens leave, i know your going to tell me how good the local tv numbers are, but all that says to any prospective owner is that the fans are too lazy to go to the games and would rather watch them on tv.. something they can do if the team is moved.

With Crosby, Malkin and Staal, you guys should be in the top 10 for attendance, instead the fans of pittsburgh break open a cold one and watch it on the couch. Dont get me wrong, I would rather see any of the teams below you in the rankings fold first, but since your the closest, Im hoping Hamilton runs with it, not only that your 20th in attendance but what makes it especially bad is that you have 3 young superstars on your team all at once!!

Get with it Pitts!!

NHL Attendance Leaders


Season: 2006-2007
2007 Attendance


1 Montreal
2 Detroit
3 Tampa Bay
4 Toronto
5 Calgary
6 Philadelphia
7 Ottawa
8 Buffalo
9 Vancouver
10 Minnesota
11 NY Rangers
12 Dallas
13 Colorado
14 San Jose
15 Carolina
16 Edmonton
17 Los Angeles
18 Columbus
19 Atlanta
20 Pittsburgh
21 Anaheim
22 Florida
23 Nashville
24 Phoenix
25 Boston
26 Washington
27 Chicago
28 New Jersey
29 NY Islanders
30 St. Louis

It's funny to see the crazy schemes from other cities actually seriously thinking that they will steal the Pens.

It's funny to see the crazy schemes from other cities actually seriously thinking that they will steal the Pens.

A guy from the kcskyscrapers.com forum said he was in STL over the weekend when the Buffalo Sabres were playing the Blues, and he was talking to a couple Sabres players and they asked him what he thought about KC getting the Pens. He said there was probably a 50/50 chance. The two Sabres players looked at each other and smiled, saying that it was 100% chance that KC would get the Pens. So maybe the NHL players have some insight into what's happening behind the scenes. Not sure if it will actually happen, but I thought it was worth passing along. Here's a link to that post.

http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/newforum/index.php?topic=7192.msg206500#new

The Pens players don't know where they will be playing next year, so I highly doubt players from other teams know anything about the situation.

A guy from the kcskyscrapers.com forum said he was in STL over the weekend when the Buffalo Sabres were playing the Blues, and he was talking to a couple Sabres players and they asked him what he thought about KC getting the Pens. He said there was probably a 50/50 chance. The two Sabres players looked at each other and smiled, saying that it was 100% chance that KC would get the Pens. So maybe the NHL players have some insight into what's happening behind the scenes. Not sure if it will actually happen, but I thought it was worth passing along. Here's a link to that post.

http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/newforum/index.php?topic=7192.msg206500#new

Thats mest up ! How would you like it if someone from say OKC, kept reminding you of how the Chiefs were leaving KC and going to OKC? Thats not cool. Again, i hope the Pens stay right there in Pitt.

Thats mest up ! How would you like it if someone from say OKC, kept reminding you of how the Chiefs were leaving KC and going to OKC? Thats not cool. Again, i hope the Pens stay right there in Pitt.

What?????

I was just passing along info. If the Chiefs were possibly going to OKC, I'd at least like to be updated on rumors/inside info that's taking place, regardless of whether I like the news or not. I wasn't posting that comment to piss anyone off.

Chill out.

I would definitely feel it if the Penguins left Pittsburgh, because me and my friend (who is a huge Penguins fans) went to Pittsburgh for the first time last season and will be coming back next year, and to have Pittsburgh lose the Penguins would be devastating for the city and for my friend and me (the Penguins are my third team behind the Red Wings and Sabres).

I think the Penguins are 20th on the list, because their arena only seats about 17,100, whereas most of the other arenas seat 18-19,000 or more than that. They're average 15,691 fans a game, that's about 91% capacity.

Hope and pray Jim Balsillie's deal gets re-considered by Mario Lemieux and a deal can finally be reached and Mr. Balsillie will able to get everything in place to help the team remain in Pittsburgh fast. Though I'm neutral right now.

kcmetro, are there really a lot of hockey fans in Kansas City? What team(s) do they root for? How long exactly has KC tried to get an NHL hockey team? Just curious. Why did the first NHL team in KC leave, I wasn't sure about that, I did know they became the Devils.

I never pictured KC as a big hockey town, but of course, as the case can be, I may be wrong. :)

kcmetro, are there really a lot of hockey fans in Kansas City? What team(s) do they root for? How long exactly has KC tried to get an NHL hockey team? Just curious. Why did the first NHL team in KC leave, I wasn't sure about that, I did know they became the Devils.

I never pictured KC as a big hockey town, but of course, as the case can be, I may be wrong. :)

It's not a big hockey town by any means, but there are still quite a few hockey fans, although I wouldn't say it's on par with people who would rather watch NBA games. I myself, would rather see an NBA team here than NHL, but right now the NHL looks like the most likely scenario. Basketball is huge around here, especially college bball with KU being a half hour away, but I think many would like to have an NBA team to root for as well. I'm tired of rooting for the Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls.

I'm not worried about the seats filling up for an NHL team, but my only worry is that if the team eventually sucks then people might not stick with them. I think people will also initially support ANY sport in that arena since the arena will be so cool and people will come just to be there. It's supposed to blow all other similar types of arenas away by a mile. Pretty bad-ass.

I've only been to one hockey game in my entire life. It was a semi-pro team in Topeka about 7 years ago. I enjoyed it, but I didn't know any of the rules so I basically just liked seeing the fights. But I would definitely go to a handful of NHL games if we had a team, just to root for a hometown team. I still don't like the idea of stealing the Pens from Pitt, but it sounds like they haven't exactly been too nice to Mario and the Pens as of late. Don't they still owe him money or something from like a decade ago? And I can't believe they would even let it get to this point where they're in danger of moving. There should be some sort of arena option on the ballot to fund a new arena via sales tax or something. That's what we did in KC to fund Arrowhead and Kauffman stadium renovations.

Most hockey fans in KC root for the Blues. I also know there are a lot of Red Wings fans for whatever reason. I think the Scouts left in the mid 70's because of their shitty owner, or so I've heard. We've had the Blades (a minor league team) recently leave, but they were pretty successful for a good stretch of time. The city has been trying to get an NHL team for about the past 10 years now. The reason KC is up there as a hot spot for hockey is because we have a private group called NHL21 that has been pushing for the NHL for the past 5 years. If we had an org. dedicated to bringing the NBA here, we'd probably have a better chance at getting an NBA team. I think bball would go over very well here and would keep peoples' interest more-so than hockey. Even if the KC NBA team sucked, people would still go to see guys like Kobe, Wade, Shaq, etc. Nobody around here knows of hockey superstars besides that Crosby dude in Pitt, and that's only because there's been talk of the Pens coming here. Otherwise, I would never have known who he was. Pretty sad, but that's the situation around here. Some of the high schools have club hockey teams, but it's not backed by the state high school athletics association. Soccer is bigger here than hockey.

I don't know. If KC gets a hockey team, I'll be happy and I'll support them, but we surely don't have the numbers of NHL fans that Pitt does. The only reason I can think that it would be good to located a team in KC is to spread the sport to regions that aren't as familiar with it. It's like when the NBA put teams in Canada. Maybe if KC had a team, high schools would start adding hockey as a sport and interest would climb. We'll see.

what the heck do a bunch of Sabres players have to do with anything? haha like they know whats going on behind the scenes, unless maybe one of the Sabres players is a representative in the players union.

Press conference going on right now in KC. It was announced that the Pens wouldn't have to pay rent in the Sprint Center. The owners were very impressed with the arena as well. KC would basically be giving the Pens a free place to play......no rent or upfront money.

The Pens went to KC for leverage. It's easier to ask for that raise when you have another job lined up.... Pens will make a lot of money off the many revenue streams of the new Pittsburgh arena. Sorry KC. Go steal another team. There is no way that the struggling NHL will give up one its star markets for failed one.

Living Downtown's new high(-rise) life


New condominiums are under construction or ready to be built throughout the Golden Triangle:
Name, location -- No. of units

Roma Lofts, Uptown -- 8

151 First Side, Downtown -- 81

Granite Building, Downtown -- 6

The Carlyle, Downtown -- 61

Piatt Place, Downtown -- 65

31st Street Condos, Strip -- 14

941 Penn Ave., Cultural District -- 17

3 PNC Place, Downtown -- 30

Source: Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership

Going, going ...

A snapshot of the major condo developments:

• 151 First Side: 52 of 81 units sold. Prices range from $250,000 to $1.8 million.

• The Carlyle: 20 of 61 units sold. Prices range from $200,000 to $1.2 million.

• Piatt Place: 13 of 65 condos sold. Prices range from $350,000 to $1 million.








Tom Kuretich, of Westmoreland County, could reduce his commute from 30 miles to mere footsteps if he bought one of the residences being built at Piatt Place, Downtown.
But the banner advertising "Luxury condos from the 300s" outside the former Lazarus-Macy's building guarantees that Downtown living is not in his future.

"I'd have to sell my wife and two kids to afford that," said Kuretich, 49, who works on computers at PNC Bank.

A building boom is expected to add almost 300 condominiums to the Golden Triangle in the next two years. But it comes with a price.

None of the new units will go for less than $200,000, which could put the cost of new housing Downtown out of reach for the highly sought-after young professional demographic.

Even Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who at 26 earns $96,511 a year, thinks he's priced out of the market.

"I'm making a decent living for somebody my age, make no mistake about it," Ravenstahl recently told the Tribune-Review. "But it would be difficult for me to afford, so I can imagine what somebody else in my demographic would be going through in order to try to move Downtown."

Upscale living and the amenities that builders have promised -- like a grocery store, for starters -- will make Downtown a trendy, vibrant residential neighborhood, developers and advocates said.

"We're starting with the luxury units for people who can afford to live Downtown and make it a place to live," said Lucas Piatt, vice president of Millcraft Industries, which is spending $65 million to convert the former Lazarus-Macy's into Piatt Place. "Then we'll open it up to more people."

That second phase of the revitalization -- making it affordable to live Downtown -- may cost taxpayers who only visit or work there.

"The way to do that is to subsidize," said Patty Burk, vice president of housing and economic development for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Taxpayers will have to cover "20 to 30 percent of the costs for working professionals and college grads," she said.

Ravenstahl has said he supports subsidies for affordable housing and tax breaks for those who move Downtown.

But it's a thought that doesn't sit well with some city residents who already feel overtaxed.

"I pay for my house. Why should I pay for someone to live here?" said Dan Johnson, 36, of Bloomfield, as he walked to work Downtown. "I don't think that will fly here."


Heather Miller sold herself on buying a new condo Downtown. A Cranberry native who lives in Mt. Washington, Miller already shops in the Strip District and works as a site coordinator in the old Union National Bank building on Fourth Avenue, which is being converted into The Carlyle. That place will have 61 luxury condos.

"I wanted to be on the cutting edge of this Downtown explosion," said Miller, one of 20 people who have purchased condos at The Carlyle before construction has begun. "This is going to be a neighborhood and a community down here."

Developers such as Ralph Falbo said early interest in the new condos proves they're on to something big.

The high-rise luxury condo building at 151 First Side, which Falbo's company is helping to develop, is almost two-thirds sold six months before the first unit is finished. Prices for the 81 units started at $250,000, and the bulk of those still on the market range from $300,000 to $700,000.

"This is upscale, riverfront living, and obviously the market is supporting it," he said.

Closer to the city center, 20 percent of the 65 luxury homes planned for Piatt Place have been sold -- at prices ranging from $350,000 to $1 million -- and a third are under contract at The Carlyle, where the price starts at $200,000.

Luxury condos are planned for the Granite Building on Sixth Avenue, 941 Penn Avenue in the Cultural District and the 31st Street Condos in the Strip.

"It's the people from Fox Chapel and Mt. Lebanon who are tired of cutting the grass and sitting in traffic to get to work," Piatt said of who's buying. "It's empty-nesters, and people coming from big cities to work in law firms and UPMC and who are used to paying much more for city living."

While Mark Toth, 30, agrees there would be an allure to living Downtown near his job at One Oliver Plaza, he thinks people would miss suburban amenities.

"For the average Downtown worker, if they had that money to spend, they'd want a yard and a house," Toth said.

Tim Crawford, 29, of Lawrenceville, said he doubts that Downtown can sell to the masses.

"I don't know anyone who can afford $300,000 for a place to live," said Crawford, who does Web site work at GNC Corp. "You're just going to get the richest of the rich."

Still, sales figures for the district's existing condo buildings show an increase despite rising prices. According to real estate records published by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, six more Downtown condos sold in the first nine months of 2006 than all of 2005, and the average price jumped from $111,788 to $145,479. The records do not include pre-sales at the new luxury buildings.

Although older units in Chatham Tower sold for as little as $38,000, 11 units sold for more than $200,000.

"With what we're seeing, the market can afford 300 to 600 new units a year for the next 10 years, including rentals," Falbo said. "Especially if it stays gradual like this and the quality is there."


Even as the number of rental units in the triangle has nearly doubled since 2004, occupancy remains above 94 percent, according to market research published by the Downtown Partnership.

"There's clearly a demand to live Downtown," Burk said.

Rugby buys into North Side
New York-based firm acquires 4 Allegheny Center
Pittsburgh Business Times - December 29, 2006by Ben Semmes


Rugby Realty Co. Inc. has purchased 4 Allegheny Center, its first building on Pittsburgh's North Side.

The New Rochelle, N.Y.-based real estate investment firm closed this week on the roughly 231,000-square-foot, 10-story office building, a quarter mile north of Allegheny Center Mall, said Rugby president Aaron Stauber.

In addition to the building, Rugby acquired 2.7 acres of surrounding land, including an adjoining 325-space, multilevel parking garage, said Jim Geiger, a broker and senior vice president with Downtown-based Grant Street Associates Inc., which has been marketing the property for about 18 months.

Stauber declined to disclose the price his firm paid to buy the property from U.S. Realty Advisors LLC, a privately held, New York-based financial services firm.

U.S. Realty purchased it for $21.5 million in 1996, according to records filed with the Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments. A U.S. Realty representative said this week that no one with the company was available to comment on the sale.

The building's 2006 full market value is $15.4 million, according to county property records. The county placed the garage's 2006 full market value at $1.73 million.

Stauber said he plans to invest $1 million in renovations in the next six months. He said space in the building rents for roughly $20 per square foot. Currently master leased by Allegheny General Hospital through June 30, 2011, the building was originally built in the 1970s for International Business Machines Corp., Geiger said.

Allegheny General's presence in the building includes its legal department, psychiatry offices and human resources division, said hospital spokesman Tom Chakurda.

IBM now has only a small office in the building, which is mostly occupied by employees of Allegheny General, Geiger said. Allegheny General subleases between 40,000 and 50,000 square feet, he said.

"(Allegheny Center) Alliance Church is probably the largest subtenant," Geiger said. "The other big (subtenant) is the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP)."

Geiger said that Allegheny Center Alliance Church and the NSABP each take about 20,000 square feet in building, the equivalent of one floor.

Buying property on Pittsburgh's North Side is a shift for Rugby, which has now amassed about 2 million square feet in the Downtown area, including ownership of the Frick, Gulf and Manor buildings.

The company also owns commercial, residential and retail property in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida.

Rugby has ventured out of the central business district before, most recently with the announcement in May of its purchase of the 52,000-square-foot Ayoob-Acme Banana Co. parcel in the city's Strip District, where the company is considering a mixed-use development.

Stauber said he expects the construction by PITG Gaming LLC of Pittsburgh's slots casino near Heinz Field, along the Allegheny River, to spur additional development on the North Shore.

"It is great timing for the North Side," he said. "This property is within walking distance of the proposed casino."

Stauber said that his company has also looked at residential opportunities in the area, especially in the Mexican War Streets section, which he called "a tremendous opportunity."

"(Rugby) sees what's happening on the North Shore," said Grant Street's Geiger. "I think they believe they can capture some benefit."

Mike Liguori, a broker with Downtown-based Langholz Wilson Ellis Inc., said that he anticipates residential projects currently underway Downtown will encourage further development on the North Shore, which is a quick walk from the Golden Triangle.

"I think the North Shore is becoming a better investment," Liguori said.

Apangea moving Downtown from Indiana County
Pittsburgh Business Times - December 29, 2006by Jennifer Curry


Apangea Learning Inc. is moving its headquarters from Blairsville, Indiana County, to Downtown Pittsburgh on Jan 1.

Company founder and CEO Louis Piconi said the move will give the company room to grow and help it attract workers from outside the region.

"We have a need to be able to recruit at a national level," he said. "Pittsburgh is a very attractive place to bring them into. ... People are going to be more attracted to being in the city than 40 miles outside it."

Apangea, which sells software that tutors grade school students in subjects such as math and language, has seen a 300 percent increase since 2005 in the number of contracts it's been awarded. The company, which declined to disclose revenue, won between $2 million and $2.5 million in contracts in 2006. Employment has increased to 30 from 11 in the past year, and the company expects to hire 20 to 30 employees in the next year. Apangea's new office, which will be located in 7,000 square feet of space at the Ewart Building on Liberty Avenue, is triple the size of its previous headquarters.

William Nicholsen, executive director of Emsworth-based Holy Family Learning, an Apangea client that uses its tutoring software to tutor students with learning problems, said the move will benefit his company and Apangea.

"It's going to make it significantly easier for them to provide that same level of customer service for us," Nicholsen said.

Pittsburgh Metro Business Climate Attracts Expanding Companies

MEDRAD, Steelite International make substantial investments in the metro area.



Perhaps no other region in the country has reinvented itself more thoroughly, or more dramatically, than the Pittsburgh metro area has during the past 20 years.

The Southwest Pennsylvania region, which was once dependent on heavy manufacturing and steel production, has transformed itself into an economically diverse hub, combining a tradition of innovation with emerging industries, such as robotics and life sciences, and world-class universities.

That transformation was evident in November when Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) announced the signing of a five-year, $10 million agreement for sponsored research in computer science, engineering, robotics and other advanced technology areas related to health care. The collaboration begins in January.

The universities expect to explore projects involving technology-enhanced training and simulation, secure access to health care information, medical robotics and medical image processing.

“We believe that this partnership will help provide our researchers with the opportunity to develop new technologies and transfer them quickly into practice,” said Mark S. Kamlet, provost and senior vice president for Carnegie Mellon.


“We believe that this partnership will help provide our researchers with the opportunity to develop new technologies and transfer them quickly into practice.”
— Mark S. Kamlet, provost and senior vice president, Carnegie Mellon

The Pittsburgh metro area, working in concert with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, has been successful in attracting knowledge-based expansion and relocation projects, thanks in part to the business climate. That climate helped convince medical imaging device manufacturer MEDRAD Inc. to invest substantially in the Pittsburgh metro during the past 13 months.

In June, the company announced a $45 million expansion project in Clinton Township for a light manufacturing facility. That expansion is on top of a project, announced in November 2005, that will result in 400 new jobs.

When combined, the two expansion projects will produce more than 900 new jobs for the metro area during the next several years.

In Clinton Township, MEDRAD will occupy 120,000 square feet in the Victoria Road Business Park.

John P. Friel, president and CEO of MEDRAD, said the company considered many locations for the project, including in China and Mexico.

“When we considered the advantages of the [Clinton Township] location, especially the low startup risk, access to a highly trained work force, the ability to tap into the expertise of our current employees, along with our track record in southwestern Pennsylvania, it emerged as the best place for us,” he said.

MEDRAD will maintain its two existing locations in the metro and continue moving forward on a $28 million, 125,000 square foot corporate center at the Tech 21 Research Park in Marshall Township, the project announced more than a year ago. MEDRAD is the anchor tenant of the 233-acre, mixed-use park.

MEDRAD purchased enough land at Tech 21 to accommodate future expansion projects.

Another industrial park in the metro, Millennium Technology Park in Lawrence County, nabbed its first tenant thanks to nearly $400,000 in incentives from the commonwealth.

Steelite International USA Inc. broke ground on a manufacturing plant in October that will create at least 45 jobs within three years when the tableware manufacturer’s new Western Hemisphere headquarters facility begins operations.

The Lawrence County Economic Development Corp. (LCEDC) worked with the commonwealth to secure the incentive package, which includes a $308,000 loan through the Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund and $31,500 in Customized Job Training funds.

Two years ago, Pennsylvania awarded LCEDC $7.5 million in funds from the Business in Our Sites program, a loan and grant pool, to develop Millennium Technology Park. The investment helped offset the land acquisition and construction costs for an access road, site excavation and grading, wetland assessment and mitigation, installation of sewer lines and utilities, and related engineering activities.

South Pittsburgh Reporter

Mount residents learn more about proposed Grandview condos

Al Lowe 02.JAN.07

Mike Moidel, project manager, C. J. Betters Enterprises, has attended neighborhood meetings to gain input and to hear concerns about the company’s proposed plans to build a condominium complex on six lots on the 1600 block of Grandview Avenue.
The project was the only agenda item discussed at the forum session of the Mount Washington Community Development Corporation held on December 21.
How successful were the meetings in informing the public and addressing their concerns?
It depends on whom you ask.
Ron Yingling, of Fingal St., who lives near the proposed project, said he felt frustrated because his questions were not answered. “They did a lot of dancing.”
Chuck DiPasquale and Gretchen Braidic, who also live nearby, are more upbeat about the proposal.
”There’s blight that exists on the property now,” Mr. DiPasquale said. “We’d want a good, solid development that would be successful. We’d back it and be willing to compromise on style and height. There’s vacant houses there now with broken windows and a rodent problem. “We’re anxious to see a sound plan and we’d tend to get behind it.”
“I had several conversations with Chuck Betters,” said Frank Valenta, vice president, MWCDC at its December 21 meeting. He said that the developer seemed reasonable in his intentions.
However, the “height issue” and the losing of the view along Grandview Avenue was still a concern among local residents.
On November 16 the Betters company requested a variance from the Zoning Board so as to exceed the 40 foot height limit required by the Grandview Public Realm B zoning. The variance would permit height of buildings between 40 and 100 feet if approval is also given by the planning commission. Another stipulation of GPR-B is that the project has to be within 500 feet of another project that is more than 40 feet high.
The two existing homes on the site would be torn down.
Mr. Valenta gave the more than 25 attendees, some MWCDC members and others concerned neighbors, an update of what has happened with the project so far.
He said a neighborhood meeting was held a week before the November 16 zoning hearing. “It was just among ourselves.”
At this point he accidentally misspoke and corrected himself, saying “The trouble is that I’m still in shock about where the casino is going to go. I was so sure it was going to go to Station Square.”
He said testimony at the zoning hearing lasted an hour and 15 minutes. He said the board asked the developer to meet with the neighbors. That meeting occurred on December 18 and the residents commented on what they liked and didn’t like about the design. The developer has not yet responded regarding how or whether he’d be willing to change his plans.
Mr. Yingling said he did not know how much parking would be required and Paul Tellers, MWCDC board president, said he thought Mr. Moidel could answer that.
There would be three spaces for each condominium unit or 36 spaces, said Mr. Moidel, who otherwise remained silent during the MWCDC forum meeting.
The project is not a “done deal” yet. The company will again confer with the residents. The zoning board still has to vote on approval of the variance. Then MWCDC will hold another public meeting and the project goes to the planning commission and council for approval. - Contributing Writer

151 Firstside is coming along nicely. It is going to be a great looking place when completed.

double post

Just wondering what you guys think of Cowarts retirement?As a Bills fan and an outsider, my view on him is he seemed great. He reminds me a lot of our Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. I would have posted this in the NFL sticky, but its only Ravens fans there. Thanks

It is a sad day for the Steelers Nation. Cowher was a great coach and he will be missed.

Well it seemed like it was the direction he was headed after the Superbowl, so it's not shocking, and while this season was a disaster, I would have liked him to keep the momentum going (or in this case bring it back).

Pop City January 17, 2007
Construction on $10M Lofts on Baum to start in February
Construction is set to start in February on new lofts at 5848 Baum Boulevard in East Liberty. Developed by Crossgates, the project is located near Whole Foods and EastSide, within the core of Shadyside’s expansion into the Baum-Centre corridor.

The eight-story project will feature 28 one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 1,005 to 1,517 square feet. A number of brand new features, including penthouses, a top-floor glass enclosed exercise facility and a 16-by-30-foot roof deck have been added to the project’s final design. Two 2,318-square-foot penthouses will feature three bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms and covered terraces. The property will also feature a gated outdoor pet area.

“We have people interested from as far away as California,” says Brian Galley with Howard Hanna, who has begun pre-sales. “A lot of people are coming back to the city from suburbs like Fox Chapel and Mt. Lebanon.”

Pittsburgh-based Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel designed the building and Meadeworth Interiors, located on Penn Circle West, is the interior designer.

“There’s been real public demand for the one-bedroom units with Shadyside views.” Galley says this interest led to the creation of additional one-bedroom lofts that start at $209,000; penthouses start at $579,000. "Everything is with within walking distance," says Galley of the project's central East End location



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McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant going into former Lazarus store
Friday, January 19, 2007

By Teresa F. Lindeman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant should be serving up grouper and halibut by the end of year in the former Lazarus-Macy's department store Downtown, adjacent to the spot where diners will be ordering steaks at a Capital Grille restaurant by summer.

Signing the two national restaurant chains to the $65 million redevelopment project bodes well for the success of the Piatt Place project and signals continued interest in Downtown, according to regional officials and representatives of Washington County developer Millcraft Industries Inc.

"Everyone thought this was going to be a white elephant when Lazarus left," said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, before he and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl took sledge hammers to an interior wall to symbolically kick off construction work.

Federated Department Stores closed the department store in 2004, citing weak sales and the failure of city development efforts to bring other new tenants to the Fifth and Forbes area. Federated has since acquired the nearby Downtown Kaufmann's store and converted it to a Macy's, although there's been ongoing anxiety among Pittsburghers over the company's plans for that sprawling department store.

Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate for Millcraft, said yesterday that the momentum at Piatt Place had contributed to an explosion of development activity in the city's core.

In addition to about 50,000 square feet of retail space, the former store on Fifth Avenue will feature 65 condominiums and about 200,000 square feet devoted to offices.

A European-style market featuring a mix of prepared foods, breads, produce and meat could take some of the retail space, although it may be shifted to one of the other Downtown buildings that Millcraft also is hoping to redevelop. Interest from retailers in Piatt Place has been strong, said Herky Pollock, with real estate brokerage firm CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh. He said more tenants should be named in the next few months.

The lease deal for the 10,000-square-foot McCormick & Schmick's was expected to be completed by the end of day yesterday, Mr. Piatt said. The site will be the second Pittsburgh location for the seafood chain, which also is open at the SouthSide Works.

Sounds like the new arena for Pittsburgh has hit a minor snag....

Penguins souring on Plan B

Governor calls deal hard to beat, but team balks at splitting development rights, parking

Saturday, January 20, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Gov. Ed Rendell yesterday said the arena deal being offered the Penguins is better than others struck recently in the National Hockey League, but the team has balked at a proposal to share development rights and parking revenues with Pittsburgh casino backer Don Barden.

Another issue that has come up in the talks is $10 million the Penguins may owe Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., which lost to Mr. Barden in the bidding for the city's casino license.

According to Mr. Rendell, the Penguins agreed to pay that amount if Isle of Capri failed to win the casino license but the team still secured a new arena in Pittsburgh.

During an interview yesterday, Mr. Rendell, coming off a late-night round of negotiations with the team Thursday, said the Penguins' share of the arena financing would be a "fraction" of what Pennsylvania's other professional sports franchises -- the Steelers, Pirates, Flyers, Eagles, and Phillies -- contributed toward their new homes.

"I believe the offer we put before the Penguins is the best of any offer that's been made to any NHL team for a new [arena] in recent times and it's also by far the best of any offer made to any Pennsylvania professional sports team for a new stadium," he said.

Mr. Rendell added that the Penguins' share under a sweetened Plan B funding formula would be "significantly below" the 18 percent the Pirates paid toward the construction of the $260 million PNC Park.

The Steelers paid about 44 percent of the $281 million cost of Heinz Field. Under Plan B, the Penguins initially would have paid about 20.7 percent toward a $290 million arena.

An October Post-Gazette survey found that since 2000, NHL teams have contributed anywhere from nothing to 30 percent of the cost of building new arenas.

While the governor touted the proposed Plan B deal as hard to beat, the Penguins apparently felt otherwise during a 90-minute meeting Thursday that broke off without an agreement.

According to sources, team representatives, including co-owner Ron Burkle, were stunned when state and local officials proposed that the Penguins share development rights and parking revenues with Mr. Barden, who was a surprise visitor to the negotiations.

The team saw the proposal as a worse deal than it would get under an extension available next year at Mellon Arena, one that would allow rent-free use of the building and give the franchise control over all building revenues, including parking.

In addition to sharing parking revenues and development rights, the state, city and county also want the team to pay rent at the new arena, in excess of the roughly $2 million a year it pays SMG at Mellon Arena, sources said.

Team officials saw the latest proposal as a setback after a "very positive" Jan. 4 meeting, they said. They were surprised to see Mr. Barden, who was invited by Mr. Rendell, and the proposals for sharing development rights and parking revenues. They also felt the overall plan represented a retreat from the previous session.

Mr. Barden has committed to providing $7.5 million a year for 30 years toward a new arena under the Rendell-crafted Plan B, which also calls for contributions from the Penguins and a slots-financed state economic development fund.

The casino operator said Thursday night he joined the talks to "observe and see if I can be helpful. I want to do everything I can to see that the Penguins stay in Pittsburgh."

The Penguins declined comment on all aspects of the talks yesterday, saying in a statement that "we'll continue to explore all of our options."

One of those options is Kansas City, where the $276 million Sprint Center will open this fall. The Penguins are being offered a deal that includes free rent and a share of building revenues. It's likely that the team will explore that option more seriously in the wake of Thursday's meeting. The Penguins' Mellon Arena lease expires at the end of June.

Mr. Rendell said the proposal to share development rights is a result of a city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority resolution passed in 2005 offering such rights to any casino operator or private investor who commits to building a new arena.

The rights would extend to authority-owned property that now includes Mellon Arena, which would be demolished if a new facility is built across the street. Since neither Mr. Barden nor the Penguins would fully fund a new arena, the authority is talking to them jointly, Mr. Rendell said.

"The way the revenue streams are, neither one is solely responsible [for funding an arena], so together they would probably qualify under the [authority] recommendations," he said.

Asked about the sharing of parking revenues, Mr. Rendell replied, "Parking is on the table for discussion."

Despite the objections by the Penguins, Mr. Rendell believes Plan B is still better than what Kansas City is offering because the team would have to share building revenues there. In Pittsburgh, they would get virtually all such revenues from hockey and non-hockey events, excluding the parking.

The governor said the $10 million payment to Isle of Capri has come up in the talks as a cost the Penguins would have to bear if they stayed in Pittsburgh as opposed to moving to Kansas City.

Isle of Capri spokeswoman Jill Haynes said the company "does not comment on alleged content of confidential business agreements." The team also said it would not comment "on private business deals."

In the aftermath of Thursday's session, it is clear that whatever optimism preceded it now has dissipated. The governor conceded the results of the meeting were mixed.

"We made progress on some things and went back on others and that's very common in negotiations," he said.

Asked where they had fallen back, he replied, "some of the requests for relief from the Penguins."

While the governor had hoped for more progress, he said he still thought an agreement was possible.

"I'm still hopeful but there's a lot of posturing that goes on. That's true in these types of negotiations. That's true in business negotiations. It's true in labor negotiations."

No new talks have been scheduled, but Mr. Rendell said he hoped for another meeting soon.

Yeah, but how many 300 million dollar deals go without any snags and get done in 1 or 2 meetings?

Yeah, but how many 300 million dollar deals go without any snags and get done in 1 or 2 meetings?

Yeah, you're right. I forgot how long and many meetings it took for the Book-Cadillac hotel in Detroit to finally get restored. I just hope a deal can be reached soon, I would be devastated if the Pens moved to Kansas City.

Stan Savran, on SportsBeat tonight, reported that the minority investors of the Pens are all planning on adding in about $10 million more each in an effort to buy the team and keep them in Pittsburgh. They need one or two more investors. There were no other details made available.

Stan Savran, on SportsBeat tonight, reported that the minority investors of the Pens are all planning on adding in about $10 million more each in an effort to buy the team and keep them in Pittsburgh. They need one or two more investors. There were no other details made available.

That's interesting.

I am trying to figure out the Barden thing reported the other day - now he is supposed to profit this deal...?

spamming never pays.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07027/757294-53.stm

North Shore gets a lift from The Bus
Former Steeler Bettis' restaurant, opening in May, is part of a surge of development expected around the stadiums this year
Saturday, January 27, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette
Jerome Bettis says his new sports-themed restaurant is "going to be the crown jewel" of the city's burgeoning North Shore.
Click photo for larger image.




"Listen in"
Jerome Bettis comments on opening the "Jerome Bettis Grille 36" restaurant on the North Shore:
A project for the region
Trying to do the right thing
Allegheny County Chief Executive talks about making good use of the property



Jerome Bettis, left, and the Pirates' Kevin McClatchy, right, listen to Frank Kass, chairman of Continental Real Estate, talk about the "Jerome Bettis Grille 36" restaurant yesterday on the North Shore.
Click photo for larger image.







The Bus is stopping on the North Shore once again and his arrival could signal a big year for development between Heinz Field and PNC Park.

Jerome Bettis Grille 36, named after the retired Steelers running back, could be one of many advances in 2007, including a possible deal on another office building and the start of a long-awaited amphitheater project.

An upscale Hyatt Place hotel also could be part of the mix.

Mr. Bettis' restaurant, on the ground floor of the Del Monte Center near Heinz Field, is scheduled to open in May and could be a milestone in the North Shore's ongoing development, Steelers President Art Rooney II said.

"I think it will bring the kind of excitement we've been hoping for as part of the North Shore project. So I think it's a tremendous step forward and I think we'll just be able to build on this as we go forward," he said.

The Steelers are hoping to close on a deal soon with Cordish Co. of Baltimore for the development of North Shore Live, a proposed entertainment district near Heinz Field whose centerpiece would be an amphitheater with up to 5,000 seats and a glass top.

Other features could include restaurants, shops, nightclubs and an outdoor performance plaza.

"I'm not going to put an exact time frame on it but I think we're close enough that our goal, our hope, would be that it's something we can break ground on at the end of this year and possibly have at least parts of it open in '08," Mr. Rooney said.

Frank Kass, chairman of Continental Real Estate Cos., the Columbus firm hired by the Steelers and Pirates to develop the land between the stadiums, said the amphitheater would be boxed by nightclubs, providing for a year-round concert venue. An agreement could come soon, pending an application to the state for help with infrastructure improvements.

Mr. Kass said he also is closing in on a deal to build a "very nice, upscale, urban" Hyatt Place hotel between the stadiums. He hopes to make a formal announcement in March. He said he is negotiating with the city Stadium Authority for the land and parking needed for the hotel.

The hotel would be the third between the stadiums.

A 198-room Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel opened in 2005 near PNC Park and construction is expected to start next month on an 180-room Residence Inn at Mazeroski Way and General Robinson Street. Both hotels are separate from the Continental development.

Continental also hopes to be in position by late spring to announce construction of another office building to supplement Del Monte Center and the Equitable Resources headquarters.

Mr. Kass said he has had talks with Equitable about adding a building and consolidating operations on the North Shore if its purchase of Dominion Peoples wins regulatory approval. He said he is talking to several other potential tenants.

Mr. Bettis' restaurant will be the third to open on the North Shore this spring. McFadden's Restaurant and Saloon in the Equitable building will debut March 17. Calico Jacks Cantina is expected to open in the Del Monte building about a month later. Fox Sports Network Pittsburgh will move its studios to that building next month.

The $3 million Jerome Bettis Grille 36 will feature 8,500 square feet, more than 40 high-definition TVs and an outdoor patio area.

Mr. Bettis and his partner, Howard Shiller of Celebrity Ventures Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., stressed it will be a "sports-themed restaurant," not a sports bar.

"It's going to be a crowning jewel in this area," Mr. Bettis said. "I'm proud to have my name on it."

The restaurant will be mid-priced, offering such fare as steaks, burgers, hoagies, chicken, ahi tuna and salads. It hopes to attract families, North Shore office workers and, of course, Steelers fans.

Over the last five years, Continental has invested about $100 million in the North Shore development, Mr. Kass estimated. He said he expects that to reach $200 million to $250 million by full build-out.

Mr. Rooney said he is "satisfied" with the progress, particularly after so many years of no development with Three Rivers Stadium, which was demolished to make way for Heinz Field and PNC Park.

"I think we have turned the corner and I think having Jerome's restaurant here is just going to be a tremendous landmark that will bring more and more people to the North Shore," he said.

Mr. Rooney said he remains concerned about the impact of the new Majestic Star casino, which will be built near Heinz Field between the Carnegie Science Center and the West End Bridge.

"I'm hopeful we'll work those out," he added. "It does present traffic and parking issues that we're going to have to work through."

Businessman Don Barden, owner of Majestic Star, has pledged to work with the team to address concerns.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/44archprojects.aspx

Changing the Landscape of Pittsburgh
By: Gordon Spencer and Pop City staff

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Fairmount Housing

January 17, 2007
In every direction, change is taking place in Pittsburgh.

Hotels and office buildings are popping up on the North Shore, the Cultural Trust’s RiverParc, a mixed-use new project on Eighth St. is on the horizon downtown along with PNC Three which has broken ground. Along the Mon River, South Side Works continues to expand with new condos going up. And in Bloomfield, the Children’s Hospital construction looms large, expected to greatly impact the surrounding areas, a promise of change to come.

Pittsburgh’s hilly topography, which so dramatically defines this city, also makes it harder to discern the many changes going on. But in the last few years alone, new built projects, such as Eastside in East Liberty or major renovations such as the $20 million redo of the Terminal Buildings, now River Walk Corporate Center, are changing the landscape of Pittsburgh..

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Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Riverparc

Context, Context Context

Ask any architect: context is everything. Gary Carlough, president of Edge Studios says, “Too often people think about buildings as objects in the landscape, but the powerful outcome of architecture is the residual space that it shapes. “

Think a great building is a great building anywhere? Think again. “You have to think about both the building and the city. That’s how you get better buildings. A city full of iconic architecture could be a horrible place to live, a sculptural museum,” he notes. “What’s more prevalent is expressing individuality while maintaining coherence.”

The new construction in East Liberty—the modern and inviting Eastside, most notably-- and along the Baum-Centre Corridor—with its mixed-use office buildings, both new and renovated—are good examples of new buildings creating change, says Pitt Professor Christopher Drew Armstrong, director of Architectural Studies in the History of Art and Architecture department. “Such construction is starting to knit together the fabric of this city, creating a continuity of neighborhoods where there hadn’t been any,” he says.

Fortunately for Pittsburgh, most projects are done with existing scale and style in mind, rather than trying to create something deliberately original for its own sake. “We see a good sensitivity to that in Pittsburgh,” says Dave Brennenberg, a partner in Brenenborg Brown Group. “Originality, things that visibly stand out, doesn’t necessarily mean good architecture. Good architecture is the stuff that services clients well and is a good neighbor.”

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Schenley Park

A Welcome Green Space

One recent project worthy of good neighbor status is the transformation of a parking lot into the exceptional green space called Schenley Plaza. With its beautiful plantings, artful benches, pavilion and charming carousel, the former parking lot stands as a welcome oasis of green, lending an air of calm to a high-octane urban neighborhood.

Blocks away on Fifth, the Biomedical Science Tower 3 has added a welcome element of sophisticated design to the dense corridor, ultimately enhancing the neighborhood. The building, designed by local JSA Architects with Payette Associates, won a 2006 Design Award from AIA Pittsburgh as “an unusually handsome urban building.”

Jurors, who appreciated the open glass corners, commented: “They took a complex building and wove a series of handsome facades out of it. There is a good layering and bridging of interior and exterior spaces.” [EP7] A standout in a cluster of high-rises, the Tower could inspire more forward-thinking design in the corridor.

In Friendship, the sixty apartments and six retail spaces of the award-winning Penn Fairmont represents a refreshing diversity in the heart of the Arts District. Senior housing. Future lofts and artists workspaces. Retail. It’s one project that connects on a number of levels—a big leap from its former occupant, Eat n Park with its stretch of parking lot.

While these positive changes in neighborhoods benefit everyone, it is especially helpful for elderly and poorer residents, says Armstrong. It’s possible to live in a neighborhood such as Friendship and walk or bike places instead of relying on a car which benefits the environment as well.

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Biomedical Science Tower 3

The Hottest Link

One of the more intriguing projects mentioned by an architect: the Hot Metal Bridge, now back in use. Jon Shimm, partner with Burt Hill points to this linkage as symbolic of change. Once used to transport metal across the river, today the restored bridge links two new and vital sections of the city—the Southside Works and the Technology Center, connecting people to technology. ”The effect is both physical and psychological,” says Shimm. “And this appeals to a new young, urban-oriented generation.”

Architects agree that exciting new architectural proects, from bridges to modern shopping centers, are drawing attention as well as people—such as families moving back from the suburbs. Brennenborg says, “The changes promote a sense of well-being, a desire to live in the city rather than on the periphery.”

Restoring the Past

It’s not just new projects reshaping the landscape. Restoration is the right blueprint, declares Ellis Schmidlapp, CEO of Landmark Design Associates which has offices in the 106-year old, recently renovated River Walk Corporate Center, previously the Terminal Building. Now housing nonprofits and tech companies, it's a good example of restoration that has breathed new life into a building as well as its surroundings. Restoration, says Schmidlapp, is "what makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh. The town is building on its strengths. It’s the wave of the future. It’s fine to bring in new ideas but also to find what’s been known all along.”

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Hot Metal Street Bridge walkway construction

Respecting the past while welcoming the future can be tricky but Pittsburgh has fared well in this respect. “Pittsburgh has always had a unique architectural character, consistent with the feel of the city, rather than just a hodge-podge,” says Ed Shriver, partner at STRADA. “There’s an overall coherence of style—sort of European working class stable, solid: bricks, mortar, steel, cut stone.” He adds that the best architecture is also sensitive to the styles and personalities of everything surrounding it. “It strengthens who and what we are.”

That matters more today than perhaps any other time in history. Unlike previous generations, Gen Y-ers are more likely to move to a city of choice and then find a suitable job. Given the Internet and telecommuting, people are mobile, able to work anywhere these days. “We have a lot more freedom choosing where we live,” says Anne J. Swager, executive director of AIA Pittsburgh. So cities have to work harder to attract workers. “Pittsburgh’s green hillsides and scenic rivers --combined with its architecture, from the skyline to the historic buildings-- present a most compelling case on why Pittsburgh is one of the best places to be.”

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Terminal Buildings

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07024/756173-28.stm

Region bucks trend as home sales, prices rise
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

By Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For cities such as Miami and Los Angeles, 2006 was the year that the housing merry-go-round stopped. Prices fell, sales slowed and builders began offering incentives to induce prospects to buy their homes.

In the Pittsburgh area, 2006 was a year of "steady as she goes."

According to West Penn Multi-List Inc., the listing service that tracks sales by area Realtors, the seven-county region registered a 1.24 percent increase in sales in 2006 over 2005, and a 5.64 percent increase in the average price of homes sold.

"It's pretty amazing when you hear so much about what's going on elsewhere," said George Hackett, president of the WPML board of directors and president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker's Pittsburgh offices. "Anything on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts was off at least 20 to 30 percent last year."

That was largely because prices in those markets had risen by 30 to 35 percent a year for the past five years or so, he said, creating what many have described as a "housing bubble." Such a bubble never formed in Pittsburgh, a market Mr. Hackett described as "Steady Eddie. Nothing fancy, but steady."

In Allegheny County, 23,972 homes went under agreement or contingency in 2006, a 3.2 percent increase over the 23,218 that did so in 2005. The average price of homes sold also held nearly even, at $145,512 versus $144,094.

In percentage terms, Armstrong had the largest increase in sales -- the 489 contracts signed in 2006 were 32.2 percent more than the 370 signed in 2005. The average price increased slightly, to $91,084 from $90,505.

Fayette County saw 275 homes go under agreement or contingency, a 2.2 percent increase from 269, while the average price increased to $91,013 from $87,715. Washington County contracts scarcely moved, totaling 3,399, versus 3,366 for 2005; the average price increased to $164,267 from $162,889.

The remaining three counties in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area -- Beaver, Butler and Westmoreland -- suffered slumps in the number of homes placed under contract last year, but they also saw increases in the average price of homes sold.

Beaver County contracts numbered 2,374, a 6.5 percent drop from 2005's 2,539, while the average price jumped by 4.8 percent, to $118,501 from $113,072. In Butler County, contracts fell to 3,142 from 3,241, a 3.1 percent drop, as the average price rose by 3.8 percent to $213,898 from $206,008, easily the highest average price in the seven-county area. And in Westmoreland County, buyers signed on the dotted line 4,791 times, 2.5 percent fewer times than the 4,916 contracts signed in 2005. Prices there rose by 1.3 percent to $146,645, from $144,803.


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(Elwin Green can be reached at egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07024/756178-53.stm

State gives Downtown housing a boost
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Gov. Ed Rendell issued the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust a $12.3 million check yesterday in support of its half-billion dollar, arts-driven riverfront housing project, which is set to be the biggest in Downtown history.

The state funds will support public infrastructure in the $90 million first phase of the RiverParc project. Overall construction of some 700 housing units on the Allegheny River at Eighth Street, adjacent to the Cultural District, could take a decade.

The governor called the project "one of the linchpins to the revitalization of the city of Pittsburgh," joining with other projects to possibly bring thousands of new residents to Downtown and the North Shore.

"This will be as exciting and well thought out a Downtown residential and retail project as any American city has had in the last 10 years," he said.

The $460 million project will follow environmentally friendly "green" building practices, and combine housing with public amenities such as performance spaces, parks, retail establishments and a link to the river. The hope is to boost 24-hour residential and cultural life Downtown, adjacent to existing Cultural Trust facilities, such as the Benedum Center and the O'Reilly Theater.

Developers planned to break ground at the development site between Seventh and Ninth streets this summer, but that may be pushed back to early 2008, said Phoenix-based lead developer Susan Eastridge. Construction should take 14 months, meaning the homes could open in early 2009.

Realtor Hoddy Hanna said pre-sales of the roughly 250 housing units in the first phase will begin before construction starts, in the late summer or fall of this year. The company has a list of 200 people who are tentatively interested, he said.

Prices are not set, but the bulk should be two- and three-bedroom units costing $300,000 to $400,000, Eastridge said. Some will cost less (about $180,000) and some grander condominiums more. The initial phase will include a high-rise and a mid-rise apartment building, and town-homes along Eighth Street, all of them interspersed with public spaces and a 420-space underground garage.

The public areas and the green-building plans were the key to the state support, Rendell said at a Benedum Center news conference.

The $12.3 million in state funding includes: $7 million in state capital funds for the parking garage; $3 million in tax credits for the two mixed-use buildings, which will have both housing and retail; $2 million in "Growing Greener" funds for demolishing two buildings on the site and other needs; and $300,000 for park spaces.

Rendell's office estimated the first construction phase would create 1,000 construction jobs, 90 retail jobs and 20 management positions.

Cultural Trust CEO Kevin McMahon said public meetings on the plans will be held in coming months, before they are refined and taken to city planners for formal approvals.


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(Tim McNulty can be reached at tmcnulty@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1581. )

East Liberty group buys three buildings, aims to build movie theater
Pittsburgh Business Times - January 26, 2007by Ben Semmes

Joe Wojcik
East Liberty Development Inc. has purchased three properties on the 6000 block of Penn Avenue, shown here. Plans include a cinema to replace a PNC Bank branch and transformation of the Highland Building into condominiums.
View Larger East Liberty Development Inc. has purchased three properties in the 6000 block of Penn Avenue in the heart of East Liberty, with a view toward renovations for a movie theater and upper-level housing in the rapidly changing neighborhood.

Rob Stephany, director of commercial real estate for East Liberty Development Inc., a nonprofit community development corporation, said the organization paid $555,000 for 18,900 square feet of usable space at 6014, 6016 and 6018 Penn Ave., or about $30 per square foot.

The largest piece of property, which sold for $500,000, is the 8,400-square-foot former branch of PNC Bank at the corner of Penn Avenue and Highland Mall Avenue.

"The community vision for that corner would be a movie theater," Stephany said. "We have to find a theater operator. We would love it to be a theater, but it could be office over retail or housing over retail."

He said the bank parcel purchase was especially critical since it didn't mesh with the community's vision for that block.

"The PNC Bank was probably the one (parcel) that didn't fit in," he said.

Stephany said he hopes development in the area will be catalyzed by the planned opening of a 132-room hotel next to the 13-story Highland Building, long vacant, on the same corner.

"We think we are on the threshold of having good things happen in the core of the district," Stephany said.

Knoxville, Tenn.-based Terminus Real Estate purchased the Highland Building and the Stadterman building next door from the Urban Redevelopment Authority in 2005. Terminus' plans called for the development of the Highland Building's 100,000 square feet of space into 84 condominiums and the Stadterman building into a hotel with ground-level retail.

Leigh A. Burch III, president of Terminus, declined to comment on the status of that project.

ELDI's purchase gives the group control of almost all of the commercial development in that block.

Stephany said the only commercial property on the block that the organization does not own is the office building at 100 Sheridan Square, although it has a 38 percent stake in the structure.

As part of the redevelopment of the bank building and its neighboring properties, Stephany said the facades will be restored with supervision by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.

Stephany said ELDI thought it was important to buy the properties now to give the community more say in the result.

Nearby, Downtown-based The Mosites Co. is in the process of acquiring more than three acres of property from Highland Avenue to a Port Authority bus turn-around as Mosites continues to expand on its East Side retail development, anchored by Whole Foods Market.

Mark Minnerly, Mosites' real estate development director, said the company most recently spent $1.83 million to buy a parking lot and an adjacent indoor tennis facility. The company already owns a former Kingsley Association building not far from the bus turn-around.

Jim Aiello Jr., president of Lawrence-ville-based Aiello Development Co. LLC, bought the 28,000-square-foot, three-story Stevenson building, near the corner of Penn Avenue and Highland Mall Avenue, for $1.4 million early last year. He said the building, where he rents space for $26 per square foot, is fully leased to commercial tenants on the upper levels, and a bank has signed a letter of intent to rent the 7,000-square-foot, ground-level space.

"Everything that has been done (in East Liberty) so far complements the Shadyside district," Aiello said. "I don't think that area could stand any more residential with the Highland Building (renovation), if that happens. Unfortunately, I don't have any commercial space left. I have probably turned away a dozen (commercial) users that wanted office (space)."

an update on the Hope VI developments in the Lower Hill

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/46bedfrdhill.aspx

January 31, 2007
Phase one of Bedford Hill homes nears completion, additional rental units on the way
Construction is nearing completion on the first eight of twenty-nine houses in the Hill District. Part of Bedford Hill, the 1,400 square-foot homes are bounded by Roberts, Webster, Devillers, Davenport and Erin Streets. The $7 million HOPE VI project will offer single-family homes for $135-$150,000.

“Interest has been fairly strong--we are very happy about it,” says Dave Howe, with the Pittsburgh Housing Development Corporation, developer for the homes. “We have a nice list of people who are eligible and we should see these sell in a short period of time.”

The homes offer two different floor plans and options for adding a third floor master suite, and feature three bedrooms, 1 ½ bathrooms and basements. Homes also feature yards, secured parking and views of downtown. Southside-based Hanson Design Group, Ltd. is project architect; contractor is Steve Catranel Construction.

Bedford Hill also features 147 rental units, which were completed last summer and are now at 100% occupancy. The project’s second and third phases will bring an additional 204 new rental units to the area in 2007. The URA contributed $750,000 toward the $17.6 million cost of the project’s first phase. McCormack Baron Salazar is developing the rental units.


Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Jessica Smith Perry; Dave Howe

Image courtesy of the Pittsburgh Housing Development Corporation

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http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/46gcmurph.aspx

January 31, 2007

Work to begin downtown on mixed-use GC Murphy project
Plans to renovate downtown’s G.C. Murphy building are starting with an environmental engineering assessment of the property. Canonsburg-based Millcraft Industries is working with Strada to finalize designs for the project’s 45,000 square feet of rental apartments and 60,000 square feet of retail. Construction will begin during the fourth quarter of 2007; the project is expected to take 12-15 months.

The $31 million development will feature 42 new apartments ranging in size from 700 to 1,300 square feet. “They’ll be selling the location,” says Ed Shriver with Strada. “They’ll be funky loft apartments bigger than your average loft, with very large windows.” The building’s first and second floors will house retail tenants, such as restaurants, a grocery store and a bookstore. “Having good floor plans for national tenants is critical to our plan,” says Brian Walker with Millcraft.

The Murphy building's basement will be converted into a parking facility.The project will involve rebuilding roofs, creating a garden courtyard and unifying a complex of five buildings via a series of corridors and stairs. “It’ll be an urban oasis—you'll be able to look up at PPG and PNC,” says Shriver.
“Rents will be below most everything else new downtown.”

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Ed Shriver; Brian Walker

Image courtesy of Strada

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another piece of the puzzle for the beleaguered Fifth/Market Sq. area... these buildings are right across the street from the construction site of 3 PNC Plaza... they are currently covered with a mural of famous Pittsburghers at street level... Landmarks will be employing a "green" adaptive reuse strategy... just months after a national conference on this very subject took place in our city... skyscrapers and condo towers are exciting... but small-scale historic structures like these do a lot to enhance the intimacy, character and architectural diversity of downtown


http://www.pittsburghli