PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[eschaton]

I'll do a little mini-roundup of development news going on right now.

1. Eyeball report: Projects are moving forward in the Strip District again. Noticed on my last few bike rides through the area ground has broken on the Hudson Companies 2929 Smallman Project. As a reminder, this is a 105-unit development spread across two buildings (one is in the rear on Railroad Street). So far the old buildings have been demolished, and they are doing site prep work. In addition, site clearing for the smaller 2929 Smallman development right across the street has also started. This project is set to be 84 units. Both are Hudson Companies projects, so presumably the finance cleared simultaneously.

2. In sad news, it seems the planned project for 214 S Craig has been really downgraded. The last renderings from Fischer Architecture were quite nice, but a Developmental Activities Meeting title from this month described it as "Demolition for a new 2-story restaurant; 3-unit residential conversion." I searched and found this on Loopnet. Maybe it was a financing issue, but I'd guess Oakland NIMBYs won again, which will result in a net loss of residential units, as the run-down house in the back is converted into low-rise retail/office space. Blargh.

3. The ZBA agendas for May 9th and May 16th are online. Very short, with little to note, other than this godawful giant Heinz bottle for the History Center, and the West End Tavern project moving on to the ZBA.

[Johnland]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I'll do a little mini-roundup of development news going on right now.


2. In sad news, it seems the planned project for 214 S Craig has been really downgraded. The last renderings from Fischer Architecture were quite nice, but a Developmental Activities Meeting title from this month described it as "Demolition for a new 2-story restaurant; 3-unit residential conversion." I searched and found this on Loopnet. Maybe it was a financing issue, but I'd guess Oakland NIMBYs won again, which will result in a net loss of residential units, as the run-down house in the back is converted into low-rise retail/office space. Blargh.

Wow. The rendering was a beautiful fit for that stretch of Craig. Sorry the NIMBY's eff'd it up. It must be the people in the Atrium.

[dfiler]

Yeah, I wonder why that got downsized. There's not much of a historic neighborhood structure to preserve and there are only a few homes left.

CMU seems to be assembling a lot of parcels in the area. Given how much is already taken up by parking lots and other commercial buildings, I'm in favor of the whole area being densified. It's not well suited to single family homes.

Check out CMU's master plan for maps of what they currently own:
https://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/process/mas...aster-plan.pdf

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Yeah, I wonder why that got downsized. There's not much of a historic neighborhood structure to preserve and there are only a few homes left.

CMU seems to be assembling a lot of parcels in the area. Given how much is already taken up by parking lots and other commercial buildings, I'm in favor of the whole area being densified. It's not well suited to single family homes.

Check out CMU's master plan for maps of what they currently own:
https://www.cmu.edu/cdfd/process/mas...aster-plan.pdf

CMU actually is moving towards demolishing these two homes in that area. Not sure the plan here, but when they replace the old building next to TCS Hall, the new massing should go back to Filmore, so this may be just a mini-lot until they get more site control along S. Craig.

Really though, the whole area around S. Craig is doomed. CMU is going to acquire all of it, given enough time. Some of the commercial activity on S. Craig may survive, but all the remaining houses/small-scale buildings are going to be bought out and knocked down, given another 10-20 years.