PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I’d actually like to see the entire eastern (east of 279 overpass) section of the park redeveloped. It’s empty around 90% of the year because there is nothing the least bit inviting about being there. The only time it’s really used is for the arts festival... and that sucks anyway.

Yeah, it is a huge, boring, inactive lawn the vast majority of the time. Even on nice days, everyone is over on the other side, and at most just walking through this space. I suppose I sometimes see some people playing Ultimate or touch football, but that's an enormous space to be used for only such purposes.

If it was me, I'd also reconstruct the Music Bastion and wall sections currently just indicated with granite "traceries". It is just such a shame we have this awesome distinct historical site which we are not using to its full extent as an attraction. And I think done right, you could still use that area for festivals and such, but a smartly designed bastion would provide opportunities for more intimate gathering spots on normal days.

Edit:

These two Photo Spheres basically show how a reconstructed Music Bastion actually wouldn't really interfere with the festival, and indeed I suspect would make it way cooler:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4418...7i12288!8i4204

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4412...!7i8704!8i4352'

As an aside, they also underscore how a nice project at the PG site would be really prominent.

[photoLith]

Id love to see all areas at the front of downtown next to Point State Park to be completely redone and re-urbanized somehow. Build some low rise buildings with bars or something that abut against the street. The whole entrance to downtown is just so depressing and culminates in the ugly ghetto 80s McDonalds that greets you to the rest of downtown at Forbes and Liberty.

[eschaton]

IMHO the best way to "fix" the area around Gateway would be for there to just be a mass residential conversion. I mean, I am not a fan of the "towers in the park" design, but in terms of high-density urban development it works okay for housing - provided there are traditional urban business districts nearby. And Market Square is right there.

I do wonder if there is some way to eliminate the onramps/offramps right at at Liberty/Boulevard of the Allies. There are inbound/outbound options to get on both around Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt boulevards (off of Stanwix in both directions), and the elimination of those lanes would allow the "near" side of the park to be much more usable. It would also have the positive impact of ending the "deathtrap" for pedestrians trying to cross Liberty around Gateway Center.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

IMHO the best way to "fix" the area around Gateway would be for there to just be a mass residential conversion. I mean, I am not a fan of the "towers in the park" design, but in terms of high-density urban development it works okay for housing - provided there are traditional urban business districts nearby.

I note those cruciform designs were successfully used for residential towers as well.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I note those cruciform designs were successfully used for residential towers as well.

I no longer work in Gateway Center, but there were rumors for years the new property owners were considering residential conversion. The designs work pretty poorly for modern office space, insofar as each wing has a set square footage. It's very hard to break up a single wing between two tenants, and it's awkward to have anything between a single wing and an entire floor.

[themaguffin]

It's too bad the N or S Side can't get something like this.

[eschaton]

Some weird shit is going on with City Planning.

I noticed last week that my bookmarks for the virtual commission presentations no longer worked. Eventually I found them - in a much more inaccessible place on the city website. I wasn't sure why they would change the system to be more inaccessible.

Regardless, there is a planning commission presentation scheduled for tomorrow, and despite this, no agenda or presentation has been uploaded. This is highly unusual. Pre-pandemic, the agendas were usually posted by the Thursday/Friday before, and since the pandemic it's usually been around a week early.

ZBA doesn't have any March agendas up yet either, which it usually would by this time.

I'm not sure if a key person is sick in the department, the meeting was canceled, or what, but this is not something I have seen happen before.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Id love to see all areas at the front of downtown next to Point State Park to be completely redone and re-urbanized somehow. Build some low rise buildings with bars or something that abut against the street. The whole entrance to downtown is just so depressing and culminates in the ugly ghetto 80s McDonalds that greets you to the rest of downtown at Forbes and Liberty.

Originally Posted by eschaton

IMHO the best way to "fix" the area around Gateway would be for there to just be a mass residential conversion. I mean, I am not a fan of the "towers in the park" design, but in terms of high-density urban development it works okay for housing - provided there are traditional urban business districts nearby. And Market Square is right there.

I see a mix of residential and commercial use on both sides of a wide public promenade that continues the existing one -- from under 279 to a plaza abutting Commonwealth Place. Basically the towers in the park model with ground-level cafe/bar/restaurant/retail use fronting on the pedestrian promenade. Vehicle access to the rear of buildings via alleyways with turnarounds perpendicular to Commonwealth Pl.

[eschaton]

The Planning Commission presentation for tomorrow landed...finally. Something big/unexpected on the agenda as well. Let's go though the projects:

1. First up, a minor project in Oakland - a small rear extension to 255 Atwood Street. This is only before the Commission because the area is part of the Oakland Public Realm. Not much else to say other than the existing building is an eyesore (front and back) and this is undoubtedly a step up. Hopefully it's part of a more detailed renovation.

2. Presentation on the Mayor's proposed "ban" on curb cuts in rowhouse areas. Not much here that hasn't been already discussed in the press release. I find it unlikely this will limit that many curb cuts, TBH.

3. The big news - a new institutional master plan for Chatham College. This is broken into the IMP itself and a presentation. Pretty much uniquely among the major colleges/universities in Pittsburgh, Chatham somehow avoided having EMI zoning until now, so this is a comprehensive rezone. On its core campus, Chatham plans to mostly renovate existing buildings over the next ten years, with conversion of the many apartment buildings it now owns along Fifth Avenue into formal dormitories. They also plan more substantive expansions to their athletic building, science lab, and dormitory space closer to the historic core. In the longer-term they've identified three sites for substantial new buildings, but the plans are still quite vague (they still haven't nailed down uses). There's a lot more in here, including some pretty renderings in the presentation section. I wish the plan was a bit more ambitious, but Chatham is exactly the sort of mid-tier private college which in many cases is struggling to survive right now, so I suppose projecting any growth/construction is a good thing.

[photoLith]

The really beautiful and historic chamber of commerce and southside welcome center burnt down today on East Carson Street, so that sucks. It was such a beautiful building.

[JDescutner]

I'm so devastated by this

[deja vu]

^ Oh no! The fire is still active, as of 4:30pm, according to PG. It was a 4 alarm fire. The last photo shows the half that collapsed, either on its own, or as a result of the firefighting efforts -

Half of building collapses as crews battle blaze at 4-story building in heart of South Side
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
February 08, 2021

Source: Steve Mellon | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[photoLith]

That really sucks, was one of the prettiest second empire buildings left on Carson and now it will probably just be a parking lot forever.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by photoLith

That really sucks, was one of the prettiest second empire buildings left on Carson and now it will probably just be a parking lot forever.

Provided the building was insured, you would be surprised what's possible. Look at this this building, which was partially destroyed in a freak tornado, but has actually since been rebuilt to be un-remuddled (something that never would have happened without the partial destruction to begin with).

[Mr. Franks]

That's depressing. East Carson St is my favorite street in Pittsburgh mainly for all the classic buildings. This is a big loss.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Provided the building was insured, you would be surprised what's possible. Look at this this building, which was partially destroyed in a freak tornado, but has actually since been rebuilt to be un-remuddled (something that never would have happened without the partial destruction to begin with.

^ Let's hope.

Slightly more positive - I was going to post this yesterday, before the news of that fire. Just a great view down Forbes Ave. in Oakland. It makes me feel a little nostalgia for my time in college there - even though it looked slightly different back then -


Source: Instagram | @berksbr (Bradley B. Photography)

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by deja vu

^ Let's hope.

Slightly more positive - I was going to post this yesterday, before the news of that fire. Just a great view down Forbes Ave. in Oakland. It makes me feel a little nostalgia for my time in college there - even though it looked slightly different back then -


Source: Instagram | @berksbr (Bradley B. Photography)

And just think that **knock on wood** two major projects filling in chunks of Forbes are going to be built within the next few years.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by eschaton

And just think that **knock on wood** two major projects filling in chunks of Forbes are going to be built within the next few years.

You should have knocked a bit harder!

A ‘fortress’: Family House, others oppose 300-unit apartment complex on Forbes Ave. in Oakland

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202102100053

A proposed 10-story apartment building on Forbes Avenue in Oakland is running into trouble with a prominent neighbor, a city councilman, and a community group.

As the opposition surfaced, the developer, Chicago-based CA Ventures, was granted a postponement of a hearing that had been scheduled Tuesday before the city planning commission.

Its decision came after Family House, a nonprofit that provides affordable housing for patients seeking medical treatment in Pittsburgh, raised concerns about the “size, scope, and impacts” of the proposed 300-unit structure at 3500 Forbes.

The complex would be built at the site of a closed gasoline station adjacent to a Family House facility at 233 McKee Place, one that is scheduled to be demolished and eventually replaced.

In a letter to the planning commission, Alfred Vallano, chair of the Family House board of directors, said such a large structure could have a negative effect on future Family House guests, as well as the property itself.

“Family House believes that this proposed development, as currently configured, will create substantial negative impacts upon Family House’s property, and that the proposed development is incompatible with Family House’s mission and the services that Family House provides to the community,” he wrote.

Mr. Vallano said there have been no meaningful discussions with CA Ventures to date about the issues, and the company made no effort until last week to engage in a dialogue with Family House.

City Councilman Bruce Kraus, whose district includes the affected section of Oakland, said the “unmitigated negative externalities relating to the operations of a 300-unit apartment complex, as well as its adjoining parking structure, would jeopardize Family House’s ability to deliver on its mission of providing safe and comfortable pre- and post-surgical convalescence to the transplant community it serves.”

The Family House property in question includes the original home that launched the nonprofit and another next to it. Family House already has gotten approval to demolish the structures, which were closed to guests in 2015.

However, Jonathan Kamin, Family House attorney, said the CA Ventures apartment project has the potential to affect a new facility for patients and their families, now in the design stages, to be built by the nonprofit at the McKee Place site.

“The developer has not taken any steps to have any meaningful discussions with us about the compatibility of their project and our project,” he said.

“They have been the antithesis of a good neighbor.”

Mr. Kamin described the apartment building as a “fortress” that “will be a nuisance and safety concern to residents of Family House and Oakland in general.”

Oakland Planning and Development Corp. also has weighed in against the project.

In addition to backing the issues raised by Family House, it stated some community members had concerns about the “canyon effect” the size of the development could have on Forbes Avenue.

In a letter to the planning commission, OPDC executive director Wanda Wilson also took issue with the lack of affordable housing in the plan. She said CA Ventures has refused to change the proposal to include that component.

Ms. Wilson urged the commission to table action on the building until the developer creates a plan to include affordable housing

[eschaton]

Edit: I had a post all ready, and pj300 beat me to it!

Not surprising seeing Kraus and OPDC opposing anything being built again. I'm not sure what Family House's deal is though. They are demolishing the complex and may not be moving back. I have to wonder if they're attempting to get the developer to buy their parcel as well.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Edit: I had a post all ready, and pj300 beat me to it!

Not surprising seeing Kraus and OPDC opposing anything being built again. I'm not sure what Family House's deal is though. They are demolishing the complex and may not be moving back. I have to wonder if they're attempting to get the developer to buy their parcel as well.

Sorry, I just couldn't help but post about a proposed development that "will be a nuisance and safety concern to residents of Family House and Oakland in general".

I mean, if this gets built, I don't think I'll ever step foot in Oakland again for fear of my own personal safety.

That's a good point... a possible shakedown, with Kamin as lead "negotiator".