PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Warlopian

I just wish we could add another busway stop along there, where the busway crosses under Baum and Centre and maybe electrify the busway (at least to Wilkinsburg). This would make it even more reasonable to remove all parking minimums in the corridor.

There were originally plans for a station at S Aiken, which were defeated by NIMBYs, IIRC.

NIMBYs also blocked a busway station in Edgewood (they were originally supposed to use the old train station) but they relocated it a few blocks north to Hamnett Station in Wilkinsburg after furious community opposition.

Needless to say, I don't think either would happen now, but at the time the Busway was just seen as a way "the poors" would get into your neighborhood.

Speaking as someone who takes the P1 all the time, there's nowhere to put a stop near Baum/Centre, as buildings abut directly onto the busway down there. There is room though to stick on off of S Millvale.

[eschaton]

So yesterday, they finally dropped the Planning Commission agenda for today. A pretty weighty week, though it's all stuff we've seen before in other forms.

1. Historic nomination of Rodef Shalom Synagogue in Shadyside. Unlike some other recent nominations, this doesn't appear to be driven by a desire to block development. I see no reason to not go forward with this.

2. The new UPMC Presby tower is finally being presented. The design has not changed much from earlier incarnations. I remain pretty unenthused with how autocentric it is, but hospitals seem to get a free pass from good urban design, even in big cities like NYC. The Falk Building will really seem underscaled once the tower is done - I can't help wondering if its days are numbered. Considering how remuddled the façade is, it's probably god riddance.

3. Duquense is seeking approval for the final design for its college of Osteopathic Medicine. It's...acceptable I guess? A big rectangle save for a first story that swoops out a bit towards Forbes. The most interesting thing is how they're not even filling in half of the block. They have a big empty green space, and then a surface lot on the far end, which they are saving for "another project." Thus it's kinda hard to evaluate because we don't know what the final streetscape will be.

4. A minor zoning change eliminating language within the code related to sidewalk cafes. Essentially City Council passed a law in February which made the easing of sidewalk cafe restrictions permanent, and transferred oversight from ZBA to DOMI. As a result, the Planning Commission is going to have it suggested that all zoning language related to it be struck from zoning code.

Also the Planning Commission will (finally) be voting on Oakland Crossings today. There is an updated document here. It was reported in the media yesterday this is a compromise document reached between Gainey and Walnut Capital. We will see if the Commission nukes it anyway.

Apparently the new zoning ends the attempts to rebuild McKee Place, but it does upzone Halket Street. There's few other details available.

[dfiler]

Fern hollow bridge construction to start next month.

https://www.penndot.pa.gov/RegionalO...geProject.aspx

I'm excited to see a protected 10 foot wide bike lane! This is a major missing link in the bike network. It is quite literally the only way across the nine mile run ravine. That ravine is too much elevation for most cyclists to decend and climb. And with Forbes avenue currently a death trap for cyclists, you only see really avid cyclists traveling between the two sides of the park.

With a bridge finally wide enough to accommodate a bike lane, neighborhoods will finally be connected! The number of cyclists will grow significantly once there is a safe, flat route between squirrel hill and regent square.

[dfiler]

Pittsburgh City Planning Commission Meeting - March 8, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRlOHST2zWE&t=4022

4 hours and 52 minutes! Whew, that's a marathon session.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Pittsburgh City Planning Commission Meeting - March 8, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRlOHST2zWE&t=4022

4 hours and 52 minutes! Whew, that's a marathon session.

The Commission tabled the vote regarding Oakland Crossings for two weeks, considering the details of the deal were only unveiled the day prior.

My understanding of the deal:

1. The planned zoning for Halket Street has been shifted to the same zoning category as Boulevard of the Allies (UC-MU under the Oakland Plan) paving the way for razing the existing buildings and building structures of up to 120 feet on the first block, and 185 feet closer to Allies.

2. Halket/Louisa zoning is kept to the new Oakland Master Plan levels (residential only, boosted height limits).

3. Zulema Park is not rezoned at this time.

4. The language on affordable housing is much stronger (10% affordable units required for at least 35 years).

5. Reduction in allowable uses to close to the Oakland master plan.

7. Elimination of most allowable surface parking.

8. Various changes to the performance point system to make it more in alignment with existing zoning.

Basically, it tweaks the Oakland Plan to be closer to what Walnut Capital wants, but mostly just expands the already-planned zoning around Boulevard of the Allies to Halket. Commission chair Mondor seems in support.

The draft Oakland Plan is available to view here. It's not directly related to the Walnut Capital plan, but I'm still frustrated that residential is only going to be allowed in the core of Oakland with an administrator exception.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by dfiler

I'm excited to see a protected 10 foot wide bike lane! This is a major missing link in the bike network. It is quite literally the only way across the nine mile run ravine. That ravine is too much elevation for most cyclists to decend and climb. And with Forbes avenue currently a death trap for cyclists, you only see really avid cyclists traveling between the two sides of the park.

With a bridge finally wide enough to accommodate a bike lane, neighborhoods will finally be connected! The number of cyclists will grow significantly once there is a safe, flat route between squirrel hill and regent square.

Couldn't agree more, and definitely silver lining. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to build.

This also makes me wonder if the bike path on Forbes could be improved all the way to Beechwood. Cars drive really fast and that does not feel adequate to me.

[themaguffin]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Duquense is seeking approval for the final design for its college of Osteopathic Medicine.

Still? They just broke ground...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

2. The new UPMC Presby tower is finally being presented. The design has not changed much from earlier incarnations. I remain pretty unenthused with how autocentric it is, but hospitals seem to get a free pass from good urban design, even in big cities like NYC.

I can understand the autocentric stuff, because you have people driving in who are unfamiliar with the area and maybe cities in general, who need easy drop off areas and parking garage access. At least there is also going to be a nice bus stop.

The plaza on the corner in front of the tower I am not thrilled by.

3. Duquense is seeking approval for the final design for its college of Osteopathic Medicine. It's...acceptable I guess?

This one actually bothers me a lot more. It just seems boring, small, and cheap for a prominent location so close to Downtown.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Basically, it tweaks the Oakland Plan to be closer to what Walnut Capital wants, but mostly just expands the already-planned zoning around Boulevard of the Allies to Halket. Commission chair Mondor seems in support.

The draft Oakland Plan is available to view here. It's not directly related to the Walnut Capital plan, but I'm still frustrated that residential is only going to be allowed in the core of Oakland with an administrator exception.

I'm not thrilled with how we got here, but I am OK if we start with building up along BoA and Halket.

And then maybe down the road, we can revisit the vision for the rest of Central Oakland between Fifth and Bates.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I'm not thrilled with how we got here, but I am OK if we start with building up along BoA and Halket.

And then maybe down the road, we can revisit the vision for the rest of Central Oakland between Fifth and Bates.

I'm just not convinced post-COVID there's going to be this demand for additional office towers in the Fifth/Forbes corridor - unless they're specifically built for Pitt or UPMC, in which case I'd expect them to expand the EMI zone and have a chunk taken out entirely. Expanding EMI is also a clear way that residential can be built in the corridor, as Pitt could build additional dorms then, meaning the zoning could be seen as actually incentivizing the expansion of campus.

I also feel like the boundary between the "Urban Center" zone and the new residential zone was set too far back. It's now at Louisa, which means the first block of McKee, Semple, Meyran, and (one side of) Atwood would have new residential uses banned, even though this area is mostly residential now. As much as the other choices perplex me, this does even moreso, as these would be the logical first choices for dense residential right off the main drag, but instead the City seems to plan for these blocks to be knocked down to make way for large office towers?

Looking through the use standards, there is somewhat more wiggle room than was previously mentioned however. Aside from buildings with 100% of units being affordable, residential will be allowed in mixed-use buildings provided less than 50% of the gross floor area is residential. This could promote a lot of retail/office/residential hybrid buildings.

I simply don't think though the upzoning of the area marked R-MU is gonna be enough to outweigh the lack of options for large apartments along Fifth/Forbes. The combination of relatively low height limits (95/85 feet max) and the fragmented nature of many of the blocks could mean we more "mini-apartments" replacing 2-4 homes - particularly given projects under 20 units will be exempted from inclusionary zoning. More small infill projects will result in a better streetscape, but probably not bring enough new units to market to meet demand.

[BrianTH]

NextPittsburgh article on the new Oakland Crossings plan:

https://nextpittsburgh.com/city-desi...and-crossings/

Nothing we have not discussed already, but it is a handy plain language summary.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

This one actually bothers me a lot more. It just seems boring, small, and cheap for a prominent location so close to Downtown.

Yeah, one would think that the university would want to do a bit better for its medical school.

If the materials are of a high quality, then it's not going to be offensive, but like you said, it's still boring... rather invisible, really.

I'm not surprised by the size, considering that medical education has changed significantly in the past 20 years... moving away from the giant lecture hall core medical science courses and large, cadaver-filled anatomy labs, and towards small problem-based learning cohorts and virtual anatomy labs. Plus, the school plans to be around 600 students... which means only 300 (1st & 2nd year) students will even be using the building.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Yeah, one would think that the university would want to do a bit better for its medical school.

If the materials are of a high quality, then it's not going to be offensive, but like you said, it's still boring... rather invisible, really.

I'm not surprised by the size, considering that medical education has changed significantly in the past 20 years... moving away from the giant lecture hall core medical science courses and large, cadaver-filled anatomy labs, and towards small problem-based learning cohorts and virtual anatomy labs. Plus, the school plans to be around 600 students... which means only 300 (1st & 2nd year) students will even be using the building.

OK, that makes sense. Still a disappointing design, but I am prepared to accept that universities, like hospitals, are too valuable as city anchors to tell them no to campus projects that actually fit their needs.

[dfiler]

It's interesting to look at what used to be at the intersection of Fifth and Desoto. The old children's hospital building was relatively modern and roughly the same footprint of the new Presby tower.

Here's what not looked like in 2007.
https://goo.gl/maps/kkLVE7oPQBYYKpfN9

The new plan doesn't excite me much from an urban experience standpoint but it does include some new pedestrian space. That space just happens to be hardscaped and on the edge of a major roadway. The courtyard area further up the driveway could be a pleasant space but I'm having a hard time imagining what the plaza down at street level would be used for.

[MarkMyWords]

Originally Posted by dfiler

It's interesting to look at what used to be at the intersection of Fifth and Desoto. The old children's hospital building was relatively modern and roughly the same footprint of the new Presby tower.

Here's what not looked like in 2007.
https://goo.gl/maps/kkLVE7oPQBYYKpfN9

The new plan doesn't excite me much from an urban experience standpoint but it does include some new pedestrian space. That space just happens to be hardscaped and on the edge of a major roadway. The courtyard area further up the driveway could be a pleasant space but I'm having a hard time imagining what the plaza down at street level would be used for.

If I had to guess, UPMC is probably just land banking that plot for some future expansion.

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by MarkMyWords

If I had to guess, UPMC is probably just land banking that plot for some future expansion.

The topic was spurred by UMPC's presentation to the planning commission about a plan for a new tower at that location:
https://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/redtai...esentation.pdf

They definitely held onto the land in order to develop it. However I wouldn't consider it land banking. They're actively pursuing the project and not just sitting on a property doing nothing while waiting for the value to appreciate.

[eschaton]

As an aside, does anyone know how the façade of the Falk Building got so remuddled? Whose idea was it to stick a glass curtain wall on a lovely old building like that?

[eschaton]

3/22 Planning Commission presentation is now online. Only two new items for next week:

1. The residential conversion of 300 Sixth Avenue (the GNC Building) is going before the commission. Despite some earlier reports, they are not fixing the lower stories which were remuddled in 1939. It looks like KeyBank is staying on as a tenant and there will be two additional ground-floor retail spaces. They are asking for 253 units, although only 216 are allowed by right. I saw in earlier materials the proposed transfer is from the Troiani properties on Market Street - which shows how dead the project is there (and how it may have been vaporware to begin with).

2. In addition, the Commission is going to have the first of two briefings on the Oakland Plan rezoning. This first presentation focuses on community, mobility, and infrastructure, with the core zoning changes not discussed until April 5. I should note that public comments can be made regarding the Oakland Plan here.

[themaguffin]

The PG posted this and the FB comments are what you would expect...


Strip District produce terminal developer eyes big apartment and townhouse project


https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202203160072

[highlander206]

Originally Posted by themaguffin

The PG posted this and the FB comments are what you would expect...


Strip District produce terminal developer eyes big apartment and townhouse project


https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202203160072

The attachment of yinzers to leaving empty lots or abandoned buildings as is in The Strip will never cease to amaze me. This is where one should be happy to see stuff like this get built if they have half a brain, as it's filling in a currently empty lot with hundreds of people, and going in an area that won't cause gentrification to existing residents since next to none were there 15 years ago.