PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[dfiler]

Pittsburgh planning commission meeting December 13 2022
https://youtu.be/u3FQCQJtD4o

I attended some of this live and was pleased to hear some commission members holding developers accountable. If they’re not planning a super block, put that in writing. Also, if not planning to have surface parking abutting green space, put that in writing. Developers frequently use ambiguity to make last minute changes without needing approval. Hence the commission calling BS on non-binding and ambiguous plans or drawings.

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Pittsburgh planning commission meeting December 13 2022
https://youtu.be/u3FQCQJtD4o

I attended some of this live and was pleased to hear some commission members holding developers accountable. If they’re not planning a super block, put that in writing. Also, if not planning to have surface parking abutting green space, put that in writing. Developers frequently use ambiguity to make last minute changes without needing approval. Hence the commission calling BS on non-binding and ambiguous plans or drawings.

The Planning Commission shouldn't be weighing in and "approving" things that are allowed by code and meet the stated requirements, but the current members, and planning staff, don't seem to care.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Don't Be That Guy

The Planning Commission shouldn't be weighing in and "approving" things that are allowed by code and meet the stated requirements, but the current members, and planning staff, don't seem to care.

I haven't watched the video, but I presume he's talking about the desired modifications to the Lower Hill zoning, which was already established under code.

[Wally G]

Have there been any progress on the apartment building across from PNC Bank? I thought it should've been under construction already.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Upton is finally filling out. Long overdue. I don't think vacant, overgrown lots are doing any favors for the existing residents or the city in general.

To me it feels like the BRT plan really kicked Uptown development into high gear (well, high gear for Pittsburgh).

Maybe the land-bankers just needed a signal like that. Regardless, it is definitely a welcome change from a public policy perspective.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Wally G

Have there been any progress on the apartment building across from PNC Bank? I thought it should've been under construction already.

This is...a little vague...considering how many PNC banks there are in the city.

[eschaton]

January 12th ZBA now online. Only one item of interest: A new three-story medical office building in Homewood. There's actually an attached rendering here. This is a big step up from the existing block, in that it replaces an ugly one-story mid century building, and shifts the building's footprint so that it's closer to the intersection with Homewood Avenue, bringing some more life/massing to what used to be an important neighborhood business district. That said, I do wish that 2/3rds of the block wasn't set aside for a surface parking lot.

[Nitwit]

Originally Posted by eschaton

This is...a little vague...considering how many PNC banks there are in the city.

I think the poster meant PNC Park

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Nitwit

I think the poster meant PNC Park

Oh. Duh!

Haven't been over there in awhile, but it looks like excavation was underway back in July, so I presume it's much further along now.

[BobLoblaw]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Oh. Duh!

Haven't been over there in awhile, but it looks like excavation was underway back in July, so I presume it's much further along now.

I noticed earlier this week that there's a crane visible in that general area when crossing the Fort Duquesne Bridge/I-279 and assumed it was related to this project.

[Wally G]

Originally Posted by eschaton

This is...a little vague...considering how many PNC banks there are in the city.

My mistake I meant PNC Park.

[eschaton]

And we're back!

January 10th Planning Commission agenda is now online. Three new projects, two of them pretty small, but the third substantial.

1. Demolition of 418 1st Avenue. This is a little ugly one-story extension on Fort Pitt Boulevard which is completely out-of-place in terms of typology (setback, building style, etc) - essentially a loading dock for the historic building on First Avenue, which is staying. The developer which has purchased 418 and 414 has already said they plan on building a new-construction condo building on Fort Pitt at a later point, so this is is basically just clearing the site. I hope they can consolidate the other surface lots on that block of Fort Pitt as well, and everything can be done in one go.

2. In Oakland, the Thirsty Scholar is becoming Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers. I'm honestly surprised the Planning Commission is reviewing this, as there are only minor facade changes. It's admittedly a step up from the craptacular existing facade, though I wish they'd at least try and match it with the upper stories better.

3. Finally, the big news...the Brickworks is finally going before the Planning Commission. To refresh everyone's memory, this is the new residential project on the 2100 block of Smallman, directly across from St. Stanislaus. It includes 288 units of housing: 228 in apartments, 20 in townhouses, and 40 in what it calls "stacked townhomes" but are really a pair of condo buildings. The design is fine. It doesn't blow me away, but it's a nice balance between harkening back to historic yet not actively trying to fool you into it being an old building. I rather like the setback on the Smallman facade after the first two stories, constructing faux townhouses, as it will provide more street engagement on what would otherwise be a totally dead block (since there's no commercial in the project). The walkup condo buildings and for-sale townhouses are a bit more generic, but they're frontage is on less prominent streets. Looks like they plan to build out the for-sale housing first, which is not what I would have expected.

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by eschaton

And we're back!
Looks like they plan to build out the for-sale housing first, which is not what I would have expected.

I'd believe it. I heard there were 10 buyers for every townhouse to sell in the Strip. The market for houses there is very strong.

[GeneW]

It's pretty astounding how much The Strip has changed in the last 15 years or so and how much it's still changing. 288 units seems like a huge number, I hope it's approved.

[eschaton]

And another big project has dropped as part of the ZBA agenda for February 2nd...the planned new apartment building in Upper Lawrenceville. This is a six-story, 300-unit, 362,000 square foot development. There's around 9,300 square feet of new retail along Butler Street, plus the rehab of the historic firehouse building into retail. Not really any additional renderings we hadn't already seen, but much more detailed schematics which make it clear the new building is indeed L-shaped (minus the chunk taken out for the firehouse), with the converted truck bay interior to the parcel staying (for now).

It's a nice project, though I'd prefer if the lobby was along McCandless and there was some more retail on Butler. I understand why they chose not to do this though, what with how difficult it is to fully lease new-construction retail right now.

[highlander206]

Originally Posted by eschaton

And another big project has dropped as part of the ZBA agenda for February 2nd...the planned new apartment building in Upper Lawrenceville. This is a six-story, 300-unit, 362,000 square foot development. There's around 9,300 square feet of new retail along Butler Street, plus the rehab of the historic firehouse building into retail. Not really any additional renderings we hadn't already seen, but much more detailed schematics which make it clear the new building is indeed L-shaped (minus the chunk taken out for the firehouse), with the converted truck bay interior to the parcel staying (for now).

It's a nice project, though I'd prefer if the lobby was along McCandless and there was some more retail on Butler. I understand why they chose not to do this though, what with how difficult it is to fully lease new-construction retail right now.

As someone who used to live just up the hill in Upper L'ville from where this is going, overall I'm happy to see something like this coming to that part of Lawrenceville. I think the height is fine and the design looks ok, though I do wish there was a way the design could be tweaked a little to have the massing of such a large structure not look so different from what is nearby. This many units is just what the neighborhood needs though. I don't blame them though for the lack of retail given there are still empty storefronts around Arsenal 201, and that is in a much busier area of Lawrenceville.

[kosi3]

I didn't see in the initial specs that this was going right next to Pusadees Garden which will fill up the entire block. This is a great infill for that section, now to get rid of the hospital parking next to the river.

[eschaton]

The new 375-unit Wharton Street apartment building in the South Side is going before the ZBA on February 9th.

I wish I could say more than that, but the submission is oddly only a two pager, with nothing really other than a single engineering plan showing the building footprint.

[eschaton]

The 1/24 Planning Commission agenda is now online. For the first time I can remember, there are absolutely no new projects to review. This may be because the new downtown zoning rules (which took away Commission review of many small-scale projects downtown) went into effect, or it may because of continuation of the two Lower Hill related items. Substantial new information is available regarding the event venue, as can be seen here, plus a 101-page document detailing their efforts to hold to the community benefits agreement.

To summarize what I saw in the news the other week, at the 11th hour the Penguins struck a new deal with the Hill, agreeing to add a $2 ticket surcharge for ten years, which would go towards Hill District redevelopment, along with giving 1.5 acres to Bethel AME Church, which was originally located in the Lower Hill before the forced relocation in 1957. I should note that Bethel AME is planning to build affordable housing on a portion of the site as well, meaning we won't get a big grassy church campus just plunked in the middle of the development. However, the Penguins also dropped the 101-page document on the Commission an hour before meeting on the 10th, hence the commissioners decided they couldn't vote on the matter. We will see what happens next week I suppose.

[dfiler]

That's an alarmingly unprofessional 101-page plan.

It looks poorly formatted to begin with and then it was printed and scanned back in, or at least part of it was. The content itself isn't much better. It reeks of someone trying to use bigger words than they are familiar with in an effort to look impressive. The grammar and visual design are also amateurish for this level of project. Punctuation and capitalization are random as well.

Admittedly, that's a separate topic from the merit of the plan as written. But the poor quality of the presentation makes me skeptical that the ideas are well thought out.

I'll attempt to read it but expect i'll just get fed up and give up.