PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown III

[pj3000]

Some construction views of the former Rockwell International site "tech/flex" development in North Point Breeze on Thomas Blvd. Passed by here yesterday, but not my photos. I guess a Bakery Square-type complex is in the works for large site with multiple property owners.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Some construction views of the former Rockwell International site "tech/flex" development in North Point Breeze on Thomas Blvd. Passed by here yesterday, but not my photos. I guess a Bakery Square-type complex is in the works for large site with multiple property owners.

Ha, I was just about to post something on this project, which I pass by frequently. It is definitely coming along with lots of daily construction activity.

Here is a short video from back in November which includes a bit of information on the overall project. Supposedly it is 24 acres total with plans for retail and multi-family in addition to the office and tech/flex:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iki...encyLeasingJLL

A couple listing pages for the two buildings shown in the video:

https://leasespaces.jll.com/?propertyId=749546-lease

https://leasespaces.jll.com/?propertyId=749570-lease

I note it is also going to be 3M's Pittsburgh headquarters.

Overall, that could be really quite the gamechanger for that area if it all gets done. Seeing as our neighborhood (Regent Square) is just down Braddock, I hope it keeps up the momentum.

In fact, as a Wilkinsburg resident, I REALLY hope this eventually helps spark development of the Wilkinsburg Station Park and Ride, which would be big for the Wilkinsburg tax base, and could also inspire more redevelopment in the existing historic Wilkinsburg downtown area, as we have seen in East Liberty.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Ha, I was just about to post something on this project, which I pass by frequently. It is definitely coming along with lots of daily construction activity.

Overall, that could be really quite the gamechanger for that area if it all gets done. Seeing as our neighborhood (Regent Square) is just down Braddock, I hope it keeps up the momentum.

In fact, as a Wilkinsburg resident, I REALLY hope this eventually helps spark development of the Wilkinsburg Station Park and Ride, which would be big for the Wilkinsburg tax base, and could also inspire more redevelopment in the existing historic Wilkinsburg downtown area, as we have seen in East Liberty.

It's good to see this happening in that area. I knew of this project, but until I drove by the other day and then decided to investigate a bit, did not realize that it is a much more substantial development with "corporate" presence, with plans for subsequent development of residential and retail (kinda Bakery Square-ish, like I mentioned).

Seems like this could really help to anchor that area for significant further development, especially with popular places like Construction Junction and the food co-op already there. And Pitt has some presence there (CMU might as well), so it seems that this could be a spark for what you're hoping for. With the busway station nearby and the Port Authority supposedly big on TODs...

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Seems like this could really help to anchor that area for significant further development, especially with popular places like Construction Junction and the food co-op already there. And Pitt has some presence there (CMU might as well), so it seems that this could be a spark for what you're hoping for. With the busway station nearby and the Port Authority supposedly big on TODs...

It is also adjacent to, but not included in (I don't think), the Lexington Park development.

And yeah, it really does feel like it could end up being a sort of repeat of Bakery Square, the East Liberty Transit Center, Eastside Bond, and all that other stuff going on in East Liberty.

Which is very much an everything is old is new again theme--Wilkinsburg was the next big station on the PRR line from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia after East Liberty, and there was also a railyard where the park and ride is now located, with another station at Brushton (I believe where the Brushton terminal is located, the little bus parking lot just west of the park and ride).

All that was the heart of this industrial area on one side, the commercial district on the other side, and the surrounding residential.

So if the Busway ended up being in the middle of a new modern mixed-use area, that would be great. And it is also why there are still a lot of cool old buildings suitable for re-use (although of course others have unfortunately been lost).

[dfiler]

Note how most east busway stops are surrounded by parking lots or barely used buildings. They aren't adjacent high density retail, job centers or housing.

Certainly an opportunity for more optimal land-use in the future but i'm not holding my breath. Hopefully the east liberty TOD is successful and spurs the same thing to happen further east along the busway. A relatively cheap pedestrian bridge over the busway at the Thomas Blvd development would make transit viable for all that new office space.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Note how most east busway stops are surrounded by parking lots or barely used buildings. They aren't adjacent high density retail, job centers or housing.

Certainly an opportunity for more optimal land-use in the future but i'm not holding my breath. Hopefully the east liberty TOD is successful and spurs the same thing to happen further east along the busway. A relatively cheap pedestrian bridge over the busway at the Thomas Blvd development would make transit viable for all that new office space.

I did find it comforting to learn a lot of those areas were previously occupied by relatively low-density railroad-related uses, including railyards, stock yards, warehouses, and so on. In addition to the Brushton railyard where the Wilkinsburg Station park and ride is now located, and of course the Strip, most of the area between Fifth, Penn, and the Busway used to be railyards and stock yards, except for a few buildings along Penn, eventually including the Nabisco factory. Even the area next to Hamnett Station, my local Busway station, used to have a rail spur (it curved down what is now Railway Alley), and there were things like an ice warehouse and such in that area.

But anyway, the land is now suitable for higher uses than park and rides and strip malls and such, but it of course took a long time for Pittsburgh to get back to the point there was any sort of real market for things like Bakery Square and Eastside Bond and now Rockwell Park, and so on.

And actually, I am kinda OK with it being a moderate, steady pace. Could be a bit faster, maybe, but I also don't want there to be some big boom and bust cycle where projects end up half-completed or mostly vacant and such.

[photoLith]

Some photos from yesterday of the Strip. Tons of development ongoing.

Untitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

Untitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

Untitled by photolitherland, on Flickr

[dfiler]

Interesting data on the Cummings Brothers website:

2019 COMPARED TO 2020
ALLEGHENY COUNTY SALES DATA
(Single Family Home sales including condos and townhouses)

http://www.thecummingsbrothers.com/2020-stats.html

[SouthCentralPA]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Some photos from yesterday of the Strip. Tons of development ongoing.

Love to see this!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Some photos from yesterday of the Strip. Tons of development ongoing.

Awesome--as someone who likes all four seasons, I really appreciate these relatively atypical daytime winter scenes.

And speaking of slow but steady--not all those projects have been my favorite designs, some could be taller, and so on. But overall, the infill of the Strip, not least the waterfront parcels, has been moving right along.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by dfiler

Interesting data on the Cummings Brothers website

Very interesting! I haven't really been tracking this generally, but those seem like pretty decent numbers, considering the pandemic/recession.

And I hope we all invested in Millvale when we had a chance (confession: I did not).

[pj3000]

Of the neighborhoods profiled, the only ones to display a decrease in median price 2019-2020 are:

Bloomfield -3.75%
Lawrenceville -0.32%
Polish Hill -31.33%
O'Hara -11.26%
Aspinwall -2.86%

Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, and Aspinwall are holding steady. I imagine that the price drops in Polish Hill and O'Hara are due to older/non-updated/poor condition homes being purchased by first-timers and flippers. Both areas seem to see homes for sale snatched up very quickly.

Of course median price doesn't tell the whole story... and all of those areas are rather sought-after neighborhoods and certainly seem healthy as far as home sales activity goes. So, all in all, looks pretty good.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Of the neighborhoods profiled, the only ones to display a decrease in median price 2019-2020 are:

Bloomfield -3.75%
Lawrenceville -0.32%
Polish Hill -31.33%
O'Hara -11.26%
Aspinwall -2.86%

Of course median price doesn't tell the whole story... and all of those areas are rather sought-after neighborhoods and certainly seem healthy as far as home sales activity goes. So, all in all, looks pretty good.

Polish Hill only had 16 sales in 2019, and 20 sales in 2020, thus I'm fairly certain the big decline there was just due to a small sample size.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Polish Hill only had 16 sales in 2019, and 20 sales in 2020, thus I'm fairly certain the big decline there was just due to a small sample size.

Right, a lower priced home sale or two could really throw it off.

And O'Hara is weird. A significant number of homes sold in the township (145) with an increase of 25 sales. Everything there from million dollar mansions to ramshackle hillbilly hideouts.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Some photos from yesterday of the Strip. Tons of development ongoing.

Consumer Fresh Produce sticks out like a sore thumb now, as everything else from the 16th Street Bridge to the Cork Factory has either been developed or is in the process of being developed right now.

Of course, the building/property are now owned by an NYC-based firm, and being leased back to the operators, meaning it's a matter of time before it goes as well.

[pj3000]

^ I was thinking the same thing. Though I didn’t realize the part about the NYC firm ownership.

I took a drive down through the Strip yesterday afternoon to check things out, and noted how Consumers Produce is now totally out of place on Railroad Street. Nearly drove onto those railroad tracks right in front of the Cork Factory garage due to my rubbernecking at the new apartment building construction and the snow covered street.

Does anyone remember if there are any plans for the riverfront lots between the Cork Factory and 3 Crossings?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Does anyone remember if there are any plans for the riverfront lots between the Cork Factory and 3 Crossings?

They're all under different ownership, so it would be hard.

• The parking lot next to the Crane Building is owned by the Crane Building
• The "Cork Factory Lawn" is still owned by Pitt-Ohio, who used to own much of the rest of the area before it was turned into Three Crossings.
• The other long skinny lot is used as employee parking by J Harris. They clearly have no plans of moving soon since Three Crossings was built more or less surrounding them.

My guess is the parking lots on the Crane Building lot may eventually be redeveloped (the back wing of the building is fugly and under-built anyway). Pitt-Ohio is likely waiting out J Harris to finish up developing its parcels.

[Steel City Scotty]

Weren't there plans at one point to do cut-throughs of the Terminal Building in order to extend the streets all the way to the waterfront?

I remember one developer wanted to chop the long building up into three separate pieces, which was denied, but I thought the compromise was then something like cut the streets through the building but leave physical connections intact at the top so that it technically remained the same continuous structure.

[pj3000]

Looks like a rental real estate company wants those blighted rowhouses on Bates St. and the Boulevard in Oakland, and is attempting to use PA Act 38 conservatorship law to get them.

A rather back door method for a private company to acquire properties via its own nonprofit group... but it would be good to see them renovated. They shouldn't be permitted to continue to deteriorate, as they have over the past few years. These were once part of that "Oakland Gateway Ventures" shady bullshit pipe-dream.

‘A public nuisance’: Petition calls for conservator to take over a block of rowhouses in Oakland

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202102030085

A Trafford real estate company is asking a judge to appoint a conservator to take over a dozen properties in Oakland that were once part of a controversial plan to build apartments and a hotel.

Penn Pioneer describes itself on its website as a real estate business that buys and sells properties in the Greater Pittsburgh area, specializing in doing so to investors. It flips houses and manages about 150 properties in the county.

In its petition, it is pushing for a conservator to take control of the real estate based on the state’s Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act.

While the company is based in Trafford, it maintains it is a party of interest as defined by the act because it is a business owner whose business address of 401 Cato St. is located within 2,000 feet of the affected properties.

Aaron Chaney, co-owner of Penn Pioneer, declined comment. Wayne B. Cobb II, the company’s attorney, did not return phone calls. No Oakland Gateway Ventures officials could be reached for comment.

In its petition, Penn Pioneer is asking a judge to appoint within 30-60 days a company called Community Reinvestment Partners to serve as conservator. Mr. Chaney signed as the authorized agent for Community Reinvestment Partners as part of the petition.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Looks like a rental real estate company wants those blighted rowhouses on Bates St. and the Boulevard in Oakland, and is attempting to use PA Act 38 conservatorship law to get them.

A rather back door method for a private company to acquire properties via its own nonprofit group... but it would be good to see them renovated. They shouldn't be permitted to continue to deteriorate, as they have over the past few years. These were once part of that "Oakland Gateway Ventures" shady bullshit pipe-dream.

‘A public nuisance’: Petition calls for conservator to take over a block of rowhouses in Oakland

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202102030085

IIRC the only reason the entire block is abandoned is because an earlier developer had planned a master project on the block and evicted all of the renters. The project was defeated by NIMBYs. Hell, IIRC two projects in a row were defeated by NIMBYs (the first just on this block, the second that big master-plan development going down Bates).