Category Archive: City Living
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Hill Innovation Center Gets State Funds
Thursday, July 08, 2010By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Surrounded by members of the Urban Redevelopment Committe and the Pittsburgh Gateways Corporation, Gov. Ed Rendell signs the economic development portion of the 2010-11 state budget to help create jobs.
Gov. Ed Rendell on Wednesday announced up to $8 million in state funding for a green innovation center in the Lower Hill District that may begin operations by fall.
Pittsburgh Green Innovators — to be housed in the former Connelley vocational-technical school — will be a home for new companies and training programs with an environmental theme.
In a sign of the project’s importance, Mr. Rendell traveled to the location to announce the funding for that project and sign the legislation creating the $600 million development fund, called the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.
“Pittsburgh has probably transformed itself more than any other American city, and that transformation is ongoing. It doesn’t stop. Green energy is the way of the future,” he said.
In all, about $300 million of the money already has been earmarked for projects statewide.
That includes the $8 million for Pittsburgh Green Innovators and up to $30 million to lure a federal vaccine production center to Allegheny County. The center, proposed by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, would produce vaccines needed to defend against biological attacks.
Recipients of the state money must match it dollar-for-dollar with funds from other sources.
Pittsburgh Gateways, a Lawrenceville economic-development group that’s spearheading the green innovation center, is negotiating with Pittsburgh Public Schools to acquire the 300,0000-square-foot former Connelley building. Robert Meeder, president of Pittsburgh Gateways, said he hopes to close on the deal as early as September.
He said the first phase of renovations — focusing on 80,000 square feet but including the installation of environmentally friendly energy systems throughout the building — could begin in the first half of 2011. He said that work will cost about $26 million, while a later phase of renovations, covering the rest of the building, would cost an estimated $19 million more.
Officials have said public school classes, apprenticeship programs and college classes all would be offered at the center, allowing students to train for careers with an environmental focus.
In a sense, the building — employing solar, geothermal and other alternative energies — will be a giant classroom, Dr. Meeder said.
The first classes may begin in the fall, he said.
The building also will serve as an incubator for start-up businesses. Dr. Meeder said as many as 14 fledging companies may have space there by the end of 2011.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, an early proponent of the project, said the center already received $4 million from a previous pot of Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program dollars. The project also has received about $2 million in federal aid, and Dr. Meeder hopes to lure $7 million from corporate and foundation sponsors.
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Cities, Including Pittsburgh, Are Turning Green With Urban Farms
Thursday, July 08, 2010By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette --- Jaymon McGhee, 13, plants mustard greens in a raised bed as part of the Lots of Hope gardening project.
The urban farm — a novel, even whimsical, idea a few years ago in Pittsburgh — is now a movement so fully fledged that a neighborhood without one seems almost an anomaly.
Nationally, the movement is profuse, with seeds in the 1980s when foodies sprouted and gourmet eating went mainstream. The roots of several movements have intertwined since: urban enterprise farms, urban farms for educating children, community gardens, vacant lot greening, soil remediation of industrial landscapes, community supported agriculture, backyard chickens and bee hives, consumers who buy into livestock with farmers and grocery chains selling local produce.
Grow Pittsburgh, whose mission is to support urban gardening, is a 5-year-old nonprofit that can’t keep tabs on the number of gardens being planted in the city’s public spaces, said Julie Butcher Pezzino, executive director.
Grow Pittsburgh is a partner of groups operating gardens in Braddock, Lawrenceville, Larimer and Lemington. It is searching for a suitable plot Uptown and has Troy Hill and Hazelwood on schedule for next year.
An online search of terms such as “urban farm,” “sustainable food” and “buy local” shows how robust the movement is in other cities. Interest here has skyrocketed.
Grow Pittsburgh’s latest foray is to widen its scope. It is working with Allegheny County and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in a pilot program to encourage gardening partnerships outside the city. It is currently developing projects in Millvale and McKees Rocks.
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette --- Jayda Harden, 14, left, with Mark Williams, center, and Brandon Kenney, 14, plant tomatoes in a raised bed for the Lots of Hope gardening project at The Pittsburgh Project on the North Side.
It has also collaborated with McAuley Ministries, the granting arm of Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, GTECH Strategies, the Pittsburgh Housing Authority, the A. Randolph Institute and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to create the Francis Street Community Garden and Urban Farm Project on approximately 1 1/2 acres at Bedford Avenue and Francis Street in the Hill District.
McAuley Ministries granted $37,580 to the project. Produce from that garden will be sold to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank for distribution through a farmers market and farm stands located at the Hill House and Addison Terrace.
“In the last two or three years, we have gotten calls upon calls from people asking for help and technical assistance” in starting a community farm, said Ms. Butcher Pezzino. “We are still developing our policies” on partnership standards. “It’s new for us to be helping so many groups.
“One of our goals is to start trying to document and find where all the places are” that have not relied on Grow Pittsburgh’s help. “I’ve gotten calls from people asking if we are partners in gardens that I have never heard of.”
A lot of things happened last year to help the momentum nationally:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” campaign kicked into gear last summer, giving USDA employees the directive to consider starting their own gardens.
First Lady Michelle Obama planted a kitchen garden at the White House.
The movie “Food Inc.” opened a lot of eyes to the ways and means of corporate food agriculture.
The movement is further bolstered by occasional recalls and reports of tainting.
Among the oldest and most successful urban agriculture projects are the Food Project in Massachusetts, which started in 1992 and has mushroomed to include numerous acres throughout the Boston area, including inner-city Roxbury. It has 25 full-time staff, employs 100 youth and attracts 2,000 volunteers each year. It sells and donates more than 250,000 pounds of food each season. It is also a source of food for community-supported agriculture, or CSA, subscribers.
Will Allen’s Growing Power Inc., founded in 1995 in Milwaukee, was recently hailed at the Women’s Health & the Environment Conference in Pittsburgh. Growing Power has become a national advocate that trains and offers technical support to communities in growing food and selling it.
Urban Farming, a Detroit nonprofit, grew from a pilot of three gardens in 2005 to 600 gardens across the country today. Its mission is to take over vacant space, grow food and give it away to people who live nearby.
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette --- Ceasia Williams, 14, left, and Jayda Harden, 14, water newly planted seedlings in a raised bed for the Lots of Hope gardening project at The Pittsburgh Project on the North Side.
Braddock Farms was not the area’s first big garden on public land when Grow Pittsburgh established it in 2007, but it set a standard for what “urban farm” means locally. On three-quarters of an acre, it may be the largest nonprofit farm in Allegheny County and is the leading “enterprise” farm. A dozen area restaurants buy produce from it.
“We have developed a market base within the high-end restaurant community for our produce from there,” said Ms. Butcher Pezzino, “but it is not yet sustaining itself.”
The Pittsburgh Project in Perry South has expanded the size and scope of a teaching garden for its summer youth over three years. The Lots of Hope project not only broadens children’s understanding of food and nutrition, it also teaches them how to run a small business — a farm stand — and the value of supplying food to their neighborhood.
“We started the farm as a food access initiative,” said Jonathan Young, an AmeriCorps worker. The neighborhood is hilly and lacks a grocery people can walk to. The Project last year got the city’s permission to farm on an abandoned baseball field near its Charles Street campus. It will expand its Thursday farmers market and deliver what it doesn’t sell to the elderly in nearby high-rises.
The Thursday farmers market season at the Project began June 10; the hours are 2 to 6 p.m.
Last year, Mr. Young said, the farm stand made enough to cover its costs; infusions of food from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank help during lean growing times.
“My hope this year is that 30 percent of the operating budget is covered by revenues from our farm stand,” he said. The Project has its first commercial buyer of produce — Bistro to Go on East Ohio Street in Deutschtown, which is also sharing its organic waste so the Project can accumulate compost.
“These are exciting times,” said Mr. Young.
Grow Pittsburgh’s sites include the Larimer Farm and Gardens, a quarter acre at Larimer Avenue and Mayflower Street; Lawrenceville Gardens at Allegheny Cemetery, about 150 square feet; and a garden the size of four city lots on Lincoln Avenue in Lemington called Higher Ground Community Garden.
The Larimer site got grant funding so Grow Pittsburgh could hire a part-time manager, said Ms. Butcher Pezzino, “someone who is there 20 hours a week and can keep it looking good. That could be an awesome model.”
Larimer’s site is a community garden and a farming effort of the Larimer Green Team.
“They’re calling it a farming garden” with hopes of becoming vendors, “but the market is still being tested” as to how much an enterprise garden can make above its expenses, she said.
Interest from residents who want plots shot up from seven requests last year to 20 this year, she said.
Ebony Earth started the Higher Ground garden with Grow Pittsburgh’s help in 2007 as a green hobby, she said. “The whole point was to get the community living a healthier lifestyle.” She has been giving the produce to neighbors but said she might look for a commercial outlet and offer plots for neighbors to grow their own food. She and the other volunteers who garden the lots have been supported by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s farm-stand program, which offers help, supplies and produce when the farm stand is low on inventory.
All of these gardening projects focus on making fresh local produce affordable to the people who have the least access to it.
“Whole Foods could be in this neighborhood and it wouldn’t matter,” said Mr. Young. “If it’s not an effort like ours, our neighbors can’t afford to eat well.”
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Owner of North Side Barbecue Shop Hits Golden Milestone
Saturday, July 03, 2010By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
J. Monroe Butler II/Post-Gazette George Wilson, left, owner of Wilson's Bar B-Q on the Central North Side, waits on customers Rick Weaver, center, and Romir Miller on Thursday. Wilson's has been in business for 50 years.
The corner of North Taylor Avenue and Buena Vista Street has been salivation central for much of the 50 years George Wilson has been in business.
Aromas from Wilson’s Bar B-Q in the Central North Side waft in every direction for at least a block, making the inside of the mouth do that tweaky thing that has less to do with hunger than with imagination. Inside, Mr. Wilson, 82, turns slabs of ribs and half and whole chickens on the grate of a 4-by-8-foot pit.
Mr. Wilson is recognizing this year as his 50th anniversary because 1960 was when he decided to go, as he puts it, “legit.” In the 10 years before he was a backyard entrepreneur.
“I lived on Columbus Avenue [in Manchester] and I used to make ribs on Fridays and Saturdays for my family,” he said. “People started coming in and sitting at our tables and chairs. I thought, ‘They’re going to put me in business.’
“I don’t know any barbecue man who started in business without starting in the backyard.”
He closes the blackened iron doors of the pit and disappears into the back to get more wood.
Mr. Wilson, a native of Louisiana, learned by watching his great-grandfather. “He was an ex-slave and when I looked up at him, he looked like a tree. He was a good cook. He and my grandfather would get on a bus and get off at a good place and get an old tub and some chicken wire and set up shop,” he said.
Their itinerant business included a secret sauce.
“It was easy for me to go into this business,” he said.
He trained as a butcher in Little Rock, where he went to high school, and came north with his family when his father got a job in the shipbuilding industry here.
Mr. Wilson worked for 22 years as “a meat fabricator” for the Armour Packaging Co. under the 31st Street Bridge. “That means I knew how to grade meat,” he said. “When I got wind that Armour might be laying off, I decided to start my own business.”
Mr. Wilson’s nephew runs errands for him and “a few elderly ladies help out sometimes,” he said, but his is a one-man show with a set that’s frozen in time. Style? Utilitarian: bare walls, linoleum floor tiles and discolored menus.
The only customer amenities are a big electric fan on the counter, three resin tables and six chairs that look like they were in a doctor’s waiting room in the ’70s.
He said 99 percent of his customers order takeout. Ribs are the headliner, but he also sells chicken, peppered collard greens, macaroni and cheese, potato salad and cole slaw.
“It has been 50 very good years,” he said. “I’ve got the neighbors and people who come in from all over.” Hours are from noon to 8 p.m. every day but Sunday, although he will be open on the Fourth of July.
Rob Slick came through the door for the first time in 1971. He had just moved to the neighborhood. On Thursday morning, he entered the joint to place an order. Mr. Wilson, a genial man whose smile starts modest and spreads out, came out from behind the refrigerator case to greet him.
“I have guests coming for dinner and need four large plates,” Mr. Slick said.
A whole slab is $20.65. A large plate of six ribs is $10.70. “A hog’s anatomy carries 14 ribs,” said Mr. Wilson.
Mr. Wilson was preparing eight whole slabs and five whole chickens for a customer driving from West Virginia when Cynthia Ford walked in for her order Thursday.
“We’re brand new customers” on the recommendation of a friend, she said. Mr. Wilson carried aluminum containers to her car — lunch for a safety training meeting at NRG, a heating and cooling company in Allegheny Center where Ms. Ford is the administrative assistant. “We don’t usually eat this well at safety meeting lunches,” she said.
Wilson’s Bar B-Q first opened in May 1960 at Pennsylvania and Allegheny avenues in Manchester. Ten years later, Mr. Wilson moved the business and himself several blocks east to North Taylor. He lives upstairs.
“Makes it real easy,” he said, “and I can stay on top of things.”
He had a Lawrenceville location for a few years but closed it “I don’t remember when” because his son “didn’t want to be a barbecue man,” he said.
He is apprenticing his daughter to take over the business and by October, he said, he hopes to … “now I’m not saying retirement. Just slowing down. But I told her I’ll be around to help.
“She’s still got a ways to go with the sauce.”
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Group Buys Penn Brewery Buildings
By Joe Napsha, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 1, 2010Penn Brewery in the North Side has a new landlord and a promise of renovations in a deal that caps a community development group’s two-year struggle to buy the historic brewery buildings, officials said Wednesday.
The Northside Leadership Conference acquired the buildings yesterday for $1.18 million from E&O Partners LP of Downtown. The deal involves $400,000 in state tax credits, said Mark Fatla, executive director of the nonprofit group.
“This gives the community direct control of the buildings. This was always part of the plan, part of the larger strategy that included restarting the brewery,” Fatla said.
The deal was structured so that E&O Partners received $400,000 worth of state tax credits from the nonprofit, in return for E&O’s donating $400,000 in building value to the organization. The remainder of the purchase price was financed by Slovak Savings Bank in Brighton Heights and with money provided by the Northside Community Development Fund.
David J. Malone, president of DLB Management Inc., the general partner of E&O Partners, could not be reached. Malone is president of Gateway Financial, Downtown.
In January 2009, Penn Brewery owner Birchmere Capital of Wexford shut down the brewing operation and moved it to Wilkes-Barre after a rent dispute with E&O Partners. The restaurant closed in August 2009. Northside Leadership Conference tried to acquire the building at that time but could not compete a deal.
In November, former Penn Brewery CEO and founder Tom Pastorius and a group of investors acquired the brewery and the restaurant from Birchmere, with operations resuming in May.
“We think the Northside Leadership Conference will be a good partner,” Pastorius said. “Things are going great.”
The Northside organization will partner with Vinial Street LP, a local investment group, which will manage the buildings and sublet space to three dozen small businesses operating on the property, Fatla said.
“The goal here was always to preserve the tenants and keep the office space,” Fatla said.
Vinial Street has promised to make significant renovations to the buildings over the next year, while the Northside Leadership Conference will improve retaining walls at the site, Fatla said. Those renovations might cost more than $500,000, but the scope of the work has yet to be determined, Fatla said.
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Arena Will Lose Mellon Name in August
Thursday, June 24, 2010By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteSay goodbye to Mellon Arena.
The iconic silver-domed venue will lose its name when the Penguins officially move into the Consol Energy Center on Aug. 1.
That’s when a naming rights agreement between BNY Mellon and the Penguins will expire. At that point, the Igloo most likely will reclaim the name it had for much of the first 38 years of its life: the Civic Arena.
“There hasn’t been a lot of discussion but I imagine we’ll begin referring to it again as the Civic Arena,” said Mary Conturo, executive director of the city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority, the building’s owner.
The arena has carried Mellon’s name since 1999, when the former Mellon Financial Corp., which merged with Bank of New York in 2007, reached a 10-year naming rights deal with the Penguins.
That agreement expired after the 2008-2009 season. The two sides worked out a one-year extension to keep the Mellon name on the arena until the Consol Energy Center opened.
Lane Cigna, a BNY Mellon spokeswoman, acknowledged in an e-mail that the arena without Mellon “will take some getting used to,” even if the building might be in its last days.
“We’re really proud of the long history we had and the very positive relationship we had with the team,” she said in an interview. “This is also an exciting time for the city. There’s going to be a brand-new facility.”
As part of the agreement, Mellon employees passed out programs before Penguins games – 8.5 million over 534 games, to be exact. That, too, will end with the move to Consol. In exchange for the employees’ work, the team donated more than $250,000 to charity.
Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan noted that it isn’t unusual for arenas or stadiums to change names as one sponsorship ends and another begins.
“When you step back, it’s more of a common sense [move to replace the Mellon name]. The building won’t be operated. The naming rights agreement is with us. We won’t be there anymore,” he said.
Like some Soviet-style purge, with the agreement’s expiration, all traces of the Mellon name will be erased from the building. Ms. Cigna said some Mellon signs will be donated to the Senator John Heinz History Center for posterity.
Ms. Conturo said she doubted the SEA would seek another naming rights partner for the 48-year-old building with a leaky roof and perhaps a date with the wrecking ball. If Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, county Executive Dan Onorato and the Penguins get their way, the Igloo, as it is known informally, will be demolished to make way for redevelopment.
“I think the sense is that it’s not likely that someone would pay significant money for naming rights at this point,” Ms. Conturo said. “I think we’ll continue to explore all revenue opportunities. But at this point, that doesn’t seem like a likely one.”
As for whether the SEA will formally identify the building as the Civic Arena come August, well, that depends. “I don’t know if there’s any old signage around or not,” Ms. Conturo said.
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Many Suggest Ways to Save Mellon Arena
Wednesday, June 23, 2010By Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWhen I asked for ideas for reusing Mellon Arena on June 13, I hoped to get at least a handful of responses. But almost 60 of you e-mailed or called with suggestions or simply encouragement to find a way to save the arena.
Courtesy of David Julian Roth Architect David Roth's very preliminary concept study suggesting that the Mellon Arena become an urban greenhouse in partnership with the Swedish company Plantagon, which aims to produce food where much of it is consumed, in cities.
Convert it to a market house, “a large open floor filled with vendor stalls of fresh produce,” writes computer programmer Joel Hess of Etna. “Imagine that, when the weather permits, the roof of the dome would be opened to create an instant fresh-air market. … Pittsburgh would have the most impressive market house in the nation along with the recognition that goes with reusing and preserving a historic piece of architecture.”
And both the Hill and Downtown would have something they’ve long needed — a grocery store. A dedicated shuttle service and walk-ins from the new surrounding neighborhood could eliminate the need for massive amounts of parking.
Architect David Roth took the market house idea a step further, suggesting the Igloo become an urban greenhouse in partnership with the Swedish company Plantagon, which aims to produce food where much of it is consumed, in cities.
“Our arena installation would be a self-funded food agora, with Plantagon produce and local farmers market stalls in each of the perimeter bays,” Mr. Roth writes.
Although his design shows the dome replaced by a new structure, the existing dome could be glazed.
Some of you think the arena’s best use is as a transit hub.
“The arena would make an excellent regional transit center in which the T (on its future way out to the East End, of course), Amtrak rail, bus services, and (hopefully at some point!) a high-speed line out to the airport, could meet,” writes Carnegie Mellon public policy student Sam Lavery.
“The building could easily be connected to the T system along with the bus system coming in from the far corners of the county and beyond,” writes figure skating coach Bob Mock of Turtle Creek. “The building would contain a Grand Central type of atmosphere with a retail/mall corridor for commuters. In addition this would connect all of the sports venues by the T. The T could then be extended to the airport, South Side, Oakland and Monroeville.”
“There has been considerable talk about an experimental maglev train between Greensburg and the airport. I thought that the arena would be a great location for a Downtown station,” writes Gordon Marshall of Belle Vernon. “The roof could be left partially open with glass panel inserts for natural lighting and a view of the city.”
Several people mentioned the lack of natural light inside the dome when it’s closed and also suggested replacing some of the stainless-steel panels with transparent or translucent ones.
Artist Carol Skinger of Fox Chapel writes, “I can imagine a new skin that is more like a white mesh or some slightly knocked down version of white. It would be possibly perforated or, by the character of the material, be simply translucent, so when you are inside it is luminous even on a gray day.
“At night the interior lighting could be various colors so it would not always appear to be a white or yellow glow. The overall color could and would change at night as light comes through the translucent skin. I think a yellowish light dimmed way down at late night would give it such a beautiful feeling of a candle lantern.”
A retail or mixed-use development appealed to some.
“Turn it into a shopping, dining, living and entertainment area,” writes retired teacher Colleen Kinevey of Mt. Lebanon. “In the middle of the arena, in a spot which would be most convenient to the Hill District, make an open thruway connecting the Hill District to Downtown. It could be enclosed like the Jenkins Arcade or open in the fashion of a courtyard/thruway. The thruway would have to be convenient and available at all times. On both sides of the thruway could be shops, restaurants, spas, lofts, offices and theaters. There are endless possibilities.”
“A giant mall,” writes Mary Segal of West View, that “includes retail shops, food court, grocery store, child care center, movie theater and something like a fun fest place for kids with blow-up bouncies, miniature golf, a place for families to have kids’ birthday parties.”
How about a recreational use?
Retired Kennywood president Carl Hughes of Mount Washington called to suggest an indoor water park, an idea that also appealed to Avonworth High student Krystina Thomas.
“We don’t have one in the city, and during the summer you could open up the roof,” Ms. Thomas writes.
Artist Phil Rostek of Shadyside and his mother, Margaret, suggest “a major venue devoted to upscale public dancing,” with a dance floor surrounded by tables for dining, stars projected on the interior of the dome and dancing under the real stars when weather permits. The name would remain the Igloo, “where the ‘Burgh chills.” There would be dance and movement classes, too, for adults and kids.
Patricia Faloon, a professional clown who lives in Beechview, envisions a large indoor miniature golf course, with each hole interpreting one of the bridges, buildings, inclines or some other aspect of Pittsburgh.
An ice arena for kids’ hockey, figure skating and open skating would take advantage of what’s already there, two of you suggested. Or maybe an arena for professional boxing events, writes M.A. Johnson-Vaughn, passing along a friend’s idea.
Some ideas seem too similar to what Pittsburgh already has to be viable, such as a Pittsburgh Sports and Exhibition Hall of Fame Museum, a national museum of steel and industry, a giant aviary and botanical center, a home to nonprofits and a home (once again) for the Civic Light Opera.
Several writers suggested an industrial use, such as a place to assemble and warehouse solar panels and other green products. But the arena as cultural center appealed to others.
“A mall for artists,” writes former contractor John Mann of West Deer. “You could put shops all through it and have concerts and plays in the round.”
“Borrowing from the design of the Guggenheim in New York, maybe a spiral gallery could be built inside the dome,” writes Paul Carosi of Mt. Lebanon. “Visitors would take an elevator to the top and wind their way down the exhibit spaces.” He also floats the “Pittsburgh Music Hall of Fame, similar to the Experience Music Project in Seattle.”
“Since I was a little girl,” writes state welfare caseworker Lynda Regan of Dormont, “I’ve heard how Pittsburgh was the great American melting pot; a place where people of every ethnic and racial background came to work together, side by side, in the mills and factories, in order to make the American dream a reality for their kids and grandchildren.
“What I would like to see in the Civic Arena is a permanent monument to those hard-working men and women who labored all those years ago to make Pittsburgh the diverse, forward-moving city it is today. What I am suggesting is that the Civic Arena building be preserved and renovated into The Pittsburgh Folk Cultural Center, where locals and tourists alike, as well as educators, artists, performers and vendors, can come together to explore and to celebrate the contributions and traditions of the many ethnic groups which joined together to build Pittsburgh.”
Ms. Regan’s idea sounds like a permanent, ongoing Pittsburgh Folk Festival, an idea that celebrates the Hill’s history as a settlement place for immigrants of all nationalities. The dome would house classrooms, a dance studio, a small theater, ethnic restaurants, an international bazaar and a Grand Hall for banquets and wedding receptions.
Tom Galownia of Cecil has a different idea.
“If you want to really save the Igloo, then you first have to make them want to keep it, and the best way to do that in Pittsburgh, a city with low self-esteem, is to have someone else want it. So my suggestion is to start an effort to move it.
“Maybe you could advertise it on eBay. Once you get some serious interest, I guarantee you, Pittsburghers will demand it be kept.”
Architecture critic Patricia Lowry: plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590. -
Pa. Historical Panel Raises Concerns About Mellon Arena
Thursday, June 17, 2010By Katie Falloon, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has expressed concerns about the speed of the planned demolition of the Mellon Arena, prompting a response today from the Sports & Exhibition Authority.
In the commission’s letter sent Wednesday, director Jean Cutler requested more information.
“We are sympathetic with the need to move quickly, however we also want to ensure that we have received all crucial information in a fashion that allows us to fully understand both the process and the project’s effects on historic resources,” Ms. Cutler said in the letter.
Following today’s SEA board meeting, Executive Director Mary Conturo said members think moving through the process quickly is best, Ms. Conturo said. Mellon Arena will be vacant come August, and the costs of maintaining the building will fall on SEA, she said.
Utilities and insurance for the arena will cost between $78,000 and $100,000 per month, depending on whether the intention is to keep the arena dark or there is an opportunity for reuse, said Christen Cieslak, principal at Chronicle Consulting.
“We think everything done to date is very thorough and very well done,” Ms. Conturo said.
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Garden Theatre Plans in Works
By Sam Spatter, FOR THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 17, 2010Five developers — three from out of town — are scheduled to present plans for redevelopment of the Garden Theatre block in the North Side to residents at a community meeting next month.
“This will give the developers an opportunity to explain their plans and for the residents to offer their comments,” said Mark T. Fatia, executive director, Northside Leadership Conference, which received the proposals this week.
The developers are considering a mix of residential and first-floor commercial, Fatla said.
The two local developers are Barron Commercial Real Estate of Pittsburgh and Aaron Stubna of Coraopolis.
The out-of-town developers are Resaca LLC of Bethesda, Md., Wells and Co., Spokane, Wash.; and Zukin Development Corp., of Philadelphia.
Fatla said developer Bill Barron has been active along Butler Street in Lawrenceville, and has started work along Federal Street on the North Side. Stubna is only interested in the Garden Theatre, which he would use for films and art projects.
Resaca, an apartment developer, is interested primarily in the Bradberry Building, a former department store.
Zukin, who recently purchased the drug store at Forbes and Murray in Squirrel Hill, is interested in historic preservation, a similar concept from Wells, which was attracted to Pittsburgh by Mike Edwards, president of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, who formerly served in that capacity in Spokane.
“It will be up to the residents and the conference board to select a developer or developers, since some proposals do not include all of the properties within the block,” Fatla said. That could occur by the end of summer.
The block is bounded by Federal Street on the east, W. North on the south, Reddour Street on the west and Eloise Street, on the north. A previous failed development attempt by Jim Aiello Jr. involved only the Federal Street site, which was 30 percent of the total block project, Fatla said.