Category Archive: Downtown Development
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Station Square casino backed – Forest City agrees to fund South Side community group
By Mark Belko,
Friday, July 21, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteA South Side community group has decided that the best bet for Pittsburgh’s slot machine casino is right in its back yard.
At a news conference yesterday, the South Side Local Development Co. threw its support behind the bid by Forest City Enterprises to build a casino at Station Square.
The endorsement came in conjunction with an agreement reached between the developer and the nonprofit group under which Forest City pledged to provide money for community-related programs and initiatives.
As part of a state tax credit program, Forest City would give $150,000 a year for 10 years to the South Side group for community projects if it gets the casino license, or $50,000 a year for five years if it doesn’t.
In exchange for the contributions, the developer could be eligible for tax credits of 70 percent under the Neighborhood Partnership Program, assuming the arrangement is approved by the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
The South Side group currently is in the last year of a 10-year agreement with PNC Bank under the same program.
Under state guidelines, an individual sponsor must pledge at least $100,000 over five years, unless there are multiple donors involved, in which case the commitment must be at least $50,000 for five years.
As part of its partnership with the South Side group, Forest City also has agreed to pay for the immediate hiring of a full-time staff person for the nonprofit group, at a cost of less than $50,000 for one year, to work on gambling-related issues. A second year of funding depends on the status of the slots license.
The agreement also calls for the creation of a steering committee that will give the South Side group a say in the design of the casino development and how it is integrated into the neighborhood. It is similar to a group formed to work with SouthSide Works developers.
The two also will work on possible transportation-related improvements involving East Carson Street and other areas near Station Square, a big issue given the concerns about possible traffic congestion resulting from a casino.
While the money is nice, Michael Healey, gaming work group chairman for the nonprofit group, said it ultimately decided to endorse the Forest City proposal because of the voice it will have in helping to craft the project and in protecting the interests of the South Side.
“This is not about money. We have not had our hand out. What we’ve done is said we want a seat at the table, because what we need to do is make sure our community is well represented, as it has been with SouthSide Works,” he said.
Mr. Healey said the $1 billion Station Square development, with a $512 million casino and up to 1,200 condominiums in a proposed residential neighborhood on its east side, is to cost about twice as much as SouthSide Works.
Before making its endorsement, the South Side group met with representatives from Forest City, which is partnering with Harrah’s Entertainment, and from Isle of Capri, which is proposing a casino near Mellon Arena. It also received presentations from those two as well as from the third bidder, PITG Gaming LLC, which wants to build a casino near Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore. It found the Forest City plan to be the “best proposal for the South Side community,” Mr. Healey said.
Not surprisingly, the two other bidders for the Pittsburgh license saw the endorsement in a different light.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the South Side [Local] Development Co. is receiving an attractive incentive from Forest City in exchange for their endorsement. We continue to believe, as does the city’s Gaming Task Force, the city Planning Department, and many others, that a casino along Carson Street is a traffic gridlock nightmare scenario of unprecedented proportions for Pittsburgh,” said Robert Oltmanns, a spokesman for Don Barden, head of PITG Gaming.
Isle of Capri spokesman Les McMackin said the operator continues to believe it has the best plan for the city, in part because it is pledging $290 million upfront for a new arena. It also is donating $1 million a year for Hill District investment.
Both Forest City and PITG Gaming have committed $7.5 million a year for 30 years to an arena under Gov. Ed Rendell’s alternative plan. Forest City also has pledged $1 million year for community development in Pittsburgh and is donating $25 million to Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation for historic preservation and neighborhood projects.
(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )
Copyright © PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Former Mayor Tom Murphy heads into the record books (with an *)
A strange deal with the feds was the latest twist in a career that began with activism, ended with aloofness
An analysis by Dennis B. Roddy,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tuesday, July 04, 2006In a city renowned for political horse-trading, Tom Murphy preferred to travel by foot: walking door-to-door, retailing himself as a leader beyond politics, a youthful voice of reform in a town he said was slowly dying from doing things the old way.
Now, with a two-year federal probe ending in a strange agreement not to prosecute in return for Mr. Murphy’s acknowledgement that he traded a generous contract for the support of the firefighters union, a self-made reform politician goes into the record books with an asterisk.
This was a former seminarian and Peace Corps volunteer who in 1975 got chucked into the back of a police wagon when, he says, he stopped to help a group of youths who were being beaten by police.
In 1989, Mr. Murphy, then a state legislator from the North Side, came in a surprising second in the Democratic mayoral primary to incumbent Sophie Masloff, beating three others, including the favored county Controller Frank Lucchino.
Elected mayor four years later, he succeeded in building two stadiums and a new convention center. But in the course of those successes, the often aloof Mr. Murphy alienated old friends and newfound allies, finally losing both his political edge and his reformer’s label.
“The dark side of the force is strong. I don’t know how much it was Tom or how much it was the system that pushes people,” said Mark Fatla, who entered Mr. Murphy’s orbit during his days at the Community Technical Assistance Center, part of the stew of community groups with whom Mr. Murphy built his early base.
Mr. Fatla recalled Election Night 1993, when the room was filled with community activists drawn to the campaign.
“By the first re-election campaign, those persons were not active or their participation had been reduced,” Mr. Fatla said. The first signs of problems were budget cuts for community groups, he said. Later, it was access.
“I think as he became enmeshed in the bigger issues in the mayor’s office, it got harder and harder to talk to him, but it got much harder to hold his attention. And when you did talk to him you got the sense that his mind was already made up, that he wasn’t open any longer to what you were telling him. I think that was the change,” Mr. Fatla said.
To many who saw the transformation, Mr. Murphy’s disaster was caused by his straying from his political base and embracing another — the more traditional city politics with which he never felt comfortable and whose practitioners never quite accepted him.
Mr. Murphy and his chief lieutenant, Executive Secretary Tom Cox, cut their teeth as North Side community developers. In the idealistic atmosphere of the early 1970s, he should have fit in — but didn’t.
“Tommy was not a reformer. Tommy was a loner. There’s a big difference,” said Bob Cohen, a Shadyside consultant who preceded Murphy as director of the North Side Civic Development Council.
Tom Murphy was first elected a state representative in 1978. Mr. Cohen, who now advises clients in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, views Mr. Murphy’s management style as both his strength and weakness. Appointed to the chairmanship of the Insurance Committee in the state House, Mr. Murphy disappointed party leaders by refusing to raise campaign funds from lobbyists who did business with the committee, a long-standing Harrisburg practice Mr. Murphy found repugnant. Caucus politics did not interest him.
“Tommy was the world’s worst politician,” said Mr. Cohen.
In 14 years as a state representative, Mr. Murphy strengthened his reputation as a neighborhood builder, but never became a coalition builder.
Instead of making the Harrisburg tavern circuit, where lobbyists and legislators share drinks and ambitious legislators map out deals, Mr. Murphy’s work in the house was literal. He spent his evenings rehabbing a rundown house he co-purchased with four other members for $4,000 at 1616 Green St. in Harrisburg.
“He would stay back and work on that house. He wanted the neighborhood to look better,” said Allen Kukovich, one of the residents at 1616 Green.
Mike Dawida, another legislator who entered the House the same year as Mr. Murphy, and with whom he aligned himself politically, recalled his colleague as an idealist capable of spotting important policy issues, but not adept at working the legislative levers to bring them about.
“He wasn’t always good at working with the Legislature. Others would have to take up the ideas,” Mr. Dawida said.
Mr. Murphy’s biggest weakness, Mr. Dawida said, was a failure to listen.
“Reformers tend to be people who listen. He didn’t cultivate that talent very well,” Mr. Dawida said. “It got a lot worse in the mayor’s office.”
Dan Cohen, who served on City Council during Mr. Murphy’s tenure as mayor, remembers a man who rarely initiated contacts on his own.
“There was an aloofness,” said Mr. Cohen, who now works as a telecommunications lawyer. “Was Tom a politician? Not as we typically use the term. He was the anti-politician.”
That anti-politician posture would sometimes frustrate Mr. Murphy’s supporters. His staff would sometimes be frustrated that, during fund-raisers, the mayor didn’t seem to know who his biggest donors were.
For that matter, he didn’t always know when his fund-raising events were scheduled, said Sal Sirabella, deputy mayor under Mr. Murphy.
On one occasion, Mr. Sirabella recalls Mr. Murphy returning from a run and saying, ” ‘You know what? I think we have a fund-raiser tomorrow. Isn’t it great that we don’t even know when our fund-raisers are?’ ”
Some Democratic ward leaders gradually became disenchanted. “The only time he knew my name was when he was up for re-election,” said Barbara Ernsberger, who has chaired Shadyside’s 7th Ward Democratic Committee since 1994 and who was elected city Democratic chair during Mr. Murphy’s administration.
She recalls putting in a phone call to the mayor’s office to suggest a meeting between Mr. Murphy and the Democratic committee.
“I was told we were not on his agenda,” she said.
A partnership with Allegheny County Commissioners Mike Dawida and Bob Cranmer helped Mr. Murphy build two new stadiums and a convention center. That, too, frayed.
One notable moment came Sept. 29, 1998, when government buildings along Grant Street were evacuated when an unexplained noxious odor wafted through. City and county emergency officials didn’t communicate with each other, even though they shared some of the same buildings. The ensuing turf battle between the city and county climaxed when Mr. Murphy announced he was calling off plans to merge the city’s 911 center with Allegheny County’s.
Mr. Dawida was stunned by the reaction.
“I guess what I’m saying is there were these issues that popped up from time to time when a little bit of listening would have done the guy some wonders,” Mr. Dawida said.
Relations with City Council were strained, thanks to both fiscal constraints and Mr. Murphy’s infrequent communication with council, said Dan Cohen.
Then came the publicly financed construction of two new stadiums despite taxpayer resistance, and the mayor’s controversial effort to revitalize Downtown’s Fifth and Forbes retail district.
Mr. Murphy wanted to seize properties and turn them over to a Chicago developer. “We asked for an open process, and in fact it was a closed process,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. A Murphy enthusiast in 1994, Mr. Ziegler joined the many vocal critics of the Fifth and Forbes plan.
Mr. Dawida sees Fifth and Forbes as the turning point leading to Mr. Murphy’s slide.
“He had invested a lot of his capital in it because the Downtown of Pittsburgh was always a kind of showplace,” Mr. Dawida said. “It was the public perception that this was a very important thing and then it never happened.”
When retailer Nordstrom pulled out, Mr. Murphy abandoned the plan. But with his neighborhood base disenchanted, and his foes energized, the mayor had to build a new base.
He reached out to firefighters.
In April 2001, Mr. Murphy attended a meeting at Larry’s Roadhouse with his campaign manager David Caliguiri, Arlington neighborhood activist Michele Balcer and Pittsburgh Fire Fighters Local 1 President Joseph King.
On April 30, Mr. King wrote to union members that he’d reached agreement with the city on contract basics that would preserve jobs and raise wages between 4 percent and 8 percent. Mr. King later estimated that the raises would have cost the city $10 million to $12 million over four years, had the deal not been trimmed after 2002.
At around the same time, the 870-member union switched its endorsement from then City Council President Bob O’Connor to Mr. Murphy.
“I told Tom at the time I thought it was a bad deal. But he didn’t often listen,” Mr. Dawida said.
Mr. Sirabella doesn’t think the fire union’s endorsement decided the 2001 primary, which Murphy won by 699 votes.
Nonetheless, had 350 people — firefighters or otherwise — moved from Mr. Murphy’s to Mr. O’Connor’s column, the former wouldn’t have had to contend with a budget meltdown and, presumably, last week’s odd settlement that suggested Mr. Murphy had done something if not indictable, at least wrong.
To some old friends, it seems almost as if Mr. Murphy’s lack of skill in the kinds of insider dealing he so flatly rejected starting with his Harrisburg days, might have left him unprepared for the junctures at which politics and governance sometimes merge.
“It would seem to me that there are some people who might be what’s described as wheeler-dealers in political jargon, who might know how to handle those situations better, perhaps, than someone who’s not used to figuring out how to deal with tough contracts when there’s an election coming up,” said Mr. Kukovich. “It takes someone with rare skill. For someone who’s not adept at that sort of thing, I guess it can be a problem.”
It remained for Mr. Dawida to sum up the paradox of his old friend: “He was bullheaded, stubborn and opinionated. But he wasn’t ever dishonest. This kind of thing implies that he was and he wasn’t.”
(Staff writer Rich Lord contributed. Dennis Roddy can be reached at 412-263-1965 or droddy@post-gazette.com. )
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Building to be converted into office condominiums
By The Tribune-Review
Sunday, June 18, 2006The owner of the six-story building at 610 Wood St., Downtown, plans to convert the building into office condominiums, said Loretta Taylor, an agent with Beynon & Co., who will market the building. At this time, no price has been set and potential buyers are being offered an opportunity to lease space in the building prior to purchase. Rittenhouse Commons of Philadelphia, the owner, will make improvements to the structure, such as the exterior facade and the elevator, and have a model unit available within four to six weeks. CVS Pharmacy, which occupies the ground level, will remain.
• The former Pitt-DesMoines site on Neville Island has been purchased by Frank Bryan Inc. for $1.2 million in what the company said is an expansion of the firm’s concrete operation currently on Pittsburgh’s South Side. Thomas J. Bryan III, identified as a Bryan shareholder on a deed filed in the office of Allegheny County recorder of deeds, would not disclose what type of expansion is planned nor what affect the new site would have on the Pittsburgh operation. The 16.2-acre site, located off Neville Road and along the Ohio River, was sold by CB&J Co., a Texas-based firm. Bryan has been at the South Side location since it purchased the former Dravo Corp. plant there in 1980.
• Matrix Solutions has relocated its headquarters from Ross to 901 Pennsylvania Ave., North Shore. The firm, which provides sales strategy management software for the media industry, currently has 30 business and technology professionals and has the ability to add 25 additional staff at the new office, a 15,000-square foot warehouse-style building, formerly a valve manufacturing facility.
• Burns & Scalo Real Estate Services Inc. acquired a 3.85-acre site in Starpointe Industrial Park for Miller Plastic Products Inc., and will build the 40,000 to 50,000-square-foot manufacturing and office space in the Hanover Township, Washington County complex. Construction will begin this summer.
• The 30-year transformation of East Carson Street, South Side, was the topic at the recent 2006 National Main Streets Conference in New Orleans and featured three local residents as speakers. The discussion, “Transforming a Local Neighborhood into a Regional Destination,” was by John A. Martine of Strada architectural firm, Cathy McCullom of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, and Tom Hardy, formerly with the South Side Local Development Corp.
• Old School Partners, LP, headed by Alfred E. Thomson IV, has purchased a warehouse at 10 Allegheny River Blvd., Penn Hills, for $900,000 from Fagen’s Inc., according to a deed filed in the office of Allegheny County recorder of deeds. A small portion of the property is located in Verona. Plans are to demolish the structure and build a state-of-the-art 65,000-square-foot Atlas Self-Storage facility. Two other Atlas self-storage facilities are located on Saltsburg Road, Penn Hills, and in the North Hills.
• Construction is under way on Pinehurst Village, a new carriage home community located within the Seven Oaks Country Club complex in Beaver County. There will be 39 units on 15 acres, developed by TDS Group, a carriage home specialist, said Darlene Hunter, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services New Homes South/West manager, who is marketing the units. Four models are available, starting at $198,900.
• Centria, based in Moon Township, recently received the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for saving $800,000 in energy costs at its Ambridge plant. Centria installed an oven system that features state-of-the-art heat exchangers to rapidly dry painted steel coils. The system made it possible to capture emissions of volatile organic compounds produced by drying paint and pump them into an incinerator to produce fuel.
Contributor: Sam Spatter
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Building owner casts wary eye on Millcraft
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 27, 2006Gerald Schiller is on yet another developer’s radar.
Over the years, whenever new developers arrived in Pittsburgh with plans for the Downtown retail corridor, they targeted at least some of the several buildings Schiller and his family own at the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Wood Street.
Now, Washington County-based Millcraft Industries wants to put a new building with loft apartments at the northeast corner of the intersection — in place of the former Bolan’s Candies building that Schiller owns. A proposal the company made to Mayor Bob O’Connor shows a rendering of a new building on that corner.
The problem is, Schiller said Friday, no one has talked with him about buying the building or working with him to redevelop it. His tenants, and at least one potential renter, want to know how long they can stay.
“It looks like they’ve got plans that are unknown to us,” Schiller said. “I wasn’t approached. I think I have every reason to be paranoid, based on the history.”
Millcraft’s long-range proposal includes nine sites on five Downtown blocks, including condos above the former G.C. Murphy’s building, an entertainment complex in Warner Centre and a three-story bookstore at the southwest corner of Forbes and Wood.
Millcraft doesn’t own all of the buildings it would need for the entire development, but it is talking with property owners about joint ventures, said Brian Walker, the Cecil company’s chief financial officer.
O’Connor wants the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority to give Millcraft the exclusive right to purchase 19 city-owned properties. The company has a temporary agreement with the URA, allowing it to market the properties to potential tenants.
The Bolan’s Candies building appears on a map the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is recirculating to remind developers which buildings it wants to save Downtown. The group sent its map to Millcraft, said Kathy McCollom, the foundation’s spokeswoman.
The preservation group compromised by accepting PNC Financial Services Group’s plan to tear down all buildings on the north side of Fifth Avenue for its Three PNC Plaza development, she said.
“We’re reminding people again,” McCollom said. “This was a consensus agreement on preservation issues.”
Walker said Millcraft has talked with representatives from the landmarks foundation.
Schiller said the Bolan’s Candies building appears on the preservation list because of its distinctive facade. Two-story arched windows with detailed masonry work cover the upper floors.
“Landmarks would go nuts about that, because they love the Bolan’s building,” Schiller said. “It’s a unique building Downtown.”
Millcraft plans to work with the landmarks foundation to determine which buildings have historic value, said Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate. He termed the company’s plan “very conceptual” beyond the URA-owned properties.
“We’re going to work with (foundation president) Art Ziegler, and of course talk to him about what’s historic and what’s not historic,” Piatt said.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.
Images and text copyright © 2006 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
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Big ideas
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 23, 2006The developer selected to revive Downtown has bigger ideas than previously disclosed.
Millcraft Industries’ sweeping $270 million vision includes reviving Warner Centre as a nightclub, putting a playground at Market Square and adding boutique offices, lofts and a three-story bookstore along Wood Street.The company eventually would like to extend a trolley line to Oakland, the North Shore and South Side Works.
The Washington County developer is pitching its ideas this week at the country’s leading retail convention in Las Vegas. Its proposal includes nine locations within a five-block area of Downtown.
“Those are things we want for Pittsburgh,” said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft’s vice president of real estate.
The first phase, a $51.7 million renovation of the former Lazarus-Macy’s building into Piatt Place, includes a high-end grocer and national chain restaurant on the first floor, condominiums and offices above, and townhomes on the roof.The lobby and model apartments are scheduled to open Wednesday, in time for an evening Downtown walking tour.
“The feeling is about as positive as it’s ever felt,” said Don Carter, president of Urban Design Associates, a Downtown company hired to propose overall changes for the business district. “It’s no longer a plan. Now we’re getting projects built. … The momentum is building.”
Millcraft first unveiled its plan in a private meeting with Mayor Bob O’Connor last month, but officials did not make the details public. The proposal extends beyond projects Millcraft already has committed to — and includes properties it does not yet own.
The development would take place in three phases and, when completed, would include 852 condominiums and apartments, 1,203 parking spaces and nearly a half-million square feet of retail and office space — about the size of Parkway Center Mall or Two PNC Plaza, Downtown.
Under the plan, cars and trucks could no longer drive through Market Square, where Millcraft proposes installing dancing fountains and a children’s playground. The company suggested holding a naming contest for the area and giving a scholarship to the winner.
“What we’re doing is trying to create the 89th neighborhood in Pittsburgh, which is what Downtown really is,” said Ira Morgan, a local developer who has partnered with Millcraft in a group called Downtown Streets Pittsburgh LP.
After seeing the proposal, O’Connor recommended the partners get exclusive rights to purchase 19 Downtown properties owned by the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. The company has a temporary agreement with the URA, allowing it to market the properties to potential tenants, said Brian Walker, Millcraft’s chief financial officer.
The group has offered two proposals for the URA properties: Either acquiring title to the properties and then sharing profits with the city, or entering into a long-term lease with the option of buying the properties later. A third option combines the two.
The URA will consider all of the options at its June 8 board meeting.
“We’re not asking for city or county subsidies,” Walker said. “We’re not asking for the properties for free. We want to pay back fair market value to the city for their investment. They’ve had to spend money to get those properties. Now it’s time for us as developers to come in and finish the job.”
Millcraft’s second phase includes three projects, mainly involving the URA properties: Market Place Square, a renovation of the former G.C. Murphy’s building; Forbes Village, a building with apartments and first-floor retail space; and Piatt Place Apartments, next to the former Lazarus-Macy’s building.
A third phase was undisclosed until now. It calls for turning Warner Centre into a film and entertainment complex, adding loft apartments next to the theater, building a $6.5 million three-level bookstore at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Wood Street, and putting boutique offices — smaller structures with high-tech amenities — across Wood Street.
Millcraft does not own all of the buildings it would need for phase three, but is talking with property owners about joint ventures, Walker said. It has not yet approached JJ Operating Co., the New York firm that owns Warner Centre, a theater turned into an office complex and food court in 1985.
“We don’t turn anybody away,” said Gary Roberson, a broker with Grant Street Associates-Cushman & Wakefield, which manages and leases office space at Warner Centre.
“If it were revived as a theater, it would help become a traffic generator,” said Arthur Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
A final conceptual phase of Millcraft’s Downtown plan includes a $76 million college housing and retail complex on Forbes Avenue for Point Park University. The school already has started a separate student housing project and has not committed to Millcraft’s proposal, a spokeswoman said.
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New eminent domain law will help renewal effort
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 21, 2006Urban renewal efforts have been good and bad, but Arthur P. Ziegler Jr. of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation believes there’s now hope for more of the good because the state has adopted a law governing the taking of private property for renewal.
Ziegler, president of the South Side-based preservationist organization, applauded when the Legislature passed and Gov. Ed Rendell this month signed two companion bills designed to clarify the state’s eminent domain law.
“We would like to see people protected from use of eminent domain,” said Ziegler. “We have seen it used or threatened frequently here, and some of the results have been negative.”
As examples, he points to efforts in the 1950s and 1960s that he calls some of the “worst cases of urban renewal we have seen.”
Those include efforts to revitalize the city’s Lower Hill District (the area near Mellon Arena), the development of Allegheny Center on the North Side, and the “Circle” in East Liberty — a project that diverted most vehicular traffic from the main Penn Avenue business district.
“And of course, the threat of it was used by the administration (of Mayor Tom Murphy) in various instances, including when he was developing plans for the Fifth-Forbes business district,” Ziegler said.
“This bill protects the rights of property owners above all other interests,” said Rendell. “Eminent domain should be used in a community’s best interests, not the specialized interests of a few.”
One section of the legislation amends the state’s eminent domain code by prohibiting, with some exceptions, an agency’s ability to take private property in order to use it for private enterprise.
It provides standards that single, blighted properties must meet before being taken by eminent domain. It also extends the criteria to include properties that are unmarketable, pose environmentally hazardous conditions, or have multiple instances of blight. Multiple properties can be taken by eminent domain if they also meet geographic conditions related to a blighted area.
The new law also says no political subdivision can use eminent domain authority against land in another municipality without the approval of the other political subdivision. It also outlines land condemnation procedures.
Real estate notes:
Permits were issued for 291 multifamily housing units in the first quarter of 2006 in the seven-county Pittsburgh area, more than double the 124 issued for the same period last year, the U.S. Census Bureau said. There also were 1,097 permits issued for single-family houses compared to 903 for the same period last year.
New office tenants in the Omni William Penn, Downtown, are the law firms of Phelan Hallinan & Schmieg, and O’Brien, Rulis, Bochicchio & Sosso, along with the investment management firm of Cookson, Peirce & Co. Inc., said Jim Jarrett, vice president, GVA Oxford, whose firm handled the leases.
Recent financing arranged by Daniel P. Puntil and Jeffrey W. Keating of LaureateCapital’s Pittsburgh office include $9.8 million for Leetsdale Industrial Park and $5.4 million for One Alexander Center, Harmar.
Electronic recording of mortgages and mortgage assignments is available at the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds office. The system, through a secure network, allows documents to be received in the Recorder’s office, recorded and electronically returned to the submitter within minutes. Normal fees are paid by the submitter, either electronically or by mail or personal presentation. Plans call for electronic recording of mortgage satisfactions and, eventually, deeds. The system is also available in Westmoreland, Philadelphia, Chester and Lancaster counties.
Next Level Purchasing Inc. has moved its headquarters into 1315 Coraopolis Heights Road, Moon Township.
School Facility Development Inc., whose offices are at 24 S. 18th St., South Side, has purchased an office building at 1631 Monroeville Ave., Turtle Creek, for $1.55 million from Errol S. and Linda Abdulla, according to a deed filed with the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds.
David Stoehr of Stoehr Development Inc. wants the state to provide $2.5 million in grants to clean up the 17-acre Fort Bridge property in Canonsburg, where he wants to develop the $23 million Fort Pitt Industrial Park. Stoehr wants to demolish 400,000 square feet of heavy industrial facilities by the end of 2006 and put up six buildings. The project has received a $130,000 state planning grant. Stoehr developed Meadow Lands Industrial Park, also in Washington County.
Gannett Fleming’s Youghiogheny Reservoir Alternate Steel Bridge won the Association for Bridge Construction and Design, Susquehanna Chapter Award in the Outstanding New Multi-Span Bridge category. Located in Fayette and Somerset counties, the bridge features spans exceeding 230 feet.
The second House to Home Fireplace & Pool Shoppe in the region has opened at 100 McClure Rd., Monroeville, said owner Walter Sedlock, who opened the first in Jeannette.
Sam Spatter contributed to this report.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907. -
Millcraft gets stab at city’s heart
By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 18, 2006Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O’Connor has tapped a Washington County developer to spearhead a $121 million residential and retail revitalization in the heart of Downtown.
O’Connor said he would recommend that Millcraft Industries’ father-and-son team of Jack and Lucas Piatt have exclusive rights to develop 19 vacant and dilapidated properties owned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.“I believe Jack Piatt and his son, Lucas, have the same vision I do,” O’Connor said. “I believe what’s happening today will reaffirm that this is a city on the move.”
The project will include:
A $21 million rehabilitation of the G.C. Murphy Building, to include 50 apartments and condominiums, 25,000 square feet of retail space and 50 parking spots. The historic building at Fifth Avenue and Market Square would be called “Marketplace.”
A new $50 million Forbes Avenue building, to be called “Forbes Village,” with 150 residential units and 20,000 square feet of retail space.
A previously announced $52 million renovation of the former Lazarus-Macy’s building, which will house a specialty grocery store, other retailers, office space and upscale condominiums.
Squirrel Hill developer Ira Morgan, O’Connor’s former campaign treasurer and financial backer, and retail brokers CB Richard Ellis and Langholz Wilson Ellis, will work with the Piatts to attract retailers and plan construction, which could be finished within two years.
The URA is scheduled to vote on O’Connor’s recommendation June 8.Authority officials will negotiate purchase prices for the properties.
“We see this as a great opportunity to get on the bandwagon of the positive momentum that’s here in Pittsburgh,” Lucas Piatt said. “We know that the mayor made the right decision.”
Millcraft’s plans are less grandiose than what the Piatts offered O’Connor during a meeting April 18, when Piatt detailed a renovation effort calling for the construction of 850 residential units and 250,000 square feet of retail space. That could still happen, Lucas Piatt said.
O’Connor said a key factor in his choice of Millcraft over competing developer Ralph Falbo was the Piatts’ financial wherewithal to work fast.
“I want to move quickly. I think it’s been sitting too long,” O’Connor said.
Falbo said he will continue to develop properties Downtown. He said the Piatts’ plan seems to emphasize housing – something he believes is critical to long-term economic success. “Unless you have people, the retail won’t last,” he said.
Falbo said he’s pulling for the Piatts.
“We don’t want to see anybody fail,” he said. “The most important thing is to come out of the chute with a success. A black eye for Downtown wouldn’t help anyone.”
Hugh “Herky” Pollock of CB Richard Ellis said the mayor’s endorsement strengthens Millcraft’s chances of attracting top retailers. The Piatts wanted O’Connor’s OK in time for this month’s International Shopping Center Convention in Las Vegas, where they plan to court retailers.
Pollock said it’s premature to guess what stores might come to Pittsburgh.
O’Connor said the URA will establish a series of development and construction deadlines that Millcraft must meet. O’Connor and other Downtown development officials plan to meet Friday and Saturday with Downtown-based Urban Design Associates to work on a master development plan.
Michael Edwards, CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, applauded the Piatts’ plans and said the mayor and the partnership are committed to making the city’s Downtown the most robust in the nation.
“It’s a great day for Pittsburgh,” Edwards said.
Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.
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Developer may pass up bid for Fifth-Forbes job
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 9, 2006Yet another national retail developer appears to be losing interest in Pittsburgh’s main retail corridor after spending months studying ways to bring the area back to life, Mayor Bob O’Connor said Monday.
Madison-Marquette, based in Washington, D.C., would become the fourth suitor to pass on remaking the area since 1999. A company spokesman declined to comment.“I don’t think Madison-Marquette is interested any more in the project,” O’Connor said.
That would leave two local developers — Millcraft Industries in Washington County and a group headed by Pittsburgh businessman Ralph Falbo. O’Connor said he does not know of any other group seeking to redevelop the Fifth and Forbes corridor.
Shortly after taking office in January, O’Connor said he wanted to be “wowed” by Madison-Marquette’s proposal. But the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has been unable to set up a meeting for the company to present its plans to the mayor.
Herb Burger, who headed a task force that helped bring Madison-Marquette to Pittsburgh, said he would be disappointed if the company decides not to work on the project. He served on the Pittsburgh Task Force, a group created by former Mayor Tom Murphy.
“The Downtown market needs all the intelligent development it can get,” Burger said.
The city’s retail center has faced a series of setbacks dating to 1999, when Murphy dropped a $522 million proposal by Urban Retail Properties, of Chicago. The plan fizzled under pressure from existing Downtown businesses and historic preservationists.
Kravco Co., of King of Prussia, Montgomery County, took a shot at redevelopment next, but bowed out in January 2004 when it was bought by mall developer Simon Properties. A Philadelphia group, Dranoff Properties, studied the Downtown core for months before passing on a bid to redevelop it last summer.
In the meantime, two department stores — Lord & Taylor and Lazarus-Macy’s — failed despite receiving large public subsidies to open Downtown locations.
Millcraft’s plan for Downtown includes a $269 million project with 852 housing units, 200,000 square feet of retail space and 45,000 square feet of office space. The proposal includes Piatt Place, a $49 million renovation of the former Lazarus-Macy’s department store already under way.
The developer wants an exclusive deal to develop 19 URA-owned properties in time to make a May 24 presentation at the International Shopping Center Convention in Las Vegas.
“We need time to prepare for that convention,” said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft’s vice president of real estate. “It’s really close. We might lose a year.”
Falbo has proposed a $75 million to $100 million development that would place a food market on the first floor of the former G.C. Murphy Co. building and up to 40 rental and/or condominium units above.
“The difficult part is how big, national firms look at it — as a one-shot deal to do the whole corridor,” Falbo said. “I happen to think it’s going to take a lot of work. This is not developing a mall in the suburbs.”
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.