Category Archive: Downtown Development
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Mayor says eminent domain possible
By Dave Copeland
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, March 2, 2002Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy said Friday eminent domain would have to be used for Downtown redevelopment plans if property owners refuse to sell their property at reasonable prices.
“We obviously would like to move forward working cooperatively with the existing owners in the Fifth-Forbes corridor,” Murphy said. “I did take (eminent domain) off the table and my preference is to not use it.“But we also have to face the reality about the expectations that some people have of what their buildings are worth.”
Murphy could receive a proposal for redeveloping the Fifth-Forbes corridor from the Plan C Task Force as early as Thursday. The plan is expected to include eminent domain, breaking a pledge Murphy made to take the controversial redevelopment tool off the table when the task force was formed in November 2000.
The task force was formed to build consensus on redeveloping the Downtown when Murphy’s own plan fell apart. Known as Market Place at Fifth & Forbes, Murphy’s plan was criticized for its use of eminent domain, the relocation of local merchants to make way for national retailers and the leveling of up to 62 Downtown buildings.
City Council would have final approval over any plan presented for redeveloping Downtown. The plan also would go before the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the planning commission and the historic review commission.“I wouldn’t support it, because I don’t believe in taking private property. There are incentive programs that can help that area,” Councilman Alan Hertzberg said. “You give people incentives to do things — you don’t force people to turn over their property.”
Hertzberg, Councilmen Jim Ferlo and Bob O’Connor were the only consistent opponents on council to Murphy’s original redevelopment plan. O’Connor, who brokered a relocation deal with Vento’s Pizza Shop in East Liberty so the city could avoid using eminent domain to build a Home Depot, said the city should work on relocating private business owners along the Fifth-Forbes corridor.
“I don’t see the necessity,” O’Connor said. “You have to give everybody a fair deal, and if you’re doing things right with the plan, every business owner should want to be a part of it.”
Council President Gene Ricciardi said eminent domain should be used with caution.
“It needs to be a tool of last resort,” he said. “I really believe if you work in an honest fashion with all of the property owners, and if all of the property owners would benefit from the plan, I don’t see a need for eminent domain because people would naturally buy into it.”
Councilman William Peduto, who wasn’t on council in 2000 when Murphy’s plan divided the body, said he doesn’t support using eminent domain to transfer property from one private owner to another.
“But I do not rule out using eminent domain when it’s one person who is trying to stop the entire project or trying to get rich,” Peduto said. “You have to use common sense in the process.”
Councilwoman Barbara Burns said she doesn’t necessarily oppose eminent domain, but acknowledged it can be a hardship for business and property owners who are forced to relocate.
“I’m not surprised that eminent domain has re-emerged in the discussion. And I’m not inherently opposed to it. I just believe it should be done with a lot of thought,” Burns said. “I believe Fifth and Forbes is blighted, so I’m pleased there is a Plan C working to get something done.”
Dave Copeland can be reached at dcopeland@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7922.
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Eminent domain may be back in Downtown plans
By Dave Copeland
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 1, 2002Plans to redevelop Downtown could include the use of eminent domain, despite repeated promises by Mayor Tom Murphy that the controversial tool had been “taken off the table.”
The Plan C Task Force hopes to present a final draft of a sweeping redevelopment strategy for Downtown Pittsburgh to Murphy on Thursday. Task force members have been working under a mandate not to discuss the plan publicly. Details have been kept under wraps, with task force members saying only that it will include retail, housing and office space, and will try to leverage development off of the existing Downtown department stores.Eminent domain is expected to be part of the final plan, according to three people who have seen it. The controversial government power would be used if private property owners declined to sell their buildings and land to the city in negotiated sales.
The task force was formed in November 2000 after Murphy’s own Downtown redevelopment plan fell apart. Known as Market Place at Fifth & Forbes, Murphy’s plan was criticized for its use of eminent domain, the relocation of local merchants to make way for national retailers and the leveling of as many as 62 Downtown buildings.
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Task force attempts to solve Downtown’s retail riddle
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 24, 2002Given the option of recommending just one new Pittsburgh location for his high-end retail clients such as Smith & Hawken or Sur La Table, Richard Hodos favors Shadyside’s tony Walnut Avenue over the city’s busy Downtown.
As president of New York City-based HGCD Retail Services, Hodos scouts markets across the country to find ideal places for stand-alone retailers such as those, which sell garden items and cooking tools, respectively.While Shadyside has a lively mix of residents, retailers and shoppers who come from across the region, Downtown has lacked a clear vision for retail development. It would be hard for anyone now to recommend a national chain locate there among vacant storefronts and neon “store closing” signs.
“At this point I would put them in Shadyside, not Downtown,” said Hodos, a Johnston-native who returns to southwestern Pennsylvania often. “If there was a viable mass of retail Downtown, or if I knew one was coming, I might advise them differently.”
The Plan C task force – a broad coalition of urban planners, city officials and Downtown retailers – hopes to give him that option in the near future. They are developing a plan to direct retail development in the central business district, while maintaining the architecturally significant buildings there.
Even vacancies left behind in recent months by G.C. Murphy, National Record Mart and Dollar Zone – all within one block of Forbes Avenue – could be potential assets, said Patty Maloney, who owns three card shops Downtown and has been deeply involved in Plan C.
“There are all sorts of opportunities out there,” she said. “We could be looking at a big hole in the middle of the city, on the one hand. Or is this a real opportunity to do something really reflective of this region?”
Despite Plan C’s work at “cooperation” over the past year, debate still smolders over whether Downtown needs widespread reconstruction or detailed preservation.
More than a year ago, Mayor Tom Murphy officially dropped his $522 million plan for Market Place at Fifth & Forbes, a wholesale demolition to attract national retail chains. Talking about that proposal, he now says that he has “learned a lot from our mistakes in the past.”
Others are not so sure the city didn’t miss an opportunity – one that fades a little more every time other retail centers such as The Waterfront in Homestead gain another major store or entertainment venue. Station Square will open a new Hard Rock Cafe this year, while the former South Side Works will have a 10-screen movie theater and high-end restaurants.
“Homestead has all the stores,” said Mulugetta Birru, director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority. “Can Pittsburgh support additional entertainment districts? That really frightens me. Has Downtown missed an opportunity for entertainment development?”
Hodos, who scouts the Pittsburgh market regularly, remains optimistic about retail opportunities Downtown. The city now has a chance to fill in vacant spaces with high-end retailers that are unique to the region.
But, he said, developers need a clear vision, have to remain flexible and must move quickly once they get started.
“It’s sad retailers are closing Downtown but there needs to be a grand plan, and it needs to be put into effect not over a long time but over a relatively short time,” Hodos said.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.
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Closings could be chance to get new stores
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, January 27, 2002Downtown shop owner Patty Maloney sees opportunity in the neon “store closing” banners outside the National Record Mart and Dollar Zone stores on Forbes Avenue east of Market Square.
Pieces of butcher paper taped to the windows of nearby G.C. Murphy’s declare in black marker letters: “We are now closed.” That store went out of business in November, while Bolan’s Candies — a local landmark — closed its store at Forbes Avenue and Wood Street.Empty store fronts might be even more numerous along Fifth Avenue, where space after space sits dusty and unused. Development experts warned in recent years this would happen. Retail stores in the central business district would start failing, they said, if a sweeping retail plan was not created. Yet, Maloney sees hope.
“You lost businesses, lost some retail,” said Maloney, the owner of three Downtown card shops, who has been deeply involved in the city’s latest round of urban planning. “But if you look at the up side, we have some really great floorplates in place. You have some really good properties available.”
Mayor Tom Murphy’s $522 million proposal for Market Place at Fifth & Forbes was supposed to prevent all of these problems: The city would create a synergy of small- and medium-sized retailers by demolishing a wide swath of buildings to create much-needed space.
But that idea failed amid widespread criticism that it would have destroyed the historic character of Downtown. Even Murphy now admits that he, among other Downtown interests, have “learned a lot from our mistakes in the past.”
Members of the new Plan C — for “compromise” — task force have been scrambling to fill the void over the past year. Officials have said they expected to begin releasing details of a new Downtown plan to the public early next month.
Murphy created the 11-member panel about a year ago after the demise of the Fifth & Forbes plan. The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, other business interests and city officials serve on the task force. The group includes those who were at odds with each other during negotiations for the Fifth & Forbes plan.
As they worked to develop a new plan, existing stores have been failing.
“We’re very concerned, absolutely,” said Harry Finnigan, outgoing director of the Downtown Partnership. “It’s not a good sign. The urgency of making something happen is that we don’t end up seeing what so many downtowns have seen; that a department store closes.”
The immediate impact of stores closing might be negative, but the results could be promising, said Richard Hodos, a New York City-based retail expert who scouts new locations for high-end retailers such as Coach, J.Crew and Smith&Hawken.
Several of the Pittsburgh closings resulted from nationwide bankruptcies, and they have freed up large spaces in high-traffic areas near Market Square. No figures were available to indicate how many businesses have closed or moved in recent years.The key to attract businesses will be moving quickly to implement a plan that incorporates various sizes of retailers, he said.
“It’s sad retailers are closing Downtown but there needs to be a grand plan and it needs to be put into effect not over a long time but over a relatively short time,” Hodos said.
If the Downtown tries to implement a 10-year program, for example, the first stores will fail because of a lack of critical mass, Hodos said. Later phases will not occur because the first ones failed.
Others would argue the city already has waited too long by failing to adopt the mayor’s proposal two years ago.
“We honestly missed an opportunity,” said Mulugetta Birru, director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority and an architect of Murphy’s original development plan. “My feeling is it’s going to be a tough one.”
He predicted that the Downtown development woes are just beginning and that it will be much more difficult to create a regional destination there now that other areas have moved more quickly to get the big-name retailers.
The Waterfront retail and entertainment complex in Homestead has filled that role with a luxury movie theater, national retail outlets and niche restaurants. Station Square will open a Hard Rock Cafe, which had been mentioned for Downtown. And the former South Side Works site has plans for a 10-screen movie theater and more upscale restaurants.
“Homestead has all the stores,” Birru said. “Can Pittsburgh support additional entertainment districts? That really frightens me. Has Downtown missed an opportunity for entertainment development?”
While Pittsburgh has an advantage because it has so many anchor-type retailers, Finnigan agreed that they cannot survive on their own. As with a suburban mall, Downtown needs a mix of small and medium retailers among the anchors to make the whole area successful.
Plan C task force members say they are not limiting themselves to just local companies to fill the void, but some developers worry the group may not be willing to accept the demands of a national retailer.
Many chains only will commit to a place if other similar stores locate there, too. Making that much space likely requires some demolition and major renovation, two things preservationists have opposed.
“Things have really slid downhill in terms of retail,” said Eve Picker, president of No Wall Productions. “That core area from Market Square to Smithfield or Wood streets is really in poor shape. There are more vacancies and we’re relying on the local market to fill them.”
No Wall owns a “sliver” building at 945 Liberty Ave. with first-floor retail space, but Picker has not been able to attract any interest.
Birru echoed her concerns that while preservation groups want to keep the old buildings intact, that could mean sacrificing a thriving retail area.
“I’m not that confident because site acquisition is critical, and the mayor has said there will be no condemnation,” said Birru, who has remained out of the Plan C discussion.
On the positive side of the ledger, some Downtown retailers believe the area may have hit its lowest point — that the vacancies are an echo of larger economic problems throughout the country and will become filled as the nation rebounds.
The new convention center, set to start opening in phases this March, also should bring more people Downtown, Picker said. Like others, she also remains hopeful the Plan C group can provide some much-needed cohesion.
If this were a suburban mall, one main developer would have taken the initiative to not only attract anchors but to line up other retailers too. Someone — the task force members, the Downtown Partnership, the city — will have to fill that role, Finnigan said.
While the failure of the original plan caused delays, it was not necessarily a setback, he added. Unlike countless proposals before, it got people’s attention and generated commitment among Downtown interests.
“People do see the urgency of making something happen,” he said.
Maloney would be first among them.
The mayor’s plan outraged her so that she fought to not only kill that proposal, but committed herself and others to creating a better replacement. Ironically, her goal remains nearly identical to the mayor’s — finding some way to revitalize the retail corridor and prevent more storefronts from becoming empty.
“There are all sorts of opportunities out there,” she said. “We could be looking at a big hole in the middle of the city, on the one hand. Or, is this a real opportunity to do something really reflective of this region?”
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.
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Plan C presentation moved to Jan. 31
By The Tribune-Review
Friday, January 18, 2002A consultant will make his closing report to the Plan C Task Force during a two-day meeting beginning Jan. 31.
Don Hunter, an urban economist from Annapolis, Md., was originally expected to make the presentation Thursday. But task force spokesman Harry Finnigan said the planning committee asked Hunter to perform additional work on the report after receiving a $50,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments.
The task force was formed after Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy’s controversial, $522 million plan for redeveloping the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor Downtown imploded. Since then, the task force has been looking at ways to enhance the existing retail business district without completely leveling the neighborhood, as Murphy had proposed.
“We’re very much looking at a multiuse development,” Finnigan said. “We’re looking at five or six sites where we could build new development, including underground parking, as well as entire blocks in the area where we could take an incremental approach.”
Finnigan said that, in addition to retail and restaurant development, the task force is looking at office and housing components for the area.
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Revitalize city by building on its natural strengths
By Jack Markowitz
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, January 6, 2002Here are some old ideas for improving the business situation in downtown Pittsburgh, especially in the so-called Forbes-Fifth Corridor.
You read it right. Old ideas, not new ideas. Cheap ideas, too, mostly.A public-private committee is working at this moment on ways to reinvigorate the central business district of Pittsburgh, after several renaissances that haven’t quite cut it. Before January is over, we are told, a so-called “Plan C” ought to be in front of Mayor Tom Murphy and other decision makers. Plans A and B for one reason or another misfired. No disgrace that. Everybody is well advised to keep at it.
Well, here is a guess that Plan C will click if it includes:
Making several blocks of either Fifth Avenue or Forbes Avenue, at long last, into a pedestrian mall. That is, an open-air place for exclusive use by people on foot, in wheelchairs, and baby buggies, from wall to wall of the building lines, nothing but people. Vehicular traffic would be banned.
This is a very old idea and there have always been obstacles to its realization. Yet in a fair number of cities such a pedestrian-dedicated thoroughfare works very well. It creates a special sort of urban delight as well as being good for business.There is a temptation to expand on these virtues, but first some additional inputs to Plan C:
The beautification of downtown’s southern backdrop: that is, the high cliff wall of Mt. Washington and Duquesne Heights.
Here is an immense garden-in-waiting. It was at least 50 years ago that the late Gilbert Love, a columnist for The Pittsburgh Press, proposed planting it with thousands of shrubs and trees (even as the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy now does so nicely with more level bits of public real estate). Horticulturally the mountain wall would be timed to blossom at varying intervals March through October, creating a natural curtain of modulating colors to please the downtown eye. Along about November, true, the escarpment would revert to wintry drab. But only by day. Multi-hued lights, as at Niagara Falls, might play over the craggy face at night. Think of the statement that a wall of shimmering reds, whites, and blues might be making right now, for instance.Mt. Washington could be exploited even more, as a kind of “vertical park.” A steep pathway, lighted by night, with park benches along the route, would be a challenge to hikers from bottom to top. Lunchtime joggers downtown, already a hardy breed, could cross a bridge, “do” Mt. Washington and get back before the first afternoon appointment. Where else in America?
By all means, when it’s time to paint them again, let’s have a different color for every bridge in the city. We’d feature a rainbow of river crossings, as proposed some time back by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. And why not illuminate all those bridges, too, a favorite idea of the late Pittsburgh stalwart Walter F. Toerge? Strings of light bulbs playing on vari-colored arches and trusses above and reflected in the rivers below. Talk about pretty.
Tax incentives ought to reward the voluntary painting, cleaning or repair of downtown building facades. Architectural beauty is a king of public benefit. And it would spur more residential living downtown, already a well-advanced goal.
Possibly no big city mayor has more correctly emphasized cleaning up the litter problem than Tom Murphy. Whatever it takes – more trash cans, more volunteers, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, civic, school and religious groups – this is doable and affordable. Why not “the cleanest city in the country?” It’s an honor up for grabs.
But back to the idea of making a pedestrian mall of Fifth or Forbes:The two long blocks between Smithfield Street and Market Street appear the most rundown and vacancy-ridden. Yet they are blessed with the most preservable low-rise buildings. Get the cars, trucks and buses off those blocks (but let them run as now on the Smithfield, Wood, and Market cross-carriers). Let people walk freely, and that’s where they will go.
There is something liberating and cheerful about a busy street without cars. Restaurants likely will put tables out; specialty shops and kiosks will open. This happens along Church Street, which used to carry most north-south vehicular traffic through downtown Burlington, Vt. It happens along charming Washington Street, in Cape May, N.J.; and in any number of European cities, even in a neighborhood of West Los Angeles.
Why hasn’t the idea taken hold here? Political inertia and perceived business risk (“if cars are kept out, will the people come?”). Also, the costs, inconvenience, and transplanted congestion of rerouting public transportation, and the scheduling of truck deliveries in the wee hours of mornings. All these are natural enough concerns.
But the Forbes-Fifth corridor never seemed like such a sore point before. Now it does.
So take it away, Planners C.
Retired business editor Jack Markowitz writes Sundays and Wednesdays. E-mail him at jmarkowitz@tribweb.com.
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Progress Report on 5th & Forbes: Process On Track and On Schedule
December 13, 2001:
PITTSBURGH, PADon Hunter of Hunter Interests Inc. gave a progress report to the Plan C Task Force at its meeting this morning, outlining his firm’s work to date and his thoughts on how best to proceed with the revitalization of the Fifth and Forbes area. Members of the group indicated agreement with the overall approach suggested. The Task Force is pleased to report that its work with Hunter is right on schedule and it is anticipated that a clear development strategy for the area will be completed by the target date of January 31st, 2002.
Hunter’s suggestions on how to proceed reflect the Task Force’s principles that revitalization should combine new construction via “catalyst” type development together with the re-use of historic buildings, “incremental” smaller scale development and participation by existing property owners. His work also recognizes potential for residential development as well as the need to incorporate unique businesses and to provide for additional (low cost or free) parking. With eminent domain “off the table” Hunter is developing innovative approaches to tenancy, merchandising, financing and redevelopment.
Hunter’s team of 4 consultants, 2 economists and 4 technical/administrative staff have reviewed all past retail and development plans for the Fifth and Forbes corridor and conducted more than 65 interviews with local property owners, retailers, and developers. They have completed about 85% of their market analysis of the region, and about 75% of their work at “testing” their conclusions with potential developers and partners.
The Task Force recognizes that the need to build upon Downtown’s strong retail presence is essential, that there will be a need for some form of subsidy, and that a “do nothing” approach is unacceptable. Working with Hunter Interests Inc., the Plan C Task Force looks forward to presenting a development strategy for potential partners and public consideration in early 2002.
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Competition draws out ideas for public spaces
Tuesday, October 09, 2001
By Patricia Lowry, Post-Gazette Architecture Critic
Little by little, piece by piece, the sides of Lawrenceville’s Doughboy Square have fallen away.
The demolition of historic but deteriorated commercial buildings in recent years has left the square — really a triangle — looking and feeling like little more than the tired and uneventful coming together of Butler Street and Penn Avenue, the neighborhood’s two main thoroughfares.
The 1902 beaux arts former Pennsylvania National Bank building within the crotch of the Y — capably restored in the early 1990s by its owner/occupant, the architectural firm Charles L. Desmone and Associates — and the Doughboy himself give the square character and a sense of place, but they cannot handle the whole job by themselves. Urban public spaces are defined by their perimeter walls, and big chunks of Doughboy Square’s walls have gone missing.
Architects Christine Brill and Jonathan Kline, who live just up the street, would like to change that.
“We want it to be a place of celebration,” said Brill, who with Kline entered Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation’s recent competition for the design of public spaces and squares, open to architects, landscape architects, planners and artists under the age of 35. They were invited to come up with ideas for making eight historic public spaces in the city more attractive and more usable.
The eight spaces ranged from large public plazas, such as Market Square, Downtown, and the sunken plaza at Allegheny Center on the North Side, to tiny Lyndhurst Green in Point Breeze and the area formed by the convergence of three streets in Troy Hill.
Although 24 individuals or teams initially expressed interest, in the end PHLF received only seven entries — a disappointingly tiny fraction of the young designers working here. The seven ideas, detailed in models and presentations boards, are on view through Oct. 21 at the Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way, Manchester.
The Brill/Kline entry for Doughboy Square, which didn’t win a prize, nevertheless was the most ambitious, professional, detailed and carefully thought out scheme. It is, as they put it, “an attempt to set the stage for Doughboy Square to be filled with life again.”
Two years ago, the 20-something architects bought a house on Penn Avenue, a little more than two blocks up from the square. Brill passes through the square every morning on her walk Downtown, where she works at Pfaffmann + Associates.
“Aside from the bank building, it’s the least memorable space in the walk,” Brill said. “There’s so much potential that’s unrealized.”
The Brill/Kline plan calls for wider, brick sidewalks around the Doughboy and elsewhere along the square, which would accommodate new trees and seating for outdoor cafes.
For infill buildings, Kline and Brill wrote urban design guidelines regulating height, massing, use and parking in a manner consistent with the existing neighborhood. But the guidelines don’t dictate style, inviting a variety of architectural expression.
The plan also shifts the focus of the square to the west, creating new public space and a new monument, at the corner of Penn Avenue and 34th Street, which serves as a terminus to Butler Street. Part observation tower and part Victorian folly, the 60-foot steel-and-copper monument celebrates Lawrenceville’s industrial heritage, with winding interior stairs providing close-up views of a collage of salvaged architectural fragments. Kline and Brill see it not as dwarfing and dominating the Doughboy but as having a dialogue with it.
Relocated traffic lights ensure that vehicles stop before they enter the square, to create a safer pedestrian zone and to signify arrival.
But Kline and Brill, who are among the co-founders of the activist group Ground Zero, didn’t stop there. They see the square’s redevelopment as a catalyst for broader neighborhood revitalization, with streetscape improvements on 33rd and 35th streets, a new street connecting 33rd and 35th streets and a new riverfront park. They also would transform the railroad trestle above 33rd Street into a gateway, with a linear light sculpture leading to the river.
There are, to be sure, other worthy entries, including that of the $5,000 first-place winner, architect Nathan Hart of Oakland, who rightly recognized that Oakland Square needs only to be tweaked, not overhauled. Hart believes improvements there would encourage home-ownership on the square and keep it from suffering the absentee-landlord fate of other parts of Oakland.
The square — a tree-filled rectangle surrounded by middle-class houses off Dawson Street — gets a modest tree-thinning, new curbs and new planting beds, but is otherwise unchanged. Enhancements include an arbor gateway leading to a terraced garden at the east end of the square, stepping down the hillside into Panther Hollow.
Hart proposes an assisted living facility and child-care center for the west end of the square, as well as solutions for pedestrian and vehicular issues. And Hart, too, extends his reach beyond the square, suggesting locations for a community deli, elementary school and supermarket, in the hope of attracting more families to his neighborhood.
The $2,000, second-place award went to Nick Tobier and Rebekah Modra, who came up with the competition’s most poetic and fanciful, if not the most practical, solution — a balloon launch area for Troy Hill’s main intersection.
The $1,000, third-place prize was presented to a team comprising artist Carin Mincemoyer and four staff members of the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum — Thad Bobula, Keny Marshall, Laura Shaffalo and Chris Seifert — for turning Allegheny Center’s plaza into a naturalistic pond.
In the spring, PHLF will launch another public space competition for young designers, one that will allow them to generate ideas for “orphaned public spaces.”
“They’re the leftover spaces, perhaps full of weeds or trash, where there’s been a building or a highway put in, and nobody wanted this space,” said Barry Hannegan, PHLF’s director of historic design programs. “They’re negative elements that do nothing to improve the image of the city, where an intelligent design intervention would immeasurably enhance the city’s appearance.”
There’s a $10,000 purse that will be awarded any way the jury sees fit, so it’s possible a single entry could claim the entire prize — a strong incentive that should encourage more designers to take the challenge.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette