Category Archive: Easements
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Operation Safety Net to House Homeless on S. Side
Tuesday, July 13, 2010By Meredith Skrzypczak, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteMoving from riverbanks and alleyways into apartments with bedrooms and bathrooms will become a reality for 16 homeless individuals currently living on the streets of Allegheny County.
The move will be made possible by a federal grant awarded to a local agency last week for construction of housing on the South Side.
Operation Safety Net, which provides services such as medical treatment for the homeless, received $1.69 million for the construction of Trail Lane Apartments on Ninth Street on the South Side.
Operation Safety Net is sponsored by Pittsburgh Mercy Health System. The money is part of $14 million in funding across Pennsylvania announced last week by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. A total of $3.3 million was given to agencies in Allegheny County to address homelessness in the area.
The apartment program will help the chronic homeless population, said Linda Sheets, program director for Operation Safety Net. These are individuals who have been living on the streets for at least one year and have some mental illness, she said.
They are often the most difficult to reach and house, but Ms. Sheets said she is expecting full occupancy in the apartments by summer of 2011. Case managers and social workers for the agency already have high-risk individuals in mind who would be good candidates for the housing.
Ms. Sheets said she is most excited about “giving each one of these individuals a chance to have a place of their own.”
Housing will be offered to the 16 individuals for as long as they choose to stay. Staff will help them look for employment and apply for disability income. Once they get a job or are approved for disability, they will be asked to pay 30 percent of their income to cover program fees, which results in a type of rent payment.
A sort of “haven” for the homeless, the apartments will be located on the third floor of a new building, with administrative and training offices on the second floor and a primary care physician and dentist office on the first.
The services provided will not be mandatory, nor are the homeless required to stay, but Ms. Sheets said she hopes the residents will take advantage of the services such as mental health care.
“When a street homeless person leaves the streets and enters into a housing unit we’re very pleased,” she said. “However, when they also want to receive the additional treatment, that keeps them from returning to the streets.”
Over a two-year period, the total cost for the apartments and associated staffing costs will be just over $2 million. Construction could begin as soon as this summer, said Mike Lindsay, housing program administrator for the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. Mercy applied for the grant in mid-2009, he said.
Ninth Street already is home to Mercy Behavioral Health facilities with a pharmacy, shopping and grocery stores nearby. The location is ideal for the 16 future apartment residents looking to become more integrated into the community, Ms. Sheets said.
Some residents in the neighborhood said the inclusion of the apartments for the homeless would be an “over-saturation,” given the existing facilities in the area.
Nancy Wells, 62, a South Side resident, said she agrees with the cause but would not support a homeless population moving onto her street.
“I feel this area is already contributing to helping people in the community,” she said.
A nearby bridge has anywhere from five to 20 people living underneath on a given day, said Ziad Khalil, owner of Zeeno’s, located just minutes from where the apartments would be built. Mr. Khalil would support any program that might lower that number even if it means homeless individuals moving into his area. He said it could bring “positive change.”
Earlier in the year, Jane Miller, director of community and government relations for Mercy Behavioral Health, conducted community meetings to gauge residents’ reactions.
“Nobody came,” she said.
Since then, there has been no opposition, Ms. Miller said, and soon-to-be neighbors of the homeless shouldn’t be worried.
“We share the world with people with mental illness,” she said. “People who are coming here are being treated.”
Dr. Jim Withers, medical director and founder of Operation Safety Net, said this is just the start of support for the homeless.
“You can get people from the streets into housing, but that’s just the beginning of the story.”
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Fundraiser Puts Lawrenceville Empty Pool to Use
By Craig Smith
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 11, 2010Retired Pittsburgh police officer Marty Joyce heard loud music in his Lawrenceville neighborhood Saturday afternoon and went to investigate.
The Leslie Park Pool, now empty of water, was filled with Zumba dancers who were helping to heighten awareness of a campaign to find alternative uses for the pool and to raise funds for gulf oil spill restoration efforts.
“There used to be lots of kids here. It was always jumping,” Joyce said of the pool where he used to take his son.
Modeled after an effort at the McCarren Park Pool in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that was closed two decades ago and reopened as a concert venue, the Lawrenceville event was part of the inaugural series being staged by the Leslie Park Pool Collective, a community group working to reuse the decommissioned pool as a multi-use event and performance space.
Proceeds from the event, called the “Spillapalooza,” benefit the Gulf Restoration Network. Organizers said they hadn’t set a dollar goal but expected to be able to send some donations to the Gulf Coast group.
The Leslie Park Pool was closed in 2003, when Pittsburgh decommissioned 16 city pools. Some are being reused, but the Leslie Park Pool has sat vacant. Estimates for needed repairs were more than $1 million.
Neighborhood residents working as the Leslie Park Pool Initiative launched an effort to “reimagine” and redevelop the pool. Last year, they held an Accordion Pool Party that attracted about 600 people and included a clean-up that pulled almost half a ton of garbage from the property.
The Spillapalooza enabled Beth Renshaw to take her second Zumba class of the day. Zumba is a fitness program inspired by Latin dance. “It’s a fabulous cause, and I love Zumba. Why wouldn’t I be here?” said Renshaw of Shadyside, who left the event to play volleyball.
There will be more fundraising for the Gulf Coast and more events to help rethink use of the empty pool, organizers said.
“This is not a one and done thing,” said Shane Freeman, who organized the grassroots group that staged yesterday’s event. It came together in a month and a half, he said.
Next up at the pool is a surf music concert on July 24.
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Historic Old Stone Tavern in Pittsburgh’s West End Awaits New Life
By Tony LaRussa
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Old Stone Tavern is believed to have served as a tollhouse and frontier trading post. It likely played a role in the Whiskey Rebellion, the late 18th-century uprising against a federal excise tax on liquor. Joe Appel | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
It’s hard to see the building at the crossroads of Greentree Road and Woodville Avenue in the West End as anything but just another of the city’s many aged, vacant properties waiting for its date with a wrecking ball.
But some people are looking beyond the broken windows, peeling siding and thick ivy snaking up the sides. They see a gem.
Late last year, city officials ensured that whatever the future holds for the centuries-old building known as the Old Stone Tavern, its designation as a historic structure will prevent it from being torn down. The Historic Review Commission must give permission before an owner can alter its exterior.
Research done during the historic designation nominating process points to the likelihood that the tavern is the region’s second-oldest building, behind the Fort Pitt Blockhouse built in 1764 in what is now Point State Park.
This is the bar area of the Old Stone Tavern in the West End, which was designated a historic structure last year, protecting it from destruction. Joe Appel | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“It’s almost certainly the oldest commercial structure in the region,” said Michael Shealey, an architect who conducted much of the research.
The Old Stone Tavern is located at a bend in what was the historic Washington and Pittsburgh Turnpike, a toll road connecting Pittsburgh to Washington County and National Road. It is believed to have served as a tollhouse and frontier trading post and likely played a role in the Whiskey Rebellion, the late 18th-century uprising against a federal excise tax on liquor.
Despite the 1752 date chiseled into a cornerstone, evidence points to the structure’s construction in the early 1780s, Shealey said.
“We always knew it was very old, but never imagined it dated back as far as it apparently does,” said Norene Beatty, who testified at a public hearing in support of the historic designation. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see it restored and used as a rustic tavern like you would find in Colonial Williamsburg?”
An apparently original fireplace has been uncovered at the Old Stone Tavern at the crossroads of Greentree Road and Woodville Avenue in the West End. The structure is believed to be the second oldest in the City of Pittsburgh. Joe Appel | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Yet even though historic designation protects the building, it does not require someone to restore it.
Historic buildings can qualify for state and federal grants and tax credits, but the best hope for restoration lies in identifying a commercial use for the property, said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which supported the nomination.
“Protecting the building was an important first step,” said Ziegler.
Diana Poliziani of Crafton Heights, whose family has owned businesses in the West End for 50 years, hopes the building is “put to good use.”
“I think the business district is going to explode in the next couple of years, and a historic building like that should be part of what happens,” she said.
John DiSantis, a former Historic Review Commission member who nominated the building for historic designation, said its preservation is important to the fabric of the community.
“When you’re talking about something this old, it really doesn’t matter how long it takes before something is done with it,” he said. “The key to me is that what exists now has been preserved.”
Lee Harris bought the old tavern last year, intending to tear it down to expand the adjacent masonry business started by his father.
“I knew it was one of the oldest buildings in the neighborhood, but I didn’t really know it had such historic significance,” he said.
Harris said that although people who pushed for the historic designation “were well-meaning,” it made doing business during a sour economy that much more difficult.
“I bought the place because I needed more space,” he said. “Now that I can’t tear it down, it’s really not much use to me.”
Harris didn’t fight the historic designation, took steps to keep the building from deteriorating further, and provided access to those interested in studying the structure. He estimates it would cost $250,000 to $500,000 to restore the tavern’s exterior and refurbish its interior, depending on the scope of the work.
He said he would consider selling the tavern and surrounding property, including the buildings he uses for his business, for a fair price and the cost of relocating if someone presented a development proposal.
Coming up with possible uses for the Old Stone Tavern is part of a master plan being developed with a $150,000 state grant extended to the nonprofit West End Partnership for Development.
“We’d love to see that area developed, so we can tie both sides of the West End together,” said Lou Bucci, the organization’s chairman. “Unfortunately, our organization doesn’t have the kind of money needed to take on a project like that. We’re hoping that as things improve economically, one of the foundations or a private developer will show some interest. We’d certainly do what we can to support them.”
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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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Ambridge Redevelopment Receives $5 Million
Thursday, July 08, 2010By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteDuring his first term, Gov. Ed Rendell visited Ambridge and pledged to support an ambitious redevelopment project in the town’s northern end.
With his second term winding to an end, the governor included $5 million toward the redevelopment in a $600 million list of capital projects he signed Wednesday at Connelley Technical School in Downtown Pittsburgh.
“He’s holding true to his word,” state Rep. Rob Matzie, D-Ambridge, said Wednesday. “This last appropriation in his term should help put the project over the hump.”
The $5 million requires a one-to-one match in local funds, Mr. Matzie said. “It’s not free money,” he said.
The Northern Ambridge Redevelopment Project is a public-private partnership inspired by Australian tycoon Rob Moltoni.
It already has established the New Economy Business Park, is in the process of straightening Merchant Street, has provided a new home for the Beaver County Emergency Services Center and is still clearing old industrial land for additional uses.
The project has received about $4 million in state funding over the years.
Overall, the project is a showpiece for the potential of public-private partnership, he said.
Without public help, it would have been impossible to clear the old industrial buildings from the project’s 22-square-block footprint; with it, the project is providing usable space in the heart of town adjacent to the historic district around Old Economy Village.
“It’s very important for the naysayers, the people who say government shouldn’t be involved,” Mr. Matzie said. “This shows that cleanup can occur, and you can revive your town.”
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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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Run-Down to Rental, a House At a Time – Sheraden Woman Believes in Saving Her Own Streets
Wednesday, June 30, 2010By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Kelly Carter and Ben Smith work in the kitchen of their latest home remodeling project on Francisco Street in Sheraden. The couple have renovated five homes in eight years in their neighborhood and now rent the properties.
Kelly Carter had no idea what she was getting into. She just knew that the apartment building beside her childhood home was in disrepair and that a slumlord had his eye on it.When it came up for sale in 2001, she grabbed it. She was 29.
“I paid $30,000 and put $30,000 into it,” she said. “The person I bought it from told me I would never get quality renters.”
Today, she and her partner, Ben Smith, are renovating the fifth house Ms. Carter has bought on Canopolis and Francisco, two parallel streets in Sheraden. She has filled four with tenants she said she has either recruited or found online.
Sheraden has taken its lumps in recent years. Besides the nine arson fires that bedeviled Merwyn Avenue last summer, the neighborhood has watched itself lose more and more control of properties that fall into the hands of individuals who rent carelessly or speculating corporations that buy properties and sit on them.
“What we want is for houses that look haunted to be houses you’d be proud to live beside,” Ms. Carter said. “You have to recruit good tenants.”
Ms. Carter’s philosophy is that, block by block, street by street, neighbors can hold onto or enhance the livability of the entire neighborhood.
“If 50 people each did one [house per neighborhood], it would have a huge impact,” she said.
Buying and renovating houses has become her full-time job. She was the owner of Milk Records, a business she opened in 1999 and operated first Downtown and then in the Strip. She now runs the business online and spends most of her days refinishing floors, cleaning walls and talking to electrical contractors.
“Some people have given her a hard time, like, ‘why bother, etc. etc,’ ” said her neighbor, Janine Berard. “But she’s a wonderful person with such a great cause, especially for someone in her age bracket to have an interest in preserving a neighborhood.”
“There are naysayers,” said neighbor John Roell, “but there are naysayers everywhere. Kelly is an asset to the neighborhood.”
Ms. Carter said that Sheraden doesn’t have the commercial or entertainment draws like some of the other city neighborhoods, so they have to promote the community on its housing stock.
“And it’s great housing stock,” she added.
“Neighborhoods like ours are diamonds in rough,” said Ms. Berard. “They just need a little elbow grease and TLC. Who wouldn’t want to have that over houses that are boarded up? On our block, there is one vacant house and it has been vandalized twice. The only vacant house on our block has turned into exactly what we feared it would.”
Ms. Berard said that one family got six letters from companies looking to buy their property after the occupant died.
“Many properties in our neighborhood are owned by holding companies that owe back taxes two, three, four years.”
Neighbor Shirley Johnson has lived for 16 years in the house beside Ms. Carter’s childhood home and has teamed up with her on several projects, including writing a successful proposal to get a Sprout Fund mural in Sheraden.
“Somebody had approached me concerned about property values going down,” said Ms. Johnson, “and one day Kelly and I had a conversation in my driveway. I said, ‘That’s me and you and this third person, so maybe we can get more people involved.’ We started a group that didn’t really have a name.
“At a meeting when we were generating ideas, she said, ‘Maybe I can help people do what I’m doing.’
“She’s finding people who are able to pay the rent and do their part in our little community,” said Ms. Johnson. “There’s no trouble on the street.”
Ms. Carter said that is her intention, to begin “training people who want to do this on their block.”
With her first homes, she said, “I was saving and scrimping along as I could. This fifth one is the first one that’s backed by a bank.”
The house she grew up in she rented to an attorney who she said has decided he wants to buy it. The house next door that was in disrepair — and had a big hole in the roof — has two tenants, including Ms. Carter’s mother.
“The one I am doing now I got it for $15,000, but I joke that what I paid for was the stained glass windows and the garage,” said Ms. Carter. “It needed a new roof and new everything.
“This will be a rental. It’s been easier to find good renters than owners at this point, but I can sell properties as the neighborhood improves.”
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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.