Category Archive: Historic Properties
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Schenley High School shuttering on the table again
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 2, 2007Despite the asbestos in the nearly century-old Schenley High School, real estate officials see a market for it as a place to live or work.
“It’s prominent. It’s handsome, and it’s close to institutions that have a lot of demand. It has market attributes that a lot of other schools don’t have,” said David Matter, president of the Downtown-based Oxford Development Co.
Matter made his comment Thursday, a day after city schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt proposed for the second time in two years that the school be closed.
Roosevelt cited the $64.3 million cost of removing the asbestos and making mechanical improvements as reasons for closing the school in June. Public hearings will be conducted Nov. 13 and 27, and the school board is scheduled to vote on the proposal in February.
Matter said he talked with Roosevelt a few weeks ago about the marketability of Schenley. Perhaps the school’s greatest asset is its location in Oakland near the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and nearby universities.
“There are institutions that are likely to develop demand for the most appropriate use, which I think is multifamily housing,” Matter said.
Pitt spokesman John Fedele declined to comment on the university’s possible interest in buying the 91-year-old building.
Jason Stewart, vice president of Grubb & Ellis, a Downtown-based commercial real estate services firm, said the building is suitable for condos and offices. Like Matter, he likes Schenley’s location.
“On the surface, the Oakland area is ground zero for our region’s growth,” Stewart said.
Jasmine Davis, 15, of the North Side is a cheerleader and a junior at Schenley. When she learned yesterday morning of the proposed closing, she was heartbroken.
“I don’t want it to close,” Davis said. “I want to graduate from Schenley.”
Supporters of Schenley say they will battle attempts to put it on the market.
“We’re fighting it, but we’re trying to work with the school district,” said Jet Lafean, 56, of Schenley Farms, a member of Save Schenley, a group that opposed the earlier attempt to shut down the school.
He said the group wants to tour the building and review the district’s report on how much the renovation would cost.
“We think the figure’s about half that from what we heard a year ago,” Lafean said.
Roosevelt, however, stands by the estimate.
“You can do a less-expensive remediation that could come around $50 million,” he said. “But we believe to save the building and do it right, the best estimate is $64 million.
Stewart considers Schenley’s historic status — it’s listed on the National Registry of Historic Places — as an asset, too. He cited the conversion of the Heinz factory on the North Shore into Heinz Lofts and the ongoing renovation of the former Nabisco Bakery in East Liberty into Bakery Square, an office and retail development.
Matter said a buyer could take advantage of tax credits available for renovating historic buildings.
Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation at Station Square, said any buyer must have the plans approved by the state historic preservation officer.
Given the district’s estimate for fixing the building, Ziegler said he was not surprised the administration wants to sell it.
“But it certainly is a hallmark school building that many people know and respect,” he said. “So we want to see the building retained, if not by the school board, by a serious developer.”
Neither the real estate officials nor Roosevelt would estimate what the building could fetch on the market.
“I think there will be a purchaser for Schenley,” Roosevelt said. “I think it will be a very modest price.”
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.
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Hearing Before the Council of the City of Pittsburgh on the Bakery Square Tax Increment Financing Plan – Nabisco Property
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
ANNE E. NELSON, ESQ.
DIRECTOR OF LEGAL AFFAIRS
PITTSBURGH HISTORY & LANDMARKS FOUNDATION
BEFORE THE PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE BAKERY SQUARE TAX INCREMENT FINANCING PLAN – NABISCO PROPERTY
OCTOBER 23, 2007
On behalf of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (“Landmarks”) and our president, Arthur Ziegler, I thank you, members of the Council, for the opportunity to discuss the Bakery Square Tax Increment Financing Plan.
From a historic preservation standpoint, Landmarks appreciated the opportunity to meet with the project developers from the onset and to work with them to put together a preservation plan for the buildings that, at the same time, respected the developer’s functional needs. Landmarks is very pleased that the developer has followed through consistently with the preservation plan and is considering the donation of a historic preservation easement on the buildings.
The Bakery Square development not only serves historic preservation interests, but will provide a major capital infusion at a strategic city block that will affect the surrounding neighborhoods of East Liberty, Point Breeze, and Homewood.
Therefore, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation supports the Bakery Square Tax Increment Financing Plan.
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National Negro Opera House Nominated for City Historic Structure
On Monday, October 22, 2007, the Historic Preservation Commission received a nomination for 7101 Apple Street – National Negro Opera House to be a City Designated Historic Structure.
Nomination affords the property protection against demolition, and mandates that all exterior changes to the building be reviewed by the HRC.
These protections are temporary until/if the HRC, Planning Commission, and City Council vote to approve the nomination.
The Historic Review Commission will make a preliminary review of this nomination at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 7, 2007.
This hearing will be held after 12:30 PM in the Commission Hearing Room on the first floor of the John P. Robin Civic Building at 200 Ross Street, Downtown.
At that time, the Commission will make a preliminary determination about whether there is reasonable cause to believe that the nominated property will meet the criteria for designation listed in the preservation ordinance.
All members of the public are invited to attend.
Please feel free to call Katherine Molnar, Historic Preservation Planner, at 412-255-2243 or email Katherine.molnar@city.pittsburgh.pa.us if you have any questions.
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Vandergrift makes a comeback
By Kate Luce Angell
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteLike many once-thriving Pennsylvania steel towns, Vandergrift, about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh on the Kiskiminetas River, is pretty quiet nowadays.
Last Saturday, it was the occasional car that passed through the business district, where several storefronts sat vacant. Under the shade of the century-old plane trees, the broad porches of the Victorian houses were empty.
But there were signs of life. A group at the Presbyterian Church was preparing a spaghetti dinner. The Vandergrift Historical Society was open to visitors.
And nearly 50 people were walking the streets for the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation’s tour of the town once known as “the workingman’s paradise” that is now struggling to preserve a rich heritage and make a fresh start.
Built in 1895 as the new home of the Apollo Iron and Steel Co., Vandergrift once had a population of 10,000 and the largest rolled steel mill in the world, employing more than 5,000 workers. Today the mill, now owned by Allegheny Ludlum, employs 265, and the town’s population is around 5,000.
But while Vandergrift’s economic woes are common, the town, as the foundation’s tour revealed, is anything but.
George McMurtry, the owner of Apollo Iron and Steel, founded Vandergrift in the belief that workers would be more productive living in pleasant surroundings, with modern conveniences. He hired the firm of Frederick Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park, to plan a worker-owned industrial community that would be “the best of the best,” in Mr. McMurtry’s words.
Mr. Olmsted’s firm produced a town that even today preserves a parklike atmosphere. With no corners, wide boulevards lined with trees curve into a business district accented by rounded brick facades.
For his part, Mr. McMurtry sold lots only to businesses and his own workers and offered free land, matching construction funds and a free organ to churches. He also donated land and funds for the Casino Theater, schools, the library and many other public projects.
Like other industrialists of his age, Mr. McMurtry’s philanthropic impulses went along with a strong profit motive: His lots for homes were expensive, and he owned the bank that offered the mortgages. One of the reasons he founded Vandergrift was to keep his mill nonunion, and he succeeded until the 1930s.
But Vandergrift became famous as a town where workers and their families could live the American dream, and the streets, lined with yellow brick, must have seemed paved with gold to some of the thousands of immigrant families who made their homes in the growing community.
As Vandergrift historian and tour leader Ken Blose pointed out, much of that brick now lies buried under crumbling asphalt. But a partnership of nonprofit groups is trying, with the help of local residents and business owners, to make Vandergrift golden again.
The Vandergrift Improvement Program, located in a small storefront on downtown Grant Street, is the local level of the national Main Street program, which works to revitalize traditional business districts by organizing local efforts, promotion of local businesses and attractions and economic restructuring.
Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation serves as VIP’s area coordinator. The program’s board includes local business owners and Vandergrift’s mayor, Lou Purificato.
Shaun Yurcaba, the local Main Street coordinator, said that even though VIP organized in January 2004, the groundwork laid by the program is just beginning to pay off.
“It takes a while to get started,” she explained. “We’ve been gathering information, coordinating volunteers and groups. We’re just beginning to work on business recruitment and retention.”
Already, VIP has sponsored events to help local businesses compete with “big box” stores and helped to secure funding for the refurbishment of the business district’s store facades, as well as holding community events like a recent Arts Festival.
In February, 200 Westmoreland County students will present their design ideas for turning Vandergrift’s abandoned J.C. Penney building into a new community arts center as part of the PHLF’s annual architectural design challenge. “Revitalization is a marathon,” said Mrs. Yurcaba, “not a race.”
As Mr. Blose pointed out, even before VIP, Vandergrift had residents concerned with preserving its past for a better future. “In the ’80s, they were about ready to tear the Casino Theater down. The roof was leaking, plaster falling off the walls. The Historical Society fought to save it.”
Today the Casino Theater is the oldest operating theater in southwestern Pennsylvania, and the refurbished three-story building, adorned with Greek-style columns, again hosts music and theater performances. It was recently designated the National Museum of Vaudeville in recognition of the venue’s importance during the heyday of vaudeville performance.
As Mr. Blose prepared to lead the Foundation tour group across Columbia Avenue, a group of young girls gathered on a nearby porch, curious about the crowd. “We’re on a tour,” he called out, inviting them to join in and “learn something about the town you live in.”
When the tour group moved on, PHLF executive director Louise Sturgess looked back at the girls and observed that helping a community recognize its own value was a big part of both the Foundation’s and VIP’s mission. “If they realize how special their town is, they’ll fight harder to save it.”
First published on October 18, 2007 at 6:27 am
Kate Luce Angell is a freelance writer. -
Pittsburgh development CEO debuts
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 17, 2007On Monday, Howard B. Slaughter Jr. officially started his job as CEO of Landmarks Community Capital Inc., a new nonprofit corporation formed by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Slaughter didn’t wait to begin his quest to raise the $10 million to $15 million he hopes to secure for the new corporation to invest in community development and revitalization projects in Western Pennsylvania and in the neighboring states of West Virginia and Ohio.
“We’ve already been talking to some companies that have social investment programs,” said Slaughter, whose appointment was announced last month. “We also are going to be talking to some local foundations to discuss our new company and the opportunities we see.”
Slaughter, 49, can draw on his considerable credentials in urban housing and home financing as he pitches funders on behalf of the new corporation.
In essence, he is back home at Pittsburgh History & Landmarks, where he headed neighborhood programs as director of preservation services from 1995 to 1999.
That was before he left to serve an eight-year stint as director of Fannie Mae’s Pittsburgh Community Business Center, which has been a major source of home financing in this region.
Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest home funding company, decided to close the center along with similar offices in more than 40 cities, citing realignment of goals and the need to cut costs. Pittsburgh’s center helped 24,000 families in the region become homeowners at projects that include Summerset at Frick Park, and Bedford Hope VI and the Oak Hill housing complex, both in the Hill District.
Slaughter previously served as vice president of Dollar Bank’s Community Development group.
“Howard brings the vision and the working knowledge for the new nonprofit corporation,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and president of Landmarks Community Capital.
“We think he is just the person to expand the assistance we hope to render to Western Pennsylvania in revitalizing historic rural areas, towns and urban areas, particularly in Pittsburgh,” Ziegler said.
Efforts might include helping the Hill District community fulfill a long-standing need to bring a grocery store to the neighborhood, said Slaughter.
Hill District community leaders want a commitment for a new supermarket to be part of a “community benefits agreement” with the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for their support for the hockey team’s new $290 million arena. Slaughter said he’s with Penguins President David Morehouse to discuss how the corporation’s participation may help make that happen.
Improving neighborhood housing also is a target as is helping preserve some of the historic farms in the region that the South Side-based Landmarks Foundation has identified as worth saving in a recent survey.
“In the first year, we would like to provide funding for at least four of five different projects ranging from $25,000 to $1 million,” Slaughter said. “We have a wide range of funding options because the multiplicity of opportunities for investment are wide.”
The first investments could come by the first quarter of 2008, he said.
The idea of the new corporation is to raise funds through grants, loans and investments. Roles it can play include as developer, co-developer, or a lender to community development corporations and others that undertake such work.
Slaughter uses the accounting term “FIFO” in describing the corporation’s investment strategy. The idea is to be “first in” with its funds to help jump-start projects in early stages, and then be “first out” with those funds when more permanent financing is secured from others to carry development forward.
“We certainly want to focus on urban areas in the Pittsburgh and Allegheny County region,” said Slaughter.
Another target area is likely to be Wilkinsburg, where Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has worked with two $500,000 grants secured from the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development to acquire and restore four century-old structures for new housing.
“We also would like to do some work on the North Side and where we have several county Main Street programs. We have pilot areas in Tarentum, Swissvale, Elizabeth Township and Stowe,” he said.
Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato is “very excited” about the new corporation and its potential, said spokesman Kevin Evanto.
Slaughter and Ziegler met with Onorato several weeks ago to outline their plans.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907
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Anniversary brings special focus to Rodef Shalom building
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRodef Shalom Congregation will mark the 100th anniversary of its building and the 150th birthday of the congregation with an afternoon of lectures and discussions open to the community.
At the free event, titled “Historical Symposium: Honoring Our Builders and Building,” Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna will give the keynote address: “The Place of Rodef Shalom in the History of American Judaism.” Two panel discussions will follow. The first, on Rodef Shalom’s building designed by Henry Hornbostel, features Eliza Smith Brown, author of “Pittsburgh Legends and Visions: An Illustrated History”; Charles Rosenblum, assistant professor of architecture, Carnegie Mellon University; and Albert M. Tannler, Historical Collections Director of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. The second panel will discuss the congregation’s builders and early members who made significant contributions to the development of Rodef Shalom and the Pittsburgh community.
The event will be at 1 p.m. Nov. 4 at Rodef Shalom, corner of Fifth and Morewood avenues, Oakland.
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Region’s historic districts draw homeowners with passion for preservation
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 11, 2007For some Western Pennsylvania residents, nothing glitters like old.
Many homeowners choose to live in residential districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That designation, granted by the National Park Service, covers 213 sites in Allegheny County cited for the significance of their history, cultural contributions or architecture — everything from dams and tunnels to churches and breweries — even the old county jail.
But some history buffs seeking more comfort than a pew or a cell opt for the nine historic districts in suburban Allegheny County or the 19 in Pittsburgh. Highland Park joined the list last month, and preservation officials in Mt. Lebanon are encouraging its residents to apply for that status, too.
Beaver County boasts five national historic districts; Butler County, three; Washington County, 12; and Westmoreland County, 14.
“The designation has helped stabilize the district,” said Louise Sturgess, executive director of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “It’s helped show that preservation is a priority of people who come into the district, and they use the architectural significance of the houses to market the community and to create public events that really generate excitement about that area.”
Homeowners in the district can do what they want to their property. The designation, though, prevents federal or state funds from being used to harm the area without first going through an extensive review process. Tax credits for rehabilitating income-producing property are available.
Sandi and Ralph Anderson live in Evergreen Hamlet in Ross, the oldest residential historic district in Allegheny County. Evergreen was founded in 1850 as a nonsectarian commune — complete with its own school, dairy and orchard.
The Andersons’ board-and-batten Gothic home was built in 1852. It’s a massive frame structure of beige, milk chocolate and rust hues. It towers three stories high and is crowned with a tin roof.
“It’s an act of love,” said Sandi Anderson, 67. “You have the privilege of owning one of these.”
The Andersons have found gold as well as love in their old or historic homes.
They bought a Victorian home in a residential historic district in Oak Park, Ill., for $52,000 in 1974. They sold it in 1985 for $350,000.
Then they bought an 1850 stucco home in Oakville, Ontario, in 1985 for $535,000. They sold it for $1.2 million four years later.
The couple spent about $200,000 for their house in Evergreen Hamlet in 1989. They believe it’s now worth about $950,000.
Citing Allegheny West in the North Side, Sturgess said a historic designation helps boost property values.
“If you look at the city of Pittsburgh, the neighborhoods that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places are thriving today.”
Other communities have found other advantages in the historic tag.
In 1980, a highway project linking McKees Rocks and Carnegie threatened the lower portion of Thornburg. Thornburg was established in 1909 and is noted for the eclectic styles of its houses.
Concerned about the potential demolition of their homes, Thornburg residents obtained historic status in 1982. The road project ended.
Jim Crist, 74, a lifelong Thornburg resident, had a personal stake in the outcome.
“Under one design,” he recalled, “if they went up that way, I would have been history.”
In contrast, Meg Alarcon was not aware of Thornburg’s historic status when she and her husband Robb bought a house there in 2001. “We wanted an old house and just liked the feel of the neighborhood,” she said.
No local place, however, has marketed its historic status like Kennywood Park in West Mifflin. The park is not only a historic district, but also a National Historic Landmark, a designation for places of national significance.
“Part of the attraction is the fact that it’s a National Historic Landmark,” said Carl Hughes, retired chairman of Kennywood, who applied for the status. “In other words, it’s not like everyone else.”
Kennywood and Playland in Rye, N.Y., are the only two amusement parks that are national landmarks, and Kennywood is bigger. Hughes said the listing helps attract local families, who feel pride in it, as well as groups such as the American Coaster Enthusiasts, the British Coaster Enthusiasts and the National Amusement Park Historical Association.
“Teachers like that sort of thing and we certainly like to make teachers happy because they bring the kids to the park,” Hughes said.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.
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Mount Washington area tapped as nation’s best
Monday, October 08, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteChatham Village on Mount Washington tops the American Planning Association’s list of top-10 Great Neighborhoods.
The APA recently debuted its Great Places in America program, which recognizes 10 neighborhoods and 10 streets for good design, function, sustainability and community involvement.
Local association member Kay Pierce, a planner with the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development, called the designation “a big plus for Pittsburgh.”
“It was built as affordable housing, [and designed] so that automobiles are on the outside,” said Ms. Pierce. The units face wooded courtyards that value the pedestrian, she said. “It’s what a lot of planners are starting to create: communities not focused on the automobile.”
Chatham Village, a National Historic Landmark, was built in 1935 in the “English Garden City” model, which grew from reaction against densely populated industrial centers. The English model was supposed to give city dwellers an oasis of green space away from noise and pollution but still in the city.
On the list of Great Neighborhoods, Chatham Village is followed by Eastern Market in Washington, D.C., and Elmwood Village in Buffalo. Under the APA’s Great Streets designation, Bull Street in Savannah, Ga., and Canyon Road in Santa Fe, N.M., topped the list.
First published on October 9, 2007 at 2:36 am