Category Archive: Neighborhood Development
-
Start of revitalization effort generates enthusiasm in Elizabeth Borough
By Margaret SmyklaThursday, July 03, 2008Pittsburgh Post GazetteAllegheny County’s new small-business revitalization program, Allegheny Together, is in the initial stages in Elizabeth Borough, but it already has made a difference.
“Some people are so excited they have started making changes,” said Carol Hill, president of the nonprofit, all-volunteer Elizabeth Area Community Development Corp.
“It has motivated business owners to take another look at their buildings and realize the value of maintaining and restoring them,” said project manager Jessica Mooney.
The other pilot communities are Swissvale, Stowe and Tarentum.
In September 2007, the county launched Allegheny Together, a small-business revitalization program designed to encourage well-planned, well-designed and geographically focused investment in established commercial districts.
The target is the central business district in Elizabeth Borough, which extends 2 1/2 blocks, from Market Street to Strawberry Street. Businesses within that area include Rockwell’s Red Lion Restaurant, Mitchell Plumbing & Heating, PNC Bank, Variety Video, Barton’s Flowers and Gifts, Rite Aid and The Grand Theatre, a renovated movie theater for community events.
The district also houses the borough building, Elizabeth Elementary School, an office of state Rep. David Levdansky, D-Elizabeth, and other office space.
For the first year of the three-year program, the county hired Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation and Town Center Associates to provide technical assistance to the communities. Among the offerings were complimentary architectural design services for facade renovations and information on applying for facade improvement grants and small business loans.
The program kicked off publicly in January for business owners, and four workshops followed, focusing on design, organization, promotion and business development.
Ms. Mooney said the selection of the borough for the program “was a natural progression from the recent commercial revitalization study by the Department of Economic Development.”
That $40,000 study to improve the borough’s downtown district contained recommendations that council President Monica Douglas called “a blueprint for the future.”
They ranged from the costly building of a boardwalk along the Elizabeth Bridge and the Monongahela River, to less expensive bridge lighting, new signs and planters.
Ms. Mooney said the objectives of the program’s second year are to execute initiatives identified in the annual action plan and develop an action plan for the third year. The final year also involves developing a strategy for long-term sustainability.
Mrs. Hill is confident in the program’s goal of making the once-thriving district successful again.
For more information, visit www.alleghenytogether.com.
Margaret Smykla is a freelance writer.First published on July 3, 2008 at 6:22 am -
Public Hearing at Historic Review Commission on Redesign of Market Square
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
ANNE E. NELSON, ESQ.
GENERAL COUNSEL
PITTSBURGH HISTORY & LANDMARKS FOUNDATION
BEFORE HISTORIC REVIEW COMMISSION, CITY OF PITTSBURGH
PUBLIC HEARING ON MARKET SQUARE REDESIGN
JULY 2, 2008
Landmarks is investing $3.5 million to restore four historic buildings in Market Square located between Market and Graeme Streets, the design of which was predicated on Market and Graeme being open to vehicular traffic from Fifth Avenue into the Square. This project includes retail on the first floor and seven affordable apartments on the upper floors that will use Graeme Street as an entrance. We will have a green roof and are doing the buildings to LEED standards.
However, the redesign plans chosen close Graeme Street and that has us alarmed. We do not see how people are going to want to rent apartments on a dead end street. People do not frequent dead end streets; they want the ability to bring people to the door, load and unload things. Furthermore, how will the trash be collected?
Historically, Market Square has always had full traffic access. Removing traffic from the street has worked almost nowhere in the United States and almost every street where traffic was removed has been reconverted to have traffic flowing again in order to bring people back. Examples of traffic removed include East Liberty and Allegheny Center in Pittsburgh, and traffic was eliminated on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia and Fourth Street in Louisville and both lost retail and now have it back since traffic was reopened.
If Graeme Street is closed, Landmarks does not know whether it should complete construction of the project. I ask you, would you like to live on a dead end street that has no provisions for dropping off or turning around? When thinking about this question, remember that in Pittsburgh during a lengthy part of the year, the days are short and the weather is bad.
We question our investment of $3.5 million in Market Square if Graeme Street is closed.
-
School board votes to close Schenley building
Thursday, June 26, 2008 -
Children’s Museum still looking to grow
Thursday, June 26, 2008At 25, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh has grown into a mature nonprofit and community leader — although it’s still all about kids.
Originally called the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, it was on the leading edge of a wave of children’s museums that began opening around the country in the ’80s.
The idea for a children’s museum here dates back to 1972, when a group of community leaders established The Pittsburgh Children’s Museum Project — a mobile traveling museum that started at the Three Rivers Arts Festival.
The physical space opened its doors in the basement of the historic North Side post office building in Allegheny Center in June 1983. The Junior League of Pittsburgh got the project off the ground. Two years later, it expanded to the rest of the building, quadrupling its space and housing an exhibit of puppets from the collection of puppeteer Margo Lovelace.
The ’90s brought other key developments. The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation deeded the post office building to the museum. The museum launched several educational outreach programs and hosted its first traveling exhibit — “Kidsbridge.” In 1995, another traveling exhibit built around the works of “Sesame Street” creator Jim Henson set attendance records at the museum. In ’98, the museum created a major traveling exhibit of its own: “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood — A Hands-On Exhibit.” There were two traveling versions of the Rogers exhibit. One is now part of the museum’s permanent collection; the other was donated to the New Orleans Children’s Museum in 2007.
The 21st century also has been a period of ambitious growth. In 2004, the museum expanded again into the former Buhl Planetarium building next door. The museum exceeded its goal in the $28 million capital campaign that funded the expansion, but there were challenges and hurdles, recalls then-board president Anne Lewis, who led the expansion effort and who is now board member emeritus.
“The long-term vision was always to create a community for kids,” Lewis says. “That meant the entire area needed to be brought back with economic development. We knew we had to become the leader and the catalyst for change.”
“The expansion allowed us to do things we’ve always dreamed of doing,” says Children’s Museum executive director Jane Werner.
Increased exhibition space and parking space have raised attendance: This year, the museum set a new attendance record, with a projected 228,000 admissions for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
“People are looking at the Children’s Museum as a new model of how to do children’s museums,” Werner says. “It’s been really fun to push those boundaries and try different things. We’ve enjoyed working with artists and taking chances.”
The museum places high priority on designing and building its own exhibits. “In the ’80s, people started to drift away from that and go with outside consultants,” Werner says. “We decided that we really wanted to stay in-house and make sure that our exhibits worked. We’ve gone back to that, and I think people are seeing the value in it.”
Looking ahead to the future, the museum and its neighboring institutions are poised for new growth. The Children’s Museum is in the middle of a $22 million capital campaign to raise the funds to create a green park space in the plaza area in front of the museum, extending the kid- and family-friendly environment outdoors and creating an example of how urban spaces can be green by using bioswales — landscaping elements that use plants to remove pollutants from runoff.
The Children’s Museum is also spearheading the Charm Bracelet Project, an effort to link North Side cultural organizations and create a unified cultural district in that neighborhood.
Lewis is enthusiastic about the museum’s future plans. “You want to bring that experience outside, so that synergy between inside and what’s outside becomes welcoming for kids.”
Adrian McCoy can be reached at amccoy@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1865.First published on June 26, 2008 at 12:00 am -
Public Hearing at City of Pittsburgh Council on the Malta Temple City Historic Structure Nomination
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
ANNE E. NELSON, ESQ.
GENERAL COUNSEL
PITTSBURGH HISTORY & LANDMARKS FOUNDATION
BEFORE THE PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE MALTA TEMPLE
CITY HISTORIC STRUCTURE NOMINATION
June 25, 2008
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation supports the nomination of the Malta Temple Building to be a city-designated historic structure.
The former meeting house of the Ancient and Illustrious Order of the Knights of Malta is noteworthy for its historical and architectural character. Furthermore, the building’s location, as part of the continuous streetscape of the historic North Avenue next door to the Federal North block, which is also significant. Therefore, the Malta Temple Building should be preserved for the benefit of the residents of Pittsburgh.
The Salvation Army intends to replace the current structure with a building that is almost identical in style and design to the current structure. The reason for the new building is that the existing floor plates do not support the services the Salvation Army needs to offer at that location. Landmarks is currently rehabilitating four historic buildings in Market Square and has altered the floor plates and interiors to meet the new uses of the building. This is done with numerous historic properties.
Landmarks offers its assistance to the Salvation Army in planning to reuse the structure.
-
Point Park University Alumnus Howard B. Slaughter Jr. – Catalyst for Community Growth and Development
by Colleen C. Derda
The Point Magazine, Spring 2008
Point Park UniversityHoward B. Slaughter Jr., D.Sc. (MBA ’01), is enjoying his latest riverfront views. From the offices of Landmarks Community Capital Corp. in Station Square, he can see down the Monongahela River toward Point State Park.
“This office has a great view of Pittsburgh architecture,” says Dr. Slaughter, a man who appreciates old buildings and knows what it takes to restore them. His extensive financing background focuses on economic development and housing developments in urban areas.
Slaughter heads the new Landmarks Community Capital Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which provides equity, debt and short-and intermediate-term financing for housing and economic development activities throughout Western
Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. The nonprofit corporation also aims to pursue public policy initiatives and public-private partnerships as well as utilize such tools as new market tax credits to bring additional capital into the region.
“We have the opportunity to be a catalyst for change,” he says. “Typically we are ‘first in and first out,’ often taking the greatest financial risk, to help move developments forward. We require collateral, but we are a non-traditional lender, with the flexibility to help make revitalization a reality.”
Landmarks Community Capital Corp. recently approved a $885,000 loan leveraging a $7-million revitalization condo development in East Liberty. Working through East Liberty Development Inc., the funding will help transform a former YMCA into condominiums and retail space. Landmarks Community Capital Corp. is also working to attract a supermarket to Pittsburgh’s Hill District, among other unique development projects.
“We have an experienced staff, reflecting ethnic diversity, which helps us to be as effective as possible and to effectuate positive change,” stresses the chief executive officer. “Not only urban neighborhoods, but rural communities can benefit from the corporation’s funding. We work within a 250-mile radius of Pittsburgh.”
Slaughter’s approach to community lending integrates historic preservation as a stimulus for economic development. He previously served as director of preservation services at the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation before being appointed director of Fannie Mae’s Pittsburgh Community Business Center, the largest source of home financing in the country. His background also includes a stint as a vice president of community development at Dollar Bank, where he led the bank to its first “Outstanding” Community Reinvestment Act rating.
Slaughter was recently appointed treasurer of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and renominated by Gov. Ed Rendell (and unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania State Senate) to the Board of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency board. He also serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Community Development Bank. His extensive educational background, which includes five degrees, includes a master of business administration from Point Park.
“I am pleased to have had the opportunity to take advantage of what Point Park offered.
I attended the master’s degree program all day every Saturday for an entire year. It was a commitment, but it enhanced my educational goals and fit my needs well,” says Slaughter, who also holds a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and a doctorate in information systems and communication from Robert Morris University.
Slaughter can see a bit of Point Park University from his Station Square office. “I’ve been watching Point Park transform,” he says. “The changes are exciting and a real benefit to the urban core of this region.”
-
Region’s renaissance shines through as another span is lit
By F.A. Krift
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 13, 2008For Mark Bibro, the Hot Metal Bridge is more than a way to get to opposite shores of the Monongahela River.The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation chairman says it’s a symbol of Pittsburgh’s industrial past, and a connection point for the city’s future in research jobs and riverfront redevelopment. Illuminating the bridge Thursday night was another sign of the changes Pittsburgh continues to make as it reinvents itself.
“Suddenly, we’ve created high-tech jobs that will be here forever across the bridge,” Bibro said as he pointed to the Monongahela River’s north side. “On this side, it’s the place to go in Pittsburgh.”
Gov. Ed Rendell told electricians to “light up the bridge” by its South Side exit, and red, yellow and orange lights turned on, completing a $150,000 Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation decorative lighting project on the century-old bridge.
Cities are built on feeling as much as substantive measures like improved schools and balanced budgets, Rendell said. Illuminating bridges like the Hot Metal Bridge shows how Pittsburgh continues to renew itself, he said.Anthony Owens, 42, of Overbrook stopped his bike ride to watch the ceremony. After years away from his hometown, he returned to Pittsburgh in 2004 and couldn’t believe how the South Side’s shore had changed from steel mills into a retail spot. Lighting the bridge was a validation of the transformation, he said.“It’s amazing,” Owens said. “I’m a fan of what’s happened here.”
The colors on the bridge are supposed to represent the liquefied metal that once traveled on the Hot Metal Bridge. Ladle cars took the molten metal from Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. blast furnaces on the Monongahela’s north shore to south side open hearth furnaces. Now, people on foot, on bicycles and in cars travel to the SouthSide Works living, dining and entertainment center.
“Today, ideas are transported across this bridge via young people on bikes,” said Christine Fulton, vice president of external relations for Soffer Organization.
The Hot Metal Bridge connects SouthSide Works at South 29th Street to Oakland’s Second Avenue and spans 321 feet and 4 inches from bank to bank. It crosses the Monongahela 3.1 miles upstream from Point State Park’s fountain.
Using the bridge makes good use of an artifact from Pittsburgh’s smoky steel-based past, History & Landmarks Foundation President Arthur Ziegler said, while the city progresses toward pushing service industry growth and riverfront redevelopment.
The incandescent tubular lighting trims the entryways of the vehicle bridge, which was originally the railway bridge. The adjacent bridge actually was the crossing used to carry molten metal between facilities, but the twin spans now are commonly referred as the Hot Metal Bridge.
The bridge opened two lanes to vehicles in 2000. In 2007, the downstream bridge was opened for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation previously lit the Smithfield Street Bridge and the Roberto Clemente Bridge decoratively.
“We want to light all the bridges here,” Ziegler said. “We’re the ‘City of Bridges.’ This is a good one to do because we were trying to enliven the entrance from Second Avenue into the South Side.”
Pittsburgh has 446 bridges, more than any other city in the world. Thirty span a river.
A $125,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development at Rendell’s request primarily funded the Hot Metal Bridge project. Additional funding came from the Soffer Organization, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Wellington Power Corp. and the History & Landmarks Foundation
F.A. Krift can be reached at bkrift@tribweb.com or 412-380-5644.
-
PHLF Main Street Program Expands
By Ethan Raup
Manager, Community Revitalization ProgramsThe PHLF Main Street revitalization program expanded this spring into Armstrong County with a partnership with the Freeport, Leechburg and Apollo Group (FLAG) and with funding obtained by Sen. Jim Ferlo. PHLF is working with FLAG to submit their state main street application in August. If accepted, FLAG would be the first regional main street program in western Pennsylvania.
Freeport, Leechburg and Apollo are small towns with traditional main street business districts that are within 10 miles of each other along the Kiskimenitas and Allegheny Rivers. Alone, each town is too small to qualify as a state main street. So leaders in these towns decided to join together to pursue the state’s regional main street designation.
PHLF’s work includes staffing FLAG’s Board and its four committees – Promotions, Design, Organization and Economic Restructuring. We are developing an aggressive five year work plan that builds on local assets and addresses challenges head-on. We are also taking early implementation steps wherever possible. That includes a study to explore restoring and returning the former Leechburg Hotel building to its original use.
With direct access to the Kiski River, a picturesque surrounding countryside, abundant trail connections and traditional towns that are still largely intact, the FLAG communities have a real opportunity to develop into a regional destination. The Leechburg Hotel could be key to this effort. And it dovetails nicely with PHLF’s work on the historic main street in Vandergrift, which is just across the Kiski river in Westmoreland County.
The FLAG effort began two years ago with the help of Sen. Ferlo, who has been a strong advocate for FLAG and this revitalization effort. We are optimistic that FLAG will receive its Main Street designation later this year. PHLF anticipates working hand in hand with FLAG in 2009 and beyond to help breathe new life into each town.
With the FLAG communities, PHLF is now active in 8 main street revitalization efforts across southwestern Pennsylvania, including Stowe, Swissvale, Tarentum, Elizabeth and Vandergrift. In each of these towns, PHLF is drawing upon our depth of experience and expertise to find a path forward that we believe will lead to a sustained revitalization.