Category Archive: Neighborhood Development
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Mt. Lebanon theater to get $3 million
By Craig Smith
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 29, 2008Officials working to reopen the Denis Theatre in Mt. Lebanon outlined plans for the $3 million project Monday.”Time has not been kind to the Denis,” said Anne Kemerer, executive director of the Denis Theatre Foundation. “There is water damage, vandalism, some outdated equipment.”
The theater’s marquee is in pieces in the lobby. Its basement is filled with 70 years’ worth of items.
The Denis opened in 1937 as a one-screen moviehouse with a capacity to seat 1,200. It changed hands a number of times over 60 years before being bought last year by Mt. Lebanon Commissioner D. Raja. The 11,000-square-foot theater closed in 2004.
Raja, who purchased the theater on Washington Road in November to keep it from being converted to an office complex, has signed a 15-year lease to rent the building to the Denis Theatre Foundation.He hopes the project will spur other development in the community.
“It will be the catalyst,” Raja said.
The foundation is hoping to raise money for the renovation from government grants and private donations.
The Denis would reopen as an art house, showing independent, foreign language films and documentaries.
The timetable for the project depends on the success of the fundraising effort, officials said.
Craig Smith can be reached at csmith@tribweb.com or 412-380-5646.
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Mt. Lebanon theater to get $3 million revamp
By Craig Smith
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 29, 2008Officials working to reopen the Denis Theatre in Mt. Lebanon outlined plans for the $3 million project Monday.”Time has not been kind to the Denis,” said Anne Kemerer, executive director of the Denis Theatre Foundation. “There is water damage, vandalism, some outdated equipment.”The theater’s marquee is in pieces in the lobby. Its basement is filled with 70 years’ worth of items.
The Denis opened in 1937 as a one-screen moviehouse with a capacity to seat 1,200. It changed hands a number of times over 60 years before being bought last year by Mt. Lebanon Commissioner D. Raja. The 11,000-square-foot theater closed in 2004.
Raja, who purchased the theater on Washington Road in November to keep it from being converted to an office complex, has signed a 15-year lease to rent the building to the Denis Theatre Foundation.He hopes the project will spur other development in the community.
“It will be the catalyst,” Raja said.
The foundation is hoping to raise money for the renovation from government grants and private donations.
The Denis would reopen as an art house, showing independent, foreign language films and documentaries.
The timetable for the project depends on the success of the fundraising effort, officials said.
Craig Smith can be reached at csmith@tribweb.com or 412-380-5646.
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Rescue plan for Downtown’s Market Square is expanding
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, April 28, 2008The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is tackling another building rescue project in Market Square, with the aim to further a transformation already under way in the historic Downtown public square.The South Side preservationist organization announced today it will take on restoration of the Thompson Building, a three-story structure adjacent to a trio of vacant buildings where it is spending about $2.5 million to convert into a mixed use complex known as Market at Fifth.Acquisition of the building will enable the foundation to expand its complex into that structure.
Plans for 439 Market St., 441 Market St., and 130 Fifth Ave. include a ground-level restaurant or retail store, seven upper-floor apartments and a rooftop garden.
In addition, the foundation also announced it was given an “easement in perpetuity that will protect the architectural quality of the Buhl Building, another structure on Fifth Avenue near Market Square.As reported, eight new shops have moved in — or will in the coming months — further rejuvenating the 224-year-old square.
Businesses there have credited an increased police presence to fight crime, reduce panhandling and efforts to clean up the city’s streets.
More recently, new programs have been introduced, such as the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Paris to Pittsburgh program that is providing matching grants to help restaurants and other merchants renovate their buildings and expand their operations onto sidewalks — similar to venues popular with tourists in the French capital.
Ron DaParma can be reached atrdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
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Preservation group takes control of Market Square block
By Diana Nelson Jones,Pittsburgh Post-GazetteMonday, April 28, 2008The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has joined forces with N&P Properties to control the development of almost a block of buildings on Market Street, between Fifth Avenue and Market Square, Downtown.
Two five-story buildings in that block are now shells in the process of renovation into seven apartments, and a third will join the other two as retail space on the sidewalk level.
The foundation last week bought the Thompson Bakery building, which now houses the restaurant Ciao Baby, and N&P bought the Buhl Building at the entrance to Market Street at Fifth Avenue and gave the foundation an easement in perpetuity to protect the architectural integrity and terra-cotta facade.
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Barden to honor $3 million pledge for Hill development
By Mark Belko and Rich Lord,Pittsburgh Post-GazetteMonday, April 28, 2008North Shore casino developer Don Barden will maintain his $3 million pledge to the Hill District after all.
After meeting today with Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Mr. Barden said the money would be spent over five years to “spur economic development” in the Hill above the Mellon Arena. He had originally pledged to commit the money within three years in the area near where a new hockey arena is being built.
Mr. Barden described his decision as a “happy medium.” He had petitioned the state gaming board to drop the commitment, saying it was contingent on getting development rights to the arena area. Those rights went to the Penguins.
Now Mr. Barden said he is planning to spend the money deeper into the Hill District.
Mr. Onorato and Mr. Ravenstahl praised Mr. Barden for continuing his commitment and said they would send a letter to the gaming board to support his bid to refinance the construction of the North Side casino.
Mr. Barden said the financial struggles of his casinos in Indiana, Colorado and Mississippi will have no bearing on the Pittsburgh project. He said they are entirely separate entities. Mr. Barden is seeking to refinance the casino project because costs have escalated.
He also dismissed concerns raised by Standard & Poor’s ratings service last week as technical in nature. He said Moody’s released a much more favorable number today.
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Casino owner says he will keep pledge to Hill District
By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, April 28, 2008Casino owner Don Barden said today he will make good on his promise to spend $3 million “to spur economic development” in the Hill District, but that the money won’t be used near a new $290 million hockey arena.”We want to extend the development opportunities outside of that area — further and deeper into the Hill District so that the people in that community can have the benefit, and we hope to do this within a five-year period,” Barden said.Once Barden’s Majestic Star Casino opens, he said he will spend the $3 million as seed money to hire engineers, designers and architects who will determine how best to develop the Hill District outside of the 28-acre zone that the Penguins have the right to develop around the arena.
Barden petitioned the state Gaming Control Board two weeks ago allow him to eliminate the $3 million commitment to the Hill District because the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority gave the Penguins the right to develop the 28 acres, not Barden. Barden told the commission that his $3 million commitment was contingent on getting the right to develop the 28 acres.
Barden asked in his petition to remove a ballroom and outdoor amphitheater from his plans for the casino.Barden said today that the outdoor amphitheater and ballroom will be built, after all, but not until the second or third year of the casino’s operation. The North Shore casino is projected to open in May 2009.
“Our casino will look the same, feel the same,” as the original plans, Barden said.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato met for about 90 minutes with Barden in Ravenstahl’s office before announcing Barden’s change of heart.
Barden downplayed financial concerns about how he will pay to build the casino, which has ballooned in price from $450 million to $770 million, including insurance, legal and financing fees.
Bond rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Thursday issued a B-minus credit rating with a negative outlook for the Majestic Star holding company, PITG Gaming HoldCo.
“I think at the end of the day, all the financial concerns, if there are any, will be resolved and will open on time,” Barden said.
Onorato praised Barden’s cooperation.
“He’s done nothing but adapt every time we’ve asked him,” Onorato said.
Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.comor 412-765-2312.
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Getty Foundation grant funds study of IUP’s heritage
by Laura Kingsbury/Editor in Chief
The PennApril 25, 2008
Thanks to a $100,000 Campus Heritage grant from the Getty Foundation, IUP’s historic buildings and landscapes are being studied to ensure the preservation of the campus’ rich history.Since its creation in 1984, the Getty Foundation has worked toward fulfilling a philanthropic mission of “supporting individuals and institutions committed to advancing the understanding and preservation of the visual arts locally and throughout the world,” according to its Web site, getty.org.
“The university was invited to participate in a historic review of our landscape and historic buildings built prior to 1950,” said Bob Marx, IUP’s executive director of facilities operations, engineering and capital planning. “We then had the opportunity to qualify for the Getty project and submitted a proposal and other materials, working in conjunction with the university relations division.”
In order to begin the historic review, IUP has contracted with the Pittsburgh Landmarks Foundation, which will perform studies on the various buildings and landscapes and then offer suggests for preservation by March.
In addition, Marx also said the suggestions that result from the study will help IUP’s facilities team move forward with renovations while still keeping consistent with the heritage.
Recently, PLF has performed similar studies at Grove City College, Allegheny College, Geneva College and Slippery Rock University, said Eugene Matta, PLF’s director of real estate and special developments programs. Currently, studies are in the works at Seton Hill University, Washington and Jefferson and California University of Pennsylvania in addition to IUP, said Eugene Matta.
“It’s important to note that this is not to replace or question any development plan that the university may have,” Matta said. “The two things should and can coexist amicably.”
In terms of IUP’s buildings, a team of architects and historians are surveying and getting familiar with many structures that are more than 50 years old, said Ellis Schmidlapp, president of Landmarks Design Associates, who will be providing the PLF’s long-term preservation suggestions.
The buildings currently being reviewed are Breezedale and Fisher Auditorium as well as Clark, Keith, Waller, McElhaney, Sutton, Uhler, Leonard, Whitmyre and Wilson halls.
“An important part of saving old buildings is planning,” Schmidlapp said. “It’s also finding a new use, because a building has to be useful to be preserved.”
An example, he said, could be Waller Hall, which when was originally designed in 1926 to be a gymnasium but is now used for the theater department.
In addition to finding uses for the buildings and ensuring they are up to modern codes, PLF also focuses on their lighting and overall visual appeal.
More specifically, Thomas Keffer, PLF’s property and construction manager, takes photographs of campus at night to survey both for beauty and for safety.
In doing this, he said he looks for ways to brighten up the campus by adding more lighting to sculptures, architecture and landscapes.
“You can light the trees, instead of the sidewalks; it’s much more beautiful that way,” said Ron Block, the project’s design consultant and landscape historian.
For the PLF’s report, Block is also examining IUP’s landscapes, especially those in the Oak Grove.
“If you ask students what their favorite thing about campus is, they will probably say the Oak Grove,” he said. “So we recognize the importance of it, and even if you are running out of space, you don’t want to build anything there. Some of the trees were there before the buildings.”
However, in order to make these suggestions fit the atmosphere of campus, both IUP and the PLF are stressing the importance of student input.
“Students can give input and articulate what they see as a building’s purpose,” Schmidlapp said.
Marx agreed that it is important to get students, faculty and staff interested in learning and writing about IUP’s heritage.
To get involved with this project, students are encouraged to contact Marx at bmarx@iup.edu or Matta at eugene@phlf.org.
© Copyright 2008 The Penn
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New housing units set on Penn Avenue
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 17, 2008Three loft-style townhomes to be built in Bloomfield are another example of an “exciting” transformation of housing on Penn Avenue in four city neighborhoods, community leaders said Wednesday.Small projects like this one “can really stabilize a corner in a community,” Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said at an event marking the start of construction of an $800,000 residential complex at Penn and Gross Street.“There are amazing things happening along the Penn Avenue corridor, and this is just a little gem of a project, but it’s a missing tooth,” said Jeffrey Dorsey, executive director of Friendship Development Associates.
Dorsey’s organization, developer of the project, acquired the property nine years ago with housing development in mind.
A $462,000 equity investment by Landmarks Community Capital Corp., a nonprofit created last year by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, moved it forward, he said.When the townhomes are completed in about 12 months, they will join dozens of single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums built or planned in Bloomfield, Garfield, Friendship and Lawrenceville, said Richard Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp.
These projects replace vacant lots and less desirable row housing, Swartz said.
About eight blocks away, Friendship Development is ready to start building the Glass Lofts, a “green” condominium project at Penn and Fairmont Street with 18 loft units, a restaurant, art studios and office space.
“We have commitments for eight sales already,” said Dorsey.
The units will range in size from 845 to 1,873 square feet and be priced from $180,000 to $330,000, according to the neighborhood group’s Internet site. But a number are reserved as “affordable” housing that can be purchased for about $80,000, he said.
As many as 80 single-family homes or townhomes have been built in the four neighborhoods in the past five years, Swartz estimated.
At the same time, about 35 businesses — mainly artists, studios and arts organizations — have moved into spaces in some of the vacant commercial buildings in the area.
Reducing neighborhood crime and developing Children’s Hospital in Lawrenceville were key to the transformation, officials said.
Ron DaParma can be reached atrdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.