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Category Archive: Neighborhood Development

  1. County to provide aid to business owners outside Pittsburgh

    By Justin Vellucci
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Wednesday, September 12, 2007

    When Karen Larson opened Hometowne Tavern in Swissvale five years ago, bankers hardly gave her the time of day.

    “We couldn’t get a loan for any part of our business,” said Larson, 52, of Swissvale, who owns the commercial building where the tavern she owns with her husband is based. “When it came to getting our business going, we were really on our own.”

    Not anymore.

    Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato announced a program Tuesday that will provide grants, tax abatements and no-interest loans to business owners looking to revitalize 43 local business districts outside Pittsburgh. The program — dubbed Allegheny Together — will begin in Swissvale, Tarentum, Stowe and Elizabeth Borough, and also help those hit hardest by the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

    “The big projects get all the attention through the media … and they’re needed and they help,” Onorato told an audience packed into Swissvale’s municipal building yesterday. “But we also wanted to make it clear we understand the benefits of small businesses.”

    The county plans to commit $500,000 to $1 million a year to the program, which officials said could provide $1 million to $1.5 million in funding each year. Foundations have pledged an additional $500,000. Officials plan to seek about $500,000 from the state.

    “What we all already know is we have 43 community (business districts), all historic,” said Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “We look on Main Street as a real estate development, just the way they look at a mall as a real estate development out in the suburbs.”

    In those 43 communities, eligible property and business owners can be covered for up to 60 percent of total project costs or $50,000, whichever is less, county officials said. Half the money will come as a grant, and the other half as a zero-interest loan payable over a maximum of seven years.

    Some of the work covered by the program includes improving facades and sidewalks, correcting code deficiencies, erecting signs for businesses, and improving accessibility to businesses for the disabled, county officials said. A display showing potential changes to Swissvale’s business district was shown yesterday.

    Residents could start to see improvements made through the program in six months to a year, said Dennis Davin, the county’s director of economic development.

    Local officials celebrated the program for its specific benefits, as well as the message of support it carries.

    “It’s something we’ve been waiting for for years and years,” Swissvale Mayor Deneen Swartzwelder said. “This is an amazing opportunity for us. And we promise not to let you down.”

    For more information on the Allegheny Together program, call 412-350-1000.

    Justin Vellucci can be reached at jvellucci@tribweb.com or 412-320-7847

  2. A historic moment for Highland Park

    Pittsburgh Tribune ReviewBy Bill Zlatos
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Wednesday, September 12, 2007

    Highland Park, the East End neighborhood known for its stained glass and woodwork crafted by immigrant artisans, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
    “It’s a way to market the neighborhood, to attract people interested in historic buildings and to encourage people to maintain those buildings,” said Mike Eversmeyer, a Highland Park resident and architect.

    Eversmeyer on Tuesday confirmed the neighborhood’s listing as the Highland Park Residential Historic District. The Highland Park Community Development Corp. hired him to submit the nomination to the State Historic Preservation Board and the National Register of Historic Places.

    The neighborhood joins 18 other districts in the city and sites in Aspinwall, Harrison, Homestead, Munhall, Plum, Ross, Thornburg and West Mifflin on the National Register.

    “The neighborhood has long been respected by Pittsburgh residents and has a feeling as a special place when you walk those streets lined with houses of turn-of-the-century style,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
    He said residents of Highland Park are not the only ones who should applaud its status.

    The designation helps businesses obtain federal money and prevents federal money from being used to tear down buildings without an extensive review.

    Eversmeyer said the listing should spur investment, especially in the Bryant Street commercial district and in its southwest corner, an area plagued by apartment buildings owned by absentee landlords.

    He said homeowners could benefit, too, if the state Legislature provides tax incentives for people in residential historic districts.

    “If you’re trying to sell investors on coming into a neighborhood, then having a tax credit as a carrot makes a lot of sense,” he said.

    The neighborhood is a blend of Victorian, Tudor and Arts and Crafts homes with some modern-style houses. It is home to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, one of the city’s larger parks and two reservoirs.

    Kelly Meade, a Highland Park resident for 30 years, has worked as a real estate agent for Howard Hanna, specializing in that neighborhood for 25 years. She said the historic designation should give the neighborhood’s housing market a boost.

    “For those who have a special interest in a historic home, it certainly will give more credence to the neighborhood,” she said.

    Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.

  3. Highland Park granted federal historic status

    Pittsburgh Post GazetteWednesday, September 12, 2007
    By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    The National Register of Historic Places has granted Highland Park federal historic status, a designation with few protections but much prestige among preservationists.

    Mike Eversmeyer, an architect and former head of the city’s Historic Review Commission, completed the nomination from research begun almost a decade ago by the neighborhood’s community development corporation, or CDC.

    The work included surveying and documenting the histories of more than 1,300 structures.

    “We based our nomination on the significance of the architecture, a coherent concentration of buildings from the late 19th to early 20th century,” Mr. Eversmeyer said. “It was a model street car suburb.”

    The parameters of the historic district run roughly from Stanton Avenue on the south to the park on the east and north, with Chislett Street serving as the western boundary. It cuts slightly into East Liberty at one point because the buildings between Stanton and Hays and Negley Avenue and Chislett were of the same signature as Highland Park’s, said Mr. Eversmeyer.

    “I think it’s something for Pittsburgh to be very proud of,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “It gives national status to the neighborhood, and it will protect it from federally funded programs that could harm historic buildings.” Any such programs would be reviewed by state preservation officials, he said.

    He said Highland Park’s housing collage ranges from late Victorian to early Modern, covering Edwardian, Tudor Revival and Arts and Crafts.

    “The neighborhood has a feeling of architectural continuity,” he said.

    Amy Enrico, owner of Tazza d’Oro coffeehouse on Highland Avenue, said, “I’m grateful for all the time they have put in. This is an incentive for all of us to preserve the architecture and stories of all the neighbors who came before us.”

    The national designation does not prohibit individual owners from altering properties or require them to restore them, but it does make the district eligible for preservation funding and tax credits. City-designated historic districts are more restricted, with oversight from the planning department and Historic Review Commission on any proposed change to properties.

    Several areas of Pittsburgh have federal and city historic status. One does not preclude the other, and the two do not always follow the same boundaries, said Mr. Ziegler.

    “No one has spoken about interest in going for city historic designation” for Highland Park, Mr. Eversmeyer said.

    David Hance, president of the Highland Park CDC. credited then-city councilman, now state Sen. Jim Ferlo for funding the research. The designation, he said, “tells us that what we see everyday where we live is notable, and it’s one more tool we have” to encourage quality development.

    First published on September 12, 2007 at 2:52 am

  4. Preservation group moves beyond county lines

    Pittsburgh Tribune ReviewBy Ron DaParma
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Sunday, September 9, 2007

    The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is best known for its preservation efforts of historic properties throughout Allegheny County.

    However, the South Side-based agency has been extending its reach beyond its home county in recent years, including with its latest project in Beaver County — an effort to bring “residential reinvestment” to areas near business districts in nine communities.

    The foundation is the lead consultant on the project focusing on Aliquippa, Ambridge, Beaver, Bridgewater, Freedom, Midland, Monaca, New Brighton and Rochester.

    “The idea is to work with the local officials and independent local organizations to identify new projects for each of the communities that in general terms fall into the guidelines of the state’s Elm Street program,” said Eugene Matta, the foundation’s director of real estate and special development programs.

    Elm Street is a program established by Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration that this year is making available $7 million statewide to improve residential streets near Main Street business districts.

    It provides seed money to be matched by funds raised from other sources to make the improvements a reality.

    Though not an official Elm Street program, the foundation describes it as an “Elm Street-like” program.

    While it will not necessarily be securing funds under that program, it will be seeking support from state and private sources.

    The foundation is working under a consultant contract it signed several weeks ago with the Community Development Program of Beaver County, paid for with $50,000 from the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

    Also on board is Town Center Associates, an organization serving as “sub-consultant.”

    “TCA is headquartered in Beaver County and knows that county well,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., PH&LF president.

    “It’s president, Mark Peluso, already has done quite a bit of work in the community,” said Matta.

    Examples of the projects funded under the Elm Street program include improvements to building exteriors, streets, new street lighting and trees, sidewalks or other “pedestrian-oriented features,” Matta said.

    Other activities include improvements of mixed-use buildings in residential areas, acquisition of properties, demolition and reclamation projects, code violation repairs, emergency housing repairs, addition of home security items, parks and playgrounds and water and sewer connections.

    The consultants have held one meeting with community leaders to discuss how to proceed with the program, and a second meeting is scheduled Tuesday.

    “We suggested to community representatives that sometime in October we would like to have at least four projects they feel are worth considering,” Matta said. “Then somewhere between October and November, we should be able to start work on applications for funding.”

    Over the past year, the foundation has secured five grants totaling nearly $800,00 under the DCED funding process.

    Its efforts include helping to attract $2 million in investments in Wikinsburg to rehabilitate four properties in the historic Hamnett Place neighborhood.

    It is working as manager of the Main Street program in Vandergrift, Armstrong County, and it received a $7,500 grant from National City Corp. to help form a Main Street project for Freeport, Leechburg, Apollo.

    Preservation of historic farms also has been a focus. The organization is involved in a survey of farm properties in Green and Washington counties, Matta said.

  5. Larimer bakery tax plan advances

    Pittsburgh Post GazetteThursday, September 06, 2007
    By Ann Belser,
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    Allegheny County Council’s economic development committee has advanced the proposed tax breaks for redeveloping the old Nabisco site on Penn Avenue in Larimer, but without giving the plan its blessing.

    Council has been asked by the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority to approve $10 million in tax increment financing for Walnut Capital Development Inc.’s Bakery Square project.

    That money, which uses future tax proceeds to pay off development bonds, includes $5 million toward making roads around Penn Circle two-way and installing new traffic signals, and $5 million for development of an 849-space parking garage.

    Robert Rubinstein, URA director of economic development, said the bonds will be backed with tax revenue from the site on which Walnut Capital Development plans to build office and retail space in addition to the garage and another 350 parking spaces. The tax increment financing does not apply to a 120-room hotel planned for a site next to the former bakery.

    The committee, while sending the plan to council for a vote, did so without recommending that the council pass it. Councilman Bill Robinson, D-Hill District, said he was concerned about statements by the developers that he believes have not been documented.

    Mr. Robinson wanted details of a $50,000 promise that Walnut Capital made to the community. Mr. Rubinstein said $35,000 would be used for job training and $15,000 will be used to spruce up part of Larimer Avenue.

    Mr. Robinson said he wanted to know which community groups the developer had agreements with and what those agreements were.

    Maurice Strul, a business development specialist from the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development, said he had not had time to get answers since Mr. Robinson first raised the issue last week.

    “If he represents the district and he has concerns, he has a right to those concerns,” Councilwoman Jan Rea, R-McCandless, said.

    Mr. Rubinstein said after the meeting that the money going to the community for job training and neighborhood improvements was being paid by the developers and not from public money.

    The overall project is estimated to cost $105 million to $125 million and is planned for property where the Nabisco bakery stood for 80 years before it closed in 1998. It was taken over by Atlantic Baking Group in 1999 and cookies were again baked there, but in 2004 the company that had become Bake-Line filed for bankruptcy and closed the bakery for good.

    The tax increment financing plan has been placed on council’s agenda for Tuesday.

    First published on September 6, 2007 at 12:00 am
    Ann Belser can be reached at abelser@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699.

  6. The Granite Building To House Luxury Condominiums

    Built in 1889–90 as the German National Bank and now a contributing structure in the Pittsburgh Central Downtown National Register Historic District, The Granite Building provided German immigrants to the Pittsburgh area with a place where they could transact their banking in their native language.

    Designed by Bickel & Brennan, the “Richardsonian Romanesque” granite building imitates the style of the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, designed by H. H. Richardson in 1884, just a few blocks away. Charles Bickel was a prominent Pittsburgh architect who designed several notable buildings downtown, among them Kaufmann’s department store.

    After more than a century as an office building, Landmarks board member Holly Brubach is renovating The Granite Building as luxury condominiums and making the building available for a September 26th Heritage Society tour and reception.

    Among the many downtown candidates for residential conversion, The Granite Building is considered ideal for its spaciousness and ample light. With only one 2,750-squarefoot unit per floor, The Granite Building provides the comfort and privacy of a single-family home in the heart of the city and represents another example of how historic buildings can stimulate economic development.

  7. Bottle Brigade raises money to restore Braddock library

    Pittsburgh Tribune ReviewBy Kacie Axsom
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Thursday, August 30, 2007

    John Hempel doesn’t drink soda. But the University of Pittsburgh biologist has helped to collect about 6,500, 20-ounce soda bottles to help the environment and raise money for restoring the Braddock Carnegie Library.
    Hempel sends the bottles to New Jersey-based TerraCycle as part of its Bottle Brigade program. TerraCycle makes and distributes lawn and garden fertilizer — essentially worm poop, as company publicist Paul D’Eramo puts it.

    The company gathers the waste matter and puts it in tanks with hot water and extracts nutrients from it, D’Eramo said. They package it in those reused bottles from about 3,800 groups such as Hempel’s.

    TerraCycle sends empty boxes that can hold as many as 70 bottles to Bottle Brigade participants, which includes schools and nonprofits. Groups fill their boxes, and twice each year, TerraCycle sends a check for 5 cents per bottle to the school or charity of their choice, and 6 cents per bottle if they have been washed and de-labeled. That means every filled box is worth $3.50 to $4.20 for a charity.

    Hempel’s chosen cause is the Braddock Carnegie Library, because he is the vice president of Braddock’s Field Historical Society, which owns it. He and his colleagues at Pitt have placed barrels around their department and have earned about $370 to go toward restoration projects.
    That $370 could buy fewer than two seats in the library’s music hall, Hempel said. It’s also about $30 shy of the $400 needed to replace one of the 39 window sashes.

    “Relative to the amount of money the music hall restoration needs, it disappears in the decimal dust,” Hempel said. “It’s at least a way of bringing in a trickle of money, and it’s satisfying.”

    Hempel maintains a personal compost pile and recycles newspapers, bottles, cans and Styrofoam, he said. He also sprays the TerraCycle product on his orchids.

    “In many ways, (recycling is) easier than lugging a bag of smelly stuff down to the curb,” he said.

    Laurel Roberts is a lecturer at Pitt and has been collecting bottles with Hempel for about eight months. She estimates she’s collected 300 to 400 in that time.

    She told her students about the project and where they can find a collection bin, and when she’s out walking her dogs in her Highland Park neighborhood and sees a bottle, she picks it up.

    “It’s easy, and it’s actually fun,” Roberts said. “When you find one, it’s almost like a scavenger hunt.”

  8. Many twists and turns for East plans in last three years

    Pittsburgh Tribune ReviewBy Peggy Conrad,
    Staff Writer
    Woodland Progress
    Wednesday, August 22, 2007

    By the end of this month or early in September, East Junior High School in Turtle Creek could be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

    “It’s an excellent designation, an excellent honor,” says Ron Yochum, chief information officer of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

    He hired a specialist in the field, Laura Ricketts, to research and document the history of the building and submit the proposal, which is “a very, very complicated process,” according to Yochum.

    In March, the commission voted unanimously to nominate the structure to the National Register. The National Park Service requested some additional details, which Ricketts submitted with the nomination on July 16.

    “We’re hopeful the National Park Service will agree with us, as well as with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,” Yochum says.
    A decision could be made in the next couple of weeks, as the approval process takes about 45 days to complete. The designation would provide protection for the structure if any federally funded project were threatening the building.

    The school board voted to begin the process of closing East earlier this year and is scheduled to make a final decision in October. Generations of area residents have attended the school, and many are anxious to see what will become of it.

    The first cornerstone for the building was laid in 1917. The school opened in 1918 and the first class graduated in 1919.

    In 1939, an addition to house the gym and additional classrooms was built by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal agency that provided jobs during the Great Depression. A plaque stating the details of the addition is housed, but not currently mounted, at the school.

    Originally Union High, the institution was the first joint high school in Pennsylvania, combining Turtle Creek, Wilmerding and East Pittsburgh high schools, according to Bob Mock, head of Committee to Save Turtle Creek High School.

    The building became Turtle Creek High, then East Junior High after the merger that formed Woodland Hills School District.

    “To remove such a wonderful landmark in the community would be tragic,” says Yochum. “I think it’s an asset for the community that should be preserved.”

    If it achieves historic status and a project threatens the building, the case would go into an automatic review process, he says. If the district were to renovate the building, it would not be a problem, unless the renovation would affect the facade.

    “I’m sure the community would not be happy with that.” Yochum, whose agency has been offering assistance to Committee to Save Turtle Creek High School, could not be more correct in that assessment.

    About two and a half years ago, the group of Turtle Creek residents came together to protest the district’s plans to demolish the building and construct a new junior high school on the same spot.

    “Had they done that, knowing what we know now, what a big mistake they would have made,” says Mock, who rallied his neighbors to join the cause.

    A national preservationist who attended a town meeting in Turtle Creek in 2005 in support of preserving the school said the structure was a “slam dunk” for the National Register.

    “It sailed right through at the state level,” says Mock, a 1968 alumnus of the high school. “This is a positive for our community and a positive for the school district.”

    The past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for anyone invested in the future of East. A brief outline follows:

    • August 2004 — HHSDR Architects presented preliminary plans for renovation and for new construction. The architects did three to four variations on plans for a new building in the months that followed.
    • January 2005 — Hundreds of residents turned out for a town meeting held by the board to voice their opinions on proposed renovation plans for several district buildings. Options for East included the possibility of relocating the school.
    • April 2005 — Survey companies were authorized to begin surveying the property at East in preparation for renovation or reconstruction.
    • November 2005 — The school board voted in favor of borrowing approximately $30 million to fund the proposed building of a new East Junior High and renovations of the Wolvarena and high school soccer stadium. The district scheduled groundbreaking for the new school building in the summer of 2006.
    • November 2005 — A town meeting organized by Commit-tee to Save Turtle Creek High School overflowed with outraged residents who wanted the building to be preserved.
    • December 2005 — The board directed HHSDR to de-velop further renovation plans following objections by residents to the planned demolition and rebuilding of the school. Construction costs increased to estimates of $20,641,170 for renovation and $20,329,874 for new construction.
    • Initial plans called for putting an addition on the front of the building, but the committee requested the facade not be altered. The administration said keeping the exact shell of a renovated building would increase the cost.
    • February 2006 — The board decided to not vote on whether to rebuild or renovate the school until it received more public input on the issue. The district sought residents from all its communities to serve on an ad hoc committee to study the proposed renovation / construction plans.
    • May 2006 — After meeting for two months, the committee recommended the district create detailed and comparable design plans, one each for a renovated and new structure, and that the board commit to the least expensive option. Be-cause of a lack of support among members, the board voted to not follow the recommendation and to no longer pursue constructing a new building, but to have renovation plans developed in more detail.
    • June 2006 — HHSDR presented an update on work needed immediately at East and asked for direction. Cost of the urgent “A-list” items was $500,000 to $750,000.
    • A “B-list” of needed but not urgent items would have cost about $5 million. Following discussion, it was clear the board would not reach a consensus, so the architects were asked to return at a meeting on June 28.
    • There was no discussion regarding renovation at that meeting because the board had not had adequate time to meet with the architects and make a decision.
    • October 2006 — The superintendent announced the district would consider closing East and two other schools due to declining enrollment.
    • Superintendent Roslynne Wilson recommended, as part of the Next Quarter Century Plan, closing Rankin Intermediate, Shaffer Primary and East, as they had the biggest enrollment declines. The proposal was based, in part, on state Act 1, which limits how much districts can hike taxes. The closing of East would save more than $800,000 a year.
    • December 2006 — Parents voiced concerns at a public hearing on the plan to consolidate schools. Several board members were concerned that the proposal would have a negative impact.
    • January 2007 — All who spoke at a second public hearing were opposed to the consolidation plan. At its next meeting, the board listened to residents and voted down the superintendent’s plan as well as a counterproposal to close East in 2008.
    • March 2007 — The board voted to begin the process of closing East and consolidating all seventh- and eighth-graders at West Junior High in 2008-09.
    • The Swissvale school, to be renamed Woodland Hills Mid-dle School, would have to be renovated at a cost about $5 million and would have about 740 students in the first year.
    • July 2007 — The board held a public hearing on the possible closing of East. Res-idents were opposed to closing the building without a definite plan in place on its future use.

    Several options were discussed, including moving ad-ministration offices to the school, turning the building into a creative and performing arts high school for the district and turning it into a charter high school.

    Wilson said the process to close the school will include formation of an ad hoc committee that will be asked to report to the board on Oct. 3. The board expects to vote to close the school on Oct. 10.

    “It’s been a long saga with a lot of twists and turns,” says Mock, who believes East deserves historic designation for many reasons. The white brick structure was built in the neo-classical style as part of a “City Beautiful” campaign designed to uplift communities in the early 1900s, he says.

    “There’s a lot of history here.”

Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation

100 West Station Square Drive, Suite 450

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Phone: 412-471-5808  |  Fax: 412-471-1633