Category Archive: News Wire Services
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SEA Consultants Advise Razing Mellon Arena
By Adam Brandolph
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 10, 2010Consultants for the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority recommended in a draft report sent to the state Bureau of Historic Preservation that Mellon Arena be demolished and the 28-acre Uptown site be developed, SEA officials confirmed Wednesday.
The report, according to Chris Cieslak, a consultant working with Oxford Development and the SEA, “evaluates several alternatives,” but concludes that the Penguins’ plan to demolish the arena and construct a mixed-use development on the site would have the greatest economic benefit to the region. A full copy of the report, which was sent to the preservation bureau last month, was not available.
Representatives from two groups seeking alternatives to demolition walked out of last night’s closed-door meeting with SEA officials and other interested parties because they said the historic preservation process is not being followed.
“Their process is designed to divide and conquer,” said architect Rob Pfaffman. “The democratic process is being badly managed and badly executed.”
The SEA has hosted six other closed-door meetings that included developers and preservationists. A public meeting was held in the lower Hill District last month.
The $321 million Consol Energy Center is set to open across the street from the 49-year-old arena this summer. The main tenant, the Penguins, own the rights to develop the property.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and other public officials have said Mellon Arena should be demolished to create room for retail and housing developments. The Sports & Exhibition Authority — whose members are appointed by the mayor and county executive — has the final say on what will happen but has not made public any decision.
The preservation bureau has 30 days to review the draft report, while a consulting firm hired by the two groups seeking alternatives to demolition completes its own study.
“Everybody’s trying to beat the clock now,” said Todd Poole, managing principal of 4Ward Planning, representing Preservation Pittsburgh and ReUse the Igloo. “Obviously, I think from the standpoint of my clients, they would prefer that the process not be rushed.”
Poole hopes to have a “fully fleshed-out analysis that covers all the bases that we’ve discussed to this point” by early July. Poole said the SEA consultant’s plan falls short of a full analysis of what could be done with the arena. He said adding more retail space to an area with vacancies is a poor idea.
Gary J. English, a Penn Hills resident who filed for the Igloo’s historic preservation and has attended the SEA’s closed-door meetings, wants Allegheny County voters to decide the fate of the arena with a ballot initiative.
“I think the whole process is a farce,” English said. “They had one public meeting in the Hill District, but (the arena’s) owned by the residents of the entire county.”
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Denis Theatre Group Applauds $155,000 Gift
By Bill Zlatos
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 9, 2010The Denis Theatre Foundation has received a matching grant of $155,000, putting the group near the amount needed to buy the movie house in uptown Mt. Lebanon, leaders said Tuesday.
“First of all, especially coming on the heels of The Pittsburgh Foundation grant, it’s an incredible affirmation of the viability and importance of the project to the community,” said Anne Kemerer, executive director of the Denis Theatre Foundation.
The Pittsburgh Foundation recently gave a $100,000 grant.
Kemerer said her group has until June 30 to exercise its option to buy the theater on Washington Road. If Denis supporters raise the full match, they must obtain $75,000 more to buy the building and pay related closing costs.
“It’s nothing compared to what we had to raise so far,” she said.
The latest anonymous gift is the largest of eight grants from foundations. The matching money will have to be raised from individuals, Kemerer said.
After buying the building, the foundation must raise another $1.8 million for the first phase of the renovation. The phase involves opening one screen; updating or replacing basic systems; and installing an elevator.
The second phase includes opening two more screens; restoring the stage; and adding meeting rooms.
For more information or to make a contribution, contact Kemerer at 412-480-0187.
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HRC Gives Conditional Nod to Apartments in Old Uptown School
Thursday, June 03, 2010By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Historic Review Commission Wednesday conditionally approved the plans of an investment group to renovate the former Fifth Avenue High School, Uptown, into 65 rental lofts.
Casey Steiner and Jonathan Hill, on behalf of the new owner, an investment partnership called LMS 5th LP, said they propose to restore the exterior to national historic standards and build a new parking lot of two levels, the higher about 3.5 feet above sidewalk level on the Fifth Avenue side to be accessible to the handicapped.
Provided financing “falls into place,” Mr. Steiner said, work on the 5th Avenue School Lofts could be under way by fall. “We’re pretty confident.”
The market, he said, is graduate students, empty nesters, people who work Downtown, in Oakland, at Mercy Hospital and Duquesne University.
The commission’s conditions are that the development partners provide more detail of the composition of concrete facing on the parking deck, screening of the deck and railings.
The investors provided historic planner Katherine Molnar proof of approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which is charged with upholding historic standards. The former school is a nationally designated historic structure, and the investment will receive federal historic tax credits.
Mr. Steiner, president of Impakt Development, said the partnership paid $640,000 last year for the building from Excel Kitchens, which operated out of a small part of the school, which was built in 1894, closed in 1976 and was otherwise empty that long.
In other matters, the commission approved Eat’n Park Hospitality Group’s plan to build a restaurant in Schenley Plaza, nearest where Forbes Avenue and Pennant Place meet.
The building will have two living walls, a green roof on which herbs and vegetables will be grown for the restaurant and a rain barrel will collect water. It will be one-story, built of limestone, red cedar, a metal canopy, glass and stacked stone. Facing the park, it will have a “transitional patio” — covered but without walls, said Mark Broadhurst of the Eat’n Park Hospitality Group. It has not been named but will not be called Eat’n Park, he said.
The project is being financed by the hospitality group, said Mr. Broadhurst. The group will lease from the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.
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Discover the scope of Western Pennsylvania history while walking
By Deborah Deasy
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 19, 2010Nothing beats sightseeing on foot when it comes to discovering Downtown Pittsburgh.
“It’s hard to look up and see the full height of a building when you are in a car or bus — and, so
often, distinguishing elements of a building are at the top,” says Louise Sturgess, executive
director of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
“We have a very intact city with a streetscape that dates to 1784, and it’s on a little triangular
piece of land that’s very walk-able,” Sturgess says.
To showcase the area’s crazy quilt of historic structures, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks
Foundation invites people to sign up for a smorgasbord of upcoming weekly and monthly tours –
– most free — and special events.
Offerings range from a dinner tour of the Twentieth Century Club in Oakland to a walking tour
of Wilkinsburg.
“We want to get people out of their chairs and outside,” Sturgess says.
The Wilkinsburg tour, for example, will showcase the efforts to revitalize and preserve historic
buildings in the borough.
“We are doing major work in Wilkinsburg,” Sturgess says.Other upcoming events include an invitation-only dinner tour of Oakmont Country Club, and an
evening reception at the Negley-Gwinner House in Shadyside, built in 1870 for Civil War
veteran and attorney William B. Negley.
People may attend either or both events by joining the Landmarks Heritage Society with a
$1,000 donation to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Plenty of free tours, however, are available, including guided walking tours of Downtown from
noon to 1 p.m. every Friday, from May through September.
“We feel it’s an important part of our mission to offer free walking tours,” says Sturgess, who
plans to lead a couple of the new “Segway Golden Triangle Tours,” set for 10 to 11 a.m.
Saturdays in June and July. “The idea is (that) Segway will provide the equipment, but we will
train and provide the tour guides.”
Foundation tours generally attract diverse participants of all ages, including college students and
professionals on lunch hours. In 2009, more than 12,000 people participated in the foundation’s
tours and educational programs.
“On our walking tours, our goal is to have 10 people for one tour guide,” Sturgess says.
“The value of having a real tour guide — as opposed to a cell phone, or virtual reality game — is
that the tour guide does engage the group of people in conversation,” Sturgess says. “We’re
always asking people in our tour groups to share what they know, and to add to the
conversation.”
The tour schedule opens this weekend with two sold-out tours of the City-County Building,
Allegheny County Courthouse and former jail. Sturgess hopes to offer the same tour again in
upcoming months to accommodate the overflow of those interested in it.
SOME UPCOMING WALKING EVENTS
(also available online at www.phlf.org)
Twentieth Century Club Lecture, Tour and Dinner: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 12; 4201 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland. Admission: $35 for members and students; $50 non-members
Segway Golden Triangle Tours: 10 to 11 a.m. June 5, 12, 19, 26, and July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31.
Meet at Freight House Shops (near Smithfield Street Bridge entrance), Station Square
Admission: $55 per person (You must be 18 years or older).
Bus Tour to Historic Harmony, Butler County: 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 28. Meet at Freight House Shops entrance, opposite the parking garage, Station Square. Admission to be
announced.
Wilkinsburg Walking Tour: 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 11. Meet at Jean’s Southern Cuisine, 730 Penn Ave. Admission: Free to members; $20 non-members.Market and Fifth Downtown Walking Tour: 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 25. Meet at PNC’s Triangle
Park, Fifth Avenue and Liberty Avenue, Downtown. Admission: $10 members; $20 nonmembers.
Who Wants to Go? Wheeling, W.V. in October: If enough people are interested, PHLF will
plan a full-day bus trip to Wheeling, including tours of several private homes.
For questions and reservations about all the events, except the Segway tours, contact Mary Lu
Denny at 412-471-5808, ext. 527, or marylu@phlf.org. For the Segway reservations, e-mail
leo@mediainmotionpa.com or call 724-972-4316FREE WALKING TOURS
Grant Street & More: noon to 1 p.m. May 7, 14, 21, 28. Meeting at Grant Street and Sixth
Avenue, Omni William Penn Hotel entrance.
Market Square Area: noon to 1 p.m. June 4, 11, 18, 25. Meet at PNC’s Triangle Park at
Liberty Avenue and Fifth Avenue.
Penn-Liberty Cultural District: noon to 1 p.m. July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30. Meet at Katz Plaza, Penn
Avenue and Seventh Street.
Fourth Avenue & PPG Place: noon to 1 p.m. Aug. 6, 13, 20 and 27. Meet at Fourth Avenue
and Smithfield Street.
Bridges & River Shores: noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 3, 10, 17, 24. Meet at 107 Sixth St., in front of
the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel.
Oakland Civic Center: noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29. Meet by dinosaur at Forbes
Avenue and Schenley Drive Extension.
Reservations need to be made at least one day before each event. Contact Mary Lu Denny,
412-471-5808, ext. 527, or marylu@phlf.org.
Deborah Deasy can be reached at ddeasy@tribweb.com or 412-320-7989. -
Arthur P. Ziegler, Master Preservationist
Historic Preservation Planning Alumni, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
By Nathaniel C. Guest
June 9, 2009“If you want to know preservation, follow Arthur Ziegler around for a few hours.”
This is what a friend from the National Trust told me a little while back. And in a rare bit of serendipity, I did.
On April 10, 2009, Arthur Ziegler, a living legend in the preservation world, addressed the next generation of preservationists and planners at Cornell University. Taking advantage of a rare bit of Ithaca sunshine, I offered Mr. Ziegler the five-cent-tour of the campus during the hour before his lecture. His visit would coincide with “Cornell Sustainability Month,” and the university was littered with advertisements for “eco” this and “green” that.
Now, please don’t read anything into my tone; as a proud Cornellian, I have to say we do a fairly good job at being critical about what is sustainable and what is just clever marketing. That said, the rest of the world has set the bar rather low for us. I’ve always thought it a bit ironic that in a culture as consumptive as ours that the word “sustainable” should be much a part of the popular lexicon.
Offering a lecture entitled “Pittsburgh as People and Place,” Mr. Ziegler didn’t come to Cornell to address sustainability. Whether he intended it or not, though, he hit it head-on.
A dean in the art and science of saving places, Arthur’s work has proceeded with the understanding that any plan or policy that is ultimately successful—that is, “sustainable” beyond the buzzword—is by necessity not just ecologically conscious but equally importantly socially just and economically responsible.
As Mr. Zielger has shown, these principles are not roadblocks but stepping stones. Using them, he has led his Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation from an inauspicious start—a slide projector, a brochure, and $750 in 1964—to a multi-million-dollar preservation powerhouse in 2009.
Promoting historic preservation as an effective means to create affordable housing, healthy neighborhoods, and economic development, Mr. Ziegler founded the PHLF to combat urban renewal policies that literally and spiritually devastated much of Pittsburgh. Displacing thousands of residents over several decades, a “clear-cutting” renewal policy in the era before the PHLF left Pittsburgh one of the most segregated cities in America.Through the PHLF, Ziegler spearheaded the first urban renewal program in the nation that used urban development monies for preservation rather than demolition. PHLF’s Manchester neighborhood project was the first urban renewal project to create a preservation district within a predominantly African-American neighborhood and the first to be administered by the residents themselves.
It is unique in that it preserved the neighborhood both architecturally and culturally, simultaneously avoiding both further blight and gentrification. Indeed, Mr. Ziegler’s work has been as much about social justice for disenfranchised populations as it has been preserving important places.
“To preserve an historic building is to save an artifact. To preserve an historic neighborhood is to save a way of living,” said Mark Fatla, executive director of Pittsburgh’s Northside Leadership Conference. “Arthur understood this far better than anyone else, and far sooner than anyone else. He has succeeded at it far longer than anyone else,” he continued.This is a crucial aspect to sustainability that mere “green building” absent historic preservation cannot accommodate. Just as we question the “greenness” of any building whose construction sends another building to a landfill, we must question the social justice of “revitalization” that razes neighborhoods or displaces its residents.
The upheaval and social disorder following in the wake of Pittsburgh’s urban renewal suggest that the sort of “root shock” caused by aggressive demolition in minority neighborhoods should be every bit as distressing to planners as the targeting of such neighborhoods for locally unwanted land uses.
Insensitive re-development makes even less sense when, as Mr. Ziegler’s work has shown, preservation is a smarter economic bet in the long run. Emblematic of PHLF’s success in using historic preservation as an instrument of economic revitalization, its adaptive re-use of a former rail terminal facility at Station Square had the lowest public cost and highest taxpayer return of any major renewal project in the Pittsburgh region since the 1950s. With over three million visitors each year, Station Square generates over six million dollars annually in tax revenue.
“Arthur always keeps his eye on what will work for the people of a place and what PHLF can bring to assist them. This is the beginning of his secret, “said Peter Brink of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
I thank Mr. Ziegler for sharing a bit more of that secret with us.
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‘Lazarus’ on the Hill?
By Glen Meakem
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Sunday, August 31, 2008In 1998, Pittsburgh celebrated as the “glitzy” new Lazarus department store opened on Fifth Avenue, Downtown. In the spring of 2004, after just five years, Pittsburghers mourned as the store closed its doors forever — another blow to a city struggling to succeed.
Now Pittsburgh politicians and community leaders face another economic decision — which grocery store to build in the Hill District. I am hoping, for the sake of Hill residents and city taxpayers of all neighborhoods, that our leaders will choose the best long-term economic answer instead of short-term glitz.
The Lazarus project was a costly mistake. In order to attract the store, the Urban Redevelopment Authority lent Lazarus $18 million and the city provided $5 million in additional cash. Despite the large government subsidies, once construction was completed and the doors opened, sales were well below expectations.
Lazarus was obligated to begin repaying the $18 million loan once in-store sales reached $41 million per year. But peak sales never exceeded $22 million. The taxpayer loan never was repaid. Even with more than $20 million of government subsidies, Lazarus sustained big losses and was forced to close.
The truth is Lazarus might have worked if marketproblems — high parking taxes and the lack of downtown residential living — had been addressed first. Instead, politicians chose a reality-ignoring strategy that cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and dealt Pittsburgh a tough blow.
The first proposal for the Hill District grocery store is being presented by St. Louis-based grocer Save-A-Lot. Its store is economically viable, based on a business model that works and experience with more than 1,200 stores around the country.
Save-A-Lot deliberately keeps its stores smaller than other grocers, eliminating amenities such as on-site bakeries, pharmacies and dry cleaners. It also limits inventory to approximately 1,200 frequently purchased items — what the corporation refers to as an “edited assortment.”
By keeping its stores small, forgoing amenities that increase the costs of doing business, and stocking only the most popular items in the most commonly purchased sizes, Save-A-Lot claims it saves customers 40 percent on food purchases.
The company is experienced in providing quality service to urban markets like the Hill District. According to Mayor John Thompson of Wilkinsburg, where a Save-A-Lot opened in 2007, the store has surpassed the community’s expectations, providing not only quality food at low prices but also many jobs to community residents and financial support to local charity efforts.
Save-A-Lot says it would not be economically viable to build a full-service grocery store on the Hill. But the small size of the proposed building project (16,500 square feet) would allow additional businesses to move into the Center Avenue location over time (such as a pharmacy), complementing the smaller grocer.
The new Save-A-Lot building is projected to cost $5 million to $6 million and can be up and running in less than a year.
The second proposal, presented by Kuhn’s, is not based on experience or a proven business model.
Similar to the “glitz” of Lazarus, this proposal calls for a $24 million revitalization project that includes a 50,000-square-foot Kuhn’s Market, among other stores. The plan surprised many, since Kuhn’s previously stated — along with Giant Eagle and Aldi — that it was not interested in building a grocery store on the Hill.
Unlike Save-A-Lot, Kuhn’s is a local, family-owned business with eight locations but no experience in urban markets. Yet some community leaders and activists see this more ambitious plan — including a pharmacy, bakery, deli, meat counter and fresh fish section — as a better fit for the neighborhood.
The proposed Kuhn’s project would require an as-yet-unspecified level of taxpayer support above the $2 million in subsidies already promised by the URA and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Before making their decision, Pittsburgh leaders also should consider one more set of facts: Grocery shopping habits are changing all over the country.
According to a 2007 Gallup Poll, 46 percent of adults say higher food costs are creating financial hardships.
Prices climbed 5 percent in 2007 and 6 percent in 2008 (the largest single-year jump since 1990).
Americans are now buying fewer luxury food items and more store brands.
According to Willard Bishop, a Barrington, Ill., consulting firm, limited-assortment grocery stores such as Save-A-Lot enjoyed an increase in sales of more than 16 percent last year while sales at full-service grocery stores rose only 3 percent.
The Save-A-Lot proposal is in line with current trends while the Kuhn’s proposal runs against them.
The last few days of summer are upon us and community leaders are struggling to make the right decision between two very different grocery store proposals. Will this generation of leaders choose the proven business concept from the company with experience that is likely to serve the Hill community for many years to come?
Or, as their predecessors did with Lazarus, will they choose the expensive, unproven model from a company relying on big government subsidies with no experience in the market it is entering?
In the business world, we call this decision a “no-brainer.” Political and community leaders should choose the commonsense solution over government-subsidized “glitz” and go with Save-A-Lot.
Hill District residents and city taxpayers from all neighborhoods will thank them for it.
Glen Meakem, founder and original CEO of FreeMarkets Inc., a business-to-business Internet company Downtown, is co-founder and managing director of Meakem Becker Venture Capital.
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Parishioners Decry Demolished 157-Year-Old Church in Elizabeth
WTAE
August 26, 2008A wrecking ball demolished a 157-year-old church in Elizabeth on Monday after decades of debate over the building’s future.
St. Michael the Archangel Church, built in 1851, closed its doors in 1987 after the Pittsburgh Diocese deemed the structure unsafe.
Long-time parishioners told WTAE Channel 4’s Jon Greiner Monday night that they believed the structure withstood time well.
"It was for the coal miners and the ship builders from Elizabeth. It stood up during the Civil War and here we are closing it," said Susan Sopko, a former parishioner. "It’s an historic landmark." A group of parishioners tried unsuccessfully to save the church, even offering to buy it, which the diocese turned down.
"That’s not what I wanted to see. We would rather have kept it a historical monument and a chapel of convenience," said J.C. Natale, a former parishioner. "We tried for 21 years and this is the end result."
Arnold Shaner took pictures of the demolition. He and five siblings were all baptized and married in the church."There’s a lot of memories in there. I was a wee guy. My mom used to sing at weddings," he said. "I spent a lot of hours in that church."
Shaner’s mother also drew the design for what was to become the Archangel Michael that stood guard over the church for decades — a guardian who is scheduled to come down Tuesday with the steeple and remainder of the church.
The Save Our Church group said its members plan further investigate the church was actually torn down without proper permits.
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Hill District deal angers Save-A-Lot executive
By Kim Leonard
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, August 20, 2008A Save-A-Lot executive is angry over a section of the new community benefits agreement for the Hill District that he views as an attempt to keep his discount grocery chain from building a store in the neighborhood.
The agreement among the One Hill Neighborhood Coalition, the Penguins and government agencies was signed Tuesday. The contract related to the new hockey arena being built at the neighborhood’s edge provides $2 million toward a grocery store and calls for “good faith efforts” to ensure the business is a full-service store with a pharmacy — and is a minimum 25,000 square feet.
Save-A-Lot discount supermarkets don’t contain pharmacies and are smaller. “It appears to us that the language was purposely drafted to specifically eliminate Save-A-Lot,” said Rick Meyer, vice president of market development for the St. Louis-based company, though Hill District officials disagreed.
Meyer emphasized yesterday that his company is ready to build a store, right away, in a neighborhood that has lacked easy access to groceries for more than two decades.
“All I am saying is that there has been noise and talk and theories and grandiose ideas for years, and no one has ever delivered,” Meyer said. “We are ready to deliver.”
Save-A-Lot wants to put a 16,850-square-foot store along Centre Avenue on land controlled by Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. Prices would run 40 percent less than those in a regular grocery store.
But Kuhn’s, a locally based supermarket chain, more recently proposed a 100,000-square-foot store on the same site that would include a pharmacy, bakery, deli, meat counter and a fresh fish section. The Kuhn’s store would be part of a larger development called Centre City Square.
Neither URA officials nor Kuhn’s representatives could be reached for comment yesterday. The URA is expected to choose one of the proposals in early September. Kuhn’s hasn’t said how quickly its store might open.
Howard Slaughter, CEO of Landmarks Community Capital Corp., has been working with Save-A-Lot and said based on the specifications in the benefits contract, the discount grocer might have to drop its plans.
“If you already know one store is under 25,000 square feet, why put that language in there?” he asked. “The document should have said a ‘quality grocery store’ irrespective of the size.”
One Hill Chairman Carl Redwood said the coalition wrote the grocery store standards into the benefits contract. A larger, full-service market “has clearly been the preference of the community for some time,” he said, adding the document doesn’t exclude Save-A-Lot.
“We would like to have both, actually,” Redwood said of the chains, which could locate in different sections of the Hill District.
Hill House CEO Evan Frazier said early drafts of the benefits agreement contained even stronger, more specific requirements for a neighborhood grocery store. They were written before Save-A-Lot came on the scene, he said.
Frazier said Save-A-Lot still should be eligible to benefit from the $1 million each that the Penguins and the URA plan to put toward a new store. Frazier said he “would hope” the URA doesn’t choose a retailer based on terms in the agreement.
Slaughter also said Kuhn’s plan for a larger store with more departments shouldn’t be the deciding factor. “Whatever supermarket goes there, other retailers will follow,” he said.
Kim Leonard can be reached at kleonard@tribweb.com or 412-380-5606.