Category Archive: Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Building owner casts wary eye on Millcraft
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 27, 2006Gerald Schiller is on yet another developer’s radar.
Over the years, whenever new developers arrived in Pittsburgh with plans for the Downtown retail corridor, they targeted at least some of the several buildings Schiller and his family own at the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Wood Street.
Now, Washington County-based Millcraft Industries wants to put a new building with loft apartments at the northeast corner of the intersection — in place of the former Bolan’s Candies building that Schiller owns. A proposal the company made to Mayor Bob O’Connor shows a rendering of a new building on that corner.
The problem is, Schiller said Friday, no one has talked with him about buying the building or working with him to redevelop it. His tenants, and at least one potential renter, want to know how long they can stay.
“It looks like they’ve got plans that are unknown to us,” Schiller said. “I wasn’t approached. I think I have every reason to be paranoid, based on the history.”
Millcraft’s long-range proposal includes nine sites on five Downtown blocks, including condos above the former G.C. Murphy’s building, an entertainment complex in Warner Centre and a three-story bookstore at the southwest corner of Forbes and Wood.
Millcraft doesn’t own all of the buildings it would need for the entire development, but it is talking with property owners about joint ventures, said Brian Walker, the Cecil company’s chief financial officer.
O’Connor wants the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority to give Millcraft the exclusive right to purchase 19 city-owned properties. The company has a temporary agreement with the URA, allowing it to market the properties to potential tenants.
The Bolan’s Candies building appears on a map the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is recirculating to remind developers which buildings it wants to save Downtown. The group sent its map to Millcraft, said Kathy McCollom, the foundation’s spokeswoman.
The preservation group compromised by accepting PNC Financial Services Group’s plan to tear down all buildings on the north side of Fifth Avenue for its Three PNC Plaza development, she said.
“We’re reminding people again,” McCollom said. “This was a consensus agreement on preservation issues.”
Walker said Millcraft has talked with representatives from the landmarks foundation.
Schiller said the Bolan’s Candies building appears on the preservation list because of its distinctive facade. Two-story arched windows with detailed masonry work cover the upper floors.
“Landmarks would go nuts about that, because they love the Bolan’s building,” Schiller said. “It’s a unique building Downtown.”
Millcraft plans to work with the landmarks foundation to determine which buildings have historic value, said Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate. He termed the company’s plan “very conceptual” beyond the URA-owned properties.
“We’re going to work with (foundation president) Art Ziegler, and of course talk to him about what’s historic and what’s not historic,” Piatt said.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.
Images and text copyright © 2006 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
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Church lot eyed for office building
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, May 26, 2006A Pittsburgh developer said Thursday it plans to build a nine-story office building designed to house medical offices and other institutional tenants at Bigelow Boulevard and Ruskin Avenue in Oakland.
The Elmhurst Group, Downtown, said the 143,000-square-foot Schenley Place complex is targeted for a parking lot owned by and adjacent to the First Baptist Church.
Construction is expected to begin as early as the fall, with the building ready for occupancy by 2008. The cost of the project has not been determined.
“During the past several years, we have focused our company’s attention on Oakland because of the strong economic generators of the universities and medical centers,” said Elmhurst President Bill Hunt.
Elmhurst’s projects include the fully occupied, six-story Rand Corp. building near St. Paul Cathedral at Fifth Avenue and Craig Street in Oakland.
It is in negotiations with Select Medical Corp., a Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County-based operator of specialty health care hospitals, to be a tenant for about 85,000 square feet.
Fully occupied, the building will be home to about 225 jobs, Hunt estimated. The project will include three levels of underground parking.
Elmhurst’s Schenley Place proposal drew objections at a recent hearing before the Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and some residents of the Schenley Farms area.
“It is our opinion the building does not meet the criteria for the Oakland Civic Center Historic District in terms of scale, size, design or context,” Cathy McCollom, the foundation’s chief program officer, said yesterday.
The group does not object to erecting a building on the site, but suggests a smaller structure, with only about 64,000 square feet, as an alternative.
“We will work very hard with the community and the Historic Review Commission to make sure the building’s design and architecture blends with the rest of the Schenley Farms neighborhood, and the adjacent properties, including the First Baptist Church,” Hunt said.
Elmhurst believes the size of the building is permitted by zoning regulations, he said.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
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Wilmerding group sees chance for renewal
By Jack Markowitz
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, May 24, 2006It’s an old company town with at least half the population gone from the glory days. But the headquarters of the company’s great founder still stands, and as the saying goes, “they don’t build ’em like that anymore.”
The question is, can a new era of civic vitality spring up around what townsfolk call “the Castle?”
That is the situation of Wilmerding, a green-hilled Turtle Creek valley community of 2,200 in eastern Allegheny County. George Westinghouse, inventor and businessman extraordinaire, employed thousands in the town making railroad brakes from the late 1800s. People can still visit the office he used until 1913, with its solid wooden desk and high bay windows.
Wilmerding Renewed Inc. is betting modern professionals will want to be his neighbor, one century removed.
Wilmerding Renewed is a nonprofit corporation of six people who, with no paid staff, are buying the Castle for $750,000 and aiming to raise $4 million over the next two years to put it on a self-sustaining economic basis. They also want to recycle a nearby school for public events, more offices and a private or charter academy. And farther out, to bring new life to rows of historic “company town” houses.
John Gagetta, chairman of Wilmerding Renewed and an energy consultant, says the town was lucky to escape the bulldozers of “redevelopment.” He expects the Castle purchase to close June 30. “We gave ourselves a smaller window than most nonprofits — only eight months — to get this done, and we’re starting with debt,” he said.
Some 75 percent of the building’s 50,000 square feet is being marketed by Aegis Realty Partners Inc. at $14 a year per square foot, including utilities and parking overlooking the town’s central park. The rate easily beats Downtown Pittsburgh. But the ornate onetime home of Westinghouse Air Brake Co. has stone and brick walls six feet thick. Fiber-optic cable can’t get in there, says Joe Tosi, of Aegis. But computers and phones work fine.
The best prospects, Tosi said, are professional offices of 200 to 2,000 square feet that might enjoy free use of elegant 1890s conference rooms. A dozen tenants already are aboard from previous management. Also up and running is a George Westinghouse Memorial Museum rich in artifacts and memories.
The current owner is APICS, acronym for an industrial training foundation in the Washington, D.C., area, whose space needs are shrinking. APICS bought the Castle for $10, a gift from the old Wabco after a merger. It was obviously regarded as a white elephant.
But in this era of blah architecture, castles can live again, says Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. A steel mill is hard to recycle, he said, but an office building “as impressive as this, on an impressive site, has a very good chance.”
Jack Markowitz can be reached at jmarkowitz@tribweb.com
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Big ideas
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 23, 2006The developer selected to revive Downtown has bigger ideas than previously disclosed.
Millcraft Industries’ sweeping $270 million vision includes reviving Warner Centre as a nightclub, putting a playground at Market Square and adding boutique offices, lofts and a three-story bookstore along Wood Street.The company eventually would like to extend a trolley line to Oakland, the North Shore and South Side Works.
The Washington County developer is pitching its ideas this week at the country’s leading retail convention in Las Vegas. Its proposal includes nine locations within a five-block area of Downtown.
“Those are things we want for Pittsburgh,” said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft’s vice president of real estate.
The first phase, a $51.7 million renovation of the former Lazarus-Macy’s building into Piatt Place, includes a high-end grocer and national chain restaurant on the first floor, condominiums and offices above, and townhomes on the roof.The lobby and model apartments are scheduled to open Wednesday, in time for an evening Downtown walking tour.
“The feeling is about as positive as it’s ever felt,” said Don Carter, president of Urban Design Associates, a Downtown company hired to propose overall changes for the business district. “It’s no longer a plan. Now we’re getting projects built. … The momentum is building.”
Millcraft first unveiled its plan in a private meeting with Mayor Bob O’Connor last month, but officials did not make the details public. The proposal extends beyond projects Millcraft already has committed to — and includes properties it does not yet own.
The development would take place in three phases and, when completed, would include 852 condominiums and apartments, 1,203 parking spaces and nearly a half-million square feet of retail and office space — about the size of Parkway Center Mall or Two PNC Plaza, Downtown.
Under the plan, cars and trucks could no longer drive through Market Square, where Millcraft proposes installing dancing fountains and a children’s playground. The company suggested holding a naming contest for the area and giving a scholarship to the winner.
“What we’re doing is trying to create the 89th neighborhood in Pittsburgh, which is what Downtown really is,” said Ira Morgan, a local developer who has partnered with Millcraft in a group called Downtown Streets Pittsburgh LP.
After seeing the proposal, O’Connor recommended the partners get exclusive rights to purchase 19 Downtown properties owned by the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. The company has a temporary agreement with the URA, allowing it to market the properties to potential tenants, said Brian Walker, Millcraft’s chief financial officer.
The group has offered two proposals for the URA properties: Either acquiring title to the properties and then sharing profits with the city, or entering into a long-term lease with the option of buying the properties later. A third option combines the two.
The URA will consider all of the options at its June 8 board meeting.
“We’re not asking for city or county subsidies,” Walker said. “We’re not asking for the properties for free. We want to pay back fair market value to the city for their investment. They’ve had to spend money to get those properties. Now it’s time for us as developers to come in and finish the job.”
Millcraft’s second phase includes three projects, mainly involving the URA properties: Market Place Square, a renovation of the former G.C. Murphy’s building; Forbes Village, a building with apartments and first-floor retail space; and Piatt Place Apartments, next to the former Lazarus-Macy’s building.
A third phase was undisclosed until now. It calls for turning Warner Centre into a film and entertainment complex, adding loft apartments next to the theater, building a $6.5 million three-level bookstore at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Wood Street, and putting boutique offices — smaller structures with high-tech amenities — across Wood Street.
Millcraft does not own all of the buildings it would need for phase three, but is talking with property owners about joint ventures, Walker said. It has not yet approached JJ Operating Co., the New York firm that owns Warner Centre, a theater turned into an office complex and food court in 1985.
“We don’t turn anybody away,” said Gary Roberson, a broker with Grant Street Associates-Cushman & Wakefield, which manages and leases office space at Warner Centre.
“If it were revived as a theater, it would help become a traffic generator,” said Arthur Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
A final conceptual phase of Millcraft’s Downtown plan includes a $76 million college housing and retail complex on Forbes Avenue for Point Park University. The school already has started a separate student housing project and has not committed to Millcraft’s proposal, a spokeswoman said.
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New eminent domain law will help renewal effort
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 21, 2006Urban renewal efforts have been good and bad, but Arthur P. Ziegler Jr. of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation believes there’s now hope for more of the good because the state has adopted a law governing the taking of private property for renewal.
Ziegler, president of the South Side-based preservationist organization, applauded when the Legislature passed and Gov. Ed Rendell this month signed two companion bills designed to clarify the state’s eminent domain law.
“We would like to see people protected from use of eminent domain,” said Ziegler. “We have seen it used or threatened frequently here, and some of the results have been negative.”
As examples, he points to efforts in the 1950s and 1960s that he calls some of the “worst cases of urban renewal we have seen.”
Those include efforts to revitalize the city’s Lower Hill District (the area near Mellon Arena), the development of Allegheny Center on the North Side, and the “Circle” in East Liberty — a project that diverted most vehicular traffic from the main Penn Avenue business district.
“And of course, the threat of it was used by the administration (of Mayor Tom Murphy) in various instances, including when he was developing plans for the Fifth-Forbes business district,” Ziegler said.
“This bill protects the rights of property owners above all other interests,” said Rendell. “Eminent domain should be used in a community’s best interests, not the specialized interests of a few.”
One section of the legislation amends the state’s eminent domain code by prohibiting, with some exceptions, an agency’s ability to take private property in order to use it for private enterprise.
It provides standards that single, blighted properties must meet before being taken by eminent domain. It also extends the criteria to include properties that are unmarketable, pose environmentally hazardous conditions, or have multiple instances of blight. Multiple properties can be taken by eminent domain if they also meet geographic conditions related to a blighted area.
The new law also says no political subdivision can use eminent domain authority against land in another municipality without the approval of the other political subdivision. It also outlines land condemnation procedures.
Real estate notes:
Permits were issued for 291 multifamily housing units in the first quarter of 2006 in the seven-county Pittsburgh area, more than double the 124 issued for the same period last year, the U.S. Census Bureau said. There also were 1,097 permits issued for single-family houses compared to 903 for the same period last year.
New office tenants in the Omni William Penn, Downtown, are the law firms of Phelan Hallinan & Schmieg, and O’Brien, Rulis, Bochicchio & Sosso, along with the investment management firm of Cookson, Peirce & Co. Inc., said Jim Jarrett, vice president, GVA Oxford, whose firm handled the leases.
Recent financing arranged by Daniel P. Puntil and Jeffrey W. Keating of LaureateCapital’s Pittsburgh office include $9.8 million for Leetsdale Industrial Park and $5.4 million for One Alexander Center, Harmar.
Electronic recording of mortgages and mortgage assignments is available at the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds office. The system, through a secure network, allows documents to be received in the Recorder’s office, recorded and electronically returned to the submitter within minutes. Normal fees are paid by the submitter, either electronically or by mail or personal presentation. Plans call for electronic recording of mortgage satisfactions and, eventually, deeds. The system is also available in Westmoreland, Philadelphia, Chester and Lancaster counties.
Next Level Purchasing Inc. has moved its headquarters into 1315 Coraopolis Heights Road, Moon Township.
School Facility Development Inc., whose offices are at 24 S. 18th St., South Side, has purchased an office building at 1631 Monroeville Ave., Turtle Creek, for $1.55 million from Errol S. and Linda Abdulla, according to a deed filed with the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds.
David Stoehr of Stoehr Development Inc. wants the state to provide $2.5 million in grants to clean up the 17-acre Fort Bridge property in Canonsburg, where he wants to develop the $23 million Fort Pitt Industrial Park. Stoehr wants to demolish 400,000 square feet of heavy industrial facilities by the end of 2006 and put up six buildings. The project has received a $130,000 state planning grant. Stoehr developed Meadow Lands Industrial Park, also in Washington County.
Gannett Fleming’s Youghiogheny Reservoir Alternate Steel Bridge won the Association for Bridge Construction and Design, Susquehanna Chapter Award in the Outstanding New Multi-Span Bridge category. Located in Fayette and Somerset counties, the bridge features spans exceeding 230 feet.
The second House to Home Fireplace & Pool Shoppe in the region has opened at 100 McClure Rd., Monroeville, said owner Walter Sedlock, who opened the first in Jeannette.
Sam Spatter contributed to this report.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907. -
Millcraft gets stab at city’s heart
By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 18, 2006Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O’Connor has tapped a Washington County developer to spearhead a $121 million residential and retail revitalization in the heart of Downtown.
O’Connor said he would recommend that Millcraft Industries’ father-and-son team of Jack and Lucas Piatt have exclusive rights to develop 19 vacant and dilapidated properties owned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.“I believe Jack Piatt and his son, Lucas, have the same vision I do,” O’Connor said. “I believe what’s happening today will reaffirm that this is a city on the move.”
The project will include:
A $21 million rehabilitation of the G.C. Murphy Building, to include 50 apartments and condominiums, 25,000 square feet of retail space and 50 parking spots. The historic building at Fifth Avenue and Market Square would be called “Marketplace.”
A new $50 million Forbes Avenue building, to be called “Forbes Village,” with 150 residential units and 20,000 square feet of retail space.
A previously announced $52 million renovation of the former Lazarus-Macy’s building, which will house a specialty grocery store, other retailers, office space and upscale condominiums.
Squirrel Hill developer Ira Morgan, O’Connor’s former campaign treasurer and financial backer, and retail brokers CB Richard Ellis and Langholz Wilson Ellis, will work with the Piatts to attract retailers and plan construction, which could be finished within two years.
The URA is scheduled to vote on O’Connor’s recommendation June 8.Authority officials will negotiate purchase prices for the properties.
“We see this as a great opportunity to get on the bandwagon of the positive momentum that’s here in Pittsburgh,” Lucas Piatt said. “We know that the mayor made the right decision.”
Millcraft’s plans are less grandiose than what the Piatts offered O’Connor during a meeting April 18, when Piatt detailed a renovation effort calling for the construction of 850 residential units and 250,000 square feet of retail space. That could still happen, Lucas Piatt said.
O’Connor said a key factor in his choice of Millcraft over competing developer Ralph Falbo was the Piatts’ financial wherewithal to work fast.
“I want to move quickly. I think it’s been sitting too long,” O’Connor said.
Falbo said he will continue to develop properties Downtown. He said the Piatts’ plan seems to emphasize housing – something he believes is critical to long-term economic success. “Unless you have people, the retail won’t last,” he said.
Falbo said he’s pulling for the Piatts.
“We don’t want to see anybody fail,” he said. “The most important thing is to come out of the chute with a success. A black eye for Downtown wouldn’t help anyone.”
Hugh “Herky” Pollock of CB Richard Ellis said the mayor’s endorsement strengthens Millcraft’s chances of attracting top retailers. The Piatts wanted O’Connor’s OK in time for this month’s International Shopping Center Convention in Las Vegas, where they plan to court retailers.
Pollock said it’s premature to guess what stores might come to Pittsburgh.
O’Connor said the URA will establish a series of development and construction deadlines that Millcraft must meet. O’Connor and other Downtown development officials plan to meet Friday and Saturday with Downtown-based Urban Design Associates to work on a master development plan.
Michael Edwards, CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, applauded the Piatts’ plans and said the mayor and the partnership are committed to making the city’s Downtown the most robust in the nation.
“It’s a great day for Pittsburgh,” Edwards said.
Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.
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Developer may pass up bid for Fifth-Forbes job
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 9, 2006Yet another national retail developer appears to be losing interest in Pittsburgh’s main retail corridor after spending months studying ways to bring the area back to life, Mayor Bob O’Connor said Monday.
Madison-Marquette, based in Washington, D.C., would become the fourth suitor to pass on remaking the area since 1999. A company spokesman declined to comment.“I don’t think Madison-Marquette is interested any more in the project,” O’Connor said.
That would leave two local developers — Millcraft Industries in Washington County and a group headed by Pittsburgh businessman Ralph Falbo. O’Connor said he does not know of any other group seeking to redevelop the Fifth and Forbes corridor.
Shortly after taking office in January, O’Connor said he wanted to be “wowed” by Madison-Marquette’s proposal. But the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has been unable to set up a meeting for the company to present its plans to the mayor.
Herb Burger, who headed a task force that helped bring Madison-Marquette to Pittsburgh, said he would be disappointed if the company decides not to work on the project. He served on the Pittsburgh Task Force, a group created by former Mayor Tom Murphy.
“The Downtown market needs all the intelligent development it can get,” Burger said.
The city’s retail center has faced a series of setbacks dating to 1999, when Murphy dropped a $522 million proposal by Urban Retail Properties, of Chicago. The plan fizzled under pressure from existing Downtown businesses and historic preservationists.
Kravco Co., of King of Prussia, Montgomery County, took a shot at redevelopment next, but bowed out in January 2004 when it was bought by mall developer Simon Properties. A Philadelphia group, Dranoff Properties, studied the Downtown core for months before passing on a bid to redevelop it last summer.
In the meantime, two department stores — Lord & Taylor and Lazarus-Macy’s — failed despite receiving large public subsidies to open Downtown locations.
Millcraft’s plan for Downtown includes a $269 million project with 852 housing units, 200,000 square feet of retail space and 45,000 square feet of office space. The proposal includes Piatt Place, a $49 million renovation of the former Lazarus-Macy’s department store already under way.
The developer wants an exclusive deal to develop 19 URA-owned properties in time to make a May 24 presentation at the International Shopping Center Convention in Las Vegas.
“We need time to prepare for that convention,” said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft’s vice president of real estate. “It’s really close. We might lose a year.”
Falbo has proposed a $75 million to $100 million development that would place a food market on the first floor of the former G.C. Murphy Co. building and up to 40 rental and/or condominium units above.
“The difficult part is how big, national firms look at it — as a one-shot deal to do the whole corridor,” Falbo said. “I happen to think it’s going to take a lot of work. This is not developing a mall in the suburbs.”
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.
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Forbes Field remnants restored
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 6, 2006Pirates fans and historic preservationists with a fondness for Forbes Field are making sure what remains of the old ballpark will look its best when thousands of people stream into the city for the Major League All-Star Game in July.
Work has begun to restore the remnants of the red-brick wall along Roberto Clemente Drive in Oakland in preparation for a ceremony to unveil a marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
The marker ceremony is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. July 7, including live music, “ballpark” style refreshments and a “throwback” youth baseball game at nearby Mazeroski Field featuring players wearing historic jerseys from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Crawfords, and the Homestead Grays.
The All-Star game will be played July 11 at PNC Park on the North Side.
“We’re hoping that the celebration on July 7 will help focus attention — and draw community and financial support — for showcasing the wall, which is an important part of Pittsburgh’s history,” said state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park. Ferlo has been spearheading efforts to turn the area around the wall into a “walk of fame” with plaques, benches, decorative historic lighting and possibly an interactive kiosk to inform and entertain visitors.
The city of Pittsburgh, which has owned the wall since 1971, awarded a $25,615 contract to Franco Construction to repoint the brick, replace missing terra cotta caps, resurface the concrete pilasters that divide sections of the wall and refurbish and paint the flag pole.
Organizers also are considering installing a clay gravel warning track at the base of the wall to prevent mud from splashing up on the brick and make it easier for visitors to get closer to the wall.
Most of the restoration cost is covered by a state Department of Community and Economic Development grant Ferlo helped obtain on behalf of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
Last June, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a marker near the wall dedicated to Barney Dreyfuss, the Pirates owner who built Forbes Field in 1909. Dreyfuss also is credited with “inventing” the World Series in 1903, when the Boston Pilgrims, champions of the newly formed American League, accepted a challenge to meet his National League champion Pirates in a postseason tournament.
The Pirates lost.
A marker also is imbedded in the spot where Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski’s bottom of the ninth home run sailed over the wall at 3:36 p.m. Oct. 13, 1960, to defeat the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series.
Since 1985, members of the Society for American Baseball Research have gathered each Oct. 13 to celebrate Mazeroski’s legendary home run.
The home plate from the last game played at Forbes Field June 28, 1970, is preserved under Lucite in nearby Posvar Hall on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com .
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review