Category Archive: Preservation News
-
Firms Pitch Building Plans for Garden Theater Area
By Bill Vidonic
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, July 20, 2010The owner of a central North Side business only wanted to hear one issue addressed Monday about the redevelopment of the block surrounding the vacant Garden Theater.
“Parking, parking, parking,” said Irene Karavolos, co-owner of Steve’s New York Hot Dogs on Federal Street. “You can’t bring in more businesses when little businesses already are starving for parking.”
More than 200 people crowded into an auditorium at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to hear several proposals for the block surrounding the former X-rated theater, with five developers promising to spend tens of millions of dollars to revitalize the blighted section of the North Side.
All submitted proposals calling for a mix of retail and residential development; two called for the partial or complete destruction of the vacant Garden Theater auditorium.
Kirk Burkley, president of Northside Tomorrow, which is coordinating redevelopment efforts, said the Garden wouldn’t vanish entirely under any of the proposals. City and national historical designations mean the building’s facade must be preserved.
“This project affects more than just the central North Side,” Burkley said.
North Side resident Matt Long said he’d like to see the Garden restored as an independent filmhouse.
“I don’t think retail would be what I’d put there,” Long said.
Tom Hardy, a consultant with Northside Tomorrow, said a decision could come in the next couple of months.
“We have some momentum now,” Hardy said. “There’s an interest in keeping that momentum going.”
North Side visionsDevelopment proposals for the Garden Theater block:
• Barron Commercial Real Estate, Pittsburgh: Demolish the former Garden Theater auditorium, but preserve and restore the remaining historic properties into a mix of housing and retail development.
• Wells and Company, Spokane, Wash.: Restore the Garden Theater auditorium for a performing arts center; build apartments in the former Masonic building, along with a first-floor restaurant/brew pub; and restore buildings along West North Avenue and Reddour Street.
• Zukin Development Corp., Philadelphia: Create retail space, including a specialty grocery store, by demolishing part of the Garden Theater; create retail space and apartments in the Masonic Hall, the Bradberry apartment building and other properties.
• Aaron Stubna and William Porco, Coraopolis: Convert the Garden into a multi-purpose theater hosting live entertainment and films.
• Resaca LLC, Pittsburgh: Redevelop the Bradberry into 16 one-bedroom apartments.
Source: Northside Tomorrow LLC
-
$17.5 Million for Steel Heritage Sought
dBy Matthew Santoni, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, July 17, 2010
National heritage park promoters want a ramp built at the Rankin Bridge to provide better access to the former Carrie Furnace (background). Sidney Davis | Tribune-Review
Allegheny County officials are hoping the federal government will invest $17.5 million in a project to turn a former steelmaking site into a national heritage park and build a ramp at the Rankin Bridge to lead visitors to it.
The county, city of Pittsburgh, Port Authority and Port of Pittsburgh Commission are among agencies seeking a share of $600 million in transportation grants that would fund projects to reduce congestion, promote economic activity or improve livability.
At Carrie Furnace, the county wants to build a “flyover” ramp from the interchange at the foot of the Rankin Bridge to carry traffic above four railroad tracks that isolated the former steel mill.
“The (current) access is good for emergency vehicles and some other traffic, but it’s over two sets of active railroad tracks, and you’d have to wind your way back there on a couple of little, local streets,” said Bob Hurley, deputy director of the county’s Department of Economic Development.
The county wants to redevelop 148 acres that once housed the blast furnaces along the Monongahela River in Rankin, part of the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works. The project would include homes, offices and light industry, along with a park commemorating the Mon Valley’s industrial heritage, Hurley said.
The Homestead-based Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, which took over the furnaces, wants to offer public tours of the site to drum up support for a museum, said Sherris Moreira, director of marketing and tourism development. Built in 1907 of steel plate and brick, the Carrie Furnaces No. 6 and 7 tower 92 feet above the river as examples of pre-World War II iron-making technology. They are the only non-operative blast furnaces remaining in Pittsburgh. In the 1950s and ’60s, they produced up to 1,250 tons of iron a day.
The county tried to get stimulus money for the project and did not; that application asked for $60 million and included a plan to convert an old bridge over the Mon for cars and pedestrians going to Route 837 and The Waterfront. Officials will still try to get money for the bridge, Hurley said.
The $600 million in transportation grants will be awarded in fall. Others seeking money:
• Port of Pittsburgh Commission, as a government partner for river industries. Cecil-based Consol Energy Inc. wants $44 million to add a coal storage area to its Alicia Docks near Brownsville, and Three Rivers Marine and Rail Terminal near Charleroi wants $1.5 million to upgrade railroad connections. The companies would invest matching money.
• The Port Authority of Allegheny County might reapply for money to start its “Better Bus” or “Rapid Bus” initiative, said spokesman Jim Ritchie. The authority plans to convert nine routes to “rapid bus” service that would have fewer stops, use ticket machines at bus stops instead of fare boxes on buses and get priority at traffic signals in order to make faster trips to Pittsburgh International Airport, Downtown, Oakland, the East End and the Mon Valley.
-
North Side Theater is “Spruced Up” — for Hollywood
By Bill Vidonic
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, July 16, 2010
Workers are transforming the old Garden Theater and surrounding buildings in the North Side into a seedy city block of Trenton, N.J., in preparation for filming next week of the movie "One for the Money," starring Katherine Heigl. JC Schisler | Tribune-Review
More than one person passing the former Garden Theater in the North Side did a double-take Thursday, likely wondering whether a decade of working to rid the block of porn establishments suddenly reversed.
Workers replaced the neon on the old X-rated theater’s dilapidated sign. Next door, a painter finished the words “Adult Books and Videos” on the old Apache Bar facade, while others put finishing touches on the Trenton Tattoo parlor, complete with neon lights and spray-painted graffiti.
“(Former) Mayor Murphy took a nap, and here’s what happened,” painter Darien D’Alfonso joked.
Turns out it’s just movie magic.
A production crew for the film “One For the Money” starring Katherine Heigl is transforming the blighted city block into a seedy Trenton, N.J., street; filming starts Wednesday.
That means bringing the exterior of the Garden back to life and creating fake businesses, including a hoagie shop, from vacant storefronts.
“From our perspective, it’s quite ironic, but at the same time it’s exciting,” said Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. “There are good positive things happening in that area.”
The city spent millions in a lengthy legal battle to clear dilapidated buildings from the section of North Avenue near Allegheny General Hospital before it bought the Garden for $1.1 million in 2007.
“I think it’s great if it’s bringing the city some money,” neighbor Laurie Charlton said about the movie production. “Everybody in the neighborhood is excited about this block coming back to life.”
The Northside Leadership Conference is accepting redevelopment proposals for the Garden and surrounding buildings. A meeting about the redevelopment is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday in the Children’s Museum.
“It’s a new day there soon,” Doven said.
For a little while longer, though, it will look like the old days.
“I think it’s kinda stupid,” North Side resident William McCue said. “They could have just been here three or four years ago, and everything would have been open for them.”
-
Latrobe Considers Trails Linking to Saint Vincent
Thursday, July 15, 2010By Candy WoodallLatrobe foundation and city leaders are deciding how to establish a trail system that would link the region’s educational, recreational and industrial institutions.
The first step is creating a 2-mile trail from Saint Vincent College in Unity to neighboring Latrobe to provide a connection for the campus’ 2,000 students to the city’s business district.
It’s part of an effort to revitalize the community, according to Ron Weimer, who wears two hats as chairman of the Latrobe Community Revitalization Program and chairman of the Latrobe Planning Commission.
Reaching out to the college has been a goal of the revitalization program for a long time, he said.
Drafts for the trail include utilizing two of the college’s greatest assets — and Westmoreland County’s most famous names — and connecting them to the city’s biggest park.
The school’s Fred M. Rogers Center and Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve would tie in to the proposed trail, and patrons would be able to walk, jog or bike to the 52-acre Legion Keener Park in the heart of Latrobe’s business district. Those on foot or bicycle could then connect to the park trails there.
And those trails may be extending as well. Plans are in the works throughout Latrobe and Derry Township to lay down a trail system that would run along Loyalhanna Creek up to Keystone State Park and the Loyalhanna Gorge.
Early funding — which paid for the Saint Vincent to Latrobe viability study — was provided by the Port of Pittsburgh Commission and the McFeely-Rogers Foundation. The commission awarded a $16,000 grant and the foundation provided $4,000 to finance the $20,000 study conducted by Pittsburgh-based Pashek Associates.
Jim Pashek, president of Pashek, said his firm’s job was to find a feasible way to get from the college to downtown, and that was fraught with some challenges.
The plan features options of how to have the $2.2 million trail — which would largely be funded by foundation grants and private money — bypass the busy Route 981.
One option calls for building a bicycle bridge, and another would use streets parallel to the highway to form the crushed-stone trail, which is designed for traffic by feet, bicycles, strollers and wheelchairs, but not skateboards.
With volunteer work and in-kind services, Mr. Pashek said project costs could be reduced by $482,000. And if the trail parallels the highway, the costs could be reduced by $700,000.
Latrobe’s foundation and commission leaders will have to decide which path the trail should take and will then secure private funding to construct it, Mr. Weimer said.
Mr. Pashek’s firm has worked on dozens of trail projects throughout the region, and he said the popularity is growing.
Mr. Weimer said there’s no question trails are popular in Latrobe.
“All you see are cars around here with racks to haul bikes,” he said.
That popularity inspired the McFeely-Rogers Foundation to support the trail project as it has always had a vested interested in parks and recreation, according to James R. Okonak, executive director at that organization and vice president of the Latrobe Foundation.
“We feel recreation enhances the quality of life,” he said.
“Because of the state of the economy, people can’t always afford to go to the beach for a week or two anymore, so they sort of hunker down and rely on local activities,” he said.
Municipalities are also struggling through the poor financial climate, and the new trail will offer another way to attract a young demographic to Latrobe.
Students will have a choice of restaurants and businesses to go to, as well as a “fantastic arts center,” Mr. Okonak said.
“Anything that helps to connect us with the community of Latrobe to make the city more accessible to our students is all very positive,” said Don Orlando, the college’s spokesman.
Mr. Okonak said he can’t ignore all the Steelers traffic during training camp.
“Maybe the connection would be that fans would come to practice and then bike into the city center,” he said.
His sights are set on even bigger things. He said he sees an opportunity with an abandoned Norfolk Southern rail line parallel to Lincoln Avenue.
That slice of the city can be developed into a dog park and walking/jogging area, he said. City leaders have engaged in talks with the rail company to take over the property.
“And there’s also a thought of taking the trail parallel to the Loyalhanna Creek through Derry to connect to Keystone [State Park] and up to the Loyalhanna Dam,” he said.
Not only are trails a hot topic in Latrobe, they’re gaining popularity all over the state. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has given out “multiple millions of dollars” in grant money to fund trail work, said Chris Novak, press secretary.
The state’s 281 trails span nearly 7,000 miles and provide “a good, family activity that’s not expensive,” she said.
With high gas prices, it’s also being looked at as an alternative to getting around, she said.
It’s also looked at as a way to bring in visitors to an area to spend money.
Several businesses, ranging from ice cream parlors to produce stands to bike shops, are popping up along trails and can be a large part of what spurs the economic benefit, said Mike Kuzemchak, program director at the Ligonier branch of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
Multi-use trails are extremely popular throughout the Laurel Highlands and attract a diversity of people, he said.
That diversity of traffic is good for the ecosystem and is what attracted the Port of Pittsburgh to provide a grant for the Saint Vincent to Latrobe project.
Jim McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh, said his organization has a small grant program that awards between $5,000 and $20,000 to make improvements along streams and waterways in the region.
That the Saint Vincent/Latrobe project may spur growth along the Loyalhanna Creek and beyond is very inviting to Mr. McCarville.
The surge in interest in trails, many of which locally are along rivers and streams, proves that people want to reconnect with waterways and see them as an attractive resource.
“Each trail has its own charm and beauty, and linking the college with the downtown area will create a very attractive place for recreation,” he said.
-
Former Turtle Creek High School’s Architecture, Importance Honored
By Tom Fontaine
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 15, 2010
On Saturday, officials will unveil two historical markers that commemorate the former Turtle Creek High School building's architectural significance and role in the community. Officials debated about demolishing the building five years ago, but a group led by former graduates Jill Hinkle, Bob Mock, Jeanne Flaherty and Connie Morenzi led vocal opposition. The Classical Revival-style, cream-colored brick building with stone and terra cotta trim was designed by Pittsburgh architect George Henry Schwan. Jasmine Goldband | Tribune-Review
The former Turtle Creek High School building has gone by several names and narrowly avoided the wrecking ball to remain a community centerpiece since opening during World War I.
On Saturday, officials will unveil two historical markers that commemorate the Monroeville Avenue building’s architectural significance and role in the community.
Although the markers were installed last week, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places three years ago and received historic designation last fall from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
“It basically validates what people in Turtle Creek have felt all along,” said councilwoman Jill Henkel of the markers. Henkel is a 1978 graduate of the former Turtle Creek High School and one of four Turtle Creek natives who led a push to obtain historical designation for the building.
Ground was broken on the $200,000 building in August 1917, and it opened in February 1919 as Union High School, with students from Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, East Pittsburgh and parts of nine other communities, according to documents related to the National Register of Historic Places designation.
The Classical Revival-style, cream-colored brick building with stone and terra cotta trim was designed by Pittsburgh architect George Henry Schwan. He also designed the Twentieth Century Club’s original building in Oakland, the former Oakmont High School and laid out plans for factory-worker developments in Aliquippa and Akron, Ohio.
The building wasn’t home to just high school classes.
Westinghouse employees trained at night in classrooms and vocational shops. Women used school sewing machines after hours to earn money during the Great Depression. And the school’s large lawn provided “the only open green space in the borough,” Henkel said.
“Even today, people are always playing in it,” Henkel said of the lawn. “It’s basically a community park.”
The school would hit a peak enrollment of more than 2,100 students in the 1930s. Also in that decade, after East Pittsburgh and Wilmerding opened their own high schools, Union’s name was changed to Turtle Creek High School. In 1940, the school graduated just 365 students.
When Turtle Creek became part of the newly created Woodland Hills School District in the 1980s, the building became the new district’s East Junior High. Officials debated about demolishing the building five years ago, but a group led by former graduates Hinkle, Bob Mock, Jeanne Flaherty and Connie Morenzi led vocal opposition.
Ultimately, the district moved East Junior High students elsewhere and mothballed the Turtle Creek building for the 2008-09 school year; it reopened last August, housing the district’s new Woodland Hills Academy for elementary students.
“I would have laid down in front of the bulldozer if they tried to tear down the building,” said Mock, a 1968 graduate.
The unveiling of the marker, part of Turtle Creek Community Days festivities, begins at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at 126 Monroeville Ave.
-
Greening the South Side: Residents Plant Nearly Two Dozen Street Trees
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
South Side Tree Planting Program
South Side will begin to look greener in the spring thanks to Kim Collins.
Back in March, she and a friend were talking over wine one night, trying to think of something they could do in their community. “And we came up with trees,” says Collins. “I live on Wharton Street and there was, like, one tree on my block.”
Collins, who is the owner and creative director of South Side-based graphic design firm Blue Tomato, worked to create the South Side Pittsburgh Tree Project with the help of neighbors and nearly 45 volunteers.
In October, they planted 21 trees ranging from maples to lilacs on the 1900 block of Wharton Street.
To start the project, Collins researched and found the TreeVitalize program, a partnership between five organizations including the city, county and state and two nonprofits, including the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The goal of the program, according to its website, is to “plant 20,000 trees by 2012 throughout the Pittsburgh region in order to improve quality of life and the environment.”
Once assisted by TreeVitalize, Collins and other leaders went door-to-door asking residents if they would water and take care of trees if the South Side Pittsburgh Tree Project took care of planting. Twenty-one residents agreed to this arrangement for the first planting.
Riverset Credit Union aided the project by paying for the website and marketing, as well as a banner on Sarah and 11th Streets that asks, “Want A Free Tree?”
The South Side Pittsburgh Tree Project wants add at least 300 to 400 more trees in the South Side over the next four years.
Currently, 4,500 trees have been planted in Allegheny County through TreeVitalize.
Sign up to receive Pop City each week.
Writer: Pop City Staff
Source: Kim Collins, South Side Pittsburgh Tree ProjectImage courtesy of South Side Pittsburgh Tree Project
-
Rain Barrels and Rain Gardens: Nine Mile Run Watershed Association Looks Ahead
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Nine Mile Run
This Saturday night, the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association (NMRWA) will celebrate another year of progress at their annual fundraiser.
In lower Frick Park, near the confluence of the Fern Hollow and Nine Mile Run streams, “A Midsummer Night’s Storm” will include food and drink from Point Brugge Café and Make Your Mark Artspace & Coffeehouse. Rick Sebak, the Mon River Ramblers, J. Malls and Hi Top Wrangler will be on hand for the festivities.
The goal will be to raise funds for the association’s environmental stewardship programs, including the Rain Barrel Initiative and Rain Garden Pilot Project.
One of the environmental challenges in the Pittsburgh area is that rain storms cause runoff that brings chemicals and pollutants from our streets and sewers down into the rivers. The Association has been battling that by introducing rain barrels and teaching homeowners to develop rain gardens to keep rainfall on their own property.
“We now have over 1300 rain barrels just in our watershed alone, which is probably one of the highest densities for a rain barrel program in the country,” says Lisa Brown, director of operations and outreach at NMRWA. “Within the watershed, we install and we maintain them. And we continually keep in contact with the rain barrel owners,” to create an ongoing relationship of outreach and teaching.
The Rain Garden project is “sort of a separate project because many, many people don’t necessarily want to use rain barrels. They are interested in something that is, I guess, more aesthetically appealing,” Brown says. “So we teach them to disconnect downspouts and create a rain garden, as part of a suite of options for homeowners.”
Pop City Media
Writer: Melissa Rayworth
Source: Lisa Brown, NMRWA
Images courtesy of NMRWA -
Could New Teams Save Old Mellon Arena?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteFor some, it’s a pipe dream. For Aubrey Bruce, it’s a mission.
A former music promoter, Mr. Bruce hopes to save Mellon Arena by recruiting an arena football team, a Women’s National Basketball Association team and an American Basketball Association team to play there.
It’s debatable which is the biggest challenge.
Still, Mr. Bruce, who writes sports columns for the New Pittsburgh Courier, has formed Seastorm Sports Management Group with hopes of salvaging Mellon Arena by recruiting teams to play under its iconic silver dome.
“We understand that it is going to be a hard road to climb,” he acknowledged.
Mr. Bruce has talked to Rob Pfaffmann, the Downtown architect who is leading the effort to save the Igloo about his ideas. He also plans to make a presentation to the city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority as part of the historic review process, but has yet to do so. He said his main objective is to rescue Mellon Arena, which was slated for demolition as part of a plan by the Penguins to redevelop the property with offices, residences and commercial ventures.
“Our goal is to save the Civic Arena,” he said. “It’s symbolic of Pittsburgh shedding its industrial skin and moving into the electronic age. It’s a very important symbol, I think, of Pittsburgh.”
Mr. Bruce has had some preliminary contact with the Arena Football League about his idea, but has yet to talk to Commissioner Jerry Kurz or an owner or prospective owner with any interest in placing a team in Pittsburgh.
However, Mr. Kurz, at a news conference in February, did say that the 15-team reconstituted league, under new leadership after folding last year, had an interest in expanding into Pittsburgh and several other cities by 2011.
Linnea Coulter, manager of media services for the Arena Football League, said she had talked to Mr. Bruce about a month and a half ago and forwarded his information to Mr. Kurz. She said she has not heard anything since then.
Mr. Bruce has had no formal contact with the WNBA, but said he had spoken with a marketing representative with the affiliated National Basketball Association. He said he also had talked to Joe Newman, the American Basketball Association CEO. The ABA currently has a team in Pittsburgh, the Phantoms, which played at Carnegie Library in Homestead last season.
Neither Mr. Newman nor Ron Howard, director of WNBA communications, could be reached for comment.
While Mr. Bruce readily acknowledges that he has yet to get anything close to a commitment from any of the leagues, he believes teams would be interested in playing in a redesigned Mellon Arena with seating for 5,000 to 6,000 people.
He is hoping the SEA, which owns the old building, will issue a moratorium that would prevent any demolition for at least a year.
There are big obstacles, however. Unclear is who would pay the millions of dollars to renovate Mellon Arena or foot the bill for the costs of operating and maintaining it. The SEA has estimated that insurance and utility costs alone could run as much as $100,000 a month. Mr. Bruce believes rent from the teams would pay part of it.
The former promoter also may have to battle the Penguins ownership, which isn’t keen about the idea of keeping two arenas side by side. And an arena football team could fill open dates at the new arena.
Penguins President David Morehouse said Tuesday that revenues from arena football and WNBA and ABA basketball would not pay for the cost of redoing and maintaining the arena.
“If an arena football team came to Pittsburgh, they would want to play in the brand new Consol Energy Center,” he said.
Mr. Morehouse also questioned the viability of plans floated in an effort to save Mellon Arena. “There are all kind of cockamamy ideas out there. The question is: Does anyone have anything that’s financially viable?” he asked.