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Category Archive: Preservation News

  1. Public Hearing Before the Planning Commission of the City of Pittsburgh on the Workingman’s Savings Bank City Historic Structure Nomination

    PREPARED TESTIMONY OF

    ANNE E. NELSON, ESQ.

    GENERAL COUNSEL

    PITTSBURGH HISTORY & LANDMARKS FOUNDATION

    BEFORE THE PLANNING COMMISSION, CITY OF PITTSBURGH

    ON THE WORKINGMAN’S SAVINGS BANK

    CITY HISTORIC STRUCTURE NOMINATION

    FEBRUARY 26, 2008

     

                Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation urges the Planning Commission to recommend to the City Council the designation of the Workingman’s Savings Bank as a City Historic Structure.

                The Workingman’s Savings Bank is the anchor building on the west corner of E. Ohio Street; the historic Teutonia Mannerchor serves as the east anchor.   Removing an anchor building, one of the original elements remaining on that side of East Deutschtown, will have a detrimental impact on the neighborhood.  Designating the property to City Historic Structure status will not only ensure its preservation, it will encourage the future development of the area to be consistent with the size, scale, design and character of the surrounding neighborhood. This designation will have a positive impact on the adjacent properties and the surrounding neighborhood by promoting the proper redevelopment of the area.

                Furthermore, the incorporation of the building into a larger development is a viable option that may benefit the owner through the use of federal historic preservation tax incentives. The Workingman’s Savings Bank was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 1986.  Buildings listed on or eligible for the National Register may qualify for a 20% historic rehabilitation tax credit.  A property owner may also donate a preservation easement to a qualified organization to receive a charitable contribution deduction.  The combination of these two historic preservation tax incentives has successfully been used on developments in Pittsburgh including the Heinz Lofts and the Armstrong Cork Factory.  Our organization would be interested in receiving one.  If not eligible for the National Register, a 10% tax credit is also available for substantial rehabilitation costs since the building was constructed prior to 1936.

                Finally, I would like to present a letter dated February 11, 2008 from Christopher Ponticello, Legal Counsel for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, that states the Diocese has received no payment from the successful purchaser of the building in exchange for the Diocese to relinquish its rights to the property.  The Diocese’s attorney should be contacted for more information.

                Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation supports the nomination of the Workingman’s Savings Bank to a City Historic Structure.

  2. Vote on closing Schenley High School delayed

    By Bill Zlatos
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Thursday, February 21, 2008

    City schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said he delayed a vote on closing Schenley High School to give supporters time to raise money to fix it and to study if it would be cheaper in the long run to repair the structure.

    “We think it is indeed worth the time and exploration,” Roosevelt told members of the school board at Wednesday’s agenda review meeting. “It does not imply a decision has been made either way.”

    Roosevelt said the district is studying whether it would be more cost-effective to fix Schenley because of its sturdy construction compared to a more recent building that might not last as long.

    The Oakland school has 1,086 students and was built in 1916. Roosevelt last year recommended closing Schenley because of the $64.3 million cost of renovating it and removing its asbestos.

    The board yesterday discussed his proposal to make a couple of moves he believes necessary whether Schenley is permanently closed or temporarily shut down for repairs.

    Those actions, to be voted on Feb. 27, involve moving Schenley students in grades 10 through 12 to Reizenstein in East Liberty in the fall. At the same time, the 174 students in the robotics technology program at Schenley would be relocated to Peabody High School in East Liberty.

    Ninth-graders from Schenley’s feeder pattern would go to a University Prep School at Milliones in the Hill District. Eventually Milliones would expand to a grade 6-12 school.

    Ninth-graders in the International Baccalaureate and international studies programs, both of which are at Schenley, would go to Frick School in Oakland.

    Board member Sherry Hazuda questioned whether it would make more sense to keep Schenley open while fixing it as opposed to shutting it down.

    Richard Fellers, chief operations officer, warned that fixing Schenley while leaving part of the school open could endanger students from falling plaster.

    “We think it would be cost-effective, faster and removes the health risk” to close the building, he said.

    At one point, Roosevelt and board member Mark Brentley became involved in a heated exchange when Brentley criticized the move of black students from the Hill District to Milliones.

    “We take very seriously our obligation to better serve kids that the data tell us are not doing well off,” Roosevelt said.

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

  3. The Allegheny Historic Preservation Society Holds Tiffany Concert Series

    The Allegheny Historic Preservation Society, Inc. presents the sixteenth season of the Tiffany Concert Series to help raise funds for it’s preservation efforts.

    Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 4pm
    A Pittsburgh Jazz Retrospective
    Performers: Mike Tomaro and the Duquesne University Jazz Ensemble

    Sunday April 27, 2008 at 4 pm
    World Music Medley
    Performers: James & Sylvia Kalal
    World Class Celebrity Acoustic Guitarists

    Sunday May 18, 2008 at 4 pm
    South Hills Chorale in Concert
    Performers: Music Director, Henry D. Monsch Jr. with the South Hills Chorale and Jazz Ensemble

    Individual Ticket Price:

    General $10.00
    Seniors $8.00
    Students $5.00

    Location:

    Calvary United Methodist Church in The Historic Allegheny West,
    971 Beech Ave. Pittsburgh, PA

    For information call (412) 323-1070

  4. Millions could go to revamp landmark Union Trust Building

    By Ron DaParma
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Tuesday, February 19, 2008

    An investment group that paid $24.1 million to buy the ornate Union Trust Building plans to spend “several million dollars” more to bring the landmark structure back to life.

    The group, led by executives of the Mika Realty Group in Los Angeles, promises to refurbish the nearly empty, block-long structure at 501 Grant St., Downtown, and restock its 595,000-plus square feet of rentable space with new office and retail tenants.

    “We really want to bring something wonderful to the city. This is a once-in-a-lifetime location. The building is irreplaceable, so we want to get it right,” said Rick Barreca, CEO of Mika Realty.

    “I’d like to see a retail bank come into the ground floor, and I’d like to see a nice restaurant,” said Barreca. “We want to have a mix that everybody in the building will be able to take advantage of, and that people in the surrounding area will be happy to come to.”

    Hopes are that Larrimor’s, the upscale clothing retailer that occupies a prominent corner at Grant Street and Fifth Avenue, will continue its long relationship with the building, he said.
    Barreca is one of the investors in the group headed Michael Kamen, founder of privately held Mika, and a business associate, Gerson Fox of Los Angeles.

    They’ve hired the Pittsburgh-area architectural firm of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates to design the upgrade.

    Plans are to clean the building’s facade and install new exterior lighting, signage and new windows on the ground level retail area that rings the building, topping them with decorative glass awnings. The building would get its first on-site parking with 60 new spaces planned on one of its two sub-basement levels accessible from William Penn Place.

    Planned lobby improvements include a new security desk, benches and a new lighting package to brighten space underneath the colorful rotunda. Lighting will highlight ceiling mosaic tiles and stained glass above several building entry points.

    “We’re working with a historic consultant on the exterior to be careful not to disturb any of the historic features,” Kosar said.

    “We’re also looking at adding new artwork and possibly some displays that could be changed seasonally, Barreca said.

    The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is happy with Mika’s plans for the building, said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the South Side preservationist organization. The foundation has offered to work with the developers to help them secure historic tax credits for some of the renovation work, if the group decides to pursue them, he said.

    Designed in Flemish Gothic style by noted Pittsburgh architect F.J. Osterling and built in 1916 for industrialist Henry Clay Frick, the building opened in 1917 as the Union Arcade, an upscale, indoor mall with 238 shops and more than 700 office tenants.

    In 1922, it came to be owned by Union Trust Co., and after a 1946 merger, by Mellon National Bank and Trust Co., predecessor to Mellon Financial Corp., now Bank of New York Mellon.

    Mellon decided to vacate its substantial presence in the building in May 2006 and DeBartolo Property Group LLC, the owner since 1984, stopped aggressive efforts to keep other tenants, leaving it in its present state.

    It eventually defaulted on its mortgage, and ownership passed to Philadelphia-based insurance firm Cigna Corp., holder of the loan.

    Chances to fill the building’s office space have likely improved thanks to a recent tightening of the Downtown office market. And interest in both the office and retail space has been high, said Jeffrey Ackerman, a commercial real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh.

    Ackerman represented Cigna in a nationwide marketing effort to find a buyer for the building and brokered the deal with the purchasing group.

    Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

  5. Vandergrift’s Grant Avenue dusts off charm

    By Francine Garrone
    VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
    Saturday, February 16, 2008

    Once dotted with awnings and marquee store signs, Grant Avenue in Vandergrift proved to be the place to spend a Saturday afternoon.

    Today, it’s turn-of-the-20th-century charm and historic facades have fallen victim to perhaps-misguided modernization. Vacant storefronts leave many buildings vulnerable to water damage or even cave-ins.

    But through the efforts of the Vandergrift Improvement Program and state grants, Grant Avenue is beginning to return to the look it had during the time of soda fountains and 75 cent movies.

    VIP has applied to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for a third year of funding for its Main Street Program.

    If the non-profit, grassroots organization is seeking a $45,000 state grant.

    “The Main Street Program is a tremendous help and enabled the VIP to begin,” said VIP Main Street manager Shaun Yurcaba. “It has given us the foundation to start down the road to rebirth.”

    In 2006, VIP received its first $5,000 from the Main Street Program.

    Yurcaba said the money was used to set up an office on Grant Avenue.

    Last year, VIP received another $50,000. That paid for operational expenses such as rent, insurance, utilities, and Yurcaba’s hiring. The rest went to programs such as meetings and the real estate breakfast.

    “There was not much left over,” Yurcaba said.

    If VIP continues to apply for funding beyond this year, it will be eligible to receive $40,000 in 2009 and $35,000 in 2010.

    However, there are annual requirements that the organization has to meet in order to receive the state grants, including raising some of its own money.

    In order to get the $45,000 from the state this year, VIP had to raise $15,000, she said, which it has done.

    In fact, VIP has raised more than $17,000. The remaining $2,000 will go toward next year.

    “We did a pledge drive initially and had commitments from the community in various pledge amounts,” she said. “The community has been really supportive in following up with pledges.”

    The Main Street Program grant has pushed VIP to reach out further for additional funding in bettering the community.

    VIP received a $120,000 Facade Improvement Grant that allows $30,000 in state funding over a four-year period. The grant enables business owners to make improvements to their facades by being awarded half of the cost of the improvement up to $10,000. Anything above that cost would come out of pocket.

    “We want to work with them in the projects they are doing,” Yurcaba said. “The money can be used for anything dealing with preserving history to enhancing and restoring the downtown business district, which is also a historic district.”

    Vandergrift is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

    Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the architect of New York’s Central Park and the grounds of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Vandergrift was a planned community founded by George G. McMurtry, president of the Apollo Iron and Steel Co., Apollo. It was named after Capt. J.J. Vandergrift, a director of the steel mill.

    At the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Vandergrift won two gold medals for best town design.

    Yurcaba said the Vandergrift Improvement Program has established a name that they hope will continue to provide revitalization efforts to the community.

    “The goal is, through the years, to become more and more self-sustaining as an organization,” she said. “But that will only happen through public and private funding and volunteer assistance.”

    Francine Garrone can be reached at fgarrone@tribweb.com or 724-226-4701.

  6. After 50 years, bookstore closes chapter of history

    By Regis Behe
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Friday, February 15, 2008

    When Jay Dantry started selling books in September 1955, hardback novels were less than half their current price.

    But he wants to clear up one misperception:

    “I don’t go back so far as to have sold 35-cent copies of ‘Lost Horizon,'” says Dantry, the proprietor of Jay’s Book Stall in Oakland.

    After more than 50 years, Jay’s Book Stall will close in a few months. Books will be packed, shelves taken down. There will be no fanfare, no signs heralding the shop’s closure. Like the last page of a long, riveting novel, Jay’s Book Stall will simply end.

    “We came in quietly, we’ll go out quietly,” says Dantry, 79, who was unwilling to commit to an extended lease on his Fifth Avenue store.

    Situated between the hospitals that rise on Oakland’s infamous Cardiac Hill and the dormitories, fast-food restaurants and bars frequented by University of Pittsburgh students, Jay’s Book Stall has been a haven for bookworms of all stripes. Drama students from Carnegie Mellon University, budding writers from the University of Pittsburgh, and doctors and nurses and interns all found their way to the cozy shop unlike any other in the area.

    Dr. Thomas Starzl, the transplant pioneer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, walked into the store shortly after he came to Pittsburgh.

    “I realized right away it was an unusual bookstore, and better, in many respects, than anything I’d seen elsewhere,” Starzl says.

    Starzl and the late Fred Rogers were among those who slipped in by way of the back door on Sundays, when the store was closed but Dantry was working on ledgers and accounts. Starzl specifically sought Dantry’s advice when he was writing “The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon.”

    “I talked to Jay about it and asked if he could look at it,” Starzl says. “He took it upon himself to help get it published. …. That was how I got to know him. I have a great debt to him.”

    Others who came by the store were not quite as famous — at least when they first visited the store. Dantry recalls the drama students from Carnegie Mellon who browsed through the store’s selection of dramatic works. Patrick Wilson, nominated for Tony awards for his roles in “Oklahoma!” and “The Full Monty,” was one of them.

    “Jay’s Book Stall saved a lot of us ‘dramats’ when we needed a play in a pinch,” Wilson says.

    Another regular visitor was a Pitt student named Michael Chabon, who came in begging for a job. At first there were no openings, but Dantry eventually found work for Chabon, who went on to become a best-selling novelist.

    “The thing Jay did for me as a writer was to appear to take my literary aspirations entirely seriously,” Chabon says. “He used to tease me about a lot of things — my clothes, my hair, my friends, the circles under my eyes, but he never teased me about my crappy short stories and poems. He really seemed to think I was going to be a writer when I grew up.”

    Chabon, whose first novel, “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” is scheduled to be released as a movie later this year, won a Pulitzer Prize for literature in 2001 for “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.” He became part of a panoply of accomplished writers who are memorialized in snapshots displayed throughout the store:

    Here, a beaming Dantry with Stephen King. Over there, Dantry with a snowy-haired John Updike. Erica Jong, Richard Ford, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Mary Higgins Clark, James Lee Burke, David Sedaris, E.L. Doctorow, Garrison Keillor and Doris Lessing are among the writers who have visited the store.

    Writers would come by because “they’ve heard (Jay’s) is like a little club for Nobel laureates,” says Harry Schwalb, art critic and artist, who in 2005 put together “Book People,” an exhibit of the photographs for The Mattress Factory.

    Dantry calls that exhibit his crowning achievement as a bookseller, but there were many other cherished memories. He fondly speaks of meeting Vonnegut, who admired the tie the bookseller was wearing.

    “So I gave him the tie,” Dantry says, pointing to a picture of them together. “But he would not sign books because he said they’d turn up on the Internet.”

    “Edward Albee used to come here a lot,” Dantry says. “He was always going through the science books. People from the (Pittsburgh) Playhouse would find out and they would come down, and he’d always entertain them.”

    Dantry, courteous and discriminating, treated local writers with respect. Kathleen George, a writer who teaches theater at Pitt and is the author of a new novel, “Afterimage,” says rare is the bookstore where the staff knows literature from Jane Austen to Emile Zola.

    “Jay and his store were there when I arrived as a student many years ago,” George says. “He is as much a part of Pitt and Pittsburgh as anybody I can think of. And his shop — which is a reflection of him — is a joy.”

    Dantry is a bit unsure of his plans once he closes the store, saying only that he plans to do volunteer work. But for many, the closing of Jay’s Book Stall leaves a chasm in the heart of Oakland.

    Starzl wonders where he will go to buy books when Dantry closes shop.

    “It’s just a nice, comfortable place to browse,” Starzl says. “It’s Jay’s personality that made it a great place. And also the people he surrounded himself with were so exceptional. They would go out of their way to help you, searching for books, and it’s hard to find that kind of highly personal service.”

    “It is Pittsburgh,” Wilson says. “Rich in history, richer in knowledge, eclectic artistic, and accessible, a true Oakland haunt. … Thanks for a business run with heart, and one that always helped.”

    “I don’t know if there are three rivers of literary culture flowing through Pittsburgh — I wouldn’t be sure how to count them,” Chabon says. “But I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Jay is one of those rivers.

    “He has been a steady, strong, tireless force for good, championing books and authors he cared about, and because of his hospitality, his store has long served as a nexus for people in all the arts to come together and hang out and get to know each other. He has proved all kinds of points about the power and the value and the endurance of books and writing simply by virtue of staying open all these years in the face of brutal changes in the ways books are marketed and sold.”

    FAMOUS VISITORS

    Jay Dantry on writers who have visited Jay’s Book Stall.

    Richard Ford: “He’s been here a number of times, just a wonderful guy.”

    Stephen King: “Very nice, absolutely charming.”

    Garrison Keillor: “Onstage he’s wonderful, but dour in person.”

    Betty Friedan: “It was either too cold or too hot in here (for her). We gave her the wrong kind of water. When you picked her up at the airport, she would not ride in a green car. Or (if) somebody had been smoking in the car.”

    Mary Higgins Clark: “She asked me to accompany her to a dinner (at a book convention in Chicago). I said, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to do this?’ But I forced myself to go. She was the only one who stopped me in my tracks.”

    Doris Lessing: “She was fantastic. But when they took our picture, she put her hand on my knee and gave it a squeeze. Quite a surprise.”

    Michael Chabon: “When he spoke to you, you would swear there wasn’t another person in the world. It was just you. He had this instant rapport that wasn’t a put-on.”

    On the Pittsburgh writing community: “I think everybody takes it for granted, but there’s a wealth of talent here. They are bright people who stick together. Nobody goes New York on you.”

    Regis Behe can be reached at rbehe@tribweb.com or 412-320-7990.

  7. Group to save landmarks

    By SARAH WEBER
    Erie Times News
    February 11, 2008

    Driving past the site of the old Koehler Brewery pains many area residents who remember the landmark that once stood there.

    To Chris Magoc, the Koehler building represented a part of Erie’s heritage that is now lost to future generations.

    He said the question now is how to prevent other landmarks from meeting a similar fate.

    The Mercyhurst College history professor and about 20 other people have formed a group called the Erie Center for Design and Preservation to help protect Erie’s historical places.

    “This is really about trying to cultivate a preservation ethic for this region,” Magoc said.

    He said he secured a small grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in summer that helped the group form a board of directors and some long-term goals.

    The ECDP does not plan to focus on a single historical landmark, Magoc said, but all historical places in the area, including barns and houses in the county and buildings in the city.

    “It’s is about city and regional pride,” Magoc said. “It’s about what makes Erie, Erie.”

    He said one of the group’s goals is to educate the community and government leaders about the benefits of rehabilitating historical buildings. On May 9, he said, the group will host Arthur Ziegler, the president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, one of the most successful preservation groups in the U.S.

    “The places in the country that have created an infrastructure for preserving these places have seen the economic fruits of that,” Magoc said.

    He said Erie could be more attractive to tourists by harnessing its heritage, and would also benefit the environment by rehabilitating old buildings instead of building new ones.

    A key point of the group’s success, Magoc said, will be partnering with lawmakers and community members to foster a commitment to historical sites.

    Magoc said the group plans to fund itself through grants, donations and membership fees, which are not yet determined.

    “I know there are people in Erie who care about the community,” Magoc said. “I think we can count on a pretty good groundswell here.”

    For more information about the group or to donate, call Magoc at 824-2075 or e-mail him at cmagoc@mercyhurst.edu.

    SARAH WEBER can be reached at 870-1854 or sarah.weber@timesnews.com
    .

  8. Union Trust sale a done deal

    By Ron DaParma
    TRIBUNE-REVIEW
    Thursday, February 7, 2008

    The sale of the historic Union Trust Building, Downtown, was completed Wednesday to principals of Mika Realty Group of Los Angeles.

    Purchase price for the ornate, 11-story building that covers a full block of Grant Street, was $24.1 million, according to documents filed with the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds office.

    The purchase was expected to be completed last week. It was delayed because of the complicated nature of the transaction, said Jeffery Ackerman, commercial real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, who negotiated the deal.

    The new owners intend to restore the grandeur of the building that was designed in Flemish Gothic style by noted Pittsburgh architect F.J. Osterling and built in 1916 for industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The buyers were not available for comment yesterday.

    The group, which includes Michael Kamen, founder of privately held Mika, and a business associate, Gerson Fox, also of Los Angeles, plans to continue using the structure as an office building and to attract a mix of upscale retail tenants to the first level.

    The sale price was about $6 million below its $30.75 million market value, including land, as listed in public records. But local real estate experts said it was not a bargain-basement deal, noting that the building is nearly empty with the exception of a few retail tenants on the first floor.

    “It’s a beautiful building with a lot of character,” said Jim Geiger, senior vice president with Grant Street Associates-Cushman & Wakefield, a Downtown commercial real estate firm. “It has a lot of things going for it, but it will be a challenge to fill the office space in light of today’s office market.”

    Seller of the building at 501 Grant St. was Teal Rock 501 Grant Street LP, a unit of Cigna Corp. of Philadelphia.

    Cigna has controlled the property since 2006, when it assumed ownership from long-time owner, Florida-based DeBartolo Property Group LLC, which defaulted on a mortgage held by Cigna.

    The building ran into trouble after Mellon Financial Corp., its major tenant, relocated employees to other buildings Downtown in May 2006, and most other tenants followed suit due to uncertainties with their leases.

    For the buyer, the purchase price, which works out to about $40.50 per square foot based on the 595,000-square-feet of leasable space in the building, is lower than it would cost to try to duplicate such a grand structure in the city, said Ned Doran, of GVA Oxford, the commercial leasing arm of Oxford Development Co.

    Questions to be determined are how much they will spend to upgrade the building and their ability to attract tenants, Doran said.

    Ackerman has said a number of large office users and retail prospects already have looked at the building.

    The purchase was welcomed by Tom Michael, who owns upscale Larrimor’s clothing store in the building, the largest remaining retail tenant. Michael said he had talked to Michael Kamen of Mika recently.

    “We are optimistic about moving forward and filling the building with quality tenants,” said Michael. “They have a large plan in the works for the building.”

    Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907

Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation

100 West Station Square Drive, Suite 450

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

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