Category Archive: Preservation News
-
Union Trust Building excites latest suitor
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 2, 2007An investment group led by executives of the Mika Realty Group in Los Angeles said Thursday it hopes to complete the purchase of the historic Union Trust Building, Downtown, by the end of the month.
The group, which includes Michael Kamen, founder of the privately held company, and a business associate, Gerson Fox, also of Los Angeles, said it has plans to restore the grandeur of the block-long structure at 501 Grant St. that experts say is one of Pittsburgh’s most architecturally significant buildings.
The purchase price has not been disclosed, but the building is assessed at $30.75 million, according to Allegheny County records.
“We look at the Union Trust Building as a classic building that can’t be duplicated,” said Rick Barreca, CEO of Mika Realty, also one of the investors.
Plans are to continue using the 11-story, 800,000-square-foot structure as an office building and attract a mix of upscale retail tenants to the first level, he said.
“We think that is the highest and best use for it,” Barreca said. “We’re looking forward to bringing in some exciting retail to the first level, and leasing the office space to some very good tenants.”
The Union Trust Building, which has been known as Two Mellon Bank Center, has been nearly empty since Mellon Financial Corp. — now Bank of New York Mellon Corp. — moved its personnel out of the structure in May 2006. A small number of mostly retail tenants remain on the first level, the largest being Lorrimer’s clothing store.
“Several major office tenants and retail tenants already have expressed interest in the building,” said Jeffrey Ackerman, commercial real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, the firm commissioned to sell the building by the owner, Teal Rock 501 Grant Street LP, a partnership owned by Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp.
CB Richard Ellis will handle leasing and management of the building once the sale is completed, Ackerman said.
The investment group is working with two architectural firms on ideas for the building that would not disturb its historic character, Barreca said.
Mika’s Internet site said it is the 13th-largest developer in the Los Angeles area, with some 5.9 million square feet in commercial real estate developed.
Barreca said Kamen has been involved in the commercial real estate business for more than 40 years and has specialized on “adaptive reuse” of older buildings, including conversion of office facilities to loft apartments.
One of Mika’s projects was the Star News Building, an 80,000-square-foot building in Pasadena, Calif., that was renovated as a $20 million residential building. The project included installation of a 24-hour fitness club and other amenities in a 30,000-square-foot basement that used to house newspaper printing presses.
A current project is Victory Lofts, where the company is developing 102 residential units in a Cleveland building in the vicinity of the Cleveland Clinic, Barreca said.
“We are really enthused that it appears a very promising buyer is very interested in the building,” said Arthur P. Ziegler, president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. He met Barreca recently when he was visiting the city.
“This is a developer who appears to have considerable experience with historic buildings and is particularly attracted to the Union Trust Building because of his positive feelings about the future of the Pittsburgh market and the extraordinary architectural quality of the building,” Ziegler said. “I think he is going to treat it very well.”
Barreca said the group is finalizing financing for the purchase with a bank, rather than go to the capital markets or Wall Street sources. Thus, he said, there should not be a problem with financing because of the mortgage crisis, which has played havoc with the national residential real estate market and impacted some commercial deals.
Securing financing was said to be a problem with the previous potential buyer, a New York investment group that included Houlihan-Parnes/iCap Realty Advisors of White Plains and J.J. Operating Corp. of New York City.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
-
L.A. investors have eye on Union Trust building
by Ben Semmes
Pittsburgh Business Times
Friday, November 2, 2007A group of Los Angeles-based investors expect to close on the Union Trust Building by year end.
“We have an instinctive feeling that the property is a very good property,” said Rick Barreca, CEO of Mika Realty Group, of the nearly 600,000-square-foot, 11-story Downtown building.
Barreca said that Mika Realty’s founder Michael Kamen is leading the acquisition, along with his business associate Gershon Fox.
Barreca declined to reveal the price but said the group will maintain the property as an office building.
The recent turmoil in the credit markets, which already scared off at least one potential buyer in the New York-based partnership of Houlihan-Parnes and J.J. Operating Corp., should not be an issue, Barreca said.
“We tend to stay out of the capital markets and work with commercial banks that have very good real estate departments and are able to lend on their own books,” he said.
The company’s first acquisition in Pennsylvania, the Union Trust Building has been virtually vacant since Mellon Financial Corp. moved out of the building last year.
CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh had been marketing the building on behalf of owner Teal Rock 501 Grant Street LP, an entity controlled by Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp., since the end of last year.
bsemmes@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3829
Courtesy of © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
-
Hearing Before the Council of the City of Pittsburgh on the Bakery Square Tax Increment Financing Plan – Nabisco Property
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
ANNE E. NELSON, ESQ.
DIRECTOR OF LEGAL AFFAIRS
PITTSBURGH HISTORY & LANDMARKS FOUNDATION
BEFORE THE PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE BAKERY SQUARE TAX INCREMENT FINANCING PLAN – NABISCO PROPERTY
OCTOBER 23, 2007
On behalf of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (“Landmarks”) and our president, Arthur Ziegler, I thank you, members of the Council, for the opportunity to discuss the Bakery Square Tax Increment Financing Plan.
From a historic preservation standpoint, Landmarks appreciated the opportunity to meet with the project developers from the onset and to work with them to put together a preservation plan for the buildings that, at the same time, respected the developer’s functional needs. Landmarks is very pleased that the developer has followed through consistently with the preservation plan and is considering the donation of a historic preservation easement on the buildings.
The Bakery Square development not only serves historic preservation interests, but will provide a major capital infusion at a strategic city block that will affect the surrounding neighborhoods of East Liberty, Point Breeze, and Homewood.
Therefore, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation supports the Bakery Square Tax Increment Financing Plan.
-
National Negro Opera House Nominated for City Historic Structure
On Monday, October 22, 2007, the Historic Preservation Commission received a nomination for 7101 Apple Street – National Negro Opera House to be a City Designated Historic Structure.
Nomination affords the property protection against demolition, and mandates that all exterior changes to the building be reviewed by the HRC.
These protections are temporary until/if the HRC, Planning Commission, and City Council vote to approve the nomination.
The Historic Review Commission will make a preliminary review of this nomination at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 7, 2007.
This hearing will be held after 12:30 PM in the Commission Hearing Room on the first floor of the John P. Robin Civic Building at 200 Ross Street, Downtown.
At that time, the Commission will make a preliminary determination about whether there is reasonable cause to believe that the nominated property will meet the criteria for designation listed in the preservation ordinance.
All members of the public are invited to attend.
Please feel free to call Katherine Molnar, Historic Preservation Planner, at 412-255-2243 or email Katherine.molnar@city.pittsburgh.pa.us if you have any questions.
-
Good work: Pittsburgh owes a debt to its citizen leaders
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThey are some of Pittsburgh’s unsung heroes. They do the work they choose — work that either they volunteer for or work that goes beyond the normal scope of their employment. For love of the challenge, they make their community a better place.
They receive no glory or riches, but Thursday night they got some well-deserved attention as honorees at the Good Government Awards Dinner sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh. This year the league celebrated the good works of Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce President Barbara McNees; preservationist Arthur Ziegler Jr.; the Allegheny County Library Association; Joseph Lagana, founder of the Homeless Children’s Education Fund; and Heather Harr, head of Greater Pittsburgh Student Voices.
From business to neighborhoods to reading to education to civic engagement, each awardee embodied a cause and a passion. For Ms. McNees, it’s been a more business-friendly region and state, not to mention a self-sustaining Pittsburgh (she’s also chair of one of the city’s fiscal oversight bodies). For Mr. Ziegler, co-founder of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, it’s saving those structures and neighborhoods that speak to our heritage.
For the library association and its executive director, Marilyn Jenkins, it’s been moving a community resource from the dark ages to the 21st century, in terms of access, funding and value. For Mr. Lagana, it’s finding a way to deliver education to that most elusive group of children, those living with parents in homeless shelters. For Ms. Harr, it’s engaging high school students in the political process and ensuring a new generation of informed, responsible citizens.
All five of these groups or individuals make daily contributions to civic improvement and a more vibrant democracy. They earned the accolades of everyone present at the League of Women Voters dinner, and they deserve the same from their fellow Pittsburghers.
First published on October 20, 2007 at 12:00 am
-
Vandergrift makes a comeback
By Kate Luce Angell
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteLike many once-thriving Pennsylvania steel towns, Vandergrift, about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh on the Kiskiminetas River, is pretty quiet nowadays.
Last Saturday, it was the occasional car that passed through the business district, where several storefronts sat vacant. Under the shade of the century-old plane trees, the broad porches of the Victorian houses were empty.
But there were signs of life. A group at the Presbyterian Church was preparing a spaghetti dinner. The Vandergrift Historical Society was open to visitors.
And nearly 50 people were walking the streets for the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation’s tour of the town once known as “the workingman’s paradise” that is now struggling to preserve a rich heritage and make a fresh start.
Built in 1895 as the new home of the Apollo Iron and Steel Co., Vandergrift once had a population of 10,000 and the largest rolled steel mill in the world, employing more than 5,000 workers. Today the mill, now owned by Allegheny Ludlum, employs 265, and the town’s population is around 5,000.
But while Vandergrift’s economic woes are common, the town, as the foundation’s tour revealed, is anything but.
George McMurtry, the owner of Apollo Iron and Steel, founded Vandergrift in the belief that workers would be more productive living in pleasant surroundings, with modern conveniences. He hired the firm of Frederick Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park, to plan a worker-owned industrial community that would be “the best of the best,” in Mr. McMurtry’s words.
Mr. Olmsted’s firm produced a town that even today preserves a parklike atmosphere. With no corners, wide boulevards lined with trees curve into a business district accented by rounded brick facades.
For his part, Mr. McMurtry sold lots only to businesses and his own workers and offered free land, matching construction funds and a free organ to churches. He also donated land and funds for the Casino Theater, schools, the library and many other public projects.
Like other industrialists of his age, Mr. McMurtry’s philanthropic impulses went along with a strong profit motive: His lots for homes were expensive, and he owned the bank that offered the mortgages. One of the reasons he founded Vandergrift was to keep his mill nonunion, and he succeeded until the 1930s.
But Vandergrift became famous as a town where workers and their families could live the American dream, and the streets, lined with yellow brick, must have seemed paved with gold to some of the thousands of immigrant families who made their homes in the growing community.
As Vandergrift historian and tour leader Ken Blose pointed out, much of that brick now lies buried under crumbling asphalt. But a partnership of nonprofit groups is trying, with the help of local residents and business owners, to make Vandergrift golden again.
The Vandergrift Improvement Program, located in a small storefront on downtown Grant Street, is the local level of the national Main Street program, which works to revitalize traditional business districts by organizing local efforts, promotion of local businesses and attractions and economic restructuring.
Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation serves as VIP’s area coordinator. The program’s board includes local business owners and Vandergrift’s mayor, Lou Purificato.
Shaun Yurcaba, the local Main Street coordinator, said that even though VIP organized in January 2004, the groundwork laid by the program is just beginning to pay off.
“It takes a while to get started,” she explained. “We’ve been gathering information, coordinating volunteers and groups. We’re just beginning to work on business recruitment and retention.”
Already, VIP has sponsored events to help local businesses compete with “big box” stores and helped to secure funding for the refurbishment of the business district’s store facades, as well as holding community events like a recent Arts Festival.
In February, 200 Westmoreland County students will present their design ideas for turning Vandergrift’s abandoned J.C. Penney building into a new community arts center as part of the PHLF’s annual architectural design challenge. “Revitalization is a marathon,” said Mrs. Yurcaba, “not a race.”
As Mr. Blose pointed out, even before VIP, Vandergrift had residents concerned with preserving its past for a better future. “In the ’80s, they were about ready to tear the Casino Theater down. The roof was leaking, plaster falling off the walls. The Historical Society fought to save it.”
Today the Casino Theater is the oldest operating theater in southwestern Pennsylvania, and the refurbished three-story building, adorned with Greek-style columns, again hosts music and theater performances. It was recently designated the National Museum of Vaudeville in recognition of the venue’s importance during the heyday of vaudeville performance.
As Mr. Blose prepared to lead the Foundation tour group across Columbia Avenue, a group of young girls gathered on a nearby porch, curious about the crowd. “We’re on a tour,” he called out, inviting them to join in and “learn something about the town you live in.”
When the tour group moved on, PHLF executive director Louise Sturgess looked back at the girls and observed that helping a community recognize its own value was a big part of both the Foundation’s and VIP’s mission. “If they realize how special their town is, they’ll fight harder to save it.”
First published on October 18, 2007 at 6:27 am
Kate Luce Angell is a freelance writer. -
Pittsburgh development CEO debuts
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 17, 2007On Monday, Howard B. Slaughter Jr. officially started his job as CEO of Landmarks Community Capital Inc., a new nonprofit corporation formed by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Slaughter didn’t wait to begin his quest to raise the $10 million to $15 million he hopes to secure for the new corporation to invest in community development and revitalization projects in Western Pennsylvania and in the neighboring states of West Virginia and Ohio.
“We’ve already been talking to some companies that have social investment programs,” said Slaughter, whose appointment was announced last month. “We also are going to be talking to some local foundations to discuss our new company and the opportunities we see.”
Slaughter, 49, can draw on his considerable credentials in urban housing and home financing as he pitches funders on behalf of the new corporation.
In essence, he is back home at Pittsburgh History & Landmarks, where he headed neighborhood programs as director of preservation services from 1995 to 1999.
That was before he left to serve an eight-year stint as director of Fannie Mae’s Pittsburgh Community Business Center, which has been a major source of home financing in this region.
Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest home funding company, decided to close the center along with similar offices in more than 40 cities, citing realignment of goals and the need to cut costs. Pittsburgh’s center helped 24,000 families in the region become homeowners at projects that include Summerset at Frick Park, and Bedford Hope VI and the Oak Hill housing complex, both in the Hill District.
Slaughter previously served as vice president of Dollar Bank’s Community Development group.
“Howard brings the vision and the working knowledge for the new nonprofit corporation,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and president of Landmarks Community Capital.
“We think he is just the person to expand the assistance we hope to render to Western Pennsylvania in revitalizing historic rural areas, towns and urban areas, particularly in Pittsburgh,” Ziegler said.
Efforts might include helping the Hill District community fulfill a long-standing need to bring a grocery store to the neighborhood, said Slaughter.
Hill District community leaders want a commitment for a new supermarket to be part of a “community benefits agreement” with the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for their support for the hockey team’s new $290 million arena. Slaughter said he’s with Penguins President David Morehouse to discuss how the corporation’s participation may help make that happen.
Improving neighborhood housing also is a target as is helping preserve some of the historic farms in the region that the South Side-based Landmarks Foundation has identified as worth saving in a recent survey.
“In the first year, we would like to provide funding for at least four of five different projects ranging from $25,000 to $1 million,” Slaughter said. “We have a wide range of funding options because the multiplicity of opportunities for investment are wide.”
The first investments could come by the first quarter of 2008, he said.
The idea of the new corporation is to raise funds through grants, loans and investments. Roles it can play include as developer, co-developer, or a lender to community development corporations and others that undertake such work.
Slaughter uses the accounting term “FIFO” in describing the corporation’s investment strategy. The idea is to be “first in” with its funds to help jump-start projects in early stages, and then be “first out” with those funds when more permanent financing is secured from others to carry development forward.
“We certainly want to focus on urban areas in the Pittsburgh and Allegheny County region,” said Slaughter.
Another target area is likely to be Wilkinsburg, where Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has worked with two $500,000 grants secured from the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development to acquire and restore four century-old structures for new housing.
“We also would like to do some work on the North Side and where we have several county Main Street programs. We have pilot areas in Tarentum, Swissvale, Elizabeth Township and Stowe,” he said.
Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato is “very excited” about the new corporation and its potential, said spokesman Kevin Evanto.
Slaughter and Ziegler met with Onorato several weeks ago to outline their plans.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907
-
Anniversary brings special focus to Rodef Shalom building
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRodef Shalom Congregation will mark the 100th anniversary of its building and the 150th birthday of the congregation with an afternoon of lectures and discussions open to the community.
At the free event, titled “Historical Symposium: Honoring Our Builders and Building,” Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna will give the keynote address: “The Place of Rodef Shalom in the History of American Judaism.” Two panel discussions will follow. The first, on Rodef Shalom’s building designed by Henry Hornbostel, features Eliza Smith Brown, author of “Pittsburgh Legends and Visions: An Illustrated History”; Charles Rosenblum, assistant professor of architecture, Carnegie Mellon University; and Albert M. Tannler, Historical Collections Director of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. The second panel will discuss the congregation’s builders and early members who made significant contributions to the development of Rodef Shalom and the Pittsburgh community.
The event will be at 1 p.m. Nov. 4 at Rodef Shalom, corner of Fifth and Morewood avenues, Oakland.