Category Archive: Preservation News
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A historic moment for Highland Park
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, September 12, 2007Highland Park, the East End neighborhood known for its stained glass and woodwork crafted by immigrant artisans, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“It’s a way to market the neighborhood, to attract people interested in historic buildings and to encourage people to maintain those buildings,” said Mike Eversmeyer, a Highland Park resident and architect.Eversmeyer on Tuesday confirmed the neighborhood’s listing as the Highland Park Residential Historic District. The Highland Park Community Development Corp. hired him to submit the nomination to the State Historic Preservation Board and the National Register of Historic Places.
The neighborhood joins 18 other districts in the city and sites in Aspinwall, Harrison, Homestead, Munhall, Plum, Ross, Thornburg and West Mifflin on the National Register.
“The neighborhood has long been respected by Pittsburgh residents and has a feeling as a special place when you walk those streets lined with houses of turn-of-the-century style,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
He said residents of Highland Park are not the only ones who should applaud its status.The designation helps businesses obtain federal money and prevents federal money from being used to tear down buildings without an extensive review.
Eversmeyer said the listing should spur investment, especially in the Bryant Street commercial district and in its southwest corner, an area plagued by apartment buildings owned by absentee landlords.
He said homeowners could benefit, too, if the state Legislature provides tax incentives for people in residential historic districts.
“If you’re trying to sell investors on coming into a neighborhood, then having a tax credit as a carrot makes a lot of sense,” he said.
The neighborhood is a blend of Victorian, Tudor and Arts and Crafts homes with some modern-style houses. It is home to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, one of the city’s larger parks and two reservoirs.
Kelly Meade, a Highland Park resident for 30 years, has worked as a real estate agent for Howard Hanna, specializing in that neighborhood for 25 years. She said the historic designation should give the neighborhood’s housing market a boost.
“For those who have a special interest in a historic home, it certainly will give more credence to the neighborhood,” she said.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.
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Highland Park granted federal historic status
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe National Register of Historic Places has granted Highland Park federal historic status, a designation with few protections but much prestige among preservationists.
Mike Eversmeyer, an architect and former head of the city’s Historic Review Commission, completed the nomination from research begun almost a decade ago by the neighborhood’s community development corporation, or CDC.
The work included surveying and documenting the histories of more than 1,300 structures.
“We based our nomination on the significance of the architecture, a coherent concentration of buildings from the late 19th to early 20th century,” Mr. Eversmeyer said. “It was a model street car suburb.”
The parameters of the historic district run roughly from Stanton Avenue on the south to the park on the east and north, with Chislett Street serving as the western boundary. It cuts slightly into East Liberty at one point because the buildings between Stanton and Hays and Negley Avenue and Chislett were of the same signature as Highland Park’s, said Mr. Eversmeyer.
“I think it’s something for Pittsburgh to be very proud of,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “It gives national status to the neighborhood, and it will protect it from federally funded programs that could harm historic buildings.” Any such programs would be reviewed by state preservation officials, he said.
He said Highland Park’s housing collage ranges from late Victorian to early Modern, covering Edwardian, Tudor Revival and Arts and Crafts.
“The neighborhood has a feeling of architectural continuity,” he said.
Amy Enrico, owner of Tazza d’Oro coffeehouse on Highland Avenue, said, “I’m grateful for all the time they have put in. This is an incentive for all of us to preserve the architecture and stories of all the neighbors who came before us.”
The national designation does not prohibit individual owners from altering properties or require them to restore them, but it does make the district eligible for preservation funding and tax credits. City-designated historic districts are more restricted, with oversight from the planning department and Historic Review Commission on any proposed change to properties.
Several areas of Pittsburgh have federal and city historic status. One does not preclude the other, and the two do not always follow the same boundaries, said Mr. Ziegler.
“No one has spoken about interest in going for city historic designation” for Highland Park, Mr. Eversmeyer said.
David Hance, president of the Highland Park CDC. credited then-city councilman, now state Sen. Jim Ferlo for funding the research. The designation, he said, “tells us that what we see everyday where we live is notable, and it’s one more tool we have” to encourage quality development.
First published on September 12, 2007 at 2:52 am
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PHLF members and friends to Go to our Homewood Tour
Homewood’s Historic Landmarks: Bus and Walking Tour, on Saturday, September 15, 2007, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.Meeting and ending location: Station Square, outside The Shops at Station Square (across from the parking garage entrance)
Neighborhood leader Sarah Campbell and Diane Smith of the Community Technical Assistance Center will lead this membership tour. They offered a similar tour during the National Preservation Conference 2006––to rave reviews––so we asked them to offer it to our members this year. Louise Sturgess from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation will be on board to welcome members and share a few passages from John Edgar Wideman’s book, Brothers and Keepers, about growing up in Homewood.
Sites we’ll see include:
• The Queen Anne Harris House of 1894, in the heart of Homewood at 7107 Apple Street, was the first home of the National Negro Opera Company, organized in 1941 by Mary Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962), who rehearsed on the third floor.
• Westinghouse High School, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by Ingham & Boyd in 1921 and was completed in 1931. Like Schenley and Allderdice High Schools, Westinghouse has Classical detailing.
• Monticello and Idelwild Streets: Mrs. Campbell has lived on Idelwild for 60years.
• The Homewood Coliseum, formerly the Consolidated Traction Company Trolley Barn.
• The English Gothic Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Homewood Branch was completed in 1910 to designs by Alden & Harlow as the last of Pittsburgh’s eight original Carnegie library branches. Handsomely renovated in 2003 by Erik Hokansen, architect, with Pfaffmann + Associates, the library is where the Homewood community gathers. We’ll enjoy light refreshments here and tour the landmark building containing a fully updated 300-person auditorium.
Sold Out
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Help Landmarks Obtain Famous Railroad Photograph
Your Gift Will Be Matched and Help Landmarks Obtain this Famous Railroad PhotographRecently, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation learned that The Fairbanks-Horix Foundation will match, dollar-for-dollar, up to $5,000 of every gift we receive toward the purchase of O. Winston Link’s famous photograph: “The Birmingham Special gets the Highball at Rural Retreat” for our Frank B. Fairbanks Rail Transportation Archive. The photo is valued at $10,000 and only gifts received by December 31st will be matched.
To make your tax-deductible gift to help us acquire this one-of-a-kind, Link-signed photograph that was published in Steam Steel & Stars, make your check payable to: PHLF with a notation “Fairbanks Challenge” and return it to: PHLF, 100 West Station Square Drive, Suite 450, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.
Gifts can also be made by credit card on our web site at: https://phlf.org/services/libraryservices/fairbanksarchive.html.
Anyone making a gift of $100 or more by November 30th will also receive a free Landmarks membership.
Questions regarding the collection can be directed to Fairbanks Archive Librarian, Judith Harvey, at fairbanksarchives@phlf.org or 412-471-5808, ext. 515.
Note: Many of the collection’s local train images may be viewed at the Pittsburgh Digital Resource Library at http://images.library.pitt.edu/f/fairbanks/.
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Preservation group moves beyond county lines
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 9, 2007The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is best known for its preservation efforts of historic properties throughout Allegheny County.
However, the South Side-based agency has been extending its reach beyond its home county in recent years, including with its latest project in Beaver County — an effort to bring “residential reinvestment” to areas near business districts in nine communities.
The foundation is the lead consultant on the project focusing on Aliquippa, Ambridge, Beaver, Bridgewater, Freedom, Midland, Monaca, New Brighton and Rochester.
“The idea is to work with the local officials and independent local organizations to identify new projects for each of the communities that in general terms fall into the guidelines of the state’s Elm Street program,” said Eugene Matta, the foundation’s director of real estate and special development programs.
Elm Street is a program established by Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration that this year is making available $7 million statewide to improve residential streets near Main Street business districts.
It provides seed money to be matched by funds raised from other sources to make the improvements a reality.
Though not an official Elm Street program, the foundation describes it as an “Elm Street-like” program.
While it will not necessarily be securing funds under that program, it will be seeking support from state and private sources.
The foundation is working under a consultant contract it signed several weeks ago with the Community Development Program of Beaver County, paid for with $50,000 from the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
Also on board is Town Center Associates, an organization serving as “sub-consultant.”
“TCA is headquartered in Beaver County and knows that county well,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., PH&LF president.
“It’s president, Mark Peluso, already has done quite a bit of work in the community,” said Matta.
Examples of the projects funded under the Elm Street program include improvements to building exteriors, streets, new street lighting and trees, sidewalks or other “pedestrian-oriented features,” Matta said.
Other activities include improvements of mixed-use buildings in residential areas, acquisition of properties, demolition and reclamation projects, code violation repairs, emergency housing repairs, addition of home security items, parks and playgrounds and water and sewer connections.
The consultants have held one meeting with community leaders to discuss how to proceed with the program, and a second meeting is scheduled Tuesday.
“We suggested to community representatives that sometime in October we would like to have at least four projects they feel are worth considering,” Matta said. “Then somewhere between October and November, we should be able to start work on applications for funding.”
Over the past year, the foundation has secured five grants totaling nearly $800,00 under the DCED funding process.
Its efforts include helping to attract $2 million in investments in Wikinsburg to rehabilitate four properties in the historic Hamnett Place neighborhood.
It is working as manager of the Main Street program in Vandergrift, Armstrong County, and it received a $7,500 grant from National City Corp. to help form a Main Street project for Freeport, Leechburg, Apollo.
Preservation of historic farms also has been a focus. The organization is involved in a survey of farm properties in Green and Washington counties, Matta said.
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Private-public partnership resurrects old Bedford getaway
By Jack Markowitz
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 9, 2007They’re using the word “miracle” around Bedford these days.
It’s a nod to the revival — after 22 years of near-death experience — of the Bedford Springs Resort, the venerable vacation spot with gleaming front porches that seem to go forever and a history that stretches back 203 years.Presidents slept there. But a glorious past can carry a hotel only so far if everything else is falling apart. The “Springs’ ” new owners, a half-dozen sophisticated investors from out of state, have bet $120 million that this piece of the past has a future.
They see a very modern aggravation — airport delays and hassles — nudging upscale Easterners to do their vacations and conferences, weddings and weekends, closer to home. Within two or three hours’ easy driving from Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia, in fact.
In that market area of millions, Bedford Springs means to compete with the best. Namely, the Greenbrier in West Virginia, the Homestead in Virginia and other high-prestige — and high priced — watering places for the well-heeled and the politically and corporately influential.
So look for weekday room rates of $249 a night and up ($350 on weekends), golf rounds at $105 for hotel guests, $115 for drive-ins ($70 after 3 p.m.), and sumptuous but pricey breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. Not to mention concierges, valet parking, masseuses and white-gloved bellmen.
None of which would have been possible without the help of taxpayers.
Some $40 million in state and federal help has lifted the grand dame of Keystone State travel destinations to its legs again. “The hotel is probably better than it has ever been,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, which helped in the rescue.
“She sat there empty and forlorn for 22 years,” says Bedford historian-architect Bill Defibaugh. “I expected every day to get a call, ‘They’re tearing her down.’ ”
It all goes to show what money can do. Plus vision, patience, taste and, well, tax dollars.
Here’s one item. To give a new generation of guests an unspoiled view — and no noise, fumes or trucks, across elegant lawns and gardens — a half-mile of U.S. Route 220 was relocated behind the hotel. The traffic is now in a deep, $11 million highway cut that never would have happened without friends in Harrisburg and Washington.
Still, someone had to bring money. His own.
Meet Mark Langdale, 53, of Dallas. He’s the U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica, a friend and appointee of President Bush, and a real estate investor. From afar, he spotted a then-dying, dust-gathering hotel a decade ago. And never let up gathering partners, political allies and financial tools.
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks (which saved Station Square in its home city decades ago) threw a big life ring. It acquired the hotel’s outside. Right — just the outside.
That’s the historic facade of tall columns, old glass and white porches — the building’s skin. History and Landmarks legally owns all that by way of an “easement,” a legal contract by which the historic look of a National Historic Landmark should never be lost.
By giving up the easement, Langdale and his group, Bedford Resort Partners, acquired a $23 million federal income-tax credit aimed at historic preservation. Then they sold that as a market investment to Chevron, the California oil giant, to put into the reconstruction. As many as 400 skilled tradespeople have reworked the property for almost two years.
Result: The hotel, some of it dating from 1804, is practically new inside — in a stronger outside. The four-story architectural wedding cake lies four miles south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Bedford interchange, just outside the 3,500-population county seat.
“Basically, we took the hotel back to the structure,” says Keith Evans, managing partner of Bedford Resort Partners, who oversaw the big fix. An associate jokes: “Keith said, ‘Take it upside down and everything that falls is gone. So we have new walls, new floors, ceilings, heating, plumbing and air-conditioning.”
Evans said it’s fair to say the place was “gutted.” To make larger guest rooms, now 216 of them (vs. 721 at the giant Greenbrier and 486 at the Homestead), walls were knocked down and about 60 old rooms sacrificed. Deteriorated timber was replaced by steel beams. Great white outdoor columns were sent to Altoona and Scranton for $75,000 rebuilds. But century-old, wavy window glass was kept; 19th century brides etched initials in it with their wedding diamonds.
“This ceiling was just hanging down,” said Cheryl Funk, marketing director, of the top-floor ballroom (capacity 300) three floors up from a soaring lobby of angled stairs and footbridges. Five restaurants, a huge kitchen (and several satellite kitchens), an antique-rich library, porches with painted rocking chairs — What would a grand old hotel be without them? — and long vistas of furniture and decor keep visitors walking and gawking.
More than a half-dozen presidents have visited the place, including Pennsylvania’s own James Buchanan, who used it as a summer White House before the Civil War. Others on the register included Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan (while California governor).
The first post-revival wedding was in late August with 225 guests. Extra help was sent in by Texas-based Benchmark Hospitality International, contract operator of this resort and more than 30 others. The first new guests in a generation arrived July 12 without any “grand opening.” It seemed more important to get 275 resort employees up to speed for a “world-class destination luxury resort.” That’s the goal, not an easy one.
The Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., and the Homestead, in Hot Springs, Va., plus Nemacolin Woodlands in Fayette County and the Hotel Hershey near Harrisburg are viewed as the elite competition for individuals, corporate meetings, special events and, hopefully, congressional and other government retreats.
“The luxury segment is one part of our industry that’s continued to grow,” said Todd Gillespie, Bedford Springs’ vice president of marketing and sales. He said four groups already are signed for 2008 — and one as far out as 2011.
No numbers are being released, but “we’re very optimistic about the early results,” Evans says. “Bookings have been very good.”
Word-of-mouth from the hard-to-please can be elusive. An early guest from Rochester, N.Y., told a reporter the new staff isn’t four-star yet. “It’s beautiful around here, but they’ve got to get the kinks out,” she said.
But Helen Ferry, Dorothy Ritchey and Marcia Davis, all from small Bedford area towns, thought the restoration exciting and the food “delicious.” They bused in on a senior citizens weekday tour with buffet lunch (fare: $26.50). “Before they started working on it,” Ferry says, “you’d come up here and think somebody dropped a bomb.”
A new “spa” wing has been built for body-pamperers, with guest rooms topping $300 a night. The outdoor-pool complex overlooks a first-rate view: the restored 18-hole golf course that occupies a valley between hills veined with hiking trails. Bringing the 6,785-yard golf course back to the 1924 Donald Ross design was an $8.5 million labor. Look for serpentine bunkers, tufted hillocks, wetlands, wildflowers and meandering Shober’s Run.
Restoration work in the hotel aims for the high-ceilinged look of the resort’s pre-World War I heyday around 1905. But underpinning the charm are amenities geared to at least a half-decade in the future, Gillespie said: elegantly tiled bathrooms, iPod docking stations and high-definition flat-screen TVs behind the doors of antique-looking chests.
And, of course, year-round occupancy. The old hotel closed in winters.
Historian Defibaugh, whose antique photos decorate the long corridors, said Bedford folks never quite lost hope after the hotel’s depressing 1986 shutdown. “Developers came in with high hopes but very little money,” he said.
Wonderful what a major investment will do, though. Along Pitt Street, downtown Bedford’s main stem, merchants see signs of contagious rebirth. “I know three businesses that say they would not have opened had it not been for the Springs,” says Kim Foreman, owner of the Green Harvest Co., a cafe and bakery.
“I’m planning a third fitting room, the weekends have become so busy,” says Elaine Housel, owner of Elaine’s Wearable Art, a clothing and jewelry retailer. “Women on vacation can only sit around for so long. They’re coming to town to shop.”
There are reports of higher home prices around Bedford, but Todd May, at Johnson Real Estate, cites a “certain amount of speculation on business properties in town,” retirement-home buying by Baltimoreans, who like the lower housing costs across the Pennsylvania border, and some new industries opening.
Sharyn Maust, managing editor of the Bedford Gazette, says of the hotel’s revival: “Obviously it’s great, but I like old buildings.” Some of her readers have written angry letters, disapproving of public funds going to entertain wealthy out-of-towners. “In effect they’re saying ‘I’ll never see any benefit from this,’ ” Maust says.
At this point, the resort is no bonanza for local and school tax collectors. It’s cocooned in its own state-delineated “Keystone Opportunity Zone.”
That’s a sweetener for investors. It was laid out when the idled hotel was desperately seeking a savior in 2001. Thanks to the Opportunity Zone, no real estate or personal property tax has to be paid for 10 years, through 2010. The hit wouldn’t be heavy in any case. Annual real estate tax only would be about $32,000. That’s on a laughably low assessed value of $394,000 and “fair market value” of $2.3 million. Considering all that’s been invested, a future shock seems inevitable.
The resort’s new owners number six partners: Langdale, Evans and John Ferchill, head of the Ferchill Group, of Cleveland, and three of his associates. Ferchill is a veteran developer of historic properties, like 99 percent-occupied Heinz Lofts on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
Here’s how $120 million was put together, according to Timm Judson, chief investment officer of Felcher. Owners’ equity of $10 million; historic tax credit of $23 million, the History and Landmarks easement; $28 million in state grants under the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program; another $11 million in PennDOT funds for highway relocation; a $40 million senior mortgage held by Marshall Investment Group, of Minneapolis; and a $9 million second mortgage by Hudson Realty Capital, of New York.
Using public funds to subsidize private enterprises is a perennial issue for debate. State and federal laws favor it for historic property. But well-placed friends help.
Two lawmakers have long backed efforts to keep Bedford Springs alive: U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Everett (and his father, former Rep. Bud Shuster, a kingpin among public works promoters in Congress), and former state Sen. Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, who lost a re-election bid after helping to engineer an the since-rescinded legislative pay increase in 2005.
The Ferchill Group’s Judson says there’s no way the resort’s revival could have happened without the state’s $40 million-odd input (in grants and PennDOT funds), a third of the total cost.
Says Evans: “Many people tried for a long time to get it done and they couldn’t. The state had a great treasure that had not been open for 20 years, and it now has a viable new employer bringing in tourist dollars that did not exist before.”
Pittsburgh Landmarks’ Ziegler agrees — when it comes to the architecturally irreplaceable: “It’s so hard to do these buildings on a market basis,” he said. “As for subsidizing, it just couldn’t be done without it. And keep in mind, these owners have their own money in. They have a mortgage. I think it’s little short of a miracle.”
The competition
The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
250 miles south of Pittsburgh and southwest of Washington, D.C.
• Acreage: 6,500.
• Opened: 1778.
• Rooms: 721, including suites, guest houses.
• Rates: Per night : traditional room, $379 to $489. Higher level rooms, suites: $529 to $900.
• Golf courses: Three, per player round: $195, after Oct. 21, $130.
• Fact bites: 26 presidents have visited. A $50 million renovation completed last April. 112,000-square-foot underground bunker can be toured. Built “top secret” for Congress in case of Cold War blowup, it was never used.
• Details: 1-800-624-6070, www.greenbrier.com.
The Homestead, Hot Springs, Va.
250 miles south of Pittsburgh, 210 miles west of Washington, D.C.
• Acreage: 3,000.
• Opened: 1766.
• Rooms: 483, including suites
• Rates: Per night, $225 to $450; with meal packages, $310-535; golf packages, $620 to $1,120.
• Golf courses: Three, rounds per player depending on course, $120 to $245.
• Fact bites: 23 presidents have visited. Golfer Sam Snead had early experience as a pro here. Spa massages at $150, $220 for 50-minute and 80-minute rubs respectively.
• Details: 1-800-838-1766, www.thehomestead.com.
Bedford Springs Resort, Bedford, Pa.
100 miles east of Pittsburgh, 135 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.
• Acreage: 2,200.
• Opened: 1804 (on spring property purchased 1796).
• Rooms: 216.
• Rates: Introductory rates per night: $249 up.
• Golf courses: One, 18-hole round per player, $115, $70 twilight (after 3 p.m.)
• Fact bites: Seven presidents (some say nine) have visited. A 36-star flag behind registration desk flew at Civil War’s end. Indoor pool in a classic 1905 Grecian “temple” is spring-fed, heated.
• Details: 1-866-623-8176, www.bedfordspringsresort.com.
Contractors
A partial list of Pennsylvania “midwives” to the rebirth of Bedford Springs:
Reynolds Construction Inc., Harrisburg, general contractor; Miller Electric Construction Inc., Allison Park, electrical systems; G.N. McCrossin Co., Bellefonte, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and foundation of the spa wing; Rob-Bern Associates Inc., West Mifflin, carpentry; W.G. Tomko & Sons Inc., Finleyville, plumbing; L.R. Constanzo Co., Scranton, windows and columns; Hemlock Hills Landscaping Co., Altoona, interior landscaping (flower boxes, potted trees etc.).
Jack Markowitz can be reached at jmarkowitz@tribweb.com.
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City Receives Nomination of 12 West North Avenue (Garden Theatre) to be a City Historic Structure
From the City of Pittsburgh Historic Preservation Planner
This is to officially inform you of the receipt (on August 10, 2007) by the Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission of a nomination of the above-named property to be a City Designated Historic Structure.
The Historic Review Commission acts to maintain the distinctive historic and architectural character of nominated and designated buildings, sites, objects, and districts in the City of Pittsburgh. According to the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title 11, Historic Preservation, Chapter 1, Section 1.3, once a property has been nominated and until City Council makes a final decision on the historic designation (or until eight months have passed, whichever comes first), all proposed exterior work on the property must be reviewed and approved by the Historic Review Commission before the work may proceed. No property owner is forced to do any work to his or her building because of a nomination; a review is required only if the owner decides to make exterior changes. Please note that the Commission does not review interior work or use.
The Commission made a preliminary review of this nomination at its last regular meeting on Wednesday, September 5, 2007. At that meeting, the members of the Commission determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that the nomination will meet the definition of “Historic Structure” as set forth in the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.
As a result of the preliminary finding that the nominated structure is eligible for designation, the Commission’s regulation of any exterior renovations that are visible from a public way will continue during the designation process (for a maximum of eight months).
The Historic Review Commission will hold a Public Hearing at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 to take testimony from the public concerning the appropriateness of the proposed designation. This hearing will be held after 1:00 PM in the Commission Hearing Room on the first floor of the John P. Robin Civic Building at 200 Ross Street, Downtown. All members of the public are invited to attend. A copy of the agenda will be posted on the Department of Planning website at:
(http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/html/historic_review_commission.html)
The Historic Review Commission may make its recommendation to City Council concerning the designation of the nomination at its November 7, 2007 meeting. This recommendation, together with the recommendation of the City Planning Commission in November or December 2007, will be transmitted to Council for its review and for Council’s final decision.
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Mayor tours Market Square, cites improvements
Thursday, September 06, 2007
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteLike countless politicians before him, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl ventured into the Original Oyster House in Market Square yesterday, but not for the fish sandwich or the political glad-handing usually served with it.
Instead, the stop was part of a lunchtime walking tour during which Mr. Ravenstahl talked to merchants, shook hands with diners and pedestrians, and assessed progress in making the city’s oldest public square more visitor friendly.
The mayor said he was pleased with what he saw, from the square’s cleaner look to more people using it.
He attributed the improvement in part to a concerted effort by the city to beef up police presence and to crack down on illicit activity, including drug dealing, in the square.
“It was neglected for a period of time. The criminal element and the negative element felt comfortable here. We’re trying to move that out and trying to make this a priority,” he said.
The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership also has spearheaded improvements, purchasing 75 tables and 200 chairs to help restaurants expand their outdoor dining. Some of those dining areas have been extended into the street to provide more room.
In addition, the partnership also has added a farmers market and concerts on Thursdays to generate more activity. Trees have been pruned to open up the square and create more light. This fall, propane heating lamps will be added to allow for continued outdoor dining.
The mayor said he sees “good progress” in efforts to transform the square into a destination for visitors and residents alike.
“We’re really trying to bring the ‘market’ back to Market Square and I think our short-term success is evident and what we need to do is to continue that in order to have long-term achievement,” he said.
Mr. Ravenstahl said the city wants to build off the momentum created by the construction of the Three PNC Plaza skyscraper on Fifth Avenue and the redevelopment of the G.C. Murphy Building that abuts the square to create a more dynamic area.
He also said an experiment to remove buses from Market Square this summer has been successful for the most part and likely would become permanent.
The Port Authority has said that it is anticipating that buses would be removed permanently next spring or summer.
Several merchants told Mr. Ravenstahl that the improvements represented a good start after years of neglect.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Rick Faust, the Oyster House general manager. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but the people have felt more safe in Market Square than they have in years past.”
He said the added police presence, the Thursday events and the rerouting of the buses from the square have helped business.
“The police presence down here has been more than adequate. There’s always room for more,” he said.
Mr. Faust added he would like to see the square promoted more as a destination and to become more a focal point for events.
Another merchant, Ron Gargani, half-owner of the Buon Giorno Cafe, said he is planning $450,000 to $550,000 in improvements to his property, including restoring the building facade to its original 1918 look, in anticipation of the redevelopment Downtown.
“I feel it’s going to happen. The future is now,” he said.
He said the move of the Arts Festival from Point State Park and the Thursday events in the square increased his business by 40 percent this summer.
Washington County developer Millcraft Industries is expected to start construction on the G.C. Murphy redevelopment before the end of the year. The building will house the new home for the Downtown YMCA, 30,000 square feet of retail space, and 46 apartments.
First published on September 6, 2007 at 12:00 am
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.