Category Archive: Threatened Historic Resources
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Point Breeze: Council delays vote on Walgreens Proposal
By staff and wire reports
Thursday, September 14, 2006Pittsburgh City Council delayed a preliminary vote Wednesday on a controversial plan to build a Walgreens drug store in Point Breeze.
More than a dozen residents who live near the proposed site at the corner of Penn and South Braddock avenues implored council members to vote against changing a sliver of residentially zoned land to commercially zoned land.
The change would allow Walgreens developers to build a drive-through window lane where three Victorian homes currently stand. Developers have agreements to buy the homes, which would be demolished.
The matter will go before City Council again for a vote Sept. 27.
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Costly rehab down the line
By Jim Ritchie
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 24, 2006The iconic Monongahela and Duquesne Heights inclines each day crawl up and down Mt. Washington’s steep hillside, inching ever closer to needing a costly rehabilitation.
Port Authority of Allegheny County directors say the price tag to keep the cars running could reach $40 million — and some want civic, corporate or historical groups to help pay, so the financially struggling agency isn’t forced to spend money that could be used to replace buses or light-rail cars or to pave busways.
“We’ve got to be looking at ways to generate revenue,” authority board member James Dodaro said. “It is a community asset, and it’s something the community should have an interest in preserving. It’s something that shouldn’t be a drain on the Port Authority.”
Some incline riders agree the inclines are an asset for the city and like the idea of having community groups help pay for their long-term upkeep. More than 1.1 million people use the inclines annually.
“When I go Downtown and have to do business, I use it,” said Mt. Washington resident Raymond Batykefer, who rides the Mon Incline frequently. “It’s cheaper, saves me the cost of parking, and it’s pretty efficient.”
The 136-year-old Mon Incline and 129-year-old Duquesne Heights Incline are in good working condition, and a major renovation isn’t anticipated soon. But the authority, which faces a $31.5 million deficit in its 2006-07 budget, anticipates future incline expenses.
“This board has made it a point to direct the staff to try and discover new funding streams wherever possible, and that includes funding streams for projects like this down the road,” Port Authority spokesman Bob Grove said.
Port Authority could tap its capital budget — more than $200 million this year — to pay for improvements, Grove said. But any money spent on inclines is money the agency won’t have to improve bus and subway service.
Finding money elsewhere would not be easy, local nonprofit officials say.
The Allegheny Regional Asset District planned to allocate nearly $75 million this year, but largely focuses on helping parks, libraries and civic organizations — not transit or public works projects.
“There’s nothing right now that would make their application ineligible, but it would be an entirely new direction,” said David Donahoe, executive director of the asset district.
The Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau markets the region but does not help secure money.
“We do not get involved in bricks-and-mortar,” Executive Vice President Bob Imperata said. “Having said that, we’re very conscious of the need to have attractions like the Mon and Duquesne inclines. They’re very valuable assets and important tourist attractions. We market them extensively.”
The bureau has considered using the inclines as a symbol for Pittsburgh’s tourism industry, similar to San Francisco’s cable cars or the St. Louis Gateway Arch, Imperata said.
Advertising companies have pushed local officials to adopt the symbol so they could market incline trinkets, he said.
“This is so historical,” Octavia Coburn, of Rankin, said after riding the Mon Incline. “They’ve got to keep it going. People come here and look for the inclines.”
“This is Pittsburgh — the inclines,” said her husband, Donald Coburn.
Imperata suggested Port Authority might find a corporate sponsor or sell naming rights. The authority has tried to sell naming rights for its Downtown light-rail transit stations without success.
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation in 1970 declared the Mon Incline a historic structure. Foundation spokeswoman Cathy McCollom said that could help the authority seek money nationwide.
“”Many of the historic preservation grants are statewide, if not throughout the U.S.,” she said.
State grants would offer up to a few hundred thousand dollars and national grants might rise to a million dollars, she said. But getting such money is a competitive process.
One possible long-term solution used elsewhere is charging tourists more money.
The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway in Chattanooga, Tenn., charges tourists $12 for a round-trip. Local commuters can buy a monthly pass that makes the fare about $1.25 per trip.
“One of the reasons we’re focused on it so much is, our incline generates about a million dollars of net revenue a year,” Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority Executive Director Tom Dugan said.
A round-trip fare on the inclines in Pittsburgh is $2.25, whether the rider is a tourist or commuter.
The Duquesne Heights Incline, although owned by Port Authority, is operated by the nonprofit Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Incline. The group pays for maintenance by accepting contributions from foundations and other groups.
Donahoe said the group twice applied for Regional Asset District grants and was rejected.
“I can’t imagine people concerned about historic preservation not coming together to find a way to help,” McCollom said.
Jim Ritchie can be reached at jritchie@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7933.
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Carnegie Library repairs pegged at $2M
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 3, 2006A lightning bolt that struck the clock tower of the Allegheny Regional branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in April caused at least $2 million in damage to the historic North Side building.
The repair cost will be covered by insurance, library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes said.Library officials have been working with the city, which owns the building and leases it to Carnegie Library, to come up with specifications for repairs. Officials do not know when work will begin. The library has been closed since the lightning strike.
The lighting, which hit the building at 5 Allegheny Square about 8 p.m. April 7, exploded a pyramid-shaped portion at its top, blasting gaping holes in the roof.
A chunk of granite weighing several hundred pounds ripped into the second-floor lecture hall, imbedding itself — point first — in the floor. A piece of stone weighing about 2,000 pounds had to be pulled out of the attic, where it wiped out the building’s heating and cooling system.
Water lines also were damaged, sending a stream cascading through parts of the building. The building was closed at the time, and nobody was injured.Library patrons, who have been without a facility for nearly three months, soon will have access to the library in the Woods Run section, which has been closed for renovations.
“We don’t have an exact date yet. We should be opening (Woods Run) early in July,” Thinnes said.
Library officials have had no luck finding a temporary replacement for the North Side library, Thinnes said.
“We’ve looked at probably 20 buildings, but none of them was suitable,” she said. The space would not have to be as big as the 42,000 square feet that was lost, but it must be wired for Internet use and be accessible to people with physical disabilities.
The Allegheny Regional branch was the fourth most-visited library in the Carnegie network, Thinnes said. Last year, it circulated 76,000 items and had more than 96,000 visits.The branch has about 100,000 items in its collection.
The building also was used to store historic collections, including directories, meeting minutes, photos and newspaper clippings of Allegheny City, a portion of the North Side that existed as a city separate from Pittsburgh until 1906. A private company has been hired to make sure those rare documents are protected, Thinnes said.
Despite the extensive damage to the building, none of the library’s collection was damaged.
The Romanesque-style building, which opened in 1890, was designated a historic landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1970. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7987.
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Drive-through proposal prompts turnout
By Richard Byrne Reilly
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 29, 2006Opponents of a proposed Walgreens drive-through in Point Breeze blasted developers and urged City Council to reject a request to alter zoning laws that would permit three 100-year-old homes to be demolished for the project.
“We want to see viable, creative development in our neighborhood, not a condescending lesson about what is good or bad for it,” said Bill Anthes, who recently moved to Pittsburgh with his wife to pursue a doctoral degree at Carnegie Mellon University.Protesters packed a meeting Wednesday at the City-County Building, Downtown, waving fluorescent red and green placards that said, “Don’t Re-Zone Park Place.” Resident Joan Rabinowitz handed out freshly baked cookies bearing the same slogan.
Park Place residents said rezoning the site at Penn and South Braddock avenues would drive down property values and hurt the character of the neighborhood, where many homes are 100 years old. Paradise Development Group wants to demolish three houses for a two-lane drive-through developers say will alleviate traffic congestion.
City planners voted to allow the rezoning. Council will decide next week whether to approve it, said Council President Luke Ravenstahl.
Brandon Miles, a project manager in Pittsburgh for the Tampa, Fla.-based Paradise Development Group, said he has tried to accommodate Park Place residents’ concerns and has worked to meet city code requirements for the project. Paradise has signed letters of intent with the three families to sell the homes that would be razed, Miles said.
“We’ve worked to protect the welfare and integrity of the neighborhood,” Miles said.
Asked what might happen if council rejects the rezoning, Miles said he was “reserving judgment until a decision is made.”
Arnold Horovitz, a land-use attorney representing the Greater Park Place Neighborhood Group, said residents don’t necessarily oppose a Walgreens in the neighborhood, just the drive-through.
The demolition, he said, would be “out of character with the neighborhood.”
Arch Pelley, an urban planner who attended the hearing, said the issue comes down to compromise.
“The question is, ‘What is the best way to develop this site?’ ” he said.
Richard Byrne Reilly can be reached at rreilly@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5625.
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Store plan draws ire
By Richard Byrne Reilly
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, June 27, 2006Angered by a developer and the city’s planning process, people fighting a proposed drive-through for a Walgreens drug store in Point Breeze plan to attend a special City Council meeting Wednesday.
Their opposition centers on the fact that the two-lane, 24-hour drive-through for the Penn Avenue store would eliminate three Victorian homes in the neighborhood’s Park Place section.“Number one, the drive-through is not necessary. And two, we fear the loss of the residential properties will be a serious detriment to the neighborhood,” said John Mayberry, president of the Greater Park Place Neighborhood Association.
Council will hold a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. and will vote next month whether to approve zoning that would allow the store to be built. The Planning Commission has recommended the rezoning.
Opponents also are riled about planning commissioner Todd E. Reidbord’s role in the process.
Reidbord is president of Walnut Capital, a Shadyside investment company that previously developed a property that had Walgreens as its anchor tenant, raising concerns about conflict of interest, said Arnold Horovitz, an attorney representing Mayberry’s civic group. Reidbord did not disclose his previous affiliation with the drug-store chain when the Planning Commission considered the plan, and he shouted down and cut short residents when they tried to voice their opposition, said Horovitz and others who attended the meeting. Reidbord voted to recommend rezoning April 4, when the commission backed the move 7-1.
“Our real problem was his attitude at the previous meeting when he tried to stop opponents from speaking,” Horovitz said. “It was an aggressive effort to control the meeting because opponents couldn’t make their case.”
Reidbord did not return calls for comment.
City Planning Director Patrick Ford deemed the concerns regarding Reidbord valid.
“The community is correct. (Reidbord) should have recused himself and disclosed the conflict,” Ford said, referring to Reidbord’s company.
Ford said the conflict-of-interest issue would be discussed at Wednesday’s hearing and that “a number of residents” complained about Reidbord’s behavior in the meeting.
City planning staffers recommended approving the zoning change to the Planning Commission, Ford said.
Park Place resident Jim Hart said the integrity of the neighborhood would be affected if the three antique homes are torn down.
“We have to take a stand now, before it’s too late,” Hart said.
Richard Byrne Reilly can be reached at rreilly@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5625.
Back to headlines
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Silence far from golden at Two Mellon Center
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 1, 2006Paulo Costa doesn’t want to move his tailor shop from its first-floor location in the Union Trust building, Downtown.
Not only has the store been his livelihood for 15 years, Costa said, the ornate building — designed in Flemish Gothic style by noted Pittsburgh architect F.J. Osterling — also reminds him of the Galleria, an architectural landmark in his native Milan, Italy.
“Look, there was a tailor shop right there,” he said Wednesday, pointing to a picture of the Milan building in a book that he has in the store.
Despite Costa’s fondness for the 11-story building — also known as Two Mellon Center — he fears he soon may join the ranks of the ever-dwindling number of tenants in the nearly empty structure at 501 Grant St.
Most tenants face an uncertain future because of what they say has been an almost total lack of communication with the building’s owner — Florida-based DeBartolo Property Group LLC.
“We have heard nothing,” said Costa, adding that he plans to remain until told to leave but doesn’t know when that will be.“We have not heard a peep, (from DeBartolo),” said Rick Conley, owner of Oliver Flowers, who already has decided to move his store by July 1 from the building to the 300 Sixth Avenue Building, Downtown.
Conley said he wanted to stay at Union Trust but gave up awaiting the building’s fate — which has been unclear since the major tenant, Mellon Financial Corp., announced last year that it was leaving the building.
Mellon’s last day as the master lease holder for the building was yesterday. Having occupied about 70 percent of the rentable space under the master lease, Mellon has moved all its people to its three other buildings Downtown — One Mellon Center, 325 William Penn Place and the Mellon Client Services Center.
DeBartolo officials could not be reached for comment in recent days. In September, a company official denied the building would be taken to foreclosure or put up for sheriff’s sale.
“There have been different stories bandied about what could happen, including that it could be going back to the lenders,” said Pat Sentner, of NAI Pittsburgh Commercial, a Downtown-based commercial real estate firm.
Tenants interviewed yesterday said they continue to hear speculation that the building’s mortgage holder — Philadelphia-based health-insurance firm Cigna Corp. — may seek to foreclose on the building or that Cigna or DeBartolo may be soliciting buyers.
A Cigna spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday.
“People said we would be contacted by the new owners, but no one from DeBartolo ever contacted us,” said Randy Sams, manager of A-New-U Avon products store, which closed yesterday. Sams, who said he’s not sure if the company-owned store would reopen elsewhere Downtown, heard reports last year that the structure would be turned into a condominium complex, but nothing ever came of that plan.
Others said they had heard the building might to turned into a multi-use complex that would include a hotel.
“I’m optimistic about the building,” said Tom Michael, president of Larrimor’s, the upscale clothier that occupies a prime corner at Grant Street and Fifth Avenue.
Unlike most tenants, who operated their businesses under sub-leases with Mellon Financial, Michael has a separate, longer-term lease for his store that doesn’t expire until 2010.
“We’re happy to be in the building, and I think this is going to be resolved,” he said.
The building’s owner is Pittsburgh DeBartolo Historic Associates, and the structure’s estimated market value is $30.7 million, according to Allegheny County’s real estate Web site.
The site also shows that about $144,000 in county real estate taxes are unpaid for 2006. County Treasurer John Weinstein said that those taxes, along with about $8,600 in penalty and interest, are delinquent.
“We have fully satisfied our 2006 real estate-tax obligations for Two Mellon Center for both the city and the Pittsburgh School District,” Mellon spokesman Ronald Gruendl said. “We will make our payment to the county, once the ultimate owner for the building is determined and is set to pay the remainder of the county obligation.”
As of yesterday, fewer than 20 retail tenants, either in the first-floor arcade area or the first-sub-basement level, remained in the building, along with a few fourth-floor office tenants.
Outside, signs on some of the store windows told of pending moves to new locations, including that of the Nettleton Shop of Pittsburgh upscale shoe store, which plans to move to One Oxford Centre. Others, such as Betsy Ann Chocolates, gave no indication of plans to close or relocate.
Still other windows reveal vacant store areas inside.
Mellon’s Gruendl said that it his understanding that office tenants will be allowed to remain until the end of June under a temporary lease extension.
As of today those arrangements will be in the hands of DeBartolo, he said.
“Our master lease for the building ends today (Wednesday), so as of Thursday, DeBartolo becomes the landlord for all of the remaining leases,” he said.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
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Church lot eyed for office building
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, May 26, 2006A Pittsburgh developer said Thursday it plans to build a nine-story office building designed to house medical offices and other institutional tenants at Bigelow Boulevard and Ruskin Avenue in Oakland.
The Elmhurst Group, Downtown, said the 143,000-square-foot Schenley Place complex is targeted for a parking lot owned by and adjacent to the First Baptist Church.
Construction is expected to begin as early as the fall, with the building ready for occupancy by 2008. The cost of the project has not been determined.
“During the past several years, we have focused our company’s attention on Oakland because of the strong economic generators of the universities and medical centers,” said Elmhurst President Bill Hunt.
Elmhurst’s projects include the fully occupied, six-story Rand Corp. building near St. Paul Cathedral at Fifth Avenue and Craig Street in Oakland.
It is in negotiations with Select Medical Corp., a Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County-based operator of specialty health care hospitals, to be a tenant for about 85,000 square feet.
Fully occupied, the building will be home to about 225 jobs, Hunt estimated. The project will include three levels of underground parking.
Elmhurst’s Schenley Place proposal drew objections at a recent hearing before the Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and some residents of the Schenley Farms area.
“It is our opinion the building does not meet the criteria for the Oakland Civic Center Historic District in terms of scale, size, design or context,” Cathy McCollom, the foundation’s chief program officer, said yesterday.
The group does not object to erecting a building on the site, but suggests a smaller structure, with only about 64,000 square feet, as an alternative.
“We will work very hard with the community and the Historic Review Commission to make sure the building’s design and architecture blends with the rest of the Schenley Farms neighborhood, and the adjacent properties, including the First Baptist Church,” Hunt said.
Elmhurst believes the size of the building is permitted by zoning regulations, he said.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.