Downtown residential projects update

[Evergrey]

Here's an article from late last year that I don't remember reading... it has a lot of downtown residential conversion projects that either I never knew about... or have forgotten about... so here we go

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg...ml?t=printable

Now we all knew about the Carlyle conversion on 4th and Wood

but I didn't know about the Carlyle developer's plan to convert the Commonwealth Building into condos (middle building, right of the arch thingie)

I knew that the Standard Life Building was undergoing conversion to student housing... but I did not know the adjacent Fidelity Building had already undergone conversion (Fidelity Bldg is to the right of the columns, Standard Life is red building on far right)

the beautiful Arrott Building is going condo... I had no idea!

The Conestoga Building... the most prominent building in the Mon Wharf... is going condo too! it's also quite close to the 4th St. properties

detail

Conestoga is the 7-story brown building right above the boat

Also mentioned in the article is 930 Penn Ave.... it's the wider building with all the lights on in the windows

Across the street is the Penn-Garrison... which has been completed for a couple years I think

Here are some shots of the emerging 4th Avenue residential district

the red building is remaining office

a canyon of residential skyscrapers... the columns at left is the base of the Commonwealth Building

a slice of the Commonwealth Building at far left... connected to the Carlyle... the red Bank Center remains office... the tower to the right of Bank Center with horizontal striping is the Arrott... which is turning condo

Here's another shot of 930 Penn Ave... which is also a booming area for residential conversion... the property is on the left of the picture

work has begun on the Try St. Terminal Bldg which is being converted to student housing for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh

the crane for 151 First Side... 18 story condo tower... it's currently working on the subterranean portion of the structure

The Encore on 7th has recently opened its doors to its first tenents... it really has a great skyline presence

[PghUSA]

Beautiful pics Evergrey, great updates as well . . . so many things are moving so fast downtown that it is getting harder to see the forest from the trees. I just this week took several pics around the Fifth Forbes area before PNC and Piatt starts with the wrecking ball. Most of those structures deserve it, but some will be a big loss for this city.

[mjcatl2]

Thanks for putting a face on these Evergrey. I actually tried to dig for every new or converted listing last year and found mentions (but little or no other detail) of some of these, which might be listed in the Downtown Pittsburgh housing updates now.

Here's the old list that I made...

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=18275

[tooluther]

-The Conestoga Building condo project was dropped, it is now part of the Point Park Student housing projects (owned by Silver King Development, but master leased by PPU)

-They aren't sure if The Commonwealth Building will be a continuation of condos or if it will be an apartment project. At any rate, it will include amenities for the Carlyle.

-I haven't head anything about the Arrot Building. Where is that info from? I saw it on an office lease listing yesterday.

-Another new project is the Pirmanti Brothers building in Market Square. There are two new units open above it.

[Evergrey]

The Arrott Building mention is from the Pittsburgh Business Times article from late last year that I provided the link for at the beginning of my post.

Thanks for the updates.

[PghUSA]

You know I just thought the Try Street abandoned building and the First side development I wish would get started at least before the ASG. Especially the try street eyesore. Also Encore is a great structure but I hope they take down that "used car salesman" banner advertising units during the worldwide broadcast. Wish they would make the PNC Park side a tad more unique but great job overall on that!

[TheGerbil]

I haven't seen this "used care salesman" sign. Is it really ugly or something? Because it seems to me that, in general, it would be good for out-of-towners to see a sign advertising new housing. When I was in Chicago I saw a few buildings with signs like that and got the impression of a booming downtown.

[mjcatl2]

The building is so new that it still has a sign up. That's good.

[tooluther]

You know I just thought the Try Street abandoned building and the First side development I wish would get started at least before the ASG. Especially the try street eyesore.

151 First side and Try street are both under construction...they will be open next april and next june respectively

[PghUSA]

I call it the used car salesman sign. Nothing wrong with it I guess, but architecture is there for a reason and huge banners like that cover up the architecture, plus a successful condo wouldn't have to advertise. Ok I'm being picky here but I see the Ft. Duquesne Blvd. side of town as the "face" of Pittsburgh for the global TV feed this July. Like it or not people are going to have that image imblazened in their minds as representing Pittsburgh. IMHO a "buy now, buy, buy, buy" sign covering windows and balconies and landscape on one of the newer towers isn't flattering to folks from Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Fran and New York that are used to waiting lists and auctions to get into condos.

[mjcatl2]

I guess you don't like the sign because you feel that the guests at PNC Park will think that Pgh has a challenge in renting apartments, but come down to Atlanta and you'll several buildings with signage on the buildings in addition to billboards and the like.

[mercurypa]

The signs were fairly commonplace in Los Angeles where I'm from, and there is no shortage of interest in the housing there. It makes people think about living there who normally would not consider it. My favorite one in Downtown LA said you'd be home now instead of sitting in traffic.

[Evergrey]

I don't see anything wrong with a brand new apartment tower advertising itself to prospective renters. Maybe somebody from Upper St. Clair will be attending a game... and be like "Wow, I didn't even know there was housing downtown!"...

I'll take that inoffensive banner over the gigantic Bud Light and Coors Light billboards that infest the city everywhere you look.

[PghUSA]

I guess art is in the eye of the beholder on this one.

My biggest gripe on this (and it ain't all that huge) is that unlike Budlite billboards or Heinz signs, the apartment sign is just tied up there to blow in the wind and is covering up some nice reflective glass, balconies, architecture and the like. It'd be similar in my mind to leaving that mesh on the City/County building engraving or covering up the fountain at the point with some ad for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Let the architecture and design shine through in its entirety. Not the biggest thing on the ASG to do list I acknowledge but something I think would help the city be remembered in all those shots for decades to come.

[TheGerbil]

I see where you are coming from, PghUSA. You think the banner is unattractive and detracts from the architecture. Fair enough.

But I do think it's good for people to see that this building is new. It helps draw attention to the housing boom downtown, and maybe some out-of-towners will even start thinking about living here. The banner is almost as good as having a crane in the sky. And I do hope we have a couple of cranes in the sky come ASG week. They aren't pretty either, but nothing says growth like a crane.

[Evergrey]

We have a crane in the sky along the Monongahela downtown where Falbo's 18-story condo is going up.

[TheGerbil]

Yeah, I knew about that one. But I don't know if it is visible from the north shore. Anyone?

[PghUSA]

I don't know of any cranes visible to the TV audience but out of towners coming through the Ft. Pitt will see the mon valley ones.

Cranes aren't pretty but I love seeing them in the sky especially when what they are constructing is a gleaming jewel in the skyline!

[TheGerbil]

Good point about the view coming out of the tunnel. Hadn't thought about that. Still, I would not mind if some cranes were visible from PNC park so the tv cameras would catch them

[mjcatl2]

I saw an ad in Pittsburgh magazine from Caldwell Banker (apparently the firm selling condos for 151 and a couple of the bigger conversions downtown). I looked for the nice picture of 151, but couldn't find it, but here's something from the 151 website.

[tooluther]

CB is selling/marketing 151 First Side, the Carlyle, and the Granite Building...just fyi

[PghUSA]

I saw an ad in Pittsburgh magazine from Caldwell Banker (apparently the firm selling condos for 151 and a couple of the bigger conversions downtown). I looked for the nice picture of 151, but couldn't find it, but here's something from the 151 website.

Nice find Mj, thanks for the clarification Tooluther!

[mjcatl2]

CB is selling/marketing 151 First Side, the Carlyle, and the Granite Building...just fyi

Yeah, the other two were in the ad, but it escaped me when adding my last reply (which 151 is the only new building anyway). Thanks though

[TheGerbil]

Good news. Groundbreaking on Piatt Place is today! I am very glad to see this project moving forward.

[Evergrey]

There were 4 interesting articles about Cultural District development in this week's Pittsburgh Business Times

It's exciting to see a mix of smaller developers getting in on the action of the Cultural District... while the Cultural District is much further ahead than the rest of downtown... I think the success of the CD along with the major projects coming to fruition in the Fifth-Forbes corridor and the close to $1 billion dollars of investment in the Lower Hill / Arena District... will have a spillover effect across most of Downtown...

Here are a couple photos of the 16,000 sq. ft. Keystone Picture Frame Co. building at 951 Liberty Ave. that Jim Martier is converting to 12 "affordable" condos at $200,000 each... sorry the pictures don't show it too well... it's a rather unremarkable building architecturally

here it is in the middle-right of this photo... 4-story black building... you can read the word "Frame" on it

here it is on the right side of this photo... in the middle is where Pop City is published... on the left is the Bruno Bldg... one of the first in the current wave of small-scale residential loft conversion of historic largely-vacant commercial structures downtown

this photo features the Penn Ave. residential conversion by Solera Ventures... it's the non-descript 5-story building on the left side of the street in the middle... a 4 story addition will be built... condos range from $400k-$700k... 8 of 18 units have been sold despite construction and marketing not starting yet... the Courtyard Marriott is right next door

the building at 908-910 Penn Ave. is pictured in the middle of this photo... it's a 6 story tan building... the top 4 floors are attractive but the bottom 2 appear to have suffered some sort of 1960s-era defacement... this 36,000 sq. ft. building was purchased by French expatriate Charles Durham for $1.3 million... he plans to convert it to residential use

The next photo is of the 9-story 60,000 sq. ft. 1891 vintage Richardsonian Romanesque Ewart Building on Liberty Ave... Rugby Realty purchased the boarded up gem 10 years ago and it has been fully leased by office tenents since... which has led to Rugby purchasing many other properties in the area... they've been instrumental in this area's turnaround... and are also planning a mixed-use tower in the Strip District

This photo shows the site of Riverparc, the mega-project that the Cultural Trust will begin work on later this year, as it appeared last summer... and still appears today... parking lots... parking garages... a Goodyear dealership (which is totally random for DT PGH)... and a couple of motley structures... Riverparc will be a "green" 4-block neighborhood of 700 residential units in mid/high-rise towers and townhomes... as well as retail, office, civic components and the "cap" over the boulevard connecting the development to the Allegheny River waterfront...

The Encore on 7th, the 151-unit apartment building completed last year by the Cultural Trust... and now 98% leased is front and center in this pic (red building with party hat)... a deli/market will be opening in the building... to the left and behind the Encore on 7th is the Century Building... which the Cultural Trust is transforming into 60 "affordable" residential units... the barren area on the left of the photo near the riverfront is the Riverparc site

in case you forgot what Riverparc is supposed to look like

900,000 SF of Residential space, Approximately 159,000 SF of Retail space, 45,000 SF performing arts venue and 530,000 SF of structured parking