Mayor Announces TALKPGH Neighborhood Program from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Pittsburgh will send a vehicle into neighborhoods next month to ask residents what the city can do through public art and urban design to help their community. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl today announced the program, which will send a film crew into 90 neighborhoods beginning April 6. The program is known as TALKPGH and is part of the city's first-ever 25-year planning process called PLANPGH, which has 12 components and is expected to be finished in 2014."

Two Port Authority Transit Center Projects Slated for this Year from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Port Authority officials are hoping for groundbreakings this year on two long-awaited major transit-oriented projects. Construction could start as soon as late summer on a $34 million transit center at the East Liberty station on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and in November on the $36 million Shannon Transit Village in Castle Shannon, said Michael Cetra, assistant general manager of legal and corporate services."

Ongoing Growth Touted for Downtown from the Pittsburgh Business Times 
"A completed Point State Park and riverfront trail. More than 2,000 apartments now in development. And a time frame for construction to begin at the 28-acre site of the former Civic Arena in the Lower Hill. Those were just a few of the new developments to look forward to in Pittsburgh’s growing downtown as presented by a host of panelists at Tuesday morning’s annual meeting of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership."

New Wave of Development in Store for Downtown Pittsburgh from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A Downtown apartment building with a rooftop pool, a spa and a yoga room. A dining and entertainment complex near the Consol Energy Center. And a playhouse that never sleeps.
They are among the projects on the drawing boards or getting ready to start in the heart of the Golden Triangle or its fringes -- some 60 in all worth an estimated $2.2 billion in investment, according to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership."

Pittsburgh City Council OKs Pursuit of Major Tax Package for Hazelwood Project; Deal Will Provide Tax Benefits for $900 Million Development from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Pittsburgh City Council today gave the Urban Redevelopment Authority the green light to pursue the largest tax increment financing deal in the city's history, an arrangement that would provide upwards of $90 million in tax benefits for a proposed $900 million residential and commercial development in Hazelwood. The proposal would allow a portion of the tax dollars paid on the property to be earmarked for roads, utilities, parks and other public improvements on the riverfront land, the former site of the LTV coke works."

LTV Coke Works site

Pittsburgh Planning Commission Delays Hearing on Oakland Project from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"The developer of an office and hotel complex that's to be part of the Oakland Portal Project today was granted a postponement of a scheduled hearing before the city Planning Commission. The hearing has been tentatively rescheduled for 2 p.m. April 2 in the first floor conference room at 200 Ross St. LW Molnar Associates expects to develop land between Forbes and Fifth Avenues just south of Robinson Street into three high-rise office buildings with a hotel. The buildings as proposed include one at 13 stories and two at eight stories."

Walkabout: West Oakland Aims to Remain Viable for Residents, Too; The Neighborhood Wants to Preserve a Residential Identity While in the Shadows of Pitt and UPMC from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"The Corner -- the former property of Breachmenders, a housing rehabilitation nonprofit -- was bought by the Friendship Community Presbyterian Church when Breachmenders dissolved in 2009. Barbara Brewton, a member of the church and the West Oakland Community Council, said the church wanted to make sure the building could become a resource: "We weren't sure at the time what we were going to do with it, but we didn't want to let it go." The Corner represents a neighborhood stand, of sorts. In Pittsburgh's big picture of population loss, West Oakland's shrinking numbers are ironic. The neighborhood has been consumed largely by institutions that are cited among icons of the city's comeback."

The Corner in West Oakland.

Downtown Pittsburgh Shifting to Full-Fledged Neighborhood from WESA, Essential Public Radio [of Pittsburgh]
"It’s often said Pittsburgh is a city of neighborhoods. There are the bustling neighborhoods of Oakland and Squirrel Hill, the struggling neighborhood of Homewood, and the transitioning neighborhoods in between. Then there’s a shadow neighborhood. Some people call it the Golden Triangle, some call it the business district, and others call it home. “It’s not just a thoroughfare for the buses, or somewhere where you go to your office from 9 to five, but I actually live here and love it a lot,” said Gina Mucciolo."

'Lost Triangle' Targeted for Acute Face-Lift; Area Called Important Confluence of Hill District and Uptown from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"On a map of the Hill District and Uptown, a small triangle wedges itself between orderly rectangles of street grids. Its boundaries are Reed, Dinwiddie and Colwell streets. Architect Daniel Rothschild calls this piece of the Hill "the lost triangle." Bill Gatti, president of TREK Development Group, says it is "an important confluence of the two neighborhoods.""

Energy Innovation Center Kicks Off Trainings Around Region; LEED-certified Hill District Center Opens in 2014 from Imagine Pittsburgh Now
"The work of further aligning education with workforce development moves forward this month, as the Energy Innovation Center’s first training sessions begin. The center, or EIC, is a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Pittsburgh region’s research universities, economic development organizations and corporations, including Eaton Corp., Bayer MaterialScience, EQT, Duquesne Light Co., PPG Industries, Johnson Controls, Burns & Scalo and Mascaro Construction.  In addition to the Penn State Center, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University, other partners in the center include Operating Engineers Local 95 and Urban Innovation21."

URA Buys Pittsburgh's 'Skinny Building' and its Plumper Neighbor from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Both buildings, owned by Garland Real Properties Inc., sit in the heart of the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor, across the street from the $400 million Tower at PNC Plaza skyscraper now under construction and a block from the entrance to Market Square, with its multitude of restaurants."

The "skinny building."

PERSPECTIVE!!

Walkabout: Blighted Properties are a Pox on Our City (Diana Nelson Jones) from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"In two decades, Pittsburgh has become a city that deserves accolades, one that can boast of another "renaissance." We're cleaner, greener and more progressive. We're getting younger, and investment is growing. But of the many feathers in our cap, the "most livable" boast would be easy to ridicule if you have to look at 502 Chester Ave. every day. In Perry South, it's one among thousands of city properties that are not only unlivable but destructive.

The Next Page: High Point Pittsburgh's Lofty Ambition from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Three years of study have yielded a workable concept for a one-of-a-kind public space atop the U.S. Steel Tower. But while public support is growing, the building's owners aren't on board."

Larimer/East Liberty Grant Project Seeks Partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Pittsburgh Public Schools has been asked to become a partner in the efforts of Larimer/East Liberty to win a $30 million federal Choice Neighborhoods transformation grant. At a board committee meeting tonight, Sandra Moore, president of Urban Strategies Inc. of St. Louis, Mo., said she is working with the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh and the neighborhood on planning efforts to apply for the grant. Urban Strategies already has been successful in helping three other communities win the competitive grants."

Pittsburgh Public Market Moves Closer to Securing New Home in the Strip District from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review
"The Pittsburgh Public Market is moving closer to securing a new home in the Strip District. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's office announced Wednesday that the market plans to move from its home in the more than 80-year-old Pittsburgh Produce Terminal Building to a cinder-block, 25,760-square-foot office building at 2401 Penn Avenue this summer."

Shovels in the Ground for Another Round: Bakery Square 2.0 from Imagine Pittsburgh Now
"A twice-baked opportunity for Pittsburgh’s resurgent East Liberty neighborhood is being readied for the oven with the recent groundbreaking for Bakery Square 2.0 – a “world-class development … offer[ing] amazing office and housing opportunities that will attract new businesses and residents,” according Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl."

GoBurgh Releases Transit-Oriented Development Study, Road Map for Advancing Region's Transit from Pop City Media
"A new study was released last week making the case for transit-oriented development (TOD) in the Pittsburgh region. GoBurgh’s Chris Sandvig says the new report offers a clear strategy for advancing TOD, a type of development he calls an economic engine where investments should be made. His organization’s previous reports have offered ideas on why TOD is important; now they’re showing how it can be done."

Allegheny River Towns Enterprise Zone Receives $350K for Municipal Projects from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"Millvale is one of seven member communities of the Allegheny River Towns Enterprise Zone, a community economic development organization that received $350,000 in grants last week. The organization received $200,000 from the Heinz Endowments and $150,000 from the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County. ARTEZ, as it's known, hired Iris Whitworth as the organization's executive director. “It's an unprecedented opportunity for communities to basically create an economic development engine for the local economy of our seven communities,” Whitworth said."

Pittsburgh Invited to Consider Playing Host to 2024 Olympics from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"The region's leaders say they will consider mounting a bid for that year's Summer Olympics. Being the host could cost $3 billion.  Here's what it would take for Pittsburgh to be the host of the 2024 Summer Olympics: thinking big and building bigger. And $3 billion. Consider goal one accomplished."

EDITORIAL!!

Go for It: Pittsburgh Should Explore a Summer Olympics Bid from the Editorial Board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Dream big, Pittsburgh. As in Olympic gold. The invitation from the U.S. Olympic Committee for this city to be among 35 in the country to bid for the 2024 Summer Games is a privilege. More than that, it's an opportunity and Pittsburgh should go for it."