Pittsburgh Has Dim View Of Ads On Sign Above Point

The sign in question is to the right of the tall building and the incline. Looks like a cement wall next to the trees on the cliff. Actually a billboard.

Picture this scrolling hundreds of feet above the iconic confluence of Pittsburgh’s three rivers: “Chipped ham, $1.39 a pound.”

That’s the plot Mayor Bill Peduto says his administration has foiled as it negotiates a new permit with Lamar Advertising for the company’s famous 32-foot-tall, 225-foot-long neon sign on Mount Washington, which has loomed over the Point since around the time of the 1929 stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression.

Bayer, which for years had pushed for upgrades to the dilapidated sign that was covered with a banner during the G-20 summit in 2009 like an embarrassing piece of furniture, finally dropped its nearly 22-year lease of the sign last summer. Lamar pledged to overhaul it. During its lifespan, the sign has also been graced by the sponsorship of Iron City Beer and Alcoa, and displayed the time and the temperature.

Mr. Peduto said Friday that the company is threatening to cease the improvements over his administration’s insistence that the sign not be used for advertising purposes beyond displaying a company name. Mr. Peduto said he was told his stance “killed” a deal with Giant Eagle to become the new sponsor.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2015/05/23/Pittsburgh-has-dim-view-of-ads-on-sign-above-Point/stories/201505230071

Mt. Washington Landslide Stable — For Now

Pittsburgh officials say a landslide that closed a popular Mt. Washington restaurant and the Duquesne Incline in April has stabilized, but they continue to monitor the area and a host of other slide-prone areas throughout the city.

Tons of boulders and dirt the length of a football field tumbled from Mt. Washington below theLeMont restaurant on April 8, blocking Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks along West Carson Street.

As a precaution, the city ordered the LeMont and the incline, on Grandview Avenue, closed. The restaurant remained closed for several days as engineers inspected the slide area and deemed the area safe.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6735527-74/area-washington-areas#ixzz3DOzr5Tjj
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We Were On Assignment In Pittsburgh Since Last Thursday But We’re Back

 

Downtown Pittsburgh as seen from the fountain at Point State Park

Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington

New 33 story PNC Tower under construction in downtown Pittsburgh

Downtown Pittsburgh as seen from PNC Park across the Allegheny River

Smoke clearing after the fireworks from a Pirates game.

The fountain at Point State Park.

Gateway Center, downtown Pittsburgh

Monongahela Include going from Station Square to Mt. Washington

Pittsburgh Parkway 376 – Ft. Pitt Bridge and Ft. Pitt Tunnels

 

Investors Are Becoming Pittsburgh’s Biggest Home Buyers, Sellers

Locator map with the Mount Washington neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Joe Calloway has bought 39 homes this year in the city of Pittsburgh, mostly in south Pittsburgh communities such as South Side Flats, South Side Slopes, Arlington, Allentown, Beltzhoover and Mount Washington.

His Allentown company, RE 360, finds properties selling for below-market value, either by word of mouth, industry sources or courthouse auctions. He renovates about 20 percent of them for resale and rents the other 80 percent to city residents.

“The city of Pittsburgh is attractive to me because I grew up here,” he said. “I know the area, and it’s important to invest in what you know.”

While Mr. Calloway — who has purchased more than $1 million in single-family homes this year — is the largest buyer of investment real estate in the city, he is hardly alone. According to RealStats, a South Side-based real estate information service, real estate investors have bought 1,111 homes within the city limits so far this year for a total of $85.4 million.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/investors-are-becoming-pittsburghs-biggest-home-buyers-sellers-708060/#ixzz2i5m9hqt6

Residents’ Input Spurs Revisions At Grandview

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After scrapping a grandiose hotel and condo project on Mount Washington in favor of apartments, a developer once again is tinkering with plans for the development.

The 300 apartments won’t be changing, but developer Beau Beemsterboer is adding an overlook and building a more “iconic” tower at the site of the former Edge restaurant at the east end of Grandview Avenue.

Charles L. “Luke” Desmone, the architect for the project, said Thursday the changes are being made to address concerns and comments raised by residents at meetings to discuss the switch from the hotel/condo project to the apartment complex.

As part of the latest revisions, a “stage-like” platform will be built just east of the Monongahela Incline and will offer visitors views of the Downtown skyline. While part of the proposed apartment complex, Mr. Desmone said the goal is to have the observation deck open to visitors.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/residents-input-spurs-grandview-revisions-704114/#ixzz2fSF3aCJP

Developer Scales Down Grandiose Project For Mount Washington

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some five years after it was first proposed, a developer is scrapping plans for a grandiose $100 million hotel-condominium project on Mount Washington in favor of a more modest apartment complex.

Gone will be the 20-story high-rise featuring a four- to five-star, 163-room luxury hotel. Gone will be about 58 condos perched on a cliff overlooking Downtown.  Gone, apparently, will be amenities like a scenic overlook and a giant plaza that would have been open to the public.

Instead, Sycamore Grandview Development is proposing to construct about 300 market rate apartments in four buildings wrapped around a “grand central yard” at the four-acre site at the end of Grandview Avenue near the Monongahela Incline.

Developer Beau Beemsterboer is expected to present the revised plans to the community at a meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Mount Washington Senior Center.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/developer-scales-down-grandiose-project-for-mount-washington-702313/#ixzz2eDmwdroM

2 Men Rescued From Side Of Mount Washington

Locator map with the Mount Washington neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  The incline costs $2.50 each way.   The fee for a mountain rescue is $750.00.

Pittsburgh emergency crews safely rescued two people who were stranded on Mount Washington between the Wabash Tunnel and the Monongahela Incline after they attempted to climb down on foot.

The rescue attempt began around 3:45 p.m.  Both men were safely brought to the bottom of the 600-foot incline by 6 p.m.

“We just thought there was a shortcut,” said one of the men, whose name has not yet been released.  “We almost made it to the bottom, but then there was a 30-foot drop.  That’s not real easy to jump down.”

The other man suffered an ankle injury but declined transportation to the hospital.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/2-men-rescued-from-side-of-mount-washington-697101/#ixzz2aIdMI8aW

Pittsburgh’s Chatham Village A Model For Urban Planning

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As modern architects experiment with new forms of urban life, Pittsburgh’s Chatham Village has been tucked away for decades on Mount Washington, the work of 1930s architects who apparently were ahead of their time.

Resident David Vater, 59, works as an architect from his home, and he heralds the work of urban planners Clarence S. Stein and Henry Wright to anyone who will listen. Mr. Stein and Mr. Wright designed Chatham Village in the early 1930s under a commission from the Buhl Foundation, hoping to create a revolutionary new neighborhood organized around shared spaces.

“The idea was that rather than having to look at all that clutter and the cars and the streets, they would hide the streets,” Mr. Vater said.  “Instead of putting the street up the middle [of the houses], they’d put grass lawns up the middle, and gardens.  The grass lawns would be places for people to walk and enjoy and for children to play.”

A lifetime separates Mr. Stein and Mr. Wright from today’s urban planners, but their Chatham Village project is a quiet but important predecessor for modern architects.  For example, Seattle designer Ross Chapin’s contemporary “pocket neighborhoods” — small-scale neighborhoods oriented around shared spaces — are almost identical to Mr. Stein and Mr. Wright’s concept.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/home/Chatham_Village_a_model_for_urban_planning.html#YBj9oXDrOTOuzSL2.99