Patricia Rooney remembers Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Commons park at its zenith when it boasted meandering gravel paths, four flowing water fountains and lush gardens. The park on the city’s North Side, which fell victim to financial constraints over the years and became a haven for drug users and crime, is experiencing a rebirth thanks to the efforts of several civic groups and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

Workers earlier this month began a $2.5 million restoration of the park’s northeastern corner that will replicate its 19th century design. The project’s focal point is a new fountain. The work funded through charitable donations also includes restoration of gardens and gravel pathways and new lights and benches.

“We practically grew up in the park, and the fountain was always there across from Allegheny General Hospital,” said Rooney, 86, wife of the late Dan Rooney, former Steelers chairman and U.S. ambassador to Ireland. “The park was just lovely. We had playground space and lots of wonderful statues. It was full of all the children in the neighborhood.”

The lifelong North Side resident belongs to a citizens group that in 2002 commissioned a master plan for the park. The Allegheny Commons Initiative and Northside Leadership Conference along with the city and parks conservancy has been working since then on restoration plans estimated at $25 million.

The organizations have completed restoration work on the park’s southeastern corner and is focusing on a one-block square area along North and Cedar avenues.

The park was built in 1867 in what was then Allegheny City, which was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907, once featured four fountains. The basin for the fountain in question was used to build a retaining wall in Riverview Park.

The new fountain, a replica of the original, will include a 50-foot circular basin with a stone rim, large Grecian vase in the center and a central water jet surrounded by 16 smaller jets. Plans call for four beds for flowers and ornamental shrubs around the fountain.

A fence surrounds the construction zone and Pittsburgh Department of Public Works employees on Thursday were busy removing old asphalt pathways. Work is scheduled for fall completion.

“Personally I’m thrilled to see the fountain return,” Rooney said. “It’s a really big asset for us. It’s been a lot of hard work, a lot of fund-raising and a lot of support from the city and the administration and foundations.”

Originally published on May 17, 2018
SOURCE: TribLive

More than a decade after community groups on Pittsburgh’s North Side began taking baby steps toward improving its image and raising the quality of life for residents, there are more vacant buildings and boarded-up store fronts than before lining its main retail corridor.

While it might appear things have taken a turn for the worse on East Ohio Street, looks can be deceiving.

Behind the covered doors and windows of the empty shops, construction workers are preparing to gut interior walls and begin renovations — setting the stage for a new-and-improved version of East Ohio that will take shape over the next two years.

“Not everything will go exactly as planned. But give us two years, and we will have an East Ohio Street that looks vastly different,” said Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference. “What you are seeing now is the product of years of work and preparation.”

The nonprofit coalition of community-based organizations has joined forces with the Urban Redevelopment Authority and private real estate developers to gain ownership of enough properties to give East Ohio Street a major overhaul.

Nine years ago, the URA provided private real estate developer Al DePasquale with $225,000 to jump-start home renovations on the North Side. The money was used to build nine new homes and rehab two homes on James, Tripoli and Suismon streets.

The URA is now offering $30,000 grants to any developer or business owner with property on East Ohio or East streets who want to update the facades.

So far, the public-private partnership has attracted a handful of entrepreneurs to set up shop in buildings that have recently been restored.

They have turned a former hardware store into Arnold’s Tea Shop & Café, a cheery spot that also includes five newly renovated apartments. A florist called The Farmer’s Daughter opened four years ago. The dog food store Wagsburgh opened a year ago in a building owned by the Historic Deutschtown Development Corp., although the commercial office above remains vacant.

Some of the older businesses on East Ohio that updated their facilities years ago include The Priory Bakery and the Bistro To Go restaurant.

Bigger plans are on the drawing board. They include eight renovated buildings on the 400 block of East Ohio Street with shops on the first floors and apartments on the upper levels, owned by the Northside Leadership Conference and the development company East Ohio Capital.

The Northside Leadership Conference, which is funded by the state and county, is an umbrella group for 18 different neighborhoods.

The conference also is working with SSB, formerly Slovak Savings Bank, to build a two-story commercial building in the middle of the 500 block of East Ohio. East Ohio Capital will erect a building on vacant land adjacent to it for a first floor restaurant with apartments above.

Working with the URA and another private developer, the conference is proposing a retail store and apartment project on the 600 block.

But the most ambitious revitalization projects on East Ohio will be the construction of a six-story, 96-room Comfort Inn hotel and the $4 million redevelopment of the adjoining ARC House, which will be converted to a 350-person wedding venue on the first two floors with a rooftop brew pub and a wood-burning pizza restaurant.

Both of those projects are scheduled for opening in January 2019.

“We will buy anything”

“We are looking at a North Side that is set to come into a new age,” said Mr. DePasquale, co-owner of East Ohio Capital. “We will buy anything that makes sense to us in this area — the flats of North Side.

“That includes Allegheny East, Allegheny West, the Mexican War Streets, Manchester and a little part of the bottom of Spring Garden, and whatever surrounds the park,” he said.

After renovating and reselling dozens of houses in the lower Northside for around a decade, Mr. DePasquale and his partner, John Elash, want to make a mark in the commercial real estate market with investments on East Ohio Street as well as their stake in the ARC House and the new $17.5 million Comfort Inn.

Mr. DePasquale and Mr. Elash, owners of October Development, invited two other development companies to join them in the expansion of East Oho Street, forming East Ohio Capital. Right now, East Ohio Capital has 17 new construction and eight rehab residential construction projects underway between Allegheny East and the Mexican War Streets in addition to their projects on East Ohio and East streets.

“We try to save as much of the old buildings as possible,” Mr. DePasquale said. “Any time we do tear a building down, we reach out for community support.”

They are also rehabbing 16 retail spots inside the East Ohio Street envelope. They have an ownership stake in seven of the first nine buildings on East Ohio starting at the intersection with Cedar Avenue and the first four buildings on Cedar Avenue north of East Ohio.

With so much commercial property on the main drag under their control, Mr. DePasquale and his four partners in East Ohio Capital are in a position to execute their vision of a business district that is shiny and new, with wide open patio doors in front of quaint shops and trendy restaurants.

“We want to keep the character and the aesthetics of the buildings that are there, but sort of open it up and make it much more warm and inviting so that people can walk over from Downtown at lunch and walk down the street and pick a place to have lunch,” Mr. Elash said.

A game day experience?

Part of Mr. DePasquale’s vision is to make it part of the game day experience for Steelers and Pirates fans. People could eat and drink at the ARC House, and visit the shops and restaurants on East Ohio. He plans to provide shuttle buses.

Although many stakeholders in the community support Mr. Depasquale’s plan to buy out slum property owners and businesses, not everyone is sold on making East Ohio a big stop on game days.

“We don’t want to become the South Side,” said Nick Kyriazi, former president of the East Allegheny Community Council. “We don’t want to attract a bunch of drunken suburbanites who come to the city to lose their inhibitions. We would prefer businesses that attract locals who can walk to the shops that serve our daily needs.”

Property values in North Side residential communities have gone up in the past two decades.

“We have never, ever moved an owner-occupied family out of the neighborhood,” Mr. DePasquale said, addressing concerns about pricing out current residents. “But we are trying to move out and price out absentee owners who have turned buildings into slums.”

Residential real estate values from 2008 to 2017 in the Mexican War Streets increased an average 92.8 percent from $143,833 to $277,371, according to data compiled by RealSTATs, a Ross Township-based real estate information service. Allegheny East home prices went up 51 percent during that time frame from an average $97,838 to $148,083.

The commercial district still struggles to overcome the stigma of being unsafe.

“East Ohio Street is not a pleasant atmosphere,” Mr. Kyriazi said. “You have people standing around, looking at their phones and soliciting prostitutes. They are out there fighting and screaming at each other across the street and engaging in the type of behavior that is intimidating to others who didn’t grow up using their fists.”

Getting one part going

Real estate agent Karl Owen said he has renovated 61 residential homes on the North Side over the past 22 years that he has lived in the community. When showing houses to potential buyers, he usually points out his own home on North Avenue.

“I don’t just sell a house on the North Side and drive to my home in Sewickley,” said Mr. Owen, a historic homes specialist with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.

He sees the revitalization of East Ohio as the next leg up for the North Side. He said Mr. DePasquale and his partners deserve credit for taking on large projects that smaller developers can’t.

“There will be a dramatic change on East Ohio Street,” Mr. Owen said. “Right now, it’s blighted with empty store fronts. But I know what Al [Mr. DePasquale] can do and it will change for the better.”

Bernard Beck, past president of the East Allegheny Citizens Council, has lived in his home on Suissmon Street off Cedar Avenue since 1999. Although parts of the community are still rough around the edges, there has been a remarkable amount of change.

“We are selling homes on the North Side for more than $100,000 above what the same address would have been worth 20 years ago,” Mr. Beck said. “It’s a thing where you get one part going, then another part and people begin to realize this is a good place to live.

“You can buy donuts and the best sandwiches in Pittsburgh on East Ohio Street. And after Allie [Mr. DePasquale] works his magic, it will be an even better place for individual people to invest their mortgage money in a place to live. We have a community as safe as any in Pittsburgh and as convenient as it gets for working Downtown.”

Originally published on March 20, 2018
SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The transformation of the one-way circular road around the former Allegheny Center on Pittsburgh’s North Side into a two-way road with bicycle lanes begins this week.

On Tuesday, the city announced that work would begin on plans to install two-way bicycle lanes on the inner-most lane of the circle. That will result in moving parking to the outer edge of the circle, reducing vehicular traffic to two lanes.

The work, which includes painting, installation of flexible delineators, parking signs and traffic signal timing improvements, should be completed by Sept. 22.

In a news release, Mayor Bill Peduto and neighborhood leaders said the project is long overdue. The traffic pattern was installed when the mall opened in the 1960s.

“The failed design of Allegheny Circle as a four-lane, high-speed ring road has needed improvements like this for decades,” Mr. Peduto said. “This redesign will further enhance the ongoing transformation of Allegheny Center into a hub for 21st-century infrastructure and development in the North Side.”

During installation, there will be periodic lane restrictions and temporary parking restrictions in the project area, which includes: Allegheny Circle (North Commons, East Commons, South Commons, West Commons); East Ohio Street from East Commons to Cedar Avenue; Federal Street from North Commons to North Avenue; West Ohio Street/Ridge Road from Merchant Street to West Commons.

Next year, the city will complete the project by switching traffic to one lane in each direction, replacing most traffic lights with stop signs and extending sidewalks with bumpouts at intersections to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the street. The work will cost about $1.3 million and include substantial federal funding.

The city worked with the Buhl Foundation, the Northside Leadership Conference, One Northside and Faros Properties to develop the project. Faros bought the former Allegheny Center shopping and office complex in 2015 and is converting it into high-tech office hub known as Nova Place.

The city’s long-term goal is to reconnect East and West Ohio streets, with the street running through the plaza at Nova Place and in front of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and the New Hazlett Theater. The city already owns the rights of way for most of that project.

Originally published on September 12, 2017
SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh’s growing co-working scene includes spots such as The Beauty Shoppe in East Liberty, Revv in Oakland and Alloy 26 on the North Side, but this one is a little bit different.

CoLab18 isn’t just a place to rent out and use for desk space. It’s meant to be a programming space providing resources, training and internet access to the community it’s grounded in — the North Side.

The 4,600-square-foot center is intended to drive inclusive innovation, community engagement and entrepreneurship on the North Side, home of Nova Place, a former rundown mall that has become a center for technology in the community.

CoLab 18 is the byproduct of the Buhl Foundation’s One North Side Consensus Plan, a 10-month survey of 2,204 households intended as a community-driven effort to improve the quality of life for residents in all 18 North Side neighborhoods.

That’s where the name for CoLab18 came from, explained Diana Bucco, president of the Buhl Foundation, at a ribbon cutting Wednesday morning.

North Side residents envisioned a place to have access and tools necessary to thrive “in this rapidly changing economy that we’re very aware of in Pittsburgh today,” Ms. Bucco explained.

There’s quick internet service. Comcast has enabled gigabit-speed internet access in the space and in surrounding hubs marked throughout Nova Place.

About 150 people can gather for events, and there are digital classrooms, conference rooms and “state-of-the-art” technology available for use. North Side residents get preference.

Programming will focus on community collaboration, education, digital engagement and workforce development. Riverside Center for Innovation, also on the North Side, already has plans to provide entrepreneurship training, while Innovation Works and Alloy 26 will host networking events.

At least 40 groups have committed to providing programming, according to a release.

So far, Allegheny Partners for Out of School Time and United Way’s “Be a Middle School Mentor” will host programs, Citizens Bank will provide a four-part series on financial literacy, and BizFIT Construction will bring a training program for construction businesses owned by minorities, women and veterans.

Ms. Bucco emphasized that CoLab18 is meant to create equal access to the benefits of Pittsburgh’s changing economy, noting that such a vision requires the public, private and nonprofit sectors to coordinate.

In total, CoLab18 is a partnership between not only the Buhl Foundation but also Faros Properties, which owns Nova Place; Comcast; Urban Innovation21; Innovation Works; BNY Mellon; and Riverside Center for Innovation.

The partnership together has now committed $9.3 million to support the One North Side Plan, which includes investments in Nova Place and CoLab18, according to Bob Grove, a spokesman for Comcast Keystone Region. That has grown from $8.8 million one year ago.

Similar to a library concept, there’s no fee for Pittsburgh residents to use the Wi-Fi, conference rooms and other amenities, Mr. Grove confirmed.

The new space is also a partial reaction to a Brookings report published last September, which contained recommendations for Pittsburgh to fully realize the potential of its innovation hubs.

Some of the suggestions included growing and better connecting the Oakland Innovation District to the rest of the regional economy.

That’s a worthwhile goal, but the Brookings recommendations should extend past the home of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University into the North Side, according to Juan Garrett, executive director of the Riverside Center for Innovation.

“We’re definitely going to put the North Side on the map,” he said Wednesday. “It’s time for us to roll our sleeves up … and it’s time to get to work.”

Originally published on February 14, 2018
SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette