[CPEO-BIF] Pittsburgh riverfront development

[bobh@np.craigslist.org]

Steely resolve to convert Pittsburgh

Daily Commercial News
SAUL CHERNOS
April 19, 2007

TORONTO

Take a dying steel industry, add three rivers and a hilly landscape, and you know
that transforming brownfields will be one giant headache.

You could take two aspirins, wait for the developers to call in the morning, and
hope for the best. Or, if you?re the City of Pittsburgh, you could create a swath
of riverfront parkland, build liveable downtown neighbourhoods, and attract new
business.

Washington's Landing is a 42-acre island two miles from downtown Pittsburgh. This
once blighted island (above) was transformed into a high-quality, multi-use
development, including market-rate housing, office/research and development, and
light industrial uses (below). It also features a marina, a rowing centre and a
public park.

?It?s more than a reclamation effort ? it?s an effort to rescue and transform the
city,? Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force, told a
recent brownfields conference in Toronto.

Riverlife, a nonprofit organization established in 1999 by Pittsburgh mayor Tom
Murphy to create a vision and masterplan for the city?s riverfronts, has been
front-and-centre in the local cleanup.

Schroeder described an effort to reverse a history of environmental degradation and
seize upon the city?s abundant waterways, green hillsides, neighbourhoods and
history of structural innovations to effect change.

?Our rivers were thought of as being a toxic industrial highway,? Schroeder said.
?The rivers were separated from the community because the steel mills were located
along the riverbanks. Now, we?re looking at them as the means to tie together all
of our communities and districts.?

One early project saw a 48-acre site that once housed a steel mill transformed into
a modern-day technology hub more than 30 years ago.

?Imagine what a radical concept it was back then to take a steel mill and bring in
two universities and seven technology companies,? Schroeder said, describing how
$25 million in public funding led to a further $104 million in private money.

Subsequent efforts produced mixed-use developments, with housing, office space,
research facilities, sports stadiums and corporate headquarters for multinationals
such as Del Monte and the Equitable Corporation.

A former coke-works will house a Smithsonian museum dedicated to the local steel
industry and labour movement, and other waterfront plans include a casino and LEED
Gold-rated convention centre.

Not everything worked out perfectly. During early brownfields redevelopment, some
buildings faced away from the river, and development was decidedly suburban in
style ? lots of surface parking, and huge gaps between buildings. Work is now
underway to resolve some of these issues, Schroeder said.

For the entire article, see:
http://dcnonl.com/article/20070419300

Bob Hersh
CPEO



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