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A new view for the possibilities of North Shore development
Sunday, April 16, 2000 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Alex Krieger covers the waterfront.
From Boston to Montreal, from Cincinnati to Baltimore and a host of other cities, the consultant from Cambridge, Mass., knows his way around rivers, bays, harbors and other waterfront areas.
Krieger, who was recently hired by Pittsburgh's Riverlife Task Force, admits he's not an expert on Pittsburgh's riverfronts.
Yet.
But the Harvard University professor and chairman of its Urban Planning and Design department is learning fast.
The task force asked him to take a look at the shores of the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela rivers and give an assessment of the development possibilities.
The first area he's looked at is the high-profile section of the North Shore between the Clemente (Sixth Street) Bridge and the West End Bridge.
It's an area that has already gotten a lot of attention -- from the Pirates and Steelers, the Carnegie Science Center, the city Planning Department, the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority and EDAW, an Alexandria, Va., urban planning firm.
Krieger says he's not coming to Pittsburgh with the intention of second-guessing the work already done on the North Shore.
But he has taken a fresh look at the area, and has some initial suggestions for city officials and private foundations to consider.
High points include:
Krieger is working for the Riverlife Task Force -- a privately funded, 40-member group formed last summer to look at development possibilities along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers.
The group includes representatives from prominent local foundations, corporations, architectural groups, riverfront landowners (such as John Connelly, owner of the Gateway Clipper Fleet, Buncher Co. and Forest City Enterprises, owner of Station Square), city and county politicians, and North Shore interests such as the Pirates, Steelers and science center officials.
The task force is co-chaired by Alcoa Chairman Paul O'Neill and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editor John G. Craig Jr.
Davitt Woodwell, director of the Riverlife Task Force, stressed that Krieger's ideas are strictly preliminary -- "an artistic suggestion."
But he said the concepts can make a valuable contribution to the planning for what eventually is built as part of the expanded Clemente Park along the Allegheny and Ohio.
Krieger's work is "a suggested vision, not a hard-and-fast alternative" to existing city plans, said Maxwell King, executive director of the Heinz Endowments and a task force member.
Woodwell cautioned that much more discussion, not to mention financing, is still needed on riverfront development.
Art Rooney II, Steelers vice president and a task force member, is intrigued by Krieger's vision.
"I think Alex has brought in an important new dimension -- looking at the football stadium and the science center as the center of North Shore development rather than the western end of the development," Rooney said.
Task force member Ellsworth Brown, president of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, which includes the Carnegie Science Center, also applauded Krieger's broader vision.
"Unfolding the planning process all the way from the Pirates' stadium to the West End Bridge makes it twice as big and powerful," Brown said. "I like that thinking. It removes the need of having to accommodate all the [development] between the two stadiums."
City Planning Director Eloise Hirsh, another task force member, said Krieger's concepts can play an important role in planning, even though certain elements of North Shore development are pretty well fixed by this time.
These, she said, include the locations of the stadiums, the "general idea" of what the expanded Clemente Park will look like, and coming changes in the road system around and between the stadiums.
"But we don't know what will happen between the stadiums or west of the science center," she said.
Krieger's ideas both expand on and suggest alternatives to recently announced North Shore plans crafted by urban planner EDAW. It is working for the city Planning Department and the Sports & Exhibition Authority, a city-county agency overseeing the new stadiums and the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center project.
The price tag for EDAW's North Shore park has been put at $47 million. City officials hope to assemble the funding from local, state and federal sources, but it's not on hand yet, said Sports Authority Director Stephen Leeper.
The Sports Authority plans to spend $32 million to widen and realign some of the roads on the North Shore. Officials want to widen and realign streets such as General Robinson, North Shore Drive and Martindale Street, as well as create two new streets, Avenue of the Pirates just west of PNC Park and Steelers Way just east of that stadium.
Work is to begin in May on the section of General Robinson by PNC Park and in August on North Shore Drive between the football stadium and the river.
The proposed design for North Shore Drive, however, would have to be altered if Krieger's suggestion for pulling the road back from the shoreline were to be adopted.
Many who want to see the road work done by the time the stadiums open in 2001 have balked at Krieger's suggestion that the road routes be changed, one road be buried and the strip of parkland be widened.
Leeper said the idea of burying North Shore Drive in a tunnel running between the football stadium and the river would increase the cost of the road work.
King also said it's probably not feasible, both because of cost and timing, to pursue the tunnel idea.
But King does like another Krieger suggestion -- pulling North Shore Drive slightly to the north, farther away from the shoreline and closer to the football stadium, thereby widening the strip of park along the river.
"That would be a tremendous addition, strengthening the park by making it wider," King said. "It creates a real public gathering place."
Brown of the science center is also very interested in the shape of the road. He sees the strip of park currently planned between the football stadium and the river as "pinched," and thinks it should be broadened.
"If you (walk) up and down the riverfront, from PNC Park to the West End Bridge, you need a riverfront space that 'flows' better than it does now."
Leeper's goal has been to have the new, revamped Clemente shoreline park at least partly completed by the start of baseball season next April and finished by the start of football season in August 2001. It is unknown, however, when the park work will start.
Leeper wants the road realignment to be completed in time for the opening of the stadiums next year. Hirsh agreed, saying, "People in this region are really focused on roadways and (ways of) getting to stadiums."
Leeper fears that shifting the path of the road would cause delays in the road work, which is on a tight schedule.
The work along North Shore Drive is being designed by the firm of Michael Baker Jr., with work to start in August.
Rooney also has problems with Krieger's suggestion for pulling North Shore Drive back from the river. He said the primary location outside the new football stadium for fans to congregate will be the southern end. The northern, eastern and western sides of the stadium won't be wide enough.
Therefore, Rooney believes that it's important to make the walkway at the southern end of the stadium as wide as possible -- and moving North Shore Drive closer to the stadium might interfere with that goal.
Rooney is also concerned about delays that changes might cause. When Three Rivers Stadium opened in 1970, he recalled, "We suffered through not having roads open. They weren't open for several years. Three Rivers, as a result, got a reputation as being a difficult place to get to and get out of. It took 20 years to overcome that reputation."
Two striking visual elements shown on Krieger's riverfront drawing are the series of large buildings between the stadiums and the dramatic new exterior of the science center. Neither, however, is intended to be a depiction of what the actual buildings would look like.
The large, white buildings shown between the stadiums simply represent the kind of commercial, office or entertainment uses that should go in that area, Krieger said.
The science center's Brown said that nothing is known yet about what architectural changes might be made in the shape or look of the 10-year-old building, which was designed by local architect Tasso Katselas.
The unusual shape shown in the Krieger sketch "is out of his imagination. It's fanciful," said Brown.
But science center officials are talking to "a full range of architects" about an addition or redesign of the center.
"We are exploring the impact of a 'signature' architect," Brown said. "It's possible our current building could change its appearance."
Another major element of Krieger's concept is the construction of new residential units west of the science center, on land owned by local businessman John Connelly and his family. One family member is Terry Wirginis, Connelly's grandson and president of the Gateway Clipper.
He reiterated Connelly's desire to build a new hotel on his 12-acre property, which he bought in 1994 for $26.5 million.
At that time, riverboat gambling was being considered by the state Legislature, and Connelly, who owns gambling boats in three other states, was hoping he could dock a floating casino on his North Shore property.
Wirginis said that while a hotel is still desired there, "housing could end up being a portion of what goes there." He said he has noticed the success of the new townhouses that have been built a couple miles up the Allegheny River on Washington's Landing.
Along the portion of shoreline by the Connelly property, Krieger proposes construction of a new "promenade" -- a long, riverfront walkway offering scenic views of the Golden Triangle.
Wirginis said he sees an opportunity for more than just a riverfront walkway. "It could be a landing site for the Gateway Clipper boats, a marina or restaurants," he said.
At the western end of Krieger's vision is a new marina, carved out of the shoreline, and a tall, dramatically shaped building, possibly a hotel, offering scenic views of the Point and Downtown skyline.
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Looking at the entire North Shore, from PNC Park to the West End Bridge, as a development area, not just the section between the new football and baseball stadiums.