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Task force lays out grand plan for Pittsburgh's riverfronts 200-acre Three Rivers Park could take years to build Tuesday, October 23, 2001 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The Riverlife Task Force has unveiled an ambitious, long-range plan to create a 10-mile-long "grand urban river park," called Three Rivers Park, that would extend from the Point along the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers.
But the two-year-old, 40-member group acknowledged yesterday that major hurdles must be overcome before its vision can become a reality and that it may take a generation to complete.
"We have a good vision and a long-term plan for the next 15 years, but enormous challenges still lie ahead," said Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey. "The biggest hurdle will be to come up with the financial resources to fund the plan. We also have to convince [private landowners along the riverfronts] that this is a plan they need to embrace."
The targeted area encompasses more than 200 acres of land and water, extending from the West End Bridge over the Ohio to the 10th Street Bridge over the Monongahela and to the 16th Street Bridge over the Allegheny.
The Three Rivers Park plan is a blueprint, meant to be used in building a consensus on where new marinas, trails, shops, cafes, entertainment venues, hotels, housing and office buildings should be located. The task force has no standing to carry out its plans without the agreement of property owners, but it is hoping to use the power of persuasion and the considerable clout of its members to carry out its agenda.
Challenges facing the task force include:
Three Rivers Park would encompass three existing parks: North Shore Riverfront Park, including the two new stadiums; Allegheny Riverfront Park, on the Downtown side of the river from Sixth to Ninth streets; and state-owned Point State Park.
But much of the land within the Three Rivers Park target zone is owned by private firms, such as Forest City Enterprises, the Buncher Co. and J. Edward Connelly Associates.
In coming up with the vision, Roddey said, "we are sort of telling them how they should use their property, so that will be a challenge."
Task force member Terry Wirginis, president of the Gateway Clipper Fleet and a representative of the Connelly interests, which own 13 acres of the Ohio riverfront west of the Carnegie Science Center, admitted to having some initial concerns about the task force possibly meddling in private land development efforts. But he said he's been impressed with the spirit of cooperation among group members for wanting riverfront development that's in the best interests of the city and region.
The task force is a 40-member, privately funded group that was named by Mayor Tom Murphy in mid-1999 and has been working steadily on its plan for the past 18 months. Almost all of its $2.9 million in funding has been private, most coming from local foundations, including $1 million from the Heinz Endowments.
Davitt Woodwell, task force director, said that based on more than 100 public hearings and meetings, there's no doubt that recreational boaters, joggers and people in general want to make greater use of the local waterways.
"Again and again and again people said, 'We want to be able to get to the rivers,' " Woodwell said. "For too long, people have been cut off from the rivers."
The task force is co-chaired by Maxwell King, director of the Heinz Endowments, and John G. Craig Jr., editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Craig said two projects demanding immediate action are improving the section of Allegheny riverfront from the Ninth Street Bridge to the Strip, including an unsightly area in front of the new convention center, and devising some method of lighting local bridges. A demonstration project on the Clemente Bridge is expected to begin shortly.
Woodwell said a design for the convention center riverfront is being worked out and likely will cost $7 million to $8 million to implement. He said he expects state and federal funds to be sought for the work.
Other targeted areas are improving the north shore of the Ohio from the science center to the West End Bridge and cleaning and lighting the underpasses that connect North Side neighborhoods with the North Shore.
Alex Krieger, an architectural consultant from Cambridge, Mass., who has worked for the task force, said Three Rivers Park can be a signature piece for Pittsburgh the way Central Park is for New York City and the Charles River Esplanade is for Boston.
But it's not just beauty or bragging rights that are at stake in riverfront revitalization efforts. It's also jobs and taxes.
"Numerous studies and anecdotal evidence confirm that those cities and regions with high quality of life are enjoying more robust job growth, healthier real estate markets and stronger tax bases," Krieger said.
Much of the land in the Three Rivers Park area is already under development. Just four projects -- PNC Park, Heinz Field, the North Shore Riverfront Park between them and the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center -- account for more than $900 million of new construction.
Other related projects are the Port Authority's North Shore Light Rail Transit extension, pegged at $390 million, and the new $40 million Seagate headquarters in the Strip District.
Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland, another task force member, has already begun a $71 million expansion of its Station Square property, which is also within the proposed Three Rivers Park area.
Another task force member, the Carnegie Science Center, is expected to announce details of a $90 million expansion soon.
Some areas along the riverfronts, however, are "missing teeth" that impair the rivers' beauty and must be improved, Krieger said. Those include the Mon parking wharf, which divides Point State Park and the Eliza Furnace running trail to Oakland, and a section of the Allegheny riverfront between Point State Park and the new Allegheny Riverfront Park between Sixth and Ninth streets.
Such areas are in a "forlorn and embarrassing state now," he said.
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Securing up to $90 million in additional funds from city, county, state, federal and private sources. The total includes $42 million for landscaping along 10 miles of riverfront; $12 million for bridge lighting and pedestrian walkways; $9 million for trails; $6 million to improve the Duquesne Incline; $6 million for a water shuttle system; and undetermined amounts for Point State Park and the West End Circle improvements.