Pittsburgh, Buncher set to develop Allegheny riverfront
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Longtime dreams of new Allegheny riverfront housing, commercial spaces, bike paths and other recreational amenities are a step closer to reality, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is set to announce today.
The city plans to join forces with the Buncher Co. real estate firm to redevelop some 80 acres of riverfront land, starting in the Strip District and going north 6.5 miles to the foot of Highland Park. The city would combine parcels it owns -- including the historic Produce Terminal on Smallman Street and the 22-acre former Tippins International site at 62nd Street -- with industrial properties Buncher owns in Lawrenceville and the Strip District to create the redevelopment site.
PG GraphicConstruction could kick off in the Strip District in 2013, in the 40 undeveloped acres behind the terminal building on the south bank of the Allegheny River. The city and the Urban Redevelopment Authority will spend some $20 million in capital funds to remediate the site and prepare it for redevelopment. Buncher will then follow master plans for that site -- and other parcels dotting the riverfront up through Lawrenceville -- that architects Perkins Eastman have been compiling for the URA over the past year.
The hope is to follow the city's 1990s success in using public-private partnerships to redevelop the former LTV site into the bustling SouthSide Works development.
"This historic development partnership will allow us to reconnect our neighborhoods to the rivers," Mr. Ravenstahl said in a statement. The plans will "unlock the true potential of this portion of the riverfront."
Perkins Eastman has been working for more than a year on the Allegheny Riverfront Vision plan, under a $350,000 contract from the URA. It drew on similar plans from the city's Riverlife Task Force and used input from community meetings the last several months, and is set to deliver the plan next month.
Officials stressed that the developments could take years, or even decades, to complete. The URA bought the 123-acre LTV site in 1993 and the first buildings from the Soffer Organization weren't completed for 11 years. Unlike that project, the 80 acres in the current plan are spread over miles and not completely contiguous.
First Published March 9, 2010 12:00 am
