Thursday, June 30, 2011

Hampton July 4th Festivities Biggest Yet




As part of the township's 150th anniversary this year, Hampton is gearing up for the biggest 4th of July celebration in the community's history. They expect 20,000 people this year-- double the amount they normally get.

Fireworks displays will be held July 3rd and 4th, although the July 3rd show will be only a warm-up for events on Independence Day.  Festivities will start at noon on July 4th, featuring family-friendly activities like a petting zoo, hay rides, booths, bouncy castles and a rock concert planned for 7 p.m.

Hampton Township
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Forest Hills Super Block Party Night



Forest Hills will be having a Super Block Party night on Aug 2nd.  Mayor O'Malley will be riding through the borough that evening to pick this year's winners.  As in the past, the goal is to have a bigger, better party with lots of lights and the most neighborhood participation. Judging will begin at 6:30pm and the winner will be selected by 9:30pm.   To participate, you must register with the Borough by July 22nd.


Monday, June 27, 2011

Three Rivers Regatta: July 2-4


The 2011 Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta will celebrate its 34th year with several new attractions and familiar fan favorites when the free, family friendly event kicks off July 2.  Debuting this year is Circus Orange, a high-flying worldwide acrobatic troupe from Jerseyville, Ontario. Circus Orange's eclectic troupe of dancers, stunt artists and aerialists will perform all three nights amidst an innovative, original pyrotechnic display.  It is a dramatic fusion of live performance and stunning pyrotechnics and special effects.  Or maybe even a circus on fire.

In any case, performances will begin 8:45 each night at the Point State Park main stage.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Washington County Energy Plant Going With Natural Gas

Beech Hollow Energy Project Site

Robinson Power Company has revised the plans for their proposed Beech Hollow Energy Project in Washington County.  They will be burning natural gas to generate electricity as part of the revised plan for a $450 million power plant at the border of Washington and Allegheny counties.   The developers of the Beech Hollow Energy Project in Robinson Towship told township planners Monday night they want to fuel the plant with natural gas in addition to the waste coal that already has been approved.  It would be about a 50/50 split with gas coming from Marcellus Shale.  The 300-gross-megawatt plant would use 21 million to 23 million cubic feet of natural gas each day.



Monday, June 20, 2011

Thousands Of Locals Answer Casting Call As Batman Extras




9,000 people flocked to the Omni William Penn Hotel over the course of four days for the chance to appear in the conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. They came in sports jerseys, business attire, Jimmy Buffet T-shirts, panama hats, "Ghostbusters" caps and, in one case, a Steel Man costume.

Tammy Smith from Smith & Webster-Davis Casting of Los Angeles expects to hire 3,000 extras for the Pittsburgh leg of filming July 28 through Aug 21. She said having a pool of nearly 9,000 is just about right.  "You need a lot of people to choose from. Not everyone will be selected. Not everyone has the same availability. You need so much more than you're actually going to cast," she said. The ratio of men to women during the open calls ended up roughly 60-40, which is ideal considering there are more roles for men to play.

Dark Knight Rises
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate



Saturday, June 18, 2011

PNC To Build Green Downtown Skyscraper



PNC purchased three lots from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the last in a series of properties needed to build a 40-story, $400 million office tower that will incorporate the latest green building principles.  PNC paid $1.1 million for the three lots and the project is being hailed as evidence of Pittsburgh's progress in the face of national economic woes.

Occupying the three lots now are worn buildings that URA executive director Rob Stephany called some of Downtown's "biggest liabilities." Construction is scheduled to begin next year and be completed by mid-2015. The building will occupy a block on Wood Street in the Fifth and Forbes Avenue corridor and create much-desired temporary and permanent jobs.



Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate
PNC Bank

Friday, June 10, 2011

New Section of Allegheny Trail Opens

Allegheny Passage Trail
A nearly three-mile section of the Great Allegheny Passage in the Mon Valley, described as one of the trail's most scenic, will open next Friday. Linda McKenna Boxx, president of the Allegheny Trail Alliance, described the new asphalt-paved segment stretching from Grant Avenue in Duquesne to The Waterfront complex in Homestead as "awesome".

But Ms. Boxx also said that a goal of completing the last remaining section of the Great Allegheny Passage, the piece at Sandcastle Waterpark, by November is not going to be met.  They just do not have all the funds.  More than $1 million has been raised toward the estimated $3 million cost, and trail advocates are hoping Gov. Tom Corbett releases a $750,000 grant that state Sen. Jay Costa got added to the capital budget. Once the Sandcastle section is complete, there will be 150 miles of unbroken trail linking Pittsburgh with Cumberland, Md., where it joins the C&O Towpath to Washington, D.C.
 
A 10 a.m. ceremony next Friday will open the newest trail segment, which features views of the U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Plant, Braddock Locks and Dam on the Monongahela River and even the Westinghouse Bridge over the Turtle Creek valley. The ceremony will officially open up the section where two bridges were erected last summer -- a 110-foot-long span in the RIDC industrial park in Duquesne that crosses three sets of Norfolk Southern Railway tracks, and a 170-foot-long bridge in Whitaker over six sets of tracks operated by Norfolk Southern and Union Railroad Co. The section already has had its unofficial debut, as bicyclists and walkers have been checking it out.

The new Whitaker bridge will be the site of the ceremony. Rather than cutting a ribbon, the celebrants will raise a ceremonial railroad crossing gate.