New Boutique in Squirrel Hill

Jordanna Younger, owner of Chic Boutique

Jordanna's dad, Irv Younger, owned a real estate company on Murray Ave in Squirrel Hill.  So after returning to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles, Jordanna was very happy to find just the right spot for her new boutique ...... 2236 Murray Ave, a few doors away from where her dad's business used to be. 

The 24-year-old Squirrel Hill native has had a longtime interest in fashion and wanted to be able to offer Pittsburghers men and women's clothing from Los Angeles and New York.  The shop carries dress and casual clothes, accessories and women's shoes, all hand-picked by Jordanna.  The merchandise will most likely appeal to teens through 30-somethings and is largely priced below $150.

Chic Boutique is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. 

 

 

Chic Boutique

MetroPittsburghRealEstate.com

"Allegheny Grows" More Urban Farms

 

Allegheny County officials announced Monday that they are looking for applications from more municipalities and neighborhood groups interested in participating in the third year of the "Allegheny Grows" program.  Communities and organizations selected will get gardening supplies and technical support for two years. 

The program's benefits extend beyond providing a source of vegetables for food banks.  "Allegheny Grows" teaches communities how to develop and operate urban farms and community food gardens. They create a catalyst for community development, job training, environmental stewardship and youth education. Such gardens also reduce urban storm water runoff, minimize erosion, absorb carbon dioxide and reflect as much as 25 percent of the sun's heat, according to the county. They also can provide shelter for wildlife and support migratory bird species.

During the first two years of the program, gardens and urban farms have been set up in Millvale, McKees Rocks, Penn Hills and Wilkinsburg in addition to Bellevue. Plans call for expanding the program to at least two more communities next spring. Allegheny Grows programs are limited to municipalities and organizations operating in communities where at least 47 percent of residents qualify as low- to moderate-income families.  More information is available by calling 412-350-1198 or visiting the Economic Development Department Web site at economic.alleghenycounty.us. Click on the "Allegheny Grows Application" under the "Features" listing on the right-hand side of the page.

Potential applicants must attend one of two information sessions scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Millvale Community Center or 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 in the Wilkinsburg Housing Resource Center.  Completed applications must be postmarked or submitted in person by Sept. 30. Interviews and site visits will take place during October with awards announced in November.

Allegheny Grows

Bellevue

McKees Rocks

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Penn Hills

Wilkinsburg

McKees Rocks Gets "Jiffy" Park

Volunteers "create" Third Street Park in McKees Rocks

The flat 3.2-acre Third Street Park in McKees Rocks received a mountain of mulch on Friday morning but was otherwise barren except for a picnic pavilion that had been erected earlier this summer by 25 corporate volunteers.  But by 3 o'clock, the park had a KaBOOM! playground with slides, swings, ladders and other climbing devices in vivid shades of orange, yellow and blue.

More than 200 corporate and community volunteers -- including Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma-- labored mightily to excavate the mulch mountain. That was after they dug holes, mixed and poured cement, installed playground equipment and built a gazebo, a horse shoe pit, eight picnic tables and four benches. The workers used shovels to load mulch into wheel barrows and big sheets of plastic and rakes to spread mulch around the swings and slides and into a winding walkway. Though a mid-morning storm with thunder and lightning mandated a 30-minute halt to construction, workers beat the 3 p.m. completion deadline by 10 minutes.

The Pens sent 45 employees from the front office and Mr. Bylsma. They worked the entire playground construction shift, with the coach wearing a purple do-rag on his head and the same grey teeshirt worn by all the volunteers.

The corporate sponsor of this endeavor was the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. The group is spending $15 million over three years to build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds across the country.  About $75,000 went to the Third Street playground. Forty Snapple Group employees worked on the McKees Rocks project. Other volunteers include elected officials and employees of McKees Rocks, the McKees Rocks Community Development Corporation and organizers from KaBOOM! as well as borough residents. Duquesne Light Co., which sent volunteers in June to build the pavilion, returned on Friday to help with the playground.
 

Neighborhood children were consulted about what equipment should go into their park. Some of them even showed up to help, including Andy Cochran, a fourth-grade student. "This is like my second home," he said of the park that is within walking distance of his house. "I've been here since 10:30 and I've done a little bit of everything, including hauling mulch."

Future improvements are planned for Third Street Park, including the installation of bocci courts.

McKees Rocks
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Good Things Happening In East Liberty!!

Emily & Sten Carlson work on their Borland Green rowhouse.

For many years, Maria Piantanida has been part of a group who had a dream of creating a "co-housing" development in the Metro Pittsburgh area.  A co-housing community is a group of residents who share a lifestyle vision.  And so for many years, Maria and her group kept searching for a place that was suitable or had potential to accommodate them. The group eventually split into those who wanted to build new and those who wanted to be in the city and reuse existing housing.  Maria's group, the "City" group, found exactly what they were looking for in a stretch of (seven) brown-brick rowhouses on Black Street behind Peabody High School.

The rowhouses had been in the process of falling apart when East Liberty Development Inc. bought them out of foreclosure last year. Since then, the agency has assembled eight more residences on the blocks within Borland, Black and Beatty streets as part of a bigger plan.  It was this "bigger plan" that caught the eye of Piantanida's group.  They took the plunge, bought the distressed properties and promptly named their new co-housing community "Borland Green".

The community started ahead of renovations by establishing a garden on a large tract that was remediated by three years of sunflower and canola planted by the non-profit GTECH. The 18,000-square-foot garden lot will be developed to include an orchard and other edible plants. East Liberty Development still owns that land and is working with the city to get title for two more parcels. Maureen Copeland, GTECH's community programs manager and now a Borland Green resident, bought and moved into the most habitable unit in May. Pat Buddemeyer, an original member of the co-housing group, expects work to be done on her unit in October.  Sten and Emily Carlson are other members of the group who presently live in North Point Breeze as they renovate and restore the unit they recently bought.

Piantanida says it was the green space Borland Green had to offer which cinched the deal for the group.  She and her husband live in Churchill and do not have a move-in date yet. "I've lived in [Churchill] for 32 years and hardly know anybody. This is sort of where my heart is now."

What are some of the benfits of "co-housing"?

"Sharing resources so you don't need seven lawnmowers, just one," said Sten Carlson.

"Having someone look out for your house while you're out of town," added Ms. Piantanida. "Another advantage is that elders have support while they pool their resources to get care at home instead of having to go to a nursing home."

These are the staples of what makes co-housing attractive to a growing number of people. Diana Leafe Christian, a national expert on co-housing, said at least 116 communities are established across the country and roughly another 150 are in the stages of finding and purchasing land.

For further details on this exciting project, read the entire Post Gazette article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11227/1167402-53.stm

Re-Born Victorian on Manchester House Tour

Steve & Linda Hansen in their renovated kitchen.

The gutted and totally renovated Victorian at the corner of Manhattan St and West North Ave will definitely be a highlight of this year's Manchester House & Garden Tour.  Steve Hansen lived on West North Avenue in the North Side's Manchester neighborhood for almost 30 years without noticing this house a block away. Obscured by a pair of overgrown trees and abandoned for 10 years, it was quietly decaying when he stopped and peered inside one day in 2005. Curious, he began stopping by for a closer examination and in April 2007, he climbed in a second-floor window for a look around.  Extensive water damage from a leaky roof (and the raccoon family living there) would have frightened away most people. But Mr. Hansen, who partnered with Jimmy Roach as the WDVE-FM morning radio duo in the 1980s, saw a chance to bring a Victorian house back from the dead.

 After nearly two years of begging the city not to tear it down and 18 months of hard work by Mr. Hansen, his wife Linda and two teams of contractors, there's new life in this old Victorian. New life for this home and the neighborhood as well.

The Hansens' house at 1337 W. North is one of six houses open next weekend for the Manchester House and Garden Tour. Its renovation is further along than its neighbor, but both have come up a long way from what they were two years ago.

The Hansens bought 1337 W. North from the city in February 2010. Much of last year was spent in demolition and gutting the three-story, 5,000-square-foot space that has been apartments, a speakeasy and possibly a brothel (that would explain all the mattresses Mr. Hansen dragged out).  Stalczynski Contracting worked on the exterior, replacing roofs on the house and two garages, rebuilding box gutters, sandblasting and repointing the brick and priming and painting the exterior. A carpenter installed 38 new double-hung windows by Allied Millwork, This January, RW Ripley & Sons leveled and reinforced the floors before laying bamboo, installed drywall, redid the electrical, repaired original tin ceilings and woodwork, and fashioned a modern kitchen and bathrooms that are showstoppers. Architect Bob Baumbach designed the kitchen, where just this week contractors installed concrete countertops by Outlaw Studios and stainless-steel counters by Bishop Metals.

Crew chief Brian Ripley is particularly proud of the master bathroom he helped design and build with his brother, Adam, and Ed Cerra Plumbing.  They ended up with a stunning L-shaped space with dual shower heads, Cifre Oxido wall tile from Spain and a nubby, river-rock tile floor.  To add to the contemporary feel, Mrs. Hansen hopes to install an old paneled door on sliding barn-door hardware across the water closet.

Only some of the tin ceilings in the first and second floors could be salvaged. Several panels in the master bedroom had rusted through from roof runoff. Luckily, the Hansens were able to find exact duplicates online at Chelsea Decorative Metal Co.

Mr. Hansen also has his mind on the future. Inspired by a newspaper he found tucked in a wall -- dated July 4, 1876 -- he created his own time capsule and hid it in a wall for future owners of this house.
In it, he packed 20 photos and a long essay in which he identifies himself, his wife and all the contractors who worked on the project. He describes his fortunate discovery of a forlorn house, the ups and downs of renovation and the incredible amount of work that has gone into reviving this piece of history. He closes this way:

"We hope that we have added to the future vitality and livability of Pittsburgh by saving and restoring this magnificent house. We hope that the Manchester you know is a dynamic destination neighborhood that attracts and nurtures a diverse tapestry of residents, lifestyles and views. We hope you enjoy this house as much as we hope to."

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13th annual Manchester
House and Garden Tour

• What: 6 houses, 2 gardens, benefits Manchester Historic Society
• When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 6, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 7
• Tickets: $15 on tour days at Conroy School, 1398 Page St.
• Information: www.manchesterhistoricsocietypa.com.

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Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Fountain At The Point To Be Repaired

Fountain at The Point

Pittsburgh's iconic fountain at The Point draws its water from a fourth "underground" river which runs beneath the Ohio River.  The fountain, which opened in 1974, has worked only sporadically since 2009 because of mechanical problems and general disrepair. It is scheduled for complete rehabilitation starting in fall and ending sometime in 2012.

The fountain stopped running last July when officials decided it needed extensive repairs and added it as the fourth phase of a $42 million, five-year park renovation that is mostly state-funded, with donations from Riverlife specifically for the fountain.  Some of the original design elements of the 1970s were never completed because of lack of money at the time.  The current restoration will revive some of those elements, including a raised plaza that would make it easier for people to sit along the fountain's granite edges.  Additions will include a waterfall inside the fountain base and energy-efficient lighting to permit nighttime illumination in colors.

Downtown

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Pittsburgh's Underground River

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

FInally! A Bridge To East Liberty

Sketch of Pedestrian Bridge

Construction of a pedestrian bridge linking Shadyside to the Eastside shopping complex in East Liberty will begin on Monday. The 100-foot-long bridge will stretch from Ellsworth Avenue at Spahr Street to the southwest corner of the Eastside parking garage, hopping over the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and railroad tracks parallel to it.

Plans for the bridge go back at least seven years. Planners and developers had to work through myriad issues involving financing, right of way, property acquisition and design.  Starting Monday and continuing through November, Ellsworth Avenue will be closed from Spahr Street to Lamont Place. These streets will be open only to local and business traffic: Ellsworth from Maryland Avenue to Spahr and from Shady Avenue to Lamont, and Spahr from Alder Street to Ellsworth.  Northbound traffic on Spahr will be required to turn left at Ellsworth. Access to all businesses in the construction area will be maintained at all times.

The project features an innovative design by Pittsburgh native Sheila Klein that includes a curving fence bedecked with glass sequins, an undulating pathway bordered with landscaping and railings that were salvaged from the 31st Street Bridge when it was rehabilitated.

The glass is being made at Pittsburgh Glass Center in Friendship and restoration of the railings was by Keystone Metals in Larimer.
Completion of the $1.55 million project is scheduled for late December.

East Liberty
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate
Shadyside

Connellsville Airport Gets New Runway

The Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport has started work on a new runway.  At a ribbon-cutting Thursday for the new runway, officials spoke of the importance of having a county airport and the impact of improvements to the facility which will hopefully attract more corporate users.

The runway is just one part of the larger project whereby the airport will demolish 11 storage hangars, replacing them with seven aviation T-hangars capable of storing corporate jets. That project will cost about $1.8 million.

Baker Engineering in Moon will design the upcoming projects. Engineer Jennifer Andy said she is designing the apron reconstruction. Work will begin this summer. The hangar project should start later this year.

Connellsville

Joseph A Hardy Connellsville Airport

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Dargate Auction Gallery Moves To The Rocks

New home in former sanctuary of St. Mark Slavish Roman Catholic Church

Dargate Auction Gallery had to move more than 10,000 square feet of art and antiques when they moved from North Point Breeze to the former St. Mark Slavish Roman Catholic Church on Munson Avenue in McKees Rocks.  It was a herculean task .... One marble sculpture weighed 800 pounds as did a marble fireplace.

Taris Vrcek, executive director of the McKees Rocks Community Development Corp., pointed Dargate toward the closed Catholic church that was owned by its neighbor, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church.  The inside had the look of a museum because of its pillars, curves and its ceiling.  It was a perfect setting for the Gallery.

At present, new wheelchair-accessible bathrooms have been installed, along with new signage and emergency lighting.  A sign out front directs visitors to a wheelchair ramp and leads to the passenger elevator.  With the former church and rectory, Dargate now has about 15,000 square feet of space.  Renovations to the rectory will be made over time.

The Rev. Tom Soroka, pastor of St. Nicholas, said parish members made a decision three years ago to stay and do literally everything they could to transform the neighborhood.  Dargate's arrival turns out to be the beginning of their vision to revitalize the "Bottoms".

McKees Rocks has a population of 6,100 according to the 2010 census.  The Bottoms are accessed by the McKees Rocks Bridge, the longest span in Allegheny County.  Dargate owner Dan Zivko says the neighborhood reminds him of Coventry, an artsy section of Cleveland's East Side that has book shops, music stores, fashionable boutiques and restaurants.  Noting that his brother is a chef, he said he has been looking at other neighborhood property with an eye toward opening a restaurant years from now.

Mr. Vrcek believes the Bottoms can become a magnet, noting that 22,000 vehicles cross the McKees Rocks Bridge daily.  He knows the neihborhood well because his paternal grandparents emigrated from Croatia and ran the V&R Lounge as well as Vrcek's Restaurant on Helen Street.

"You have committed lifelong residents here.  You have newcomers and the first wave of what we call pioeers," said Mr Vrcek.

Sounds like that could be the right recipe for success.

Dargate Auction Galleries

McKees Rocks

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Robinson Native To Open New Restaurant At The Pointe

Latitude 30 in Jacksonville, FL

Robinson Township native Brent Brown is glad to be back, doing business in Pittsburgh.  Brown plans to open a restaurant, bar and entertainment center in the former Roomful Express building in The Pointe at North Fayette.  A Montour High School graduate, he outlined plans for Latitude 40, a two-story, 60,000-square-foot restaurant and bar with an arcade, a 300-seat theater, 24 luxury bowling lanes and a movie screening room. The venue will accommodate parties and special events.

He said the company planned to lease and remodel the former furniture store and open next spring.
Mr. Brown chose the 200 Quinn Drive location because he grew up in the area and because the spot is near Pittsburgh International Airport and many businesses.  In January, Mr. Brown and his partners, including his brother, opened Latitude 30 in Jacksonville, Fla., where he now lives.

Hours for Latitude 40 tentatively will be 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday to Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday to Saturday, with live comedy on weekends.  No one under 16 years old will be allowed in the venue without a parent or guardian, and no one under 21 years old will be allowed to stay after 10 p.m. Security guards will ensure the entrance policy is enforced.

Latitude 30

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Robinson Township

CMU Unveils 10-Yr Plan

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University wants to construct a new home for its Tepper business school, expand Heinz College and undertake other campus work that includes turning two Forbes Avenue traffic lanes into bicycle paths.  There would be a pedestrian bridge, University Center would be expanded and a new hotel on school land would be constructed.  Those are some of the projects in a proposed 10-year university master plan that campus administrators are preparing to submit later this month to the city.

The master plan is aimed at supporting university growth by both enhancing the existing core campus and by developing underutilized properties purchased by Carnegie Mellon along Forbes between Craig Street and Morewood Avenue.  The plan also recognizes that Carnegie Mellon's northern frontier, traditionally considered to be Forbes, has in fact become Fifth Avenue, thanks to university expansion, and that Forbes runs through what is now the middle of campus.

Projects high on the priority list:

•  A new nano-biomedical-energy research facility to be built next to Wean and Hamerschlag halls.
•  Moving the Tepper School of Business from the Graduate School of Industrial Administration building and Posner Hall onto part of what is now the Morewood parking lot on the north side of Forbes across from Hamburg Hall.
•  An expansion of Heinz College to include classrooms, possibly an auditorium and informal meeting space.
•  A new building for alumni affairs and other administrative offices on the north side of Forbes across from the campus cut that would require moving some fraternity houses to a nearby site.
•  Moving fitness facilities from the aging Skibo Gym to an expanded University Center and transforming Skibo into an updated headquarters for campus athletics.
•  A Margaret Morrison Hall expansion to support the College of Fine Arts.
•  Take a traffic lane in either direction on the part of Forbes running through campus and turning those lanes into bike paths.
•  Extending the east-west campus pathway and improving pedestrian access between Forbes and Fifth by developing a new sidewalk and bike path along Morewood.
•  A new hotel (operated by an outside party) south of Forbes near Craig St.



10-Yr Master Plan
Carnegie Mellon University
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate
Oakland

Former Lutheran Church Now Artist's Home

641 Linden Ave in East Pittsburgh

Dan Riccobon purchased the former Emanuel Lutheran Church in East Pittsburgh in 1998 and slowly but surely turned it into his home and studio. A retired Woodland Hills art teacher, Mr Riccobon has done most of the work himself, acting as architect, contractor, carpenter and interior designer.  The renovation work ahs been varied and wide-ranging, from removing the rotting steeple to building the bathroom and kitchen to painting the ceiling of the nave, on his back on a scaffold, with the constellations and the creatures that inspired them.

The congregation that built Emanuel Lutheran Church pretty much lived and died with the Westinghouse plant just across the street. Westinghouse Electric built its primary plant in East Pittsburgh in the Turtle Creek Valley in 1895, making electric railway motors, generators, switches and other railway equipment. Two years later, German immigrants founded Die Reformations Gemeinde and built a frame church on a narrow, elevated triangle of land on Linden Avenue, then a bustling commercial street.  In 1923, the church was demolished and the triangle leveled to build the new brick church. The congregation sold the building 75 years later, a decade after the Westinghouse plant closed in 1988.

For a dozen years Mr. Riccobon had a studio in Oakland, where he worked on sets and costumes for the late Don Brockett's productions (Mr Roger's Neighborhood).  For Mr. Riccobon, the best part of having home and studio in the same building is not the easy commute but having work in progress so close at hand. There's an advantage to "being able to look at what you're working on as you walk by, rather than leaving it and not beginning to think about it until you see it again," he said. "As an artist, about 80 percent of the work you do is thinking about it, judgmental things, rather than the actual painting."

The 12-year renovation process had its drawbacks but also had some advantages.  "It allowed me to live here and get a feel for what I needed," he said. "If I hadn't, it would have been a disaster. I had thoughts of putting in a second floor. What I finally decided I should do is make everything look like it belonged here in the beginning.  Nothing's nicer than these giant ceilings."

East Pittsburgh

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Mr Roger's Neighborhood

Westinghouse Electric

New Plan For The Allegheny Riverfront

The City of Pittsburgh just released a 20-year blueprint for transforming the Allegheny riverfront corridor from a faded industrial relic to a boom town, with new housing, businesses, industry, transportation connections and a complete environmental makeover. The 77-page "Allegheny Riverfront Vision Plan" describes the 2,000 acres stretching from the fringe of Downtown Pittsburgh to Highland Park as prime for development, with an abundance of vacant and underused property.  The report, by a consulting team led by Perkins Eastman Associates, follows nearly two years of studies and meetings with property and business owners, residents, community leaders and nonprofit organizations.

The plan envisions five "layers" of development moving away from the riverfront, with the more intensive changes nearer the river, including residential development, walking and bicycle trails, trees and a riverfront populated with green spaces and affordable housing alongside new industries.  Pedestrians and cyclists are encouraged and are separated from heavy vehicular traffic.  The redevelopment corridor stretches from 11th Street on the fringe of Downtown to Washington Boulevard on the edge of Highland Park.

Suggested transportation improvements are:  a commuter rail line stretching along the current Allegheny Valley Railroad right of way, connecting Greensburg and Arnold with Downtown Pittsburgh; a "circulator" trolley that would move people through the Strip and to Lawrenceville, with a later phase going into Oakland; and a "green boulevard" through the heart of the redevelopment that would accommodate multiple forms of transportation.

The earliest development activity is likely to be on property in the Strip District owned by the Buncher Co. and currently used for parking.  It is one of the nation's premier development sites and apartments, an office building and a parking garage were possible.  Already happening is the conversion of the old Armstrong Cork factory into apartments and the Otto Milk building into condominiums.

Allegheny Riverfront Plan
Highland Park
Lawrenceville
Strip District
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

More "Allegheny Grows" Gardens Sprouting Up

Millevale's Uban Garden

"Allegheny Grows" is itself growing with urban-agriculture projects spreading to three more communities:  Bellevue, Wilkinsburg and Penn Hills. This year is the second for the program designed to dress up empty lots, build community spirit, encourage local organizing, aid the environment and provide fresh produce for local food pantries.  The source of the money is federal community development block grants.  Allegheny Grows has a budget this year of about $75,000, and in addition to setting up the three new agricultural projects, the funds will be used to cover second-year costs for garden projects begun last year in Millvale and McKees Rocks.

Bellevue's project will be an urban farm on Davis Avenue on a 1-acre vacant tract owned by North Hills Community Outreach. The land had been donated in 2008 to the faith-based North Hills Community Outreach by the Amelio family for an organic garden. Most of the labor for the organic farming effort will be provided by volunteers, supervised by a part-time agency employee. Produce grown there will be donated to food pantries.

Wilkinsburg's urban farm is a 2-acre site in the city's Hamnett Place neighborhood. The land is owned by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, which already is involved with several housing renewal projects in the community. Allegheny Grows will be working with a citizens organization called Hamnett Place Community Garden Association to plant and care for the site.

Penn Hills officials are providing a water truck and leaf-mulch compost for its community garden on the site of a former municipal ball field. The tract had been planted as a garden last year by a youth group. Produce grown through this year's effort will benefit up to three local food pantries.

Second-year Allegheny Grows' assistance to gardens in Millvale and McKees Rocks will include providing both seedlings and some technical advice from Grow Pittsburgh. Millvale also will receive several rain-collecting barrels and McKees Rocks will get help in edging its garden beds and making them accessible to people with disabilities.

Grow Pittsburgh

Bellevue

McKees Rocks

Millvale

Penn Hills

Wilkinsburg

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

Consol Energy Center Wins Award

Consol Energy Center

Since its completion, there has been a great buzz about Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center.  Early predictions and expectations came true on Saturday at the 22nd annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards in Los Angeles when the Center was named the nation's Best New Major Concert Venue for 2010.

Along with being the new home to the Penguins, Consol has played host to the likes of Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Rush and the Eagles since opening in August. It also welcomed Roger Waters' "The Wall" tour, which was named Major Tour of the Year and Most Creative Stage Production.

Huge ticket sales played a factor in winning the award.  If tickets weren't selling, the promoters would not have voted for the venue. The nominations were made by a cross section of more than 150 industry professionals and voting was done online by subscribers of Pollstar, the industry's leading trade publication. Consol's competition in the major venue category were the 1STBank Center, near Denver; Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan.; and Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn.

Consol Energy Center

Pollstar Concert Industry Awards

Pittsburgh Penquins

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

New Whole Foods To Open In McCandless

 

Whole Foods will move into Wexford Plaza in McCandless about a year from now, marking the nation's largest natural-goods grocer's second location in the Pittsburgh region.  The chain's first store opened in 2002 along Centre Avenue in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh.  Whole Foods has more than 300 stores in the United States and United Kingdom.

The McCandless location will be within a few miles of a half-dozen grocery stores, including an 88,000 square-foot Giant Eagle in The Village of Pine shopping center that opened last year. But spokesmen for the company say they aren't worried because the Whole Foods demographic is very defined: A more upscale, younger market, better educated, more sophisticated consumer.

McCandless residents hope the store will provide a boost to Wexford Plaza, which now includes about 25 retail spaces, including Levin Furniture, Starbucks and a dry cleaners bur also has about a half-dozen vacant stores.  Businesses already are inquiring about the vacant stores and Wexford Plaza execs are hoping they will soon have the pick of who they want to move in.

Whole Foods
Wexford Plaza
McCandless Township
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

New Free People Store At Bakery Square

Bakery Square in East Liberty

Free People will open at Bakery Square in East Liberty on Friday, featuring an assortment of fashions and accessories for young women. Many wintry items that have sold out in other locations were reserved for the Pittsburgh store, and they will join trendier spring fashions, such as the maxi dress, cropped shirts, bright bralettes, special knits and a range of slips.

The Free People demographic is described as age 26 through mid-30's.  Both Free People and Anthropologie are owned by Urban Outfitters, a company started by Pittsburgh native Dick Hayne. His first store, opened in Philadelphia in the 1970s, was called Free People, but the name was later changed to Urban Outfitters. Free People became the wholesale supplier to Urban, Anthropologie and more than 1,000 specialty stores worldwide including Nordstrom. The Pittsburgh store is the 42nd in the chain and, like the others, will offer the complete line.

Bakery Square is a perfect match for Free People as the 1,330-square-foot store is infused with natural materials and playful accents. Beneath a decorative stencil overlay on the brick facade, the storefront is framed with reclaimed timbers painted white. The same white timbers are used as columns and beams throughout the interior, with recycled thrashing-floor planks on the floor, reflecting the combination of modern and rustic.

Free People is at 6425 Penn Ave., Larimer, near East Liberty. Hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Information: 412-665-4680



Free People
Bakery Square
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

New Fox Chapel Libraray Opens Late Spring

Fox Chapel Park Map

The new Cooper-Siegel Community Library in Fox Chapel is slated open its doors in May. The $6 million facility sits alongside the Fox Chapel Municipal Building and has at least $1 million backing in borough money. The project got underway last summer, after several years of fund raising by the Community Center and Library Association. Plans call for a 24,000-square-foot facility that will triple the size of the current site, housed inside the Boyd Community Center in O'Hara.


The borough is sprucing itself up in other ways as well.  It is in the final stage of a five-year plan to upgrade borough recreation facilities. New playground equipment has been installed at McCahill Park, and signs were erected along Trillium Trail to educate visitors on the variety of native plants. The $300,000 project also included the rejuvenation of native wildflowers throughout the borough parks.

Fox Chapel Borough
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate

$10 million Grant To Rehab Former Sony Site

Former Sony Site

Westmoreland County has received a $10 million state grant to rehabilitate the former Sony plant for new tenants at the 43-year-old factory that sits in East Huntingdon and Hempfield townships.  The grant will be used to replace a steam plant that heated the facility and to install a new venting system.

Prior to Sony, the 2.8-million-square-foot facility housed a Volkswagen auto assembly plant. Sony then took over a decade ago but halted its television assembly operations last October  Officials have determined a better strategy would be for several different businesses to use the property rather than one large entity.

The county has already inked deals with two new tenants, Solar Power Industries, which makes solar energy panels, and a former division of Sony called DNP that makes magnetic ribbons.  These two companies will take over about 500,000 square feet in the facility.  Westmoreland County Community College will also use a portion of the facility to house a work force technology training program. That $7 million project is expected to be ready for students this fall.

Westmoreland County
 Hempfield Township
Solar Power Industries
DNP
Westmoreland Community College
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate