Happenings in Pittsburgh!! (Philadelphia, York, Washington: environment, real estate, luxury)

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Pop City - Pittsburgh venture capital investments post near record gains of $62.6 million

Venture capital investments in Pittsburgh companies posted near record gains of $62.6 million for the region in the 2007 second quarter.

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City seeks plans to automate street paving decisions

The city of Pittsburgh yesterday asked technology firms to submit plans to automate the process of deciding which streets are repaved.

The administration issued a request for proposals for software and services that would predict wear and tear on streets, and prioritize paving based on the use and condition of roads, and on financial constraints. Proposals have to include plans to put pavement data and decisions on the city Web site, according to the request.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl called the request "another piece of the overall puzzle of being a more effective government. That's been a fundamental theme of the administration from the beginning."

The city's current process, which is based on a mixture of objective measurements and complaints, has been criticized for being open to political influence and manipulation.

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Pop City - Euphoria takes post production technology to the next level

Euphoria is a state of mind and an edgy post-production facility quite unlike anything else in Pittsburgh.


Behind its steel doors on Market Street, a labyrinth of cool production studios and offices fills four floors. The turquoise boardroom is a stainless horseshoe-shaped bar where employees and clients meet for lunch, created by the in-house executive chef.


Formerly North Coast Communications, Euphoria is one of the first companies on the East Coast to offer a post-production process that allows artists to multi-task creatively to design special effects. In an innovative move to achieve this, Euphoria shut down for a month last January, ripped miles of video wires from the walls and replaced it with a high-tech fiberline.


“We’re pioneering an effort to achieve the holy grail,” laughs Andy Muhl, Euphoria’s business developer.

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Google in Pittsburgh!

Pop City - Pittsburgh Google creates Sky, hiring upward of 9

Software that flies you anywhere in the world--high above the Pittsburgh skyline, the Eiffel Tower or your own rooftop —is the latest wizardry created by the software engineers in Pittsburgh’s Google office.

Google launched its cool, easy-to-use tool called Sky this month, a free new feature that enables Google Earth users to navigate through 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies to far away lands, anywhere, through the eyes of a network of space telescopes located around the world.

Sky was developed by the Google Pittburgh team working at Carnegie Mellon University's Collaborative Innovation Center in Oakland. California-based Google set up an office in Oakland in 2005 that employs more than 50 software engineers. Google plans to hire additional staff in the near future including software engineers, technicians, and a product manager.

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Pop City - Robot City prepares last historic riverfront parcel for future

An innovative laboratory has emerged on the city’s last riverfront parcel, a 178-acre brownfield, formerly the LTVF Hazelwood steel site, west of Hot Metal Bridge and the birthplace of the modern steel mill.

While city leaders and developers mull the possibility of more R&D development west along the river, Carnegie Mellon University has leased the property as a lab space for robotics testing. Dubbed Robot City, the Tartan Racing Team now practices there for the DARPA Urban Challenge, a race of autonomous robot vehicles sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Defense.

Helping to turn the brownfield green, CMU grads calling themselves Growth Through Energy and Community Health (GTECH) have planted switchgrass as part of a new biofuel company.

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Pop City - Schoolhouse Yoga expands, prepares to open two new Pittsburgh locations

Pittsburgh’s largest yoga studio is preparing to open two new locations in September. Schoolhouse Yoga will open new centers at 330 Grant St. Downtown and at 5417 Walnut St. in Shadyside.

With 200 students each month and successful operations in Squirrel Hill and the Strip District, Schoolhouse is responding to a citywide demand for additional yoga programming. After being approached by Steve Zelicoff, founder of Shadyside Center for Health, Schoolhouse owner Leta Koontz decided to open a studio within The Grant Club, a new fitness center planned for the Grant Building's first floor. “The building owners want to offer amenities to tenants and classes geared toward Downtown workers,” says Koontz.

Offering classes at 7:30 a.m., at lunch and after work, the 400 square-foot site will be Downtown’s first yoga studio to welcome walk-ins. “It will be the only facility Downtown where you don’t need a membership fee,” says Zelicoff, of the building’s fully equipped fitness center, which will cater to the Grant Building's 800 tenants, as well as to Downtown employees and residents. “You can walk in and have a session with a trainer.”

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Before and after shots/renderings of the new Penguin Arena!!

Photo Gallery - New Penguins Arena Drawings - 08/28/2007 (broken link)

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More on the Arena.

Penguins unveil arena design drawings

The Penguins last night unveiled preliminary design drawings for the new arena to be built between Centre and Fifth avenues, Uptown, to replace Mellon Arena.

The drawings were shown at a public meeting attended by about 150 people, including Hill District residents and others interested in the design.

The new building, which is being designed by HOK Sport of Kansas City, Mo., will have its main entrance on Centre Avenue near Washington Place, with other entrances on the east side of the building off Centre Avenue and at Fifth Avenue and Washington Place.

Patrick Lempka, lead architect for the project, said the building will be 80 feet tall along Centre Avenue and about 130 feet high at Fifth Avenue.

People on Fifth Avenue won't necessarily see the arena looming above them because the facade along Fifth Avenue will be brick and cast stone storefronts that will be about 55 feet high, with the arena set back on a plaza from the top of that base.

The new building will have a corridor around the main level that will run from Centre Avenue to the plaza behind the Fifth Avenue facade. That circular corridor will be faced with glass while the top of the arena will have some sort of metal or painted metal skin, Mr. Lempka said.

Mr. Lempka said the architects are working with the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority to incorporate features that would make it a green building.

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Here is some news from Greensburg! And big news it is!

Pop City - Seton Hill University's $21M arts center part of downtown Greensburg revitalization

Construction of Seton Hill University’s $21 million performing arts center is underway. Located at the corner of Harrison Ave. and W. Otterman St. in downtown Greensburg, the new 73,000 square-foot center will provide much-needed facilities for SHU’s theater and music programs, which have outgrown their current space on campus.

Designed by MacLachlan Cornelius & Filoni Architects, the center will bring two of SHU’s thriving arts programs to the heart of Greensburg. An anchor within Greensburg’s cultural district, the center is part of major revitalization efforts that in 18 months have attracted $78 million in investments.

“It’s become a catalyst. The Governor is calling it a model for the state in terms of economic impact on the community and city. We’re coming off the hill and into town,” says Christine Mueseler, with SHU. “Our music and dance programs have grown substantially since we’ve announced the project.”

The three-level center will house a 225-capacity flexible theater, 450-seat music hall, set, costume design and rehearsal rooms, faculty offices, and classrooms where lessons for students ages 4-94 will be offered.

SHU will run a shuttle from campus to the new center and additional Greensburg destinations, like the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, historic Palace Theater, Greensburg Train Station, and cafes, restaurants and bookstores. Designed to complement Greensburg’s architecture, the awning-clad brick and stone facility will enhance surrounding storefront renovation and beautification projects. Contractor is Massaro Corporation.

The project has raised $19 million from city, county and state sources. Slated for completion during the spring of 2009, the project is expected to create 635 new jobs and generate $1 million in annual visitor spending.

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Suburban styles reshape the city - Pittsburgh Business Times:

Lynne Figgins has grown used to promoting what can seem like an ancient but basic concept: putting one foot in front of the other.

As she was leading a group on a recent Downtown walk-and-dine tour, Figgins asked a question that stumped the group of generally suburban residents.

"I asked people how many of them walk to go grocery shopping. Only one person put up their hand," said Figgins, a Gateway Towers resident who takes a weekly 20-minute hike to the Strip District to do her food shopping.

"People are just so foreign to the concept of not having cars. But that's how Pittsburgh differs from other cities in America and all over the world," she said. "There's many cities where people just don't have cars, and there's no use in having one."

It's an anecdote that reveals how far the Pittsburgh area has gone from being a city full of residents accustomed to the habits of urban living to what is now a predominantly suburban region with sensibilities more attuned to parking lots and drive-throughs.

After more than 50 years of suburbanization, Pittsburgh's suburbs have exerted a major influence on the city left behind. Now, Michael Beyard, senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute, sees another major metropolitan change coming across the United States.

"We're kind of in a generational shift in our metropolitan areas," Beyard said.

Throughout the country, he sees a growing emphasis on creating more higher-density, mixed-use development in the suburbs and also in redeveloping cities.

Only now, city redevelopment comes with the new demands of a country acculturated to life in the suburbs.

"I think cities are learning the lessons about what's been successful in the suburbs, and the suburbs are trying to urbanize without the problems that we used to associate with cities," Beyard said.