Happenings in Pittsburgh!! (Carnegie, Lawrenceville, Penn: rental car, appointed, to rent)

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now, if I can get a decent beer

Beeswax..... I don't think you know Pittsburghers very well if you don't think you'll be able to get a decent beer. LOL.

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Polish Hill: A neighborhood being rediscovered

Most people know Polish Hill as a short cut with a dramatic church dome. It's almost never in the news because crime is low, almost half the population is over 65 and, other than in two bars, there's no place left to spend your money. It's not even as Polish as it once was.

But Polish Hill's role as conduit between Liberty Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard may be gaining some luster. With the city riding a wave of investment, the tide may be coming back in for the little neighbor of the Strip, North Oakland, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield and the Upper Hill.

Contractors are tossing debris into Dumpsters from two buildings on Brereton Street. They're gutting them for redevelopment by returnees to the neighborhood, Tai + Lee Architects and the Jubilee Pantry. Two residents, -- a 20-something newcomer and a 45-year-old native -- are separately scouting for locations for coffee shops and a restaurant. Residents say they're seeing a lot of new, young faces.

Into this mix came Terry Doloughty as the energetic new leader of the Polish Hill Civic Association. The longtime guardian of the community garden on Wiggins Street, he became the first non-Polish president in June, succeeding 12-year veteran Sharon Wolkiewicz.

"We've always been the quiet little neighborhood that never bothered anyone," said Mr. Doloughty, 41, an employee at Equiparts, a household maintenance parts company in Sharpsburg. "But now we want to make ourselves heard."

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It's been a slow day :P

Pop City - UPMC receives $16M to establish HIV center within 331,000 sf biomedical tower

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has received a $16 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish the Pittsburgh Center for HIV Protein Interactions (PCHPI).

The new center, one of three of its kind in the country, will be run by Angela Gronenborn, chair of the university's department of structural biology. Recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Gronenborn is one of the country’s leading structural biologists.

The center will be housed within Pitt's Biomedical Science Tower 3 (BST3), which was designed to support the region’s biotech industries. Located on Fifth Ave., the 10-story, 331,000-square-foot facility features modern laboratories for molecular genetics, cellular biology and biochemistry research. The Center for Vaccine Research--the tower's last set of labs to move in--are currently being completed. An official opening of BST3 is set for late September.

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This is sort of interesting. If you know anyone on dialysis, anything revolutionary for those poor people would be most appreciated I imagine.

Pop City - Renal Solutions to launch revolutionary dialysis technology; hiring 15

At Renal Solutions, smaller is infinitely better.

The Cranberry Township provider of products and services to treat chronic and acute renal failure will place a revolutionary new technology on the market this October that will vastly improve the quality of life for kidney dialysis patients.

Renal Solutions first commercial product is the Allient System, a cabinet-sized unit that, unlike traditional dialysis units that use hundreds of gallons of water, uses a fraction of that amount to recirculate through the system.

“It’s completely different from any other system on the market,” says Peter DeComo, founder and CEO. “All systems need to be tethered to a water source and drained. With our system, we only use 1 ½ gallons of drinkable tap water and the unit is self-contained and transportable throughout the home.”

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Woah - news explosion since I got back. Some neat stuff following this post!

Pop City - Concurrent Technologies hiring 300 technical professionals this year

Concurrent Technologies Corp., a Johnstown-based non-profit software engineering and developing company with a Pittsburgh office, is on a hiring spree. CTC will add as many as 300 professionals in the coming year to fill technology positions.

The applied research and development firm has been growing at a steady pace since its beginnings in 1987. Last year CTC added 220 professionals to its 1400-member firm, 800 of whom work in Johnstown. Thirty work in CTC’s downtown Pittsburgh office and the rest are employed in 35 cities throughout the country, says Jay Bleehash, manager of workforce planning and staffing.

A majority of the hires will work in Johnstown, but thanks to the technical nature of the business, Pittsburgh area applicants may work from the region without relocating, Bleehash adds.

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Pop City - Precision Therapeutics going public, hopes to raise $80.5 mil

South Side-based Precision Therapeutics is on its way to being ranked among the region’s first life science companies to go public through an initial public offering that could raise up to $80.5 million.

The company declared its intention in an August 24th filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Neither an initial price nor the number of shares that would be traded was revealed.

If successful, the 12-year-old oncology services company will join Pittsburgh’s Respironics Inc. and Medrad Inc. as the early front runners in the growth of the life science industry in the region, which is gaining momentum through strong early venture investment.

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Pop City - $20.6 mil in its pocket, Plextronics turns big corner on growth and hiring

Plextronics’ Andrew Hannah was clearly elated, calling from Brussels last week with the news that the company had just closed on a $20.6 million round of funding that will push the Pittsburgh print electronics company to the next level.

“It’s one of those times in a company where you feel very pleased with where you are,” Hannah said excitedly. “This gives us the fuel to grow, gives us a great partner and it’s great for Pittsburgh. In the next 15 months we expect to double the company from 45 to 90 employees. We will be hiring across the board: product development, tech people, sales, and marketing.”

The company that has put the term “organic electronics” in the vocabulary of many in Pittsburgh took a global leap with a venture deal that includes lead investor Solvay North America Investments of Brussels, Belgium, an international chemical and pharmaceutical group that has gained a minority share in Plextronics with its own $10 million investment.

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More trendy housing selling well in the 'Burgh and more on the way.

Pop City - Glassworks Lofts sells 4 of 5 condos on Pittsburgh's South Side

Glassworks Lofts has sold four of its five units. Located at 50 S. 15th St. on the South Side, the project features three town homes and two lofts.

The remaining town home, which is selling for $499,500, features three bedrooms, two balconies and a sky room. The building’s additional units which sold for between $497,500 and $535,000, are fully occupied. “Initially I thought it would be doctors and athletes. We have a couple from Chicago, someone from a big data storage company, a landscape architect—it’s been all across the board,” says developer and contractor Dan Doyle.

“It’s been a success," says Doyle. "It took a little longer to fill out than I thought, but given the conditions right now, I feel very lucky.” Doyle next plans to develop a 12-unit property, and feels the market is particularly strong for rental units. “I’m thinking of doing a similar building in the city with modernist, rental apartments—they might be lofts. I’d like to take an area in the city and make it like a very distinctive village," he says.

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Pop City - Kelsey Grammer's new TV show, others, set in Pittsburgh

Spike TV's bank heist miniseries "The Kill Point" is set in, and was shot in, Pittsburgh. The TNT medical drama, "Heartland," and Fox's new fall TV news sitcom, "Back to You," starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, also take place in Pittsburgh.

.. and similarly.

Pop City - Superbad director to make next feature film in Pittsburgh

A joint production between Miramax Films and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, "Adventureland" is expected to begin shooting this fall. Dawn Keezer, executive director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said the production is one of three that are considering Pittsburgh for shoots.

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Police find severed body in bags

But then that's not quite as cheerful as the other stuff you post on this thread, I suppose.