Downtown Population increased 25% since 2000 (Pittsburgh, Lebanon: suites, sushi, ordinances)

[AaronPGH]

I'm not the biggest fan of Kimpton Hotels, but I think one of those being added downtown would be a nice shot in the arm. Their hotels are bit on the funkier side and usually have some sort of bar/nightlife component. If that's the case, and it's programmed correctly, it could help to draw some of the late-night crowd down there.

And if they are thinking ahead enough to do a big rooftop bar, that would be a big hit. Pittsburgh is ripe for a small, affordable boutique hotel aimed at the younger audiences.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by BettyTheHun

Does anyone else buy into this?

Not with respect to office. Maybe retail, but even then there is retail doing fine north of Sixth on Smithfield, which is an extremely heavy bus corridor (it also has buses that turn east on Sixth), and along Liberty (also a heavy bus corridor).

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

And if they are thinking ahead enough to do a big rooftop bar, that would be a big hit. Pittsburgh is ripe for a small, affordable boutique hotel aimed at the younger audiences.

I agree. And if you also had a hotel in the Oliver and residential in the Alcoa, you suddenly would have a little cluster of nighttime residents around Mellon Square.

Edit: There would almost be a sort of courtyard effect on that particular rooftop:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qr6...19&form=LMLTCC

[AaronPGH]

^ agreed. I'm really pulling for the Alcoa building. It's too sexy a building to be going to waste like it is. I really think the whole Mellon Square area will take off. It's just full of grand old buildings that need to be repurposed. Unfortunately that's going to be an expensive undertaking... wonder when we'll actually see some of these new owners start to move on this stuff?

[Geeo]

There is also going to be a major renovation of Mellon Square that will add a promenade on the overhang above Smithfield Street, which is a nice touch. Perhaps a renovated Mellon Square will have the same effect that the renovated Market Square had on the area around it.

And there was a neat old picture in the P-G this morning of the W. T. Grant store that was in the Saks building. The photo was from 1955. I believe there were at least two Grant's in downtown Pittsburgh in those days, just as there were two Woolworth's.

[BrianTH]

PMC (who supposedly is buying the Alcoa building) seems to move pretty quickly by Pittsburgh standards. They closed on the Verizon building last December and by July they had model units ready and were signing the first leases:

Tenant leases unit in 'Verizon building'

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Geeo

Perhaps a renovated Mellon Square will have the same effect that the renovated Market Square had on the area around it.

That would be great. It is really a neat and historic (in its own way) place, with wonderful views of the surrounding buildings.

And I keep thinking it would be nice if it could become a designated food truck area (a trend that hasn't quite made it to Pittsburgh yet).

[AaronPGH]

Alcoa being in the hands of PMC is a great thing. Not sure how I missed that!

[jjs65]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

And I keep thinking it would be nice if it could become a designated food truck area (a trend that hasn't quite made it to Pittsburgh yet).

What is a "food truck area"?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by jjs65

What is a "food truck area"?

A site that has been pre-approved for food trucks to set up--here is an example from Boston (providing a map of such locations).

Public Locations Map | City of Boston