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I don't have the article handy but I remember reading recently that both of these schools were going to expand downtown. Even now it's kind of funny how different it feels downtown from being between grant and liberty between 7th and 5th aves, and from between 5th or Forbes and Boulevard of the Allies
Is this good for the city economically? Or just a short term gain? Wouldn't it be better to keep the land and buildings for other purposes considering how much of our city is already occupied by universities and how small the downtown area is? I don't know, maybe I'm overestimating their expansion but just seems a bit strange to me.
I can't really find anything recent on it. Maybe the expansion is already done and I didn't even notice.
I think it's part of the university's 10 year plan, and since endowments haven't been doing well the past few years they probably haven't moved on it yet.
It is definitely a work in progress, although if you walk around that area you can see how much work they have been doing on the buildings they acquired.
Anyway, personally I don't think the Triangle is really in any danger of reaching its full land-use capacity--the large number of surface parking lots is a pretty good contrary indicator. Plus, the soon-to-be-former-site of Mellon Arena and its parking lot is going to become available, and the Bluff/Uptown is really underdeveloped, and there is room for more development on the North Shore, and in the near Strip . . . really, we have lots of room for expansion in/of the CBD.
Meanwhile, I also think the more the merrier as far as decent local universities is concerned. Moreover, I think a Downtown with more residents and thus more businesses catering to residents would be an important asset for the region--it would be good both for young people new to the area starting jobs in or around Downtown, and for empty-nesters looking for an alternative to Sun Belt retirements.
Edit: Here are some links regarding Point Park's "Academic Village Initiative":
The upshot appears to be that as of now they have mostly been acquiring and renovating properties, but they have also been securing grants for various purposes and hiring the planners/architects for upcoming stages. Anyway, here is a timeline of property acquisitions, which also includes a map of their properties that indicates the streets they intend to enhance:
I know the Art Institute has finished rehabbing the giant old warehouse next to the First Avenue subway station into student housing. That and the opening of the park on Grant Street at the Blvd. of the Allies across the street from the new PNC Firstside Center has really spruced up that formerly dead area of town. If I have a meeting downtown, I usually park in the First Avenue garage and either walk or take the subway into the center of downtown. Last Friday was nice day and the park was filled with people and there were lots of students walking between the dorms.
Once Point Park U. commences with their plans for the Smithfield/Blvd. of Allies project and the Pittsburgh Playhouse moves to Fourth Avenue, it will become a much more active part of town. These massive projects take time.
This is going to be a bit of a cliche, but I was walking up Fort Pitt just the other day from the Point. There are some cool buildings along there but it definitely has a desolate feel (not helped at all by the highways, of course). But then I got to Wood, and blam, there is a Starbucks full of people on the corner. Of course that is undoubtedly thanks in large part to Point Park, and I could really imagine what an impact it will have when they turn Wood and Boulevard of the Allies into an attractive university center.
That said, I just realized the new Playhouse/residence-hall is going to take up much of the space I had identified for use in my purely hypothetical mid-height skyscraper for the Wood/Smithfield corridor. Oh well--I guess it was too good an idea to be unique.
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point park and art institute expansion
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