Downtown area development 1990-2010. (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: real estate, 2014, lofts)

[nuwaver88]

Looking back on the last twenty years of development in Pittsburgh's Downtown area over last tweny years, it seems like the last ten were much more successful that the 1990-2000.

The 1990s had a huge proposal in the City Center project that was scrapped, along with Marketplace at Fifth and Forbes, which was Tom Murphy's plan. The Strip District emerged by the mid 1990s as competiton for nightlife with the South Side. That had gone by the wayside by and was only shadow of itself by 2000.
The Cultural District did quite a bit at street level in the 90s with facades and the addition of small parks and lighting. The Carnegie Science Center opened in the early 1990s and ground was broken for the stadiums in 1999. There may have been a conversion of some buildings into lofts, but all in all it was a fairly quiet decade Downtown and environs.

The 2000 to 2010 decade was more active. The stadiums opened in 2001 and the North Shore has seen a quite a bit of development. Station Square added some nice improvements by adding on to the Sheraton and adding Bessemer Court and some new restaurants and a nice fountain. This is a destination that can do even more IMHO. PNC and Mellon added large Client Centers and PNC also added an office tower and hotel. The convention center was another nice addition, but was designed to have a hotel on top of it. Hopefully that can happen. 151 First Side and also the Encore were nice residential addtions to the cityscape. There have been some nice improvements Downtown and Point Park and The Art Institute continue to contribute. Of Course, Consol Energy is about to open and will hopefully be a catalyst for another part of the Downtown that we call Uptown.
I am hoping the coming decade is more like this last one as opposed to the somewhat sluggish 1990s. Although I will say it was the 1990s when Pittsburgh started to recreate itself as a whole and the neighborhoods started to hustle and bustle more so then they had previously. It was like the transition in the neighborhoods led to the investment Downtown in some indirect way.

[BrianTH]

I think what you are seeing is the typical big-budget development lag. The 1980s saw some big projects completed Downtown, and the 1970s was a decent decade for Pittsburgh's economy. The 1980s were a pretty bad decade for the economy, and the 1990s were a bad decade for development. Pittsburgh began its economic recovery in the 1990s, and Downtown started a new mini-boom in the 2000s.

Given that logic, I would think the 2010s should be pretty good, because the 2000s were pretty good for the Pittsburgh economy. Of course Pittsburgh didn't entirely dodge the recession and that has likely hurt the pipeline a bit, but on the other hand we are doing relatively well compared to most places, particularly with respect to real estate. So that damage to the pipeline might get made up by more national interest going forward. At least that is what I am hoping.

[pman]

Success builds on itself. Often times more modest improvements such as the cultural district and, more recently, the market sq remake can have a larger long term impact than large government redevelopment projects. you begin to improve something and it becomes more attractive, at the margin, for a larger group of people. It builds on itself, the more it improves, the larger the market. I see a lot of parallels between Pittsburgh's downtown and Philadelphia's. I suspect, barring outside factors, downtown will continue to improve at a faster pace (snowballing)...at least in terms of being a decent place to live and play (it's already a decent place to work).

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pman

Success builds on itself. Often times more modest improvements such as the cultural district and, more recently, the market sq remake can have a larger long term impact than large government redevelopment projects. you begin to improve something and it becomes more attractive, at the margin, for a larger group of people. It builds on itself, the more it improves, the larger the market. I see a lot of parallels between Pittsburgh's downtown and Philadelphia's. I suspect, barring outside factors, downtown will continue to improve at a faster pace (snowballing)...at least in terms of being a decent place to live and play (it's already a decent place to work).

100% agree. There are lots of feedback loops in real estate development, positive and negative, and hopefully the Greater Downtown area is now in a positive feedback cycle (it certainly feels that way to me).

[stevo6]

I think there is a pent-up demand that we won't really see being satisfied until about 2014. Not to throw politics into the thread, but I think we are a way from having a more pro-business environment (financial reform needed).
Just guessing here but I think the trend of more residential development and the things required to support this such as shopping and entertainment venues will continue. I think the Consol Center will generate a certain amount of development along Forbes as well as the old Arena site assuming it is razed. If things go well in the energy sector, meaning if the gas drilling can continue, I think (hope) the region could experience some appreciable growth overall.