Fleeing the Strip's parking issues, company heads to the North Hills (Pittsburgh: fit in, leases)

[tyovan4]

After 30 years in the Strip, West Penn Finance Service Center Inc. has traded the grit and the parking hassles for brand new digs in the suburbs of Ross.

West Penn moved into a 13,000-square-foot building at 2250 Babcock Boulevard three weeks ago.
...
John J. Amrhein, West Penn president, said the company had several reasons for deciding to make the move after three decades at 1800 Smallman St. across from the Primanti Bros. restaurant.

A big one was parking. Mr. Amrhein said some West Penn clients complained about not being able to find parking spot in the busy Smallman and Penn Avenue corridor and wasting precious time circling the block waiting for a space to open up.

Parking, he said, has become a “huge” issue in the Strip. He figured matters were only going to get worse with the redevelopment of the Strip’s produce terminal, which could affect existing Smallman spaces.

The parking situation not only was a problem for customers but for employees. While many workers had leases, they were not guaranteed a spot if the spaces were filled. That was an issue because many of the firm’s workers would come and go during the day.
...
While Ross is not as centrally located as the old office, there has been a time savings because of the lack of traffic and congestion, he said. Employees and customers also have access to free parking. Despite the Strip’s vibrancy and buzz these days, he doesn’t regret the move.

Fleeing the Strip's parking issues, company heads to the North Hills | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After 30 years in the city, this business decided to leave the city and head to the suburbs because parking became too difficult. I wonder if any businesses on the South Side are considering a similar move.

Just proof to share with the forum that pooh-poohing parking concerns can eventually have consequences.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

After 30 years in the city, this business decided to leave the city and head to the suburbs because parking became too difficult. I wonder if any businesses on the South Side are considering a similar move.

Just proof to share with the forum that pooh-poohing parking concerns can eventually have consequences.

The spot is also right around the corner from Pennsylvania Market, the smaller replacement of Pittsburgh Public Market.

Let's be serious though. That's a prime location, and only going to get more prime once the Smallman Terminal project is finished. Something like a bar or restaurant is going in there, or maybe the building will be knocked down and replaced with something taller. It's certainly not going to stay vacant in the longer run.

I think the closures of the remaining big industrial employers in the Strip - like Packaging Corporation of America and soon Consumer Fresh Produce - are more troublesome, because they have more employees. But there's really no place in the modern gentrified city for anything besides "creative class" jobs and those who personally serve them.

[bradjl2009]

Parking has always been a joke in that area of the Strip. If parking is that much of an issue though, it means there are plenty of people taking the time to visit that area.

[RonSantoRules]

There is a large Alco parking lot at 15th and Smallman. And there is parking at the Convention Center. And the Port Authority bus depot. And PPG lots off Smallman between 15th and 21st. Parking downtown and in the Strip is expensive and annoying, but it's one of the tradeoffs for not having a commuter tax like Philly. Maybe this guy should pay his employees better so they could afford a lease at a nearby garage?

In any event, sounds like the space will probably be put to better uses anyways. And it runs counter to the trend that is seeing law firms and the state attorney general's office move to the strip from other locations.

[PghYinzer]

Am I in the minority of people who would quit their job before having to commute to the suburbs each day? I chose my house because it was near public transportation and only a 20 min bus ride to my office. I also lease a car because I don't put a lot of miles on it. Being that I don't drive that much, the times I do, I find it so frustrating that I cannot understand how some people do it everyday. I would be in jail or a hospital bed in less than month if I sat in traffic each day.


I understand their reasoning and it sounds like they took into consideration where their employees lived, but I would hope that my employer would not (and they most likely never will) make the assumption that free parking is a perk.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Am I in the minority of people who would quit their job before having to commute to the suburbs each day? I chose my house because it was near public transportation and only a 20 min bus ride to my office. I also lease a car because I don't put a lot of miles on it. Being that I don't drive that much, the times I do, I find it so frustrating that I cannot understand how some people do it everyday. I would be in jail or a hospital bed in less than month if I sat in traffic each day.


I understand their reasoning and it sounds like they took into consideration where their employees lived, but I would hope that my employer would not (and they most likely never will) make the assumption that free parking is a perk.

I don't know if I'd go that far. From here in Lawrenceville, it is certainly less of a hassle to drive to certain suburban areas than commute to the city though I would miss the ability to take the bus and let someone else do the driving and being able to walk around for lunch like I currently can in Downtown.

[robrobrob]

It sounds like it was driven by their customers preferences for free parking. My wife's business often gets new customers because of parking. They have abundant free parking while their competitors have pay parking. Their customers are mostly on a fixed income so for them it is a huge deal to have free parking.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Am I in the minority of people who would quit their job before having to commute to the suburbs each day? I chose my house because it was near public transportation and only a 20 min bus ride to my office. I also lease a car because I don't put a lot of miles on it. Being that I don't drive that much, the times I do, I find it so frustrating that I cannot understand how some people do it everyday. I would be in jail or a hospital bed in less than month if I sat in traffic each day.

You would be going contra-flow to the traffic rush - so it would actually be a pretty easy commute, provided you didn't have to cross the City itself.

There is a bus that goes from my town to downtown - but I gave up on it. Too many reliability issues, and it was on a fixed route. So if there is a Pirates game, or an accident on 28, etc - then you are literally along for the ride in traffic. Even though Pittsburgh's road system presents relatively few alternative options, at least by driving I do have options to try to avoid traffic messes.

[RogersParkTransplant]

It makes perfect sense to me that a mortgage lending company would get out of the Strip. The Strip has become a destination; it's where we take guests from out of town for brunch or drinks or to walk around. We also stop there for food shopping once in a while, but that's because we live within a mile of it and just have to cruise down Chestnut and across the 16th St bridge. It would be annoying, even for us, to go to the Strip for a boring financial transaction. We put up with the parking issues, or take the bus, if we are there for the unique things the Strip has to offer; I can see where a business that didn't fit in with the general ambiance would move to Ross and pick a vanilla location that's easy to reach from the city or the suburbs.

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Am I in the minority of people who would quit their job before having to commute to the suburbs each day? I chose my house because it was near public transportation and only a 20 min bus ride to my office.

When I accepted my job at Pitt I was weighing a few options in other states. Pitt's location in Oakland was really attractive to us, especially because we realized this is a place where we could actually afford a whole house in the city. Pitt's policy of giving everyone a free bus pass was really cool from day one -- I can't say I picked this job for the bus pass, but it's easily my favorite perk and the one I use the most. Having access to bus routes was also one of the reasons we picked our house; there's one stop a block away, and I can walk to East Ohio street in 20 minutes and have access to several other routes from there. I wasn't willing to buy in a location where I was 100% dependent on a single route, and it would have been much harder to rely on the bus before the days of Google maps and live bus trackers on my phone, but it's pretty sweet right now. We have one car for the family, and we use it less and less now that the kids are getting a little older -- though we would probably never give it up altogether, because we do like to go on road trips.

[ferraris]

I certainly consider working downtown to be a huge perk of my job. That said, I would only quit if the commute to the new location was too long. I might commute to the North Hills, but not to South Point or Monroeville. I'm sure some of my coworkers would say the same thing, but in reverse -- which is probably a big reason why my employer is located downtown.