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The blast furnace on the Carrie Furnace redevelopment site would not be affected by plans to redevelop 75 of the 168 acres around it. (Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)

Develop PGH Bulletins: Allegheny County details deal to redevelop Carrie Furnace site

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Develop PGH Bulletins updates you on the Pittsburgh region's economy. Check back frequently, sign up for the Develop PGH newsletter and email rich@publicsource.org with questions, tips or story ideas. 10/18/21: Rankin and Swissvale site to be sold piecemeal to nonprofit developer
Allegheny County will sell portions of the Carrie Furnace mill site to the nonprofit Regional Industrial Development Corp. for $80,000 per acre, Development Director Lance told PublicSource. The 168-acre site sits mostly within Rankin and Swissvale, and roughly 100 acres are conceivably developable, according to a summary agreement Chimka shared with PublicSource. 

The agreement divides the developable land into three tracts, and obligates RIDC to buy 39.5 acres near the Rankin Bridge, though it can do so piecemeal.

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September 2021 Develop PGH Bulletins: Rejected as historic, bank branch could face demolition

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Develop PGH Bulletins updates you on the Pittsburgh region's economy. Check back frequently, sign up for the Develop PGH newsletter and email rich@publicsource.org with questions, tips or story ideas. 9/28/21: Planning Commission to decide fate of former Mellon Bank branch in East Liberty
Citizens Bank wants to raze a 52-year-old bank branch building in East Liberty, and that puts the City Planning Commission in an awkward position. In June, the commission voted in favor of historic designation for the former Mellon Bank branch on Penn Avenue, based on its architecture and its role in a portfolio of unique locations built by the Pittsburgh-based financial institution. But Pittsburgh City Council, which has final word on historic designation, rejected the nomination.

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The blast furnace on the Carrie Furnace redevelopment site would not be affected by plans to redevelop 75 of the 168 acres around it. (Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)

August 2021 Develop PGH Bulletins: Plan emerging to start building on Allegheny County’s big former mill site

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Develop PGH Bulletins updates you on the Pittsburgh region's economy. Check back frequently, sign up for the Develop PGH newsletter and email rich@publicsource.org with questions, tips or story ideas. 8/26/21: RIDC to take on redevelopment of Carrie Furnace site in Rankin, Swissvale
A long-quiet former steel mill site may ring with the sounds of construction next year, following a tentative pact between the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County [RAAC] and a nonprofit developer. The RAAC board voted to turn over 75 developable acres of the 168-acre Carrie Furnace site, which spans Rankin and Swissvale, to the Regional Industrial Development Corporation [RIDC]. County Development Director Lance Chimka told the RAAC board that RIDC would promptly start infrastructure work, and then construct two buildings of around 50,000 square feet near the north end of the Rankin Bridge.

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The former Croatian Federal Union of America building at 3441 Forbes Ave., in an image provided to the City Planning Commission on July 27, 2021. The University of Pittsburgh seeks to demolish it, but then to rebuild the historic facade.

July 2021 Develop PGH Bulletins: Pitt brings case for Oakland building’s demolition to commission

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Develop PGH Bulletins updates you on the Pittsburgh region's economy. Check back frequently, sign up for the Develop PGH newsletter and email rich@publicsource.org with questions, tips or story ideas. 7/27/21: Facade of former Croatian Federal Union building could be preserved, reused
The University of Pittsburgh’s plans to tear down a longstanding Forbes Avenue building drew no objections from the City Planning Commission at an initial briefing ahead of a hearing and likely September vote. Pitt wants to demolish the former Croatian Federal Union of America building, at 3441 Forbes Avenue. From 1963 on, the building served as the Allegheny County Health Department’s headquarters.

FROM THE SOURCE PODCAST

Episode 12, Season 2: Communal land and ownership — A conversation with Pittsburgh affordable housing advocates

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Crystal Jennings and Ed Nusser represent City of Bridges Community Land Trust. They believe building permanent affordable housing and increasing community control through homeownership is a way to address displacement and development throughout changing neighborhood housing markets in Pittsburgh. Jourdan: Hello, everybody, welcome back to Episode 12. From the Source, it's Jourdan again, we're back this week talking about community land trusts. Now, for those of you who have been with PublicSource for a while, we've been covering the affordable housing movement for the last few years.

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An artist's rendering of a proposed apartment building that developer SomeraRoad wants to build near the Three Rivers Heritage Trail at the Southside Works, submitted to the City Planning Commission for its meeting on June 15, 2021.

June 2021 Develop PGH Bulletins: Planning Commission approves South Side apartments

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Develop PGH Bulletins updates you on the Pittsburgh region's economy. Check back frequently, sign up for the Develop PGH newsletter and email rich@publicsource.org with questions, tips or story ideas. 6/29/21: Planning Commission approves new South Side apartments
The Pittsburgh Planning Commission approved the construction of a new 246-unit apartment building in the Southside Works complex, adjacent to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and South Side Marina. 

New York City- and Nashville-based developer SomeraRoad, which has been behind the redevelopment of the Southside Works complex, presented its plan for the 1.8 acre Southside Works Waterfront Apartments on June 15. Some commissioners initially expressed concerns that the structure, which would border a stretch of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, could narrow a path where bicyclists and pedestrians already compete for space. SomeraRoad emphasized the inclusion of a landscape buffer between the proposed seven-story structure and the trail.

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Members of the Urban Redevelopment Authority board, URA staff and members of the Buccini/Pollin Group development team discuss proposals for an office tower on the Lower Hill District, as they view an artists rendering during a May 26, 2021 board briefing conducted by Zoom. (Screenshot)

May 2021 Develop PGH Bulletins: Majority of developer-heavy committee supports transfer of Hill land to Penguins’ team

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Develop PGH Bulletins updates you on the Pittsburgh region's economy. Check back frequently, sign up for the Develop PGH newsletter and email rich@publicsource.org with questions, tips or story ideas. 5/26/21: URA hears views of panel on FNB Tower, amid concern over conflicts
Most members of an oversight committee now support the Penguins’ plans to build on the former Civic Arena site, but some Hill District voices questioned the impartiality of that panel in public comments made at an Urban Redevelopment Authority [URA] board briefing. The Penguins and their chosen developer, Buccini/Pollin Group [BPG], want the URA and the Sports & Exhibition Authority boards to vote, on June 10, to transfer to them ownership of around 2.5 acres of Hill District land for a 26-story office tower and community open space. In Wednesday’s non-voting meeting, the URA board heard from several members of the Executive Management Committee [EMC].