Downtown Pittsburgh

[MontroseNeighborhoodCafe]

I saw the article below in the N.Y. Times this morning. It made me think how a project like the one in Pittsburgh would be great for Downtown Houston.

South Side Works, which is named for the former mill on the site owned by the steel maker LTV, is a $300 million mixed-use project with 675,000 square feet of Class A office space, housing, retailers and a 10-screen cinema. Two buildings are fully leased, with three more to open.

July 20, 2005

Arts and Science Remake the Steel City

By CHRISTINE H. O'TOOLE

PITTSBURGH, July 19 - Though the steel mills here started to cool off more than 20 years ago, the city seemed slow to shed its rusty old skin. The opportunity to recast its polluted industrial waterfront as a high-tech hub and recreation destination took nearly two decades to emerge.

Read More...

[Kirzania]

I really think we need to make Houston more of a "center of town" first. Pitt is a college town - Carnegie Melon, Pitt (which is just as massive as CM), and Duquesne. Those are just the big names. There are a bunch of small colleges, whose names I've forgotten over the years, to boot. So there are hundreds of thousands of kids just crawling all over that place 24/7.

They need the space, especially the residental. Too many kids up there are still in terribly old and outdated dorms (this means no AC) and they don't have any other choice about where to live.

I agree, though. I would love to see it, but the population of downtown after 6pm isn't enough to necessitate this. Maybe if UH Downtown follows through on its expansion, I could see a small scale version of this.

[The Great Hizzy!]

I agree with Kirzania--you don't want to oversaturate the market, but I really like the plaza design with the Art Deco style theater in the background. Cool stuff.

I've heard some impressive things about Pittsburgh over the last year. I haven't been in close to ten years so I'd love to see how much it's changed since my last visit.

[MidtownCoog]

What UHD expansion?

[The Great Hizzy!]

UH-D is rumored to be expanding its facilities, including a downtown dormitory of some sort.

[Kirzania]

What UHD expansion?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Like Hizzy says, I've heard about new dorms being built. I even thought I read something about it ... somewhere ... some time back.

They are building a new parking garage and a new academic building. From the article:

"In this case, UH-Downtown wants a private developer to build a new 128,200-square-foot academic building and 500-space parking structure by June 2007. The project, designed to keep up with a growing student population, is expected to cost in the range of $30 million."

http://www.uh.edu/ednews/2005/bizjournals/...hdbuilding.html

[houstonsemipro]

That picture looks like downtown Aquarium. Besides, why we talking about downtown Pittsburgh? And the upcoming houston pavillions will look twice as better then that picture.

I don't get the point of this thread.

[H-Town Man]

It reminds me of Market Street in the Woodlands Town Center. Nice for a suburb, but the cheap theme park-ish ripoffs of classic architecture styles doesn't belong downtown. Look at all the prefab brick and stucco on that "art deco" theater. There should be a rule for art deco: if it doesn't have terra cotta, don't build it. As far as the plaza is concerned, to any who as ever been to a real plaza in a Latin American city, something like this is laughable to say the least. Does anyone else, when he or she sees glitzy new urban-style developments in the nicer parts of an American city, with their varied cluster of eclectic architectural styles (almost too perfectly combined) suddenly ending in a wasteland of parking lots and garages (brick-clad, of course), the exciting lit up area of the promenade or plaza giving way as you turn the corner to a harshly realistic forest of power lines and breaker boxes, feel nothing but revulsion for the thinness, the contrivedness, the shallowness, and the vanity of it all?

[houstonsemipro]

But, the woodlands is a well tourist addition. I've rather go there, then downtown.

[RedScare]

"Does anyone else, when he or she sees glitzy new urban-style developments in the nicer parts of an American city, with their varied cluster of eclectic architectural styles (almost too perfectly combined) suddenly ending in a wasteland of parking lots and garages (brick-clad, of course), the exciting lit up area of the promenade or plaza giving way as you turn the corner to a harshly realistic forest of power lines and breaker boxes, feel nothing but revulsion for the thinness, the contrivedness, the shallowness, and the vanity of it all?"

In a word, yes.

Think Disney World at the shopping mall. I see it as almost a metaphor for life in America.

[MontroseNeighborhoodCafe]

I personally believe that something more ambitious should be built in the space where the Houston Pavilions is planned. Though, I guess it is a start in the right direction. The project seems too cheesy to me, something you would find in the suburbs. Btw, I would rather visit Downtown Houston than the Woodlands any day. I believe an urban shopping and residential district stretching from Main Street Square to the Downtown Transit Center would be very successful. There are more than enough people already living in surrounding neighborhoods (Montrose, Midtown, etc..) to support additional retail. I believe people living along the rail line in the Museum District and Medical Center would shop in Midtown or Downtown if they had the choice. The area that surrounds Bell Station is currently a huge embarrassment! I can't imagine what people from out of town think when they see those vacant lots that surround the station. There are several existing residential high-rises located in the area that could be tied into the project.

[KinkaidAlum]

I don't think I have ever heard of Pittsburgh being referred to as a "college town."

It's time to dispel another myth; that Houston isn't a "college town."

In the city, there are

35,180 students at the University of Houston

10,974 at UH Downtown

9,327 at Texas Southern

7,761 at UH Clear Lake

4,830 at Rice

3,279 at UT's Health Science Center

3,044 at St Thomas

2,637 at HBU

1,290 at Baylor College of Medicine

1,289 at South Texas College of Law

1,265 at Texas Women's University at the TMC

1,200 at Prairie View ATM Nursing

That's 82,076 full-time students and doesn't include any of the numerous community colleges around the area (HCC, Cy-Fair, Lee, San Jac, North Harris, Mainland, etc...). The CITY OF PITTSBURGH had just 322,450 people total in 2004.

Additionally, it doesn't count nearby universities like Prairie View ATM, Texas ATM, Sam Houston State, ATM at Galveston, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, etc...all of these schools' students spend time in Houston, especially on weekends.

[Kirzania]

The CITY OF PITTSBURGH had just 322,450 people total in 2004.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Um... Last I looked not all students are residents of their respective college towns, Houston or Pittsburg. So, naturally, they aren't included in any kind of census. :shrug: Let's face it: Our colleges here (law, medicine) aren't exactly limited to Younglings. Many of them are adults who don't skip merrily down to nightclubs and stay up 'til the wee morning hours when they're done with classes - same for Pittsburg. My point here is that Houston is far more business-oriented than Pittsburg. (... Have you been recently?) Nearly all of downtown shuts down about 6pm. The Tunnels close around 5. I could go look up all the colleges in Pittsburg and probably give you the same numbers right back, but numbers don't do anything to talk about the ambiance of a city.

I'm not saying this to start a flamewar, I'm merely stating that, in my own experience, I feel that Pittsburg is far more college student-driven than Houston.

[RedScare]

I would be inclined to agree with you Kirzania, though Kinkaid's list is impressive. A city of 2 million people is so much larger than 322,000, so the college atmosphere gets swallowed by the city life itself. However, there are pockets of Houston, such as downtown, midtown and Rice Village that get so swarmed by college kids as to feel like a college town in those areas.

Pittsburgh, because of its smaller size may feel more college overall.

[Kirzania]

A city of 2 million people is so much larger than 322,000, so the college atmosphere gets swallowed by the city life itself. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, we're really comparing apples and oranges. If anything, we should be comparing Houston's heartbeat to NYC's.

[KinkaidAlum]

Of course PittsburgH may seem more college driven. It is SO much smaller than Houston. Smaller places are much more likely to have a college feel. That's why people think of Boston as a college town and not NYC even though metro NY has about ten times the # of students.

Here are the total number of students within 90 miles of each city according to a 2004 college guide (doesn't include med school, law school, community colleges or any other non-traditional 4 year college)

135,078 Houston

78,439 Pittsburgh (this even includes West Virginia U)

[houstonfella]

Can you imagine the dancing waters in Pittsburgh in January? Or would they be considered ice sculptures?

[nmainguy]

"Does anyone else, when he or she sees glitzy new urban-style developments in the nicer parts of an American city, with their varied cluster of eclectic architectural styles (almost too perfectly combined) suddenly ending in a wasteland of parking lots and garages (brick-clad, of course), the exciting lit up area of the promenade or plaza giving way as you turn the corner to a harshly realistic forest of power lines and breaker boxes, feel nothing but revulsion for the thinness, the contrivedness, the shallowness, and the vanity of it all?"

In a word, yes.

Think Disney World at the shopping mall.  I see it as almost a metaphor for life in America.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

RedScare:

I find I agree with you far too much. I attribute it to the lofty elevation of the Heights. In any event, I've been nowhere "disney"(the mouse always scared me as a child), but my 14 year old niece has been to disney world; hated every minute of it and said she would come live with her gay uncle before she would ever be dragged off to that hell-hole again (her words).