New Restaurants to Open in the Strip District

New restaurants, businesses, and night clubs are heading into the Strip District with their openings occurring in July.  These businesses are just some of the developments heading into this area of Pittsburgh.  This Pittsburgh shopping district is starting to become busy with activity, and it is bringing a whole new set of shoppers to the area to experience what it has to offer.

A string of openings have come to the Strip District, including the new Italian restaurant Emilia Romagna; Marty's Market; and R Wine Cellar.

Marty's Market , a specialty food store and café, held a soft opening on Saturday, giving shoppers a glimpse of the new market that replaces the former Right By Nature at 2305 Smallman Street.

The market is one-third smaller than the former grocery store, and specializes in locally grown and organic foods. But Marty's seeks to distinguish itself as a unique retail experience, starting with design.

Renovations to the space include three glass garage doors--which open to the downtown skyline--two kitchen areas, and a coffee bar.  Owner Regina Koetters says transparency, from the kitchen to the street view, was a guiding principle in the market’s design.

Marty’s cafe, which seats up to 45, serves made-to-order meals from a menu that changes daily.  The cafe is also planned to serve as a community kitchen of sorts, with tastings and cooking demonstrations by local chefs and amateurs alike.

-  Just a few blocks away Emilia Romagna will celebrate its grand opening this Friday.  The restaurant is a project of Chef Jonathan Vlasic, of the Allentown restaurant Alla Famiglia, and Peters Township’s Arlecchino.

The menu features dishes inspired by those regions of Northern Italy, as well as popular dishes from the proprietors’ other two restaurants.

Located at 108 19th Street, the space will also introduce a new nightclub to the Strip--V Ultra Lounge--which will also open on Friday.  The lounge will occupy the building’s second floor and balcony, and will feature a limited menu of antipastas, burgers, and sushi.

The lounge and restaurant are a project of Vlasic, Vince Isolde, and Chef Cory Hughes.

-  R Wine Cellar has opened at 2014 Smallman Street, selling house-made wines.  The cellar, a family owned urban winery, currently has four reds and four whites available, including oaked and un-oaked Chardonnays.

Although juices are currently brought in from elsewhere, all wines are fermented, blended, and bottled on site.  And several wines are made using grapes from the Lake Erie Region, including the white Traminette ($12) and the Lake Erie Red ($13).

Owner Steve Russell says they chose this location because they wanted to be in the middle of the developing Strip District.

"We think the potential here in the future is very strong," he says.

Koetters agrees, and says it’s an exciting time to be part of the Strip District, and recognizes that each new businesses is a boon to the neighborhood.

“We’re fortunate to be enjoying a great time in the Strip,” she says.  “There’s a lot of stuff going on… [and] I want Marty’s to be a vehicle to encourage more investment in the Strip.”

For more information on these restaurants go to PopCity. 

Night Market on Liberty

Another reason for Pittsburghers to make their way downtown!  Market Square will host a Night Market featuring music, vendors and various types of food.  The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is sponsoring the event to showcase Liberty Avenue and all it has to offer.

For the first time in recent memory, an unused lot in Downtown Pittsburgh is being transformed into a one-night-only Night Market, giving city residents one more reason to venture to (or stay in) the Golden Triangle after work.  The Night Market, which takes places this Friday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. will feature music by DJ Soy Sos, independent vendors of jewelry, art, and crafts, and food from a variety of local eateries.

Jeremy Waldrup, president of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, says his organization created this event in order to showcase this particular stretch of Liberty Avenue as a block filled with activity, including a variety of bars and restaurants, and the August Wilson Center.

“By providing individuals with another reason to come to this street we hope to encourage more folks to mill around downtown and see what opportunities there are to experience,” Waldrup says. 

At Friday’s market (located at 917-919 Liberty Avenue), the restaurant Meat & Potatoes will offer a preview of food from its new concept, Pork & Beans, which is expected to open later this fall.  And Conflict Kitchen, which is set to open Downtown in the coming months, will also be serving food.

Among the 15 independent vendors will be Tugboat Printshop and Devorah Naturals.  And café tables and chairs will be set up at the Night Market to encourage guests to linger in the space.

This Friday is also the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Gallery Crawl, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

“It should fit very well into the [Gallery Crawl] with people exploring that area,” says Ida D’Errico, of PDP.

D'Errico says this is the only Night Market currently planned, but based on the event’s success there could be more in the future.

“Pittsburgh enjoys various markets and our outdoor plazas, and so potentially this could expand into another location at some future point in time,” she says.

The Night Market is the latest endeavor to come from the Project Pop Up Program, a partnership between Mayor Ravenstahl, the URA, City Planning, and the PDP.


For more information on the Night Market please see PopCity.

New Jobs and Developments Are Coming to Pittsburgh

Hundreds of jobs will be coming to Pittsburgh thanks to the development of three aircraft hangers and other numerous projects coming to the area.   The projects are expected to have a positive impact on the community and the economic development of the city.

The development of three aircraft hangers, an environmental study to demolish a dilapidated building and other redevelopment projects expected to create hundreds of new jobs will get a boost from gaming fund revenues awarded by the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA).

"The approved projects will improve public safety and have a positive impact on community and economic development in Allegheny County," said Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary C. Alan Walker. "The gaming fund revenues will provide important infrastructure improvements to the area, which in turn, will add capacity for future economic development."

Five projects in Allegheny County will each receive $500,000 under the CFA's action. The $2.5 million in total funding comes from the Pennsylvania Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund Program (GEDTF), which was established to fund community and economic development projects in Allegheny County, through revenues from the Pittsburgh – The Rivers Casino. 

GEDTF program provides grants for single-year and multi-year projects that promote community and economic development in Allegheny County, including: economic and infrastructure development, job training, community improvement, public safety, public interest and costs to administer GEDTF funds. 

For more information and a detailed list of the projects please see US Politics.

Bicycling Just Got a Little Safer in Oakland.

People who commute by Bicycle in Oakland will be happy to know their dangerous journey through four lanes of traffic will be getting a little easier very soon.  The first meeting of the ThinkBike workshops took place in Pittsburgh, and it looks like Oakland will be the lucky area to get a bicycle lane that makes it safer for the commute.




After two days of ThinkBike workshops, the City of Pittsburgh is ready to bring the highest level of bicycle infrastructure to Oakland.

Based on the recommendations of Dutch mobility experts, the City is beginning the process of installing separated cycle tracks in the Fifth-Forbes corridor of this heavily trafficked neighborhood. 

According to the City's Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Stephen Patchan, cycle tracks represent the most progressive piece of bicycle infrastructure currently available, and offer the highest level of safety for both cyclists and motorist.

Cycle tracks are on-street, bicycle-only paths, and often include physical barriers, such as curbs, between automobiles and cyclists.  In Homestead, a cycle track was recently installed along the Great Allegheny Passage.  The proposed track in Oakland would be the first in Pittsburgh.

Patchan says the city has no timeline for installing the cycle tracks, and will conduct extensive public outreach and engineering studies before selecting a design and location.  He says the project will necessarily impact existing conditions for automobiles.

“We're trying to figure out a way to mitigate the impacts, but also provide a piece of infrastructure that's required for getting from hundreds [of cyclists]...to several thousand cyclists biking through that corridor.”

Although the corridor is currently used by many bicycle commuters, Patchan says the street’s current design--three to four lanes of one-way traffic--doesn’t encourage new riders.

“It takes a certain personality to ride on that street,” he says.

ThinkBike is a multi-city initiative of Dutch experts and companies to increase bicycle use in the U.S. and Canada.  Since the first workshop in Toronto, ThinkBike has been held in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles.

Patchan says ThinkBike contacted the City to host a workshop because of its rising reputation as a bicycle-friendly city, and its maturing cycling community.

But Patchan says the city intends to do more, and create cycling infrastructure on-par with the best Dutch cities.

"We're going to be a world-class bicycle city, so we're going to need the infrastructure for it," he says.

For more information on ThinkBike go to PopCity. 

Retail and Commercial Development Coming in Sheraden

Two projects that consist of retail and commercial space has been approved by the Urban Development Authority.  These new developments will bring in new clients and renters thanks to the money set aside to update the land and property.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has voted to approve two projects that will bring new residences and retail or office space to the Lawrenceville and Sheraden neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, including apartments in Doughboy Square and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in Sheraden.

The Doughboy Apartments, located in the 3400 block of Butler Street, is a mixed-used development in Lawrenceville that will include 39 residential units and approximately 17,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space. 

The infill project will be located amongst a mix of old and new structures, like The Clemente Museum’s historic Engine House 25, and newly constructed townhomes on Butler Street.

“Right now, most of this property is vacant land, so it'll provide an attractive building to anchor a pretty strategic location in the corridor,” says Tom Cummings of the URA.  “It will bring additional residents to the community that will help to bolster the main street shopping district.”

The URA approved a $1.4 million Pittsburgh Development Fund loan, and a $100,000 Urban Development Fund loan for the project, as well as a request for multifamily financing bonds up to $10 million from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. The total development cost of the project is $13 million.

Developer Ralph A. Falbo, Inc. is partnering with architect Chris Desmone, whose architecture firm is headquartered in the historic Pennsylvania National Bank building in the center of the Doughboy Square.

The apartments will be one- and- two-bedroom units, with basement-level parking.  A majority of the apartments will be market rate, while 20 percent will be offered as affordable housing.  Cummings says neighborhood organizations are very supportive of the housing mix panned for the project.

And in Sheraden, seven abandoned homes will be acquired, rehabilitated, and sold to owner-occupants through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). 

In January the URA received a $333,400 NSP III grant from the federal program, and PNC Bank has stepped forward to provide $500,000 in acquisition construction financing.

Three of the seven homes, located on Bergman Street, have been acquired, with construction to begin within the next month.




For more information on the developments click on PopCity.

Pittsburgh Eligible in Innovative City Contest

Mayor Bloomberg of New York is hosting a contest in which cities can come up with ideas that will improve city life by addressing a problem or situation the area is facing.  The winning city will receive 5 million dollars to pursue the idea and make it a reality.  Pittsburgh is eligible to win that prize.


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's charity will give $5 million to one city that comes up with a groundbreaking idea for change.

Pittsburgh is among the 1,300 U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more eligible for the prize, or one of four $1 million awards.

Other eligible cities include Penn Hills, Bethel Park and Mt. Lebanon.

To win, cities must submit an innovative idea that would "improve city life by addressing a major social or economic issue, improving the customer service experience for citizens or businesses, increasing government efficiency and/or enhancing accountability, transparency and public engagement," according to a statement from Bloomberg Philanthropies this morning.
Pittsburgh officials said they were excited to participate in the challenge.

"Pittsburgh is a city of innovation," said Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. "We're thrilled to have been picked for this competition, and we thank Mayor Bloomberg for thinking of Pittsburgh."

Doven speculated that Pittsburgh would create a private-public partnership that includes residents to come up with ideas.

Bloomberg has donated more than $2.4 billion to causes aimed at impacting communities through programs centered on health, sustainability, literacy, social welfare and the arts, according to his website. Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $330 million worldwide last year.

City Councilman Bill Peduto said he hopes the city will look to residents and businesses, rather than government officials, to devise a plan for the competition.

"City government doesn't need to create it. We just need to enable it," he said.

For more information check out The Pittsburgh Tribune.

PNC to acquire, restore historic Lord and Taylor building Downtown

PNC plans to purchase the historic Lord and Taylor building downtown and convert it into offices for their Pittsburgh banks.   PNC plans to return the building to it's classic style with granite exterior, and return it to it's original function as a bank. 

The former Lord and Taylor building, a key historic structure in Downtown’s Fifth-Forbes corridor, will soon be active again as PNC Financial Services Group has reached a deal to purchase that landmark.  The bank plans to relocate 800 employees there, returning the granite, Classical-styled building to its original use as a bank.


Fred Solomon, of PNC, says this building presented the best opportunity for consolidating the bank’s real estate portfolio in that neighborhood.  Solomon adds that PNC employees enjoy working downtown, citing restaurant and shopping options, and access to public transportation.

The building has been vacant since November 2004, when the department store closed its doors citing declining sales.  Its most recent owners, J.J. Gumberg Co., had purchased the building in 2005 for $2.5 million.

Built in 1924, the six-story building served as a Mellon Bank branch for seven decades before its conversion to a retail use.  Solomon says PNC believes it can easily convert the space to office uses, and will utilize the building’s new escalators and elevators.

Solomon says PNC plans to restore the building’s exterior, which was designated a city historic structure in 1999.

“We have no intention of changing anything on the building's exterior,” he says.  “We plan to honor its heritage.”

PNC plans to close on the building by the end of this month.  Remodeling will start soon after, with a completion date around the end of 2013.

Solomon says PNC has been a longtime supporter of Downtown, and cites its other developments in that area.

“The company's been on the same corner at fifth and Wood for approximately 160 years,” he says.  “We expect to be at the same intersection for much longer with the construction of the Tower at PNC Plaza, which will be our new headquarters building in Pittsburgh.”

For more details on the project check out Popcity.