FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 24, 2011

 Six Pittsburgh Projects Receive Commonwealth Awards for Sustainable Development 

Contact: Jack Machek, jmachek@10000friends.org, 717-234-6070 

Pittsburgh – Six development projects that are revitalizing Pittsburgh communities, spurring economic development, catalyzing private investment, and serving as models of sustainable development received Commonwealth Awards at 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania’s recent annual awards event. 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, the state’s leading Smart Growth advocacy organization, honored these six projects in the region, as well as 16 others from across the state, with it prestigious annual awards this year.

The Commonwealth Awards is a juried statewide program honoring Smart Growth projects from across theCommonwealthofPennsylvania. 10,000 Friends invited submissions from companies and organizations that produced a wide range of project types—urban infill, historic preservation and rehabilitation, adaptive reuse, Brownfield redevelopment, traditional neighborhood development, farmland preservation, and revitalization plans.

Smart Growth strategies build suburban, urban, and rural communities that have more transportation options; have more housing and recreational choices; are closer to job opportunities, shops, and schools; support the local economy; are more energy efficient and independent; and help protect green space, clean air, and clean water

“The Commonwealth Awards honor outstanding examples of smart growth projects here inPennsylvania,” said Jack Machek, President and CEO of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania.  “We received a record number of submissions this year, and it’s very encouraging to see so many smart growth projects succeeding as many sectors of the construction industry are struggling to rebound. 10,000 Friends is proud to showcase the companies and organizations working to build stronger towns and communities across the state.”

The awardees include:

Bakery Square received a Gold Award — best of class in its category — in the Mixed Use Development (large projects) category. This building, formerly a Nabisco Bakery plant, has been an icon in the dense urban Larimer neighborhood since the early 1900s. But when Nabisco abandoned the property in the 1990s, the property sat vacant for years. Now this mixed use development is home to offices of Google, Inc. and theUniversity ofPittsburgh, among others, and houses 185,000 square feet of retail.

“This project saved the 400,000 square foot bakery building, at a total project cost of $125 million, a huge and critically important historical building,” the jury said. “If this project had not been executed, the historic old Nabisco building would have been torn down or would have sat dilapidated and vacant for many more years.”

The Eastside Project, Phase V, received a Gold Award in the Commercial Projects category.  The project transformed a patchwork of 14.3 acres of distressed land, including the transit hub, according to a coordinated strategy to fuel the redevelopment of a formerly core commercial center that has been experiencing a decline for 40 year. Phase V of the project is an anchor Target store on 5 acres previously occupied by a distressed high rise apartment building and a parole office.

“The site plan, building footprint, and building design of this project is innovative and fits with the urban character of the community — compact site reuse with the store on the 2^nd floor,” the jury said. “It’s a unique design in Target’s system, and unique in contrast to the other big box retailer (Home Depot) in area which has a more traditional suburban footprint.”

Market Square Place received a Gold Award in the Mixed Use Development (large projects) category. The historic renovation of the GC Murphy Building, located in the Central Business District (CBD) ofPittsburghPa., marked the completion of a project that had languished for 15 years, until Millcraft Industries took over the project. It’s now a mixed use development consisting of 46 loft apartments, a 44,000 square foot YMCA, and 27,000 square feet of storefront retail.

“This project successfully shows that the housing market demand in downtownPittsburghis high, with loft apartments and retail space 100% leased,” the jury said. “It generates 24/7 street activity to energize a key location downtown, further synergizing withMarket Squarerenovation.”

The Reconstruction of Market Square project received a Gold Award in the Public Infrastructure Projects category. Market Square has been the traditional retail and civic center ofPittsburgh since the 1700s, but had been in a slow cycle of decay for the last 50 years. It’s a 1.1 acre public open space and designated free speech zone that’s surrounded by retail and sidewalk cafes. The renovation included removing bus traffic from the square, limiting vehicular traffic by removing the central street and keeping cars on the perimeter road. And the project has been a huge economic catalyst. Within a two-block radius of the square there is over $1 billion of investment committed to various projects, and usage counts of people using the square have doubled.

“This is a public square renovation in the heart of downtownPittsburghthat has spurred greater use and more flexible use of the space,” the jury said. “The square was made more pedestrian friendly, and in addition to use by individuals, the renovation has catalyzed new restaurants to open facing the square.”

The Beneficial Building received a Commonwealth Award in the Mixed Use Development (small projects) category. Over the years, neglect and inappropriate renovation decisions destroyed or impaired many historic and architectural details. The 2^nd story of the building sat vacant for years at a time. But in 2004, South Side Local Development Company secured an option to purchase the building for $500,000. After TREK Development Group was selected to partner on the project, and a joint public/private partnership was established. Restoration began in 2005 and occupancy of the retail, residential and office components began in 2008. Final occupancy of the last tenant space occurred in 2010.

“This is a true mixed use building—renovated to create lab space, two retail storefronts (restaurants), office space, and 6 affordable apartments leased to City Theatre for performing artists,” the jury said. “The project has helped catalyze additional private investment in the area and adjacent projects have now been completed without subordinate financing or a public subsidy.”

Columbus Square received a “Building aMorePerfectCommonwealth” Award – for projects that are still under construction.Columbus Square is a traditional neighborhood development located on a Brownfield site formerly referred to as the American Electric Facility. It consists of 4 acres of land remediated to theCommonwealth ofPennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection Act 2 Standards. The full development will include 31 market rate homes.Columbus Square reflects the density of adjacent properties in the neighborhood. The homes’ architectural vocabulary is consistent withManchester’s historic theme and will include sustainable construction methodologies.

“Among the noteworthy features of the project is the approximately $1.3 million dollars that were assembled and spent by the development team to construct project-related new public infrastructure and renovate substandard existing infrastructure,” the jury said. “This new infrastructure work included new utility services, sidewalk construction, completion of a city street connecting the local street grid, and creation of park spaces for residents of the whole neighborhood.”

A pigeon flying over Market Square might not recognize its old roost.

Once a seedy urban acre of litter, vagrants and bus fumes, a piece of Pittsburgh’s past has regained its historic luster, thanks to its most recent $5 million renovation.

At a grand reopening in October, city officials unveiled a tranquil cobblestone piazza where shoppers and office workers can relax in the shade of elm and honey locust trees. Laptops and lattes have supplanted the panhandlers and pigeons. Restaurants offer Paris-style dining at sidewalk tables.

With the Three Rivers Arts Festival set to open Friday in nearby Point State Park, planners are hoping that more visitors to Downtown will discover the new Market Square.

Hollie Geitner, spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership — a business association that partnered with the city on the renovation — is confident this urban redevelopment will stick.

“There’s videos being shot there,” she says. “There’s been everything from a wedding to the Day of Prayer.”

But the new Market Square is more than a glorified food court. Geof Comings, business development manager for the partnership, points out that it’s a legitimate neighborhood, thanks to the permanent residents in new developments such as Market Square Place, which includes the new YMCA.

“I remember going down there when it had the bars and Walt Harper’s Attic,” says Michael Kratsas, director of real estate and development for Primanti Bros, who are headquartered in the Square. “It was a destination point. It kind of got sterilized over the years. It dropped off and became a nuisance.”

Now, a blend of trendy bistros, historic businesses and coffee and sandwich shops dot the grid, along with upscale retailers such as Heinz Healey’s clothiers and the Nettleton Shop, which which sells men’s shoes and leather goods. New restaurants include NOLA on the Square, which features nouvelle creole cuisine, and Bella Sera Urban Trattoria.

Chris and Misty Marot of Florida recently toured Market Square while they were in Pittsburgh for a wedding. The couple, in their mid-30s, bypassed Starbucks to buy java at the historic Nicholas Coffee Co., which was founded in 1919.

“It was really cool. It was old, it was unique, it was real nice on the inside,” Chris Marot says,

“I think if you’re from out of town you prefer to go to a place that’s unique to Pittsburgh,” Misty Marot says.

Nick Nicholas, the third generation to run the Nicholas Coffee Co., has seen a number of changes to Market Square over the years.

“This is the third renovation since I moved back here from college,” he says. “I think they finally got it right this time. They closed the traffic to the buses. It’s more people-friendly now, having one big plaza instead of four quadrants.”

The next goal is to make Market Square a nightlife hub, which Nicholas says requires the perfect “critical mass” of restaurants. Nicholas says businesses in the Square may offer centralized valet parking. In late July, he and partner Jim Patrinos, owner of Primanti Bros., will open the Diamond Market Bar & Grill in the former Jenny Lee Bakery.

Market Square had its beginning in 1784, built on land that was given to the city by two grandsons of William Penn.

It was known as the Diamond, which is an archaic Scotch-Irish term for town square. In the late 1790s, the first Allegheny County Courthouse was built here. It included a tower whose bell tolled when George Washington died in 1799.

The square has hosted Steelers pep rallies, political protests and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, not to mention flash mobs and an annual gathering of zombies.

But it was also a haunt for drifters and drug users.

“We’ve seen it all here, the good, the bad and the ugly,” says Rick Faust, manager of the 141-year-old Original Oyster House, Pittsburgh’s oldest bar. “A little over five to seven years ago, the drugs were terrible.”

That began to change in 2006, when then-mayor Bob O’Connor initiated a crackdown on illegal activity. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala closed two nuisance bars and a barbershop he said was a front for drug dealing.

The renovation, by Dina Klavon Design Associates of the South Side, removed large planters that often concealed drug buys or served as beds. Curbs were eliminated, sidewalks widened and vehicular traffic rerouted to the perimeter of the square.

“It’s more wide open,” Faust says. “You can’t get away with that now.”

For all its charm and historical significance, Saxonburg’s Main Street is showing its age — and not in a way history aficionados prefer.

Some of the paved sidewalks are lifting; some street curbs are crumbling; and the green strip fronting the string of shops that comprise the bustling business district is looking a little ragged in spots

It’s all about to be turned around, though.

Raymond Rush, the Main Street program manager, is using a recently awarded state grant of $373,027 from the Department of Community and Economic Development to design a renovation of the four-block Main Street. And he’s expecting the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to follow with a $2.4 million grant for the work.

The grants are the culmination of a partnership between the borough and the John Roebling’s Historic Saxonburg Society, a nonprofit group that sponsors the Main Street program and has deemed as its mission “the historic restoration and economic development of Saxonburg.”

The society is named for the town’s founder, who left his mark on the world with his innovations in wire cable and bridge design. The organization began as the “main street committee” of a citizens group that worked on the borough’s comprehensive plan. Members began meeting around 2000, with Mr. Rush joining about 2002. The group incorporated as an official nonprofit in 2004. Mr. Rush is an artist and historian who lives on a 100-acre farm in Clinton and who founded the annual Penn’s Colony celebration 26 years ago.

Both he and his group have been busy working on a plan to bring a spark to the heart of Saxonburg.

Before the state grant was awarded in May, the society won a $50,000 matching grant for facades in 2006 that’s been used to leverage about $750,000 in private investment, Mr. Rush estimated. The program awarded $5,000 grants to local business owners to improve building facades, and the money had to be matched. Saxonburg also received an $85,000 infusion of money over the past two years from the state Community Development Block Grant program for storm water management.

“It’s been a very vital program,” Mr. Rush said.

Saxonburg’s Main Street captured designations as a historic district on the national level in 2004 and on the state level in 2008. Some 52 historic structures are located on the four-block Main Street between Butler Street on the west end of town and Rebecca Street on the east end.

Among the historic structures is the home of Mr. Roebling, a German immigrant who founded Saxonburg in 1831. The house serves now as the offices for the Memorial Church. He innovated wire cable to take the place of hemp ropes that pulled barges for the Allegheny Canal near Johnstown, and he designed suspension bridges. He died from an injury sustained while working on the Brooklyn Bridge.

As envisioned by the society, the borough and the Main Street businesses, the best way to bring a spark to the district is to revitalize it at its core by replacing the curbs in the four-block area, renewing the planter strip beside the curb and constructing new sidewalks. The project would be topped off with installation of street lights that replicate the style of old German pedestrian lights.

“The idea is to keep with the historic elements of mid-19th Century,” Mr. Rush said.

The total project cost is estimated at $2.4 million, and it will be done in two phases, he said. He expects construction to begin in 2011 and be finished within two years. The primary firms involved are Klavon Design Associates, located in Pittsburgh’s cultural district, and GAI Engineering Consultants of Homestead.

Mr. Rush credits the borough, local businesses and the dozen or so members of the historical society for about six years of work in bringing Saxonburg to the brink of such a major revitalization.

“It’s been steady, hard work by everyone,” he said.

Linda Kovacik, borough secretary/treasurer, put it simply: “It’s just what we’ve been hoping for.”

Sure, another portion of being closed off, but still… Think progress. The road along the interior of the square between Moe’s Southwest Grill and GNC (in PPG Place) reopened; and the roadway between Market Square Place and Dunkin’ Donuts closed. Traffic patterns have been altered to accommodate the construction.

Pedestrians will continue to be able to access all businesses in the square, as they have since the construction project began in August 2009.

The public space makeover was spearheaded by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, and designed by South Side-based Klavon Design Associates, Inc. The square, which was last renovated in the 1980s, is being given a pedestrian-friendly, European piazza-like makeover, with traffic moved to the edges, and sidewalks widened to 21 feet to encourage outdoor dining. Construction is being done by A. Merante Contracting.

Construction, until recently, was been focused on less visible work, such as leveling the land and adding new water and electrical lines, says Patty Burk with Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. More recently, the crews began working on surface projects, such as sidewalks, roadways and tree plantings.

The interior of the square will open by June 1, and a soft opening — celebrating the first farmers market and concert of the season — is scheduled for June 3. The portion of the square still under construction at that time will reopen later in the summer.

“I want to thank the people of Pittsburgh for their patience with this strategic and significant renovation project,” said Mayor Ravenstahl in a prepared statement. “There is a lot of synergy happening in and around historic Market Square, and I’m confident that when we experience its grand reopening that we will attract even more residents, visitors and businesses to our Downtown.”

Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Patty Burk, VP of housing and economic development, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership

By now, Lou Grippo is all too familiar with construction around Market Square.

On his one side, the former G.C. Murphy store is in the midst of an overhaul. Behind him, the Buhl Building is undergoing a $3.3 million face-lift. A block away, three old buildings are getting a new lease on life.

If nothing else, the work should prepare Mr. Grippo and his restaurant, the Original Oyster House, for the main event — the reconstruction of Market Square itself.

That $5 million makeover is scheduled to begin Aug. 1, according to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. And as the construction gods would have it, it will start in front of the Oyster House.

The good news is that the work won’t block access to any of the Market Square businesses. People will be able to visit all stores and restaurants throughout the project, said Patty Burk, the partnership’s vice president of housing and economic development.

“People will still be able to get their Oyster House fish sandwich, their La Gondola pizza slice or their Primanti’s sandwich,” she said.

Work will start in the quadrant closest to the Oyster House and move in a counterclockwise direction around the square, ending in the section closest to Starbucks Coffee in May.

Bids will go out this month, and a contract is expected to be awarded in July.

The project is designed to transform the city’s oldest public square into one “worthy of new Pittsburgh,” said Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

“This is all part of the third renaissance. Market Square is integral in ensuring we will move forward in that third renaissance,” she said.

As part of the work, Market Square will be leveled to give it the feel of a European piazza and to make it more pedestrian friendly. All buses will be removed, and cars will be redirected from Forbes Avenue around the square.

There will be outdoor seating throughout the square. Sidewalks will be extended to 21 feet. Trees, tables and decorative stone surfaces will be added.

“It’s going to be this beautiful urban oasis with great small events,” Ms. Burk said. “It will be just a pleasure to be in.”

Still, Mr. Grippo and other merchants are greeting the project with a mixture of hope and trepidation. While they support the overall transformation, they fear the work could drive some customers away in the short term even though they still will have access to restaurants and other businesses.

“Nobody likes construction and we’re all holding our breath about what it will do to our businesses in the short run. Obviously we all want the new square,” said Nick Nicholas, owner of Nicholas Coffee.

“As long as they maintain access and do [the work] quadrant by quadrant, that seems to be the least disruptive way to do it.”

For Mr. Grippo and Sergio Muto, owner of La Gondola Pizzeria and Restaurant, their biggest concern is that half of about 36 parking spaces in the square will be eliminated in the transformation. Both said parking is an important part of their takeout business, and that the reduction in spaces could hurt that.

“That’s the only thing that worries me,” Mr. Muto said.

Mr. Grippo said he was hoping to work something out to allow takeout customers to park temporarily on McMasters Way, an alley next to the Oyster House.

Ms. Burk said the partnership believed that the number of spaces that will be left will be adequate, although she added it could require some reflection and adjustment by Market Square merchants. Their employees, for example, may have to find places to park other than in the square itself.

“The changes require some thought. This is a very tight urban environment. It’s not a suburban location where there are 10 parking spaces per user,” she said.

Mr. Nicholas said he also was concerned that three streets leading into the square — McMasters, Graeme and Market — won’t be upgraded as part of the project. Ms. Burk said the city didn’t have the money to do the work at this time, but hopes to raise the funding in the future.

Overall, despite the various concerns, merchants appear to be enthusiastic about the changes.

“I’ve been here 30 years. I think this is one of the best ideas they’ve come up with,” Mr. Muto said. “I think it’s going to be pretty good. We’ll see.”

Point Park University’s $244 million academic village project has the potential to do far more than just beautify Downtown. It could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy as well.

At least that’s the conclusion of the Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania, which estimated the series of initiatives — including the move of the Pittsburgh Playhouse from Oakland to Downtown — could result in $281 million in direct economic impact and create 3,724 jobs.

That’s on top of the $244 million the school intends to spend on such projects as the playhouse relocation, the conversion of the current Downtown YMCA building into a student union, street improvements and construction of a park at the corner of the Boulevard of the Allies and Wood Street over the next seven years.

“This is a significant series of projects. It will have a significant impact in terms of job creation and spending in the region, and it will help create a vitality in this part of the city that is very much needed,” Dennis Yablonsky, chief executive officer of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, said at a briefing yesterday. The Economy League is a conference affiliate.

Of the projected $281 million in economic impact, more than $215 million will be in the form of wages; more than $50 million in rents, lease payments and other investor and property owner income; and $13 million in sales, property and other indirect business taxes.

The academic village project is expected to be completed in phases through 2015.

Aided by a $1.5 million anonymous donation, Point Park hopes to start work this fall on a park at Wood and Boulevard of the Allies. It’s expected to include a water feature, seating, space for smaller outdoor concerts and perhaps food vendors.

Point Park President Paul Hennigan said the university also planned to consolidate its business school, now located in three places, into the West Penn Building on Wood this summer. It already has converted three floors of the structure purchased two years ago into classrooms.

In the fall, it expects to house another 80 students in one of the two buildings it bought on the boulevard and converted into apartments. In all, Point Park now has six residence halls housing about 1,000 students Downtown, Mr. Hennigan said.

The YMCA conversion, which is expected to include construction of an adjacent field house, and the playhouse relocation will take place in later phases.

The playhouse, to be built on Point Park-owned property on Forbes and Fourth avenues, will be the last piece completed. According to the Economy League, it also will have the biggest economic impact — $200 million and 2,600 jobs.

Point Park has invested more than $30 million in the academic village corridor in the last year and a half, and more than $70 million over the past decade, Mr. Hennigan said.

“Our vision is to become one of the most dynamic private universities in America,” he said.

The school now pays $360,000 a year in real estate taxes but that “may decrease” as the academic village takes shape depending on space use, spokeswoman Mary Ellen Solomon said. She added the project is in “too preliminary” of a stage to estimate future tax obligations.

The university is now in the silent phase of fundraising. It plans to wait until the economy improves to launch a public campaign, which could include the sale of naming rights to some buildings.

At the briefing, Point Park also announced that it had hired TKA Associates and Klavon Design to produce designs for the park, GAI Consultants to do designs for street improvements on Wood Street and Elmer Burger to serve as campus architect and planner.

All around Market Square, the face of Downtown Pittsburgh is changing: Dunkin’ Donuts opened on one corner, Buon Giorno added a balcony to its restaurant on another, Market Square Place is converting the former G.C. Murphy store into a new YMCA and condominiums. Half a block away, construction is finishing on Three PNC Plaza, which will feature offices, a luxury hotel and more condos overlooking what once was the hub of Downtown activity.

Now, it’s the historic square’s turn for a makeover.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership yesterday unveiled a $5 million plan to make Market Square a more pedestrian-friendly area with less traffic and wider sidewalks to encourage more street dining.

The design, which was unveiled at the partnership’s annual meeting, will stop all through traffic on Forbes Avenue, eliminate all bus traffic and send cars around the perimeter of the square. Instead of raised planters that are the centerpieces of the four quadrants of the square, the site will become a level area with trees, tables and a decorative stone surface.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for Market Square to be paid more attention to,” said Corey Nicholas, whose family owns Nicholas Coffee and is remodeling the Buhl Building just off the square. “We just have to put up with the disruption and wait for the work to be done. It will be good for the area, sure.”

The project, which is scheduled to begin construction in August and be completed by May 2010, will include doubling the width of sidewalks around the square.

The design allows the square to be used as four distinct areas or one larger area, depending on activity on a given day. A stage will remain part of the area, but it hasn’t been decided whether it will be a permanent or portable structure. Small speakers will be scattered through the square to carry music when there aren’t live performances.

Decorative lighting will be installed to highlight the upper facades of buildings, and 27 parking spaces will be available along the perimeter adjacent to the sidewalks.

Mr. Ravenstahl and Michael Edwards, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown partnership, stressed the goal is to make the square more friendly to pedestrians.

“The idea is that traffic will be slower and there will be one large piazza, like you might find in Europe,” said designer Dina Cole Klavon of Klavon Design Associates of South Side. “It will be a different feeling. The pedestrian will rule.”

Mr. Edwards said the timing is right to upgrade the square in light of other improvements in the area.

“In some ways, we’re catching up to the development around the square,” Mr. Edwards said. “The private stuff is there already and now we’re following through with the public part.”

The improvements can’t come soon enough for Irene Gargani of Buon Giorno.

“We’re excited for it,” she said. “The ideas are good. If you can take away the traffic and make it easier for people to get around, we’ll go for that.”

The final design comes after 18 months of public discussion. It is a combination of three possible designs outlined at public meetings last spring.

Mr. Ravenstahl said the city has raised $4.5 million of the money for the project and expects to seek bids in May, begin construction by August and finish work in May 2010. Funding includes $2 million from the state, $1 million each from the Richard K. Mellon Foundation and Heinz Endowments and $500,000 from Colcom Foundation.

The mayor said he expects the remaining $500,000 will be easy to raise once people see the plans.

The physical changes also follow an increased police presence in the square that Mr. Nicholas said has made “a drastic improvement” in the atmosphere there in the past year.

“We’re very excited about this project,” Mr. Nicholas said. “I just can’t imagine how anyone could be against it.”

Market Square has been Downtown Pittsburgh’s crossroads for generations. Whether once a regular shopper at G.C. Murphy’s five-and-dime store, a businessman who takes lunch at the Oyster House, a college student who studies outdoors using free Wi-Fi or a child who waits for the arrival of Santa on Light Up Night, almost everyone has passed through its four corners.

As with any public space, especially one so rich with history, there is no shortage of opinions surrounding what Market Square is and what it should be. For several years it became more known for objectionable activity than for its unique charm.

And now, with revitalization of the square in full swing and more people taking an interest in it than ever before, the city is asking for your input on design concepts to transform and update Market Square.

In 2006, the city of Pittsburgh, in cooperation with the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, implemented a comprehensive planning process to determine the best approach to reactivating Market Square.

The Allegheny County district attorney and the Pittsburgh police chief provided increased security attention to the square in 2007. This focus resulted in 120 arrests, the closing of three nuisance establishments and more police presence. The PDP followed up with an adjusted deployment schedule for its Safety Ambassadors and Clean Team members. Just recently, city leaders and the Port Authority announced that buses will permanently be rerouted away from Market Square effective May 15.

Last fall, the city Planning Department hired Dina Cole Klavon of Klavon Design Associates, a local landscape architecture firm, to complete a series of design concepts for Market Square. The firm’s plans incorporated Project for Public Spaces recommendations, initial public input, conclusions from the PDP’s program and design experiments and feedback from the Market Square leadership group, technical group and key community leaders.

The result is three final design concepts. Their estimated costs range up to $5 million.

The next step is vital: The public must weigh in. Tell us what you think of these three visions. This very public space needs to be shaped by the public.

The final steps are to secure the appropriate funding and move toward reconstruction this fall or early next year.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08111/874702-109.stm#ixzz1NxYd14Hx ]]> http://www.klavondesign.com/2008/04/the-next-page-market-square-three-visions-for-downtowns-heart/feed/ 0