That’s a number that’s hard to even comprehend, most hotels have ~200-300 rooms, so they sold out pretty much every hotel downtown from what I can gather. Pittsburgh in general has a shortage of hotels, both in type and in number, hopefully this can be used as an example for justifying more to be built.

I’m not sure what you’re on about, this is written like an AI language model would write something after being asked to integrate a new term it isn’t really familiar with— in this case “yield.”

The yield is assessed versus the entire construction cost of the project— why I mentioned that in the first place— which is why these sums do not really matter. It’s equivalent in cost to something like four days of a tower crane rental, and does not have a substantive impact on developable yield. Period.

And these developers— Millcraft, Walnut Capital, etc— are not building elsewhere. Development is a field highly dependent on local knowledge, and these firms exist with portfolios exclusively in this area for this reason. The city-especially areas like Oakland— remain extremely compelling for development by anyone, but are particularly important to these local development firms because they have a strategy and portfolio hinging on almost exclusive development here. It would be far more costly and risky for them to go elsewhere. They are not.

Increasing interest rates and inflation matter, but are happening regardless of this policy. These are much larger costs, and the real thing holding development right now. Developers could still build in areas like Oakland in this climate, but are waiting on doing so because they foresee lowering interest rates in the future which will reduce ultimate project cost.

I’m not sure what you’re saying about the “little guys,” but the percentages outlined here should be the same or lower for them— before it was a flat rate of $15,000, now it is variable on project cost.

And I agree the zoning needs to be improved, I am arguing it will improve as a result of better staffing from better funding. I do not know anyone at DCP that is happy with the way things are going, but they are currently underwater and are struggling to keep things moving. This should help, not harm, zoning efforts.

1. The primary factor here is the yield projects command, which influences the financing a project can gather and the rates with which that financing matures. These fees have no impact on a project moving forward, period. There is still considerable demand that allows for prime yields (10%+), even with an increase in this fee.

2)These new fees are not fixed, they are variable based upon project costs, which means they will not have an outsized impact on smaller developers.

I do not need to be condescended to on this issue. I am telling you the reality of the situation. There are plenty of things that are insanely expensive and non-refundable in this process, this is a drop in the bucket. It’s only a concern for developers because it will help the city adequately staff DCP and hold proposed designs more accountable than we are today— which is ultimately a good thing.

These projects are, in all cases, more than $100 million, if not $200 million in cost. This has no impact whatsoever on any project moving forward.

DCP has been chronically understaffed and has been in the red for a long time in this city. I believe this has had a concretely negative impact on city master plans (like the Oakland Plan), as well as on review for major projects. It has been a triage situation for too long. These projects being discussed are more than $100 million in total cost. The fact that review by the city was ever as low as ~$15,000 for something of this magnitude is ridiculous. The developers can and should pay, they just do not want to because they benefit from the DCP process being as bare-bones as possible.

That cost increase is actually pretty standard for any buildings planned prepandemic to now— new construction is running around 30% more expensive for any big projects. Agree it shouldn’t be spent on this either way, though.

Kaya

It’s shocking to me how common this question is on this subreddit, I have never really considered it before it was mentioned here… anyways, the Fairmont is probably your best bet.

It isn’t eminent domain, but they are not able to take the home without purchasing it from the current owner following the conservatorship process. And it isn’t a land grab because they are still ultimately paying for the property at market value. It is more complicated than either of us are giving it credit, but it isn’t a big bad developer stealing people’s homes or a rosey utopia in the making. It’s just a messy process of neighborhood redevelopment, which is forced into this position in part because of the laws which limit development/allow for development to be stalled by a vocal minority.

They aren’t “taking” homes— people are compensated at fair market value for the land and structure. Developers aren’t building empty buildings, how is it fair for one person to hog a plot of land in a blighted structure that potentially hundreds of people could live on? It’s driving up housing costs for everyone, stifling growth, and hurting the recovery of the city as a whole. Tearing down homes to put up a parking lot or highway is bad, but tearing down homes to build even more homes (often times with a larger affordable unit stock than before) is not. And if one person is refusing to sell at a reasonable price, laws like these are critical to ensure the future development of a neighborhood isn’t stifled by one disgruntled individual.

Nice to have a separation of place between work and home

For my 1,100 sqft:

-No Gas

-Electric: $121.43

—Water: $51.10

I have a heat pump HVAC, electric water heating, and live in new construction. Not sure if they have an impact, but I also have an espresso machine (which does draw somewhat significant power) and full LED lighting.

Yes, even on cloudy days, but I also use retinol so I kind of have to. Unseen sunscreen is really great, doesn’t feel like sunscreen, and in addition to helping with UV, it helps keep my face from drying out in the winter.

Yeah, it is confusing with Scabby serving the role of being the evil corporation as well as being a character of the union, they definitely should create a new character, perhaps a sentient newspaper (think Clippy) haha

Scabby is supposed to be put up in front of the businesses/headquarters of places under a strike as a symbol of the company being anti-union, but Scabby is here, in front of City Hall— not the PG— just as a symbol of the union, so they added the “not,” because Scabby isn’t striking against the City, or at least that’s my read of the situation.

We are surrounded by mountains which compress atmospheric moisture, causing the moisture to exit the atmosphere, when it decompresses as it crests the peak of the mountains, there’s less pressure for moisture to exit the atmosphere, reducing precipitation.

This is mostly a positive, and means we tend not to get severe weather systems, and is part of the reason, in combination with our abundant waterways, why this area has built up and been settled over time.

The numbers vary a lot on census trends/weight of the region— even though I believe a lot in Pittsburgh, we have had a long period of stasis in our population, and likely will not see huge changes (barring anything huge) for a while, and therefore thresholds that are looked at are a bit different. San Diego is a growing region and has different outlooks than Pittsburgh, which play a role in all of this. They also have different state funding structures, as well as many other contributing rail projects in the state of California that may have played a role in project approval.

I just hope for better county executive leadership in the coming years that prioritizes transit investment (among other things) more so than the “leadership” we have today.

^Rich ^Fitzgerald ^is ^a ^republican.

Yes, but I don’t know if they could do them regularly/ if they could reasonably achieve those speeds for a long period of time on any realistic track configuration. I think 45 is a more realistic top speed that we would see, especially considering the grade that they would need to cover on such a segment, but I could be misguided here

Yes, but the issue is ridership that would unlock federal funding for the project. There is no hard and fast rule, but to be eligible for federal funds, there would need to be an absolute minimum of ~30-40,000 daily riders for a light rail expansion of this length to even be considered (and really a ridership of 50-75,000 to be seriously considered) against other projects.

The parkway currently sees a daily vehicle count of ~100,000 at the Fort Pitt Tunnel. Given the configuration of these communities (sparse suburbs), it would be nearly impossible to capture more than around ~10% of this traffic (because people cannot walk to stations and there are only so many parking spaces that can be made per station and when you are relying on people to already drive to a station it is a hard sell for them to then wait for a train when they could just drive at that point). This would equate to around 10-15,000 daily riders (at the high end), which is well short from the 30-40,000 that is for the most part needed to be considered for funding.

The only hope for this project ever getting off the ground would be if the Airport Authority were convinced it could substantially impact their operations (which might be likely given staffing concerns) and is necessary. The Authority has generated huge amounts of funds through its fracking agreements in the past decade (what is paying for the upcoming ~$1.5 billion renovation of the airport), and it could potentially have the funding needed to majorly fund a line like this in the future regardless of estimated ridership figures. This is a bit of a long shot but would be the only real way it could happen any time soon, and would likely be dependent on County Executive leadership in the future making it a priority.

There’s two different thoughts as to how it could work:

1. It could stay on the North Shore side of the Ohio and cross near Sewickley to service the high population centers on that side of the river, as well as RMU and Moon Township. This would be slower for travelers to the airport from downtown, likely around an hour to an hour and a half all told. It would be more for the connections to the communities than for connections to the airport from the city.

2. It could cross the Ohio near McKee’s Rocks, follow the NS right of way, travel along Stubenville Pike near Thornburg, and connect with the 376 ROW near Robinson. This would be faster for Downtown-Airport commuters (~30-45 min), but would service fewer population centers/have lower ridership/community building potential.

As for the most critical T expansion, it is obviously between Downtown and Oakland that is needed the most. There’s overcrowding on current bus lines, which means a higher density mode of transit is necessary. Buses cannot meet the demand, and the only solution with buses on these lines is to run more buses more frequently, which pulls an already exacerbated workforce of drivers away from less busy (but still critical) routes throughout the rest of the county. The T could just add more cars to better meet demand, which would better serve this corridor, and would free labor to better serve all the other corridors in the area.

This isn’t really the problem, there is space, it’s just that it would be expensive, and the T isn’t all that fast (45mph on the high end), so covering the ~15 miles would take longer than a bus. If we ever invested in a heavy rail system (which I think we should, particularly for between Downtown, Oakland, and East Liberty), with much higher top speeds (~80-90 mph), it might make a bit more sense given transit times.

There’s also the question of ridership potential, I think physical transit to the airport is important for a variety of reasons, but there really isn’t super high density anywhere along the corridor and there aren’t that many people going to and from the airport (particularly on transit) each day on average, so it would be a challenge in getting the numbers to really pencil out.

The bar at the Fairmont is a nice chill vibe and never super crowded

It’s a very unique city with great bones— very walkable, fairly dense, and pretty culturally diverse for its size. Very significant architecture, a rich history, and a bright future. No real severe weather or natural disasters. Relatively affordable. Overall a great place to live.

The Children’s bus is a great option that shuttles between the two— this option is free. It is designed to shuttle between Children’s and Presby. The 93 bus is another good option, operates long hours and shuttles between Oakland and Lawrenceville.

There is no free or cheap parking.