FEATURE ARTICLE, MAY 2006

URBAN DEVELOPMENTS RISE IN THE NORTHEAST
Dan Marcec

PIATT PLACE — PITTSBURGH

Millcraft Industries is developing Piatt Place, a mixed-use project featuring office, retail and residential space located in downtown Pittsburgh.

On Fifth Avenue in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, Millcraft Industries is developing a unique mixed-use project called Piatt Place. The building is a redevelopment of the former Lazarus department store, and upon its completion in mid-2007, Piatt Place will feature 180,000 square feet of Class A office space, 25 condominiums, 22 rooftop townhomes and 50,000 square feet of retail space. The cost of the project is approximately $45 million.

“This project is really the first to come to fruition as part of a new renaissance in downtown Pittsburgh,” says Lucas Piatt, vice president of real estate for Millcraft Industries. “Only 10,000 people live downtown now while 170,000 people are working in this area during the day; we want to augment this discrepancy and turn around the residential and retail here.”

The design of Piatt Place, while having traditionally standard components of a mixed-use project, breaks down in quite a unique manner. The old Lazarus store stood four stories, and in order to complete the vision for the redevelopment, three additional stories had to be added. This in itself was a challenge because the development team had to perform various tests on the building to ensure that it would hold the additional floors. In the end, the original building includes retail on the ground floor and office space that spreads out into 62,000-square-foot floorplates on the other floors. The condos will be constructed directly on top of the original building, constituting the fifth floor, and then the two-story townhomes will be built on the roof of the project. The townhomes are designed in a suburban-type setting, with courtyards and green space, which provides a unique style of living for downtown residents.

“In terms of retailers, we want to bring in unique users that aren’t in every mall in the country, and we know a grocery store is necessary since there is not one in all of downtown Pittsburgh,” notes Piatt. “For the office space, we’re looking for users that will be able to use the large floorplates fully — they are possibly the largest floorplates in the city. With regard to the residential units, we are offering a style of living that does not exist in Pittsburgh, and we think that will draw people back to living downtown.”

Amenities within the project include parking spaces below the building, storage units, white glove concierge, valet, a fitness center, laundry delivery and pick-up, grocery delivery and a business center. The prices for the residences are $275 per square foot, with the units ranging from 1,000 square feet to 3,300 square feet.

“With the mixed-use feel of Piatt Place, we feel that it’s going to be the best attraction to bringing people downtown,” Piatt says. “It’s going to be something of a legacy in Pittsburgh, all the things going on down here right now, and this is just the beginning.”

THE AYER — PHILADELPHIA

On Washington Square in Philadelphia, The Goldenberg Group and Brown Hill Development are creating The Ayer, a 56-unit luxury condominium.

A joint venture between The Goldenberg Group and Brown Hill Development is underway with the development of The Ayer, a 56-unit luxury condominium building located at 210 West Washington Square in Philadelphia. The project is a $60 million conversion of an existing 13-story office building, and completion is scheduled for April 2007. The one-, two- and three-bedroom units range in price from $700,000 to $4.5 million. Wesley Wei and Polatnick Zacharjasz are teaming to design the project, and Jeffrey M. Brown & Associates is performing construction duties.

“We purposely sought Wesley Wei to bring in a modernist design for The Ayer,” says Greg Hill, partner at Brown Hill Development. “The building was constructed in 1929 with an art deco design, and we wanted to bring an aesthetic that would lend itself to keep with the original structure.”           

Amenities within the project include a full-time concierge, valet and a towncar, which is available to residents to take them wherever they would like to go within the city. In addition, through some planning and negotiation, the developers are able to provide one-for-one parking spaces to condominiums in an area of the city where parking really is a premium. Furthermore, views of the river, Washington Square and Center City Philadelphia are available from the residences, offering unique views from each floor. Within the individual units, the development team has employed bulthaup kitchen designs, and extensive lighting, bath and flooring materials of the highest quality finish. All of the amenities are pre-selected, so there are no official “upgrades” because what would be upgraded already is part of the package.

“The Ayer will be one of the most exclusive and luxurious condominiums in the city of Philadelphia,” says David Mercuris, vice president of development with The Goldenberg Group. “You have exquisite residences located on a remarkable location at Washington Square, which is a very sizable, well-maintained urban greenspace; though the project is in a quiet, private residential area, you’re still right in the middle of the action with great access to the old city, the galleries and Society Hill, among all the other attractive aspects of Philadelphia.”

Redeveloping a historic building within a historic district on a historic square, the development team — needless to say — encountered many challenges during the approval process. The national park service has jurisdiction over Washington Square, and in addition, Goldenberg and Brown Hill worked with several other community groups in order to plan any necessary preservation aspects.

“During pre-development, we wanted to let the community groups know that we’re here to work with them and not to come in and disrupt their lives and their organizations; on the contrary, we want to improve and add to the neighborhood,” says Mercuris.

Overall, the project provides a new look at condominium living in Philadelphia. While the addition of 56 units will not have much effect on the overall market, this project is raising the bar for quality of living in residential construction.

“Our project provides a unique example of taking a beautiful structure in a historic area of town and being able to preserve the existing setting while creating an extremely new and modern living environment,” notes Hill.

OLMSTED GREEN — BOSTON

A site plan for Olmsted Green, a mixed-use development located in the heart of Boston.

In the heart of downtown Boston, New Boston Fund and the Lena Park Community Development Corporation are creating Olmsted Green, a 42-acre, mixed-use development that will change the face of housing and the way of life in the Boston market. By providing 287 market-rate townhouses and condominiums — ranging from $250,000 to $450,000 while the median home price in Boston is $450,000 — as well as 153 affordable rental units and 83 affordable senior housing residences, Olmsted Green includes workforce housing for the city of Boston where it has been unavailable previously.

“We’ve been involved with public-private partnerships in the past that have worked really well, and because of our experience with community development corporations, we were selected to help achieve the vision of an urban mixed-use development that will rejuvenate this area,” says Jerry Rappaport Jr., president of New Boston Fund and chairman of Urban Strategy America. “For more than 25 years the commonwealth of Massachusetts has been trying to build a project that will bring more jobs to the neighborhood, and our Urban Strategy America (USA) Fund provides a great source of equity for the project.”

The USA Fund provides $200 million for economic development and profitable investment. The fund breaks down where 50 percent is targeted for development, 25 percent is for rehabilitation and redevelopment, and 25 percent is for acquisitions and re-lease. Essentially, the fund functions in partnership with other developers, and its first responsibility is to provide investors with a competitive rate of return, while committing to the economic development, job creation, and empowering and providing skills to small scale and minority developers and community development corporations.

The design of the project intertwines the natural setting with wetlands and forest areas as well as an old street that runs through the middle of the project. With the natural characteristics more or less set in stone, the goal was not just to build a suburban subdivision in the middle of the city, but rather to spread the units throughout the acreage so as to take advantage of everything the site has to offer.

“We brought in a consultant to figure the cost benefit analysis of creating an environmentally friendly project that is cost effective for owners to operate as well,” explains John Dragat, senior vice president of New Boston Fund. “It starts with things as simple as orienting the homes to make use of solar gains with the rising and setting of the sun, and we used proper installation techniques, energy-efficient appliances, and energy-efficient construction materials and design all the way through.”

In addition to the workforce housing, which is targeting the 30,000 employees in Boston’s medical district as well as police officers, firefighters and educators, Olmsted Green features a job training facility, a 123-bed skilled nursing facility, a health and fitness facility, an urban farm and an 11,000-square-foot building dedicated to the history of the site, where a hospital treating mental illness formerly stood.

“We’re surrounded by some of the strongest ethnic neighborhoods in Boston, and we wanted to provide a product that would be accessible and affordable to those who work in the city, but are getting priced out by the inner core neighborhoods,” says Rappaport. “This project is something that is going to have an impact over the next 20 years; it not only addresses the pressing issue of providing housing for our workforce, but it brings together a major downtown developer and a community development corporation together as equals. I think these aspects make Olmsted Green very unique and provide a model for developments to come.”

ATELIER — NEW YORK CITY

In the Hudson Yards District of Manhattan, New York City, The Moinian Group is developing a 46-story condominium tower called Atelier.

In Manhattan, New York City, developable land has all but disappeared, but in the Hudson Yards district on the west side of the island, The Moinian Group is developing Atelier, a 46-story, 478-unit condominium building located at 635 West 42nd Street. The $140 million project marks the springboard to 4 million square feet that Moinian is planning to develop in this section of town.

“With more infrastructure and transportation building out to the Hudson Yards area, which is underdeveloped still, we saw this project as a great opportunity to create something new and beautiful in New York City,” says Elad Dror, director of residential assets for The Moinian Group.

The building includes retail space, for which the developer is seeking a high-end, upscale restaurant; a lounge, roof deck and party room on the 47th floor; and on the third floor, another landscaped deck includes a bocce court, a full basketball and volleyball courts outdoors, and a children’s play area. Other amenities include a health club with swimming pool, a second area for children, and full concierge service. The studio, one- and two-bedroom condominiums range from $610,000 to $1.48 million and average approximately 1,200 square feet. MacFarlane Partners is the owner of the development, and Costas Kondylis & Partners is project architect, HRH Construction is building the structure, and The Marketing Directors is the sales agent.

“The design of the structure allows water views from every apartment no matter which side it faces, and the main focus is to take advantage of open space, light and views,” says Dror. “The amenities package also makes the project very unique, and situated on the bay of the Hudson River, the location is spectacular.”

The revitalization of the Hudson Yards district plays into the importance of this project. With the renovation of the Javits Convention Center, New York will become a more central convention destination, and with the new development planned surrounding Atelier, the building stands as the first piece of an elaborate puzzle.

“Atelier is the first sign of the things to come on this side of Manhattan,” Dror explains. “To begin with this extraordinary building as the benchmark for what lies ahead sets the standard for everything that follows, and the prospects for the future of this district are very exciting.”



©2006 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.




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