Strip District

It could be 60 more days before the future of the Strip District’s Produce Terminal is finally decided.

On Thursday, the board of the Urban Redevelopment Authority approved an extension of lease negotiations between the building’s longtime tenant, the nonprofit Society for Contemporary Craft and developer McCaffery Interests.

Ah, the harbingers of spring: daylight savings time, the insistent, early morning song of robins and large construction projects. 

The board of Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority voted Thursday to approve a deal for the redevelopment of the Produce Terminal in the Strip District. The vote cleared the way for developer McCaffery Interests to take a long-term lease on the building.

A contract to redevelop the Strip District’s Produce Terminal building is close to being finalized, city officials said Wednesday.

Dan Gilman, the mayor’s chief of staff, said it’s a complex deal but the parties were working through some critical final details with developer Dan McCaffery of McCaffery Interests.

“And Dan has to get his numbers to work,” Gilman said. “We’re asking for a significant investment of his money and the public’s money into this.”

The project is expected to cost $62.6 million.

It may not look like anything’s happening at the Produce Terminal in Pittsburgh’s Strip District neighborhood, but the building's developer expects to ink a final contract with the Urban Redevelopment Authority and begin renovation by the end of the year.

After months of building and $3.8 million in construction costs, the Midwife Center in the Strip District has more than doubled its space to 11,700 square feet. Unveiled by officials on Thursday, it's now the largest freestanding birthing center in the country. 

This is the second in a three-part web series looking ahead to 2017 with members of Pittsburgh City Council. Find part one here.

Council members Deb Gross, Corey O’Connor and Daniel Lavelle represent three very different districts, but the issue of equitable development looms large for each of them. 

Hundreds of independent Pittsburgh businesses will participate in this year’s Small Business Saturday initiative. Created by American Express in 2010, the day seeks to draw attention to the importance of shopping at locally-owned stores during the holiday season and all year long.

Pittsburghers can explore parts of Downtown, Lawrenceville and the Strip District unimpeded by cars on Sunday for the summer's first Open Streets event.

Vehicle traffic will be barred for a 3.5-mile stretch of Penn Avenue and Butler Street from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but drivers will be able to cross at several intersections. Last year, about 44,000 people took part in three block parties combined.   

Oxford Development Company’s apartment project for the Strip District, The Yards at 3 Crossings, will have hundreds of people living about 100 feet from the south bank of the Allegheny River as early as this year. 

Neighbors are optimistic about the latest plan to create offices, restaurants, apartments and maybe a new public market in the Strip District's historic produce terminal.

The Midwife Center in the Strip District expects 470 babies will be born at the center this year, almost double the births five years ago.

Executive Director Christine Haas said this increase is reflected nationally as women want more options and a holistic approach to pregnancy.

The first tenants will move into the new 54,000-square-foot 3 Crossings office building in the Strip District on Sept. 1, completing the first wave of a series of redevelopment projects between 25th and 27th streets.

Steve Guy, president and CEO of Oxford Development Company, said the project will give the area sorely-needed amenities like sidewalks, curbs, drainage and groundwater control systems, as well as updating the electrical pole configurations to more efficiently meet the needs of the neighborhood at large.

  Ridership along the Penn Avenue bike lanes is up at least 25 percent since June, according to data released last week by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

Spokesperson Leigh White said they counted roughly 1,000 trips per day on average in July. Ridership also spiked on weekends, she said.

When Diane Faust started losing her eyesight in 2008 as a result of optic nerve damage, she didn’t know where to turn, but she knew she had two options.

“I could hide in my house the rest of my life, ignore the outside world,” Faust said. “Or, I could try to gain as much of my independence back and get back to as much of a normal life as possible. Those folks have been so instrumental in helping me to do that.”

More luxury apartments are coming to Pittsburgh, this time in the Strip District.

Oxford Development Company on Tuesday held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the residential and mixed-use development dubbed Three Crossings.

Vice President of Business Development Shawn Fox said the name is a nod to the Strip District’s industrial past and its residential future.

When Michael Rubino envisions the future of the Strip District, he sees a grand marketplace at the site of the old Pennsylvania Fruit Auction and Sales building, with a farmer’s market, restaurants, business incubators, Amish craftspeople and closeout vendors.

Pittsburgh’s Strip District has been added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic District.

There are currently 18 National Historic Districts registered in Pittsburgh, with the Strip District the latest addition. The 13-block area being recognized will include more than 60 buildings between 15th and 22nd streets and the St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church.