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Editorial: South Side success LTV redevelopment promises abundant benefits Saturday, November 28, 1998
The latest in a line of successful redevelopment planning efforts in the city is on the verge of being realized at the 130-acre former LTV site in South Side - a tribute to collaboration between city government and the community, and wise consensus-building by the South Side Planning Forum.
From 1985, when the plant's electric furnaces were shut down, until 1991 when the company opted to tear them down, emotions tugged to no avail against market forces to restart the furnaces. The city's strategy - buying time with money from gambling interests - secured control of the site in 1994 and sparked a controversy, but ultimately succeeded. Casino interests pulled out two years later as their chances waned in Harrisburg. Meanwhile neighborhood activism was productively channeled into a city-neighborhood effort to create a master plan for the site.
Recent decisions by the Urban Redevelopment Authority commit about half the site's total acreage. One project is a $30 million sports medicine complex - slated to fill a 25-acre riverside parcel with three buildings, a parking garage, an indoor practice field and two grass football fields.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Pitt Panthers plan to use the facilities for football practice, training and team offices. In conjunction with UPMC Health System's renowned Center for Sports Medicine, which will relocate from Oakland, the improved facilities should be a recruiting advantage for college and professional athletes - and perhaps an incentive for pro athletes to reside full-time in Pittsburgh.
The neighborhood also gains a unique amenity, if some public access is provided to the fields or facilities, as the community hopes. These niche benefits of the UPMC complex help offset the community's disappointment in the relatively lower number of jobs - 200 jobs on 25 acres - generated by sports uses than anticipated from the development originally envisioned.
Other commitments will bring about 300 luxury apartments and 34 acres of commercial development, which includes a 130-room hotel and conference center, a six- to eight-screen movie theater and a mix of office space, retail and restaurants.
While concerns have been expressed about the lack of for-sale housing and assurances that UPMC would make payments in lieu of taxes, the community is largely satisfied that the unfolding development commitments are consistent with the evolving master plan.
The encouraging news about the LTV site follows the near- completion of the Pittsburgh Technology Center and Washington's Landing. All are examples of successful conversions of large abandoned industrial sites into vibrant locations for modern city life.
But neither the Pittsburgh Technology Center nor Washington's Landing directly abut turf guarded by an influential community organization. The consensus among South Side groups - represented by the South Side Planning Forum - and the collaboration with the URA serve as a good model for achieving a unified planning effort that integrates the vision of existing neighborhoods with the city's goals.
Such a collaboration is still coalescing around the Nine Mile Run slag pile and has yet to be formed for the Hazelwood coke works, while Lawrenceville is still just a gleam in the city's eye. Community groups that seek an influential voice in future development decisions would do well to study the success of the South Side Planning Forum.
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