Development Historian Discusses ReGentrification & Restoration Of Pittsburgh Neighborhood In Pennsylvania
Maintaining the history of any city, especially one of industry takes a balance of vision and perseverance. In a city such as Pittsburgh, which continues its resurgence with the highlight of outdoor texture including Rivers Of Steel and Frick Environmental Center, revitalizing historical districts is also part of the process. Sitting over lunch at the reconstituted Ace Hotel build from the remnants of the historic bathhouse, Skip Schwab of East Liberty Development talks to MRV: The Buzz Editor In Chief Tim Wassberg about sociology, perception and pride in a neighborhood.
The Buzz: Can you talk about turning around a historical district and making it more tourist friendly.
Skip Schwab: The first year or two there were actually stories that the [Pittsburgh] Pirates rented summer units when they lived here during the baseball season, but it quickly became housing in the last resort. There was a point by the 90's that this was an absolutely distressed community. But it was within those units that we tried to come up with a strategy. Now, [the redevelopment council] was created in the mid-70s by the local chamber of commerce. So for the first 20 years, our focus was within the urban core. So we bought some of the commercial buildings, provided for their restoration, got none of that at all because it was not the architecture that was the problem, it was the lack of market [interest] and [there was local] violence. There were gang problems. So in 20 years this organization [wasn’t able] really to do much at all, and then in the mid-90's the owners went out of business. There was a very public, racial protest against it and they were actually correct. The African-American residents in the community said that we were not doing anything to address their needs…because we weren't doing anything to address their need. [The reason is that that was not] where our focus was. So the organization really shut down.
The Buzz: So where was the focus?
SS: In hindsight it's wasn't really smart. So 1996, the organization literally shut down. Staff was literally locked out. They hired a dreaded interim executive director, who floundered for some more. And then, they hired a woman from Cleveland, Maelene Myers, who's still our director. She came in, and she did three years of community organizing. And she literally created the first community plan in 1999 [which is] on our webpage. What was profound about it, and it's sad to say it's profound, but it included the voices of not only the business centers and the owners, but those voices who were living in the high-rises. And they said one thing very clearly: the concentrations of property were not healthy, but they wanted to stay in the community.
The Buzz: So there's pride.
SS: Yes. So if it's a low-income community, the goal is to make it mixed-income. We shifted on how can you restore this community and make it mixed-income. So we tried to do some housing in the residential enclave that went to the city. The market changes. The one thing about this organization is that it's very fluid. We will adapt and adjust. So if it's not working, we'll shift. And quite frankly a lot of non-profits don't. A lot of non-profits simply double down and put more money into it. We’re more entrepreneurial [in that way]. And that's just because of our director, allows us to do crazy things…like we went out to DC and brought in a consulting firm [Streetworks] that specialized in retail big-box. We purposely went out and found somebody not in the city because quite frankly the same [local] consultants will give you the same answers. So we really literally went and hired someone that we had no relationship with. They told us that the strategy was good but the sequencing was wrong. They said if you're going to do the residential and historic enclave last, you need to build your market and to bring in the amenities that the market wants…which caused a little bit of a heartburn when we started focusing on large scale big box development.
The Buzz: You had already been doing historical landmark designation but the successful stage of your strategy started with the big box development. Why?
SS: The first one that changed it that we did not have any influence on was the Home Depot. We actually kind of fought it from a design standpoint because we thought the design was terrible because it was a suburban [design] by a sea of [history]. The mayor at that time, Tom Murphy, said, "You're either for development or you're against it." “Well Tom, I think we're against this one”…which made no difference because it just came in. But what it did was we started to reestablish this as a regional market. Because there had been so much decline that people started looking at it from an east/west perspective. If you look at a map and you go east or west, it's some of the poorest real estate in Pittsburgh including the Hill District, Garfield, East Liberty, Larimer, Home Wood. And all the Universities…they will sell all the residential. But in 1999, Home Depot came in and they blew the socks of the market. In 2002 Whole Foods came in. They were testing but their demographic was a little different…their demographic is education. So they looked at the Universities as their market. And again they absolutely blew up. So we started to focus on Whole Foods in the center avenue because this area is very full, very stable. And ironically with urban renewal, Streetworks was telling us, that in order to attract a residential market we had to have these kinds of amenities. So it became this nice win-win for everybody. As those things happened, we undertook a very aggressive residential strategy. We finally went out and we talked to people on specific blocks and asked, "Why isn't that house being rented?" We had affordable and they knew that. But some of those units shouldn't have been occupied. So as soon as we bought the building we realized, "Oh my God, we had a room that a guy was living in [that] had no water.
The Buzz: But it also needed to become a social hub.
SS: Well it's becoming a regional destination, all right. Now it's interesting when Whole Foods first came, because the street workers told us to expect is to see food-centric businesses coming into the district. I laughed and go, "Sure. Whatever" right? But before Whole Foods even opened, an Ethiopian and a Caribbean restaurant came into the center court. It was an ethnic mirror. In fact, [the Ethiopian restaurant] was an attorney who decided to quit his practice and open up a restaurant.
The Buzz: So when did the tourism pick up from your perspective then?
SS: What's interesting, and we didn't understand it at the time. But we were seeing some articles from other cities. The Manchester Guardian talked about exploring this area. And then I don't even know. This was during the period that we were talking with Ace. It turns out that Ace finally revealed to us that they purposefully market their neighborhoods and not their hotel. We said, "Go for it!” I mean, that was like awesome. That’s what really what started it. Once the first four or five media stories got out, then other people latched on. And this area is still a very diverse community but this is a city that is not inclusive. There are very few places where the races mix, and this is one of them. Everyone has their own identity. That's, I think, what should draw people here. All here it was steel workers that lived here back in the day. They would just go over to the river, and back and forth, to work.
The Buzz: What's the thing that's most surprised you, or that you're most proud of, in this whole scenario?
SS: Obviously, there's a profitability now. Even for a non-profit, you can see how this place is generating money, because that's ultimately what it comes down to. We got a couple of pockets that still need some land use development work. [But now it is] how do we build our market edge.
Tim Wassberg
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts with degrees in Film/TV Production & Film Criticism, Tim has written for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys traveling and distinct craft beers among other things.
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