It's not a gold rush, but it may be only a matter of time before potential developers descend in earnest on Pittsburgh's Uptown neighborhood near the construction site of the Penguins new $290 million arena.
That's the hope of property owners like Howard Elinoff, president of Uniforms USA, whose three adjoining buildings are directly across Fifth Avenue from the new arena site.
His buildings are among more than a half-dozen properties in just the 900 and 1000 blocks of Fifth Avenue that carry signs listing space for sale or lease.
"Development will happen and when it does it will be exciting," said Elinoff, whose believes his three properties would be an ideal site for a large sports bar, similar to an ESPN Zone. "The arena is not going to just be for hockey, things are going to be happening there almost every day. It's going to be great for this area."
Collectively, the buildings at 1008 Fifth Ave., 1010-1014 Fifth and 1016 Fifth, total about 34,000 square feet. Elinoff recently hired Michael Sell of Grant Street Associates Inc. to market the buildings, with an asking price of $3 million.
If he is able to sell the properties, Elinoff said he'd move the uniform business he's operated in the buildings since 1993 to another location.
"We only have speculators in the Uptown area so far," said Jerry Speer, of Equity Real Estate of Squirrel Hill, which is marketing properties near the construction site.
Equity Real Estate has two listings there, one a three-story, 6,000-square building at 1204 Fifth Ave. that is available for sale or lease, and a 2,200-square-foot commercial space at 906 Fifth that is being offered for lease only.
Five Star Development, a software firm, has outgrown the 1204 Fifth Ave. site and plans to move to the North Shore, he said.
The company would like to sell the building for the $695,000 asking price, said Speer, but to date, discussions have produced suggested sale prices that he considers "low-ball" offers.
"Right now, we've only had people looking to see if they can get a bargain, but in a year we think there will be substantial values offered for the properties," said Speer.
Sell of Grant Street Associates, said, "I think some of the low-ball offers are the result of the current difficulties with financing commercial real estate deals."
Sell believes interest in properties Uptown will surge as construction of the new Penguins arena progresses.
"People have trouble visualizing areas that need gentrification, but once they get the foundation in for the arena and people start seeing all the activity going on, this Fifth Avenue Uptown corridor is going to start to see the popularity it should have right now," he said.
The Uptown area is home to Duquesne University, which recently completed the $30 million, 126,000-square foot Power Center on Forbes Avenue, one block from the new arena site.
Duquesne is a major property owner in the Uptown area, and has said it plans a number of other new developments in a two-block area of Forbes just up from the arena site, including academic facilities, student housing and retail.
"We continue to talk with potential developers interested in converting some of our surface parking lots into a development but, at this time, we have nothing new to report," said Sal Williams of Sal Williams Real Estate Investments, who with his son, Tony, operates many of the parking lots in the Uptown area.
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Hey - If you want to build support for this don't use the word gentrification - The root of "gentrification", "gentry", derives from the Old French word genterise (a variant of gentilise), meaning the people of noble birth.[11] Sociologist Ruth Glass coined the term in 1964 to mean the influx of wealthier individuals into cities or neighborhoods who replace working or lower-classes already living there. She defined it by using London districts such as Islington as her example: One by one, many of the working class quarters of London have been invaded by the middle-classes—upper and lower. Shabby, modest mews and cottages—two rooms up and two down—have been taken over, when their leases have expired, and have become elegant, expensive residences [...]. Once this process of 'gentrification' starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.[12][13].
You will never build support for a project using the word gentrification.
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