Will Downtown become Pittsburgh’s next hot neighborhood?

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Local leaders want to make Downtown Pittsburgh its own walkable neighborhood, chock full of sports courts and green spaces. Three proposed revitalization projects would see that goal reached in the next two years.

The Allegheny Conference on Community Development envisions Pittsburgh’s longtime business district becoming a place to work, live and play — somewhere “people want to be, not where they have to be,” said CEO Stefani Pashman.

The proposed developments would remove automobile access to Market Square, equip Point State Park and the wide medians on Liberty Avenue with exercise facilities, and create a pedestrian entertainment destination where 8th Street and the 10th Street Bypass meet along Fort Duquesne Boulevard.

Although plans aren’t finalized, preliminary renderings show pickleball and basketball courts connecting Market Square and Point State Park and bench swings and water features between the Rachel Carson and Andy Warhol bridges.

Field Operations, a New York-based design company that is responsible for Manhattan’s High Line and Chicago’s Navy Pier, is a consultant on the project.

Pashman led a press tour through all three proposed sites with Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on June 5. Pashman said the project has 45 community partner organizations.

The state of Pennsylvania is also a partner, especially within the context of the Conference’s vision for Point State Park.

“The state is excited to partner with us and already has ideas about how they want to see this move,” Pashman said.

So far, local businesses — like those in Market Square — have had little involvement, save some being privy to the preliminary designs. Pashman said their participation will increase as the Conference begins its public engagement process this summer.

During the press event, Pashman repeated that the project is still in its “vision stage.” She said the project will take about two years, but was hesitant to put a price tag on it. Other details like traffic flow, road closures affecting nearby parking garages and unhoused populations in the affected areas were not determined.

“Today we’re going to talk about the ‘What’ and we’ll get to the ‘How’ later,” Pashman said. “The facts are we have a real partnership built with a variety of entities from the business community to the public sector, at the state level, at the local level … and we’re all going to come together and deliver on this vision that we’ve achieved together.”

The projects come as Downtown contends with decreasing demand for office rentals and increasing desire for residential space.

A May 30 story from IndexPGH — a city data dashboard managed by the Allegheny Conference — noted that two upcoming developments would spend $54 million to bring 108 new residential units to Downtown. In December 2023, the May Building and GNC’s former headquarters separately received funds that, when combined, totaled $11 million to create nearly 350 more residential units.

“We know that housing is a demand Downtown,” Gainey said. “The reality is about creating the right formula to ensure that we can do the conversion that’s necessary to make Downtown a neighborhood.”

Pittsburgh is expected to receive visitors from across the nation when the NFL draft comes to the city in 2026. Pashman said the timing was not planned — that this project has been in the works for a year and a half already — but that key partners are “very well aware of how this could showcase the city.”

Innamorato added that the redevelopment is meant for the people of Pittsburgh.

“It’s going to be great as we sell the region to new businesses, new tourists, and we can definitely use it as an economic driver,” Innamorato said, “but it is an investment in the people, businesses, arts and organizations that are here.”

Roman Hladio is a reporter for NEXTpittsburgh. He wants to hear the stories created in Pittsburgh. When not reporting, he plays difficult video games that make him upset and attempts to make delicious meals out of mismatched leftovers.

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