Starting Monday, the SEA is free to demolish the old Mellon Arena.  I guess it’s more like taking it apart piece by piece.  They have to remove all the tiles from the roof to get to the asbestos first.  I bet it’s going to look pretty gnarly for a while.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11267/1177238-53.stm

Here’s a cool overlay of the Mellon Arena / Civic Arena site and what it used to look like.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11107/1138810-455.stm

When you use google earth, the red dot indicating the Hill District is on my house.  Weird.  How appropriate that I’m the ambassador now. 

http://goo.gl/maps/OwT1

Here’s an awesome time lapse video of the new consol energy arena from start to finish!

http://penguins.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=19&id=72562

Here’s an update on some Hill District projects:

YMCA: This is going in 2 blocks from my house on Centre Avenue. It is currently slated for an early 2012 completion. Should be awesome to have an indoor basketball court and pool so close! Also, it’ll be one of the city’s largest green certified buildings. Post-Gazette

Grocery Store: Shop ‘n Save has committed to putting in a full service store (FINALLY!). It is scheduled to be completed in November of 2011. This is going to be 3 blocks from my house. Post-Gazette

Consol Energy Center: The new home of the Pens will be opening with Paul McCartney on August 15th. On my walk to work, it’s looking just about done from the outside. still some paint, shrubs, and lights to finish though. It’s on its way to being the highest LEED certified sports center in the nation. http://www.consolenergycenter.com/

Connelley School: At the upper corner of the Mellon Arena’s top parking lot, there’s this old school that has been closed due to asbestos. Now, there’s money to convert it into a place for green start ups and research facility for Pittsburgh Green Innovators. Seems like a pretty cool thing.Post-Gazette

Pharmacy: Duquesne has announced they’d open a pharmacy in the Hill. I’m not sure exactly which store front it’s going in, perhaps the old Carnegie Library Space? That might be too large though. It is slated for later this year. >Post-Gazette

Cambria suites Hotel: The hotel in between the Washington Plaza apartments and Consol Energy Center is close to being structurally done. It has all the blocks in place, now just time to brick it up and put some windows in and finish the interior. Looks like it will open in December 2010. More & pictures

Kaufmann Auditorium: Right next to the Hill House, they’re making a bunch of modernizations and upgrades to this auditorium. Plans also include an outdoor amphitheater. link

Dinwiddie Street: Not sure what all is included here, but they are tearing down a bunch of abandoned houses and blight. I think they plan to build new houses, but maybe it will be apartments. I’m watching the HDCG for updates.

From news release:

"The Bank of New York Mellon has announced that it will contribute $3 million over a six-year period to Pittsburgh’s Hill District community through Pennsylvania’s Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP). The program will focus on education, job training and community revitalization for residents of the Hill District, which is near the company’s downtown Pittsburgh campus.

Also supporting the One Hill Community Benefits Agreement are the Pittsburgh Penguins, the city’s champion ice hockey team. "We are deeply honored to invest in a neighborhood with a noble history and promising future," said Vince Sands, Chairman, BNY Mellon of Pennsylvania. "With more than 6,800 employees located within a mile of Centre Avenue and Crawford Street, and many of them volunteering in the Hill District and surrounding communities, we are both a corporate sponsor and an involved neighbor."

Hill House Association will serve as the NPP program administrator and will work with the One Hill Coalition, which represents more than 100 community groups assembled to identify and prioritize strategies for revitalizing Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District. The NPP funds will address community needs ranging from job training and education to community improvements and social services.

"BNY Mellon has a strong history of supporting Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods; but never more than today with this unprecedented commitment to the Hill District," said Carl Redwood, chairman of the One Hill Coalition. "The BNY Mellon commitment gives the One Hill community benefits agreement a strong early start in the efforts to revitalize the Hill."

"BNY Mellon’s initial commitment is for six years, but its impact will last for decades to come," said Evan Frazier, Hill House Association president and CEO. This is a great example of what’s possible when communities, companies and public officials come together for the collective good."

"Fundamentally, good business decisions are also good community decisions," said David Morehouse, Pittsburgh Penguins president. "The BNY Mellon commitment is a significant investment in the Hill District and a very positive local development."

"We are working together to make sure that the millions of dollars of new development under way translates into job opportunities and long-term neighborhood revitalization for the residents of the Hill," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said. "Working with residents and committed businesses, a new, better city will be built on the Hill.""

Save-a-lot was seeming to become a great addition to the Hill District community along Centre Avenue, but now we’ve got a horse of a different color on the block, and I like it.  Kuhn’s, a homegrown local grocery store, is part of a "Centre City Square" plan developed by a bunch of groups like Crawford Square and the Hill House.  This is just plain great.

We’re talking about something that will give the Hill some character.  Not just another Family Dollar or Save-a-lot like every other underserved community.  Those mega franchise places do not spur entrenpreneurship.  We need to bring in locally owned and run businesses to increase the appeal and economic power of the hill district.  Let’s see how far this goes…

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08223/903263-53.stm

The Pittsburgh housing authority has approved a sale of land to Pitt for new athletic facilities.  The property is right next to the Oak Hill apartments.  The land left over will be sold to Beacon developers to more than double the number of housing units of Oak Hill.  This is great stuff for 2 reasons.  The obvious reason would be so many new houses in an otherwise undeveloped section of the Hill.  More houses mean more residents.  More residents mean demand for more restaurants, stores, etc.  More development also bridges the shady gaps of the Hill district and makes it a more aesthetically pleasing place to live.  All of that leading to higher property values.

The second good thing to come from this is having pitt’s footprint spread beyond Oakland.  The further into the Hill District that Pitt goes, the more student foot traffic the Hill will see.  Eventually, they’ll see Centre avenue as a great route to downtown.  Pitt creeping into the Hill district really fills in the blanks around the area and all just becomes a well blended section of the City.  So when you’re driving down Centre Avenue, you don’t have that obvious unsettling feeling of, "oh, we must be in the Hill District now."  It’ll be seamless, just like going from shadyside to squirrel Hill.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08207/899398-53.stm?cmpid=news.xml

Throughout my years of living in the Hill District, I’ve noticed a few cultural trends on pedestrian behavior.  One is just to stand around on the corners of Centre Avenue with nothing to do but watch people drive by or make obvious glances at women as they walk by.  This happens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  They just stand there.  Not at a bus stop, not smoking, not harrassing people or cars, just standing around.  It’s weird, but pleasant in some weird way too.   The second behavior is walking on the street.  The sidewalk can be the cleanest thing and wide open, but they’ll walk right on the street.  It’s very frustrating as a driver.  sometimes, I liken it to the country, as you wait for cattle to cross the street.  I’m not comparing residents to farm animals, more like showing that both the city and the country have their obstacles.

BUT TO THE POINT!  Thanks to some engineering students at Pitt, the Hill District has designated walking paths!  This is a pretty cool thing, in my opinion at least.  Hopefully people will make use of the paths, I know that Erik does already.  check out the post-gazette story and the official site.

They imploded the old St. Francis hospital today across Centre Avenue from the Mellon Arena to make room for the new arena being built for the Pittsburgh Penguins.  They had failed to pull it down a few weeks ago, so they just blew it up.  I’m happy they did.