posted by Mike Madison at 11:08 AM /
It's fun to speculate about ideas for new stores and restaurants on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon, but the reality may be that existing foot traffic isn't sufficient to support many of these hypothetical shops.
Instead of these "supply side" ideas for Mt. Lebanon, how about "demand side" ideas? Specifically, build up the traffic. Stores, shops, restaurants, etc. may follow.
This requires a bit of investigation and a bit of coordination. The investigation might be this: There are three multi-story office buildings in "Uptown" Mt. Lebanon. What's the vacancy rate? What's the turnover rate? And how much does space currently cost? If the buildings are fully leased, then this idea doesn't get very far. But if they aren't . . . how about this:
Make Mt. Lebanon, and Washington Road in particular, the South Hills home of the start-up technology community in Pittsburgh. There are little companies all over Pittsburgh -- in Oakland, on the South Side, in the Strip, up in Wexford. What do little companies need? Inexpensive space, food for lunch and dinner, and access to a coffee shop with free wireless. If Mt. Lebanon has a surplus of office space, then building owners and managers -- and their lenders -- could discount their rents to get occupancy rates up and to help business across the neighborhood.* Folks who work at tech startups have boundless energy; work all day and all night; and need to eat and shop near where they work.
There are plenty of entrepreneurs and investors living in Mt. Lebanon already who could be approached to participate on the tenant side. Some of them are affiliated with Pittsburgh's leading tech development organizations, such as Innovation Works.
Discuss. Please.
(* Yes, I know that Mt. Lebanon once had a single tech startup on Washington Road: Sightsound.com, founded by Mt. Lebanon guys, which has since relocated to Oakland. If it had company -- and tech startups gather in clusters -- maybe it could have stayed.)
Instead of these "supply side" ideas for Mt. Lebanon, how about "demand side" ideas? Specifically, build up the traffic. Stores, shops, restaurants, etc. may follow.
This requires a bit of investigation and a bit of coordination. The investigation might be this: There are three multi-story office buildings in "Uptown" Mt. Lebanon. What's the vacancy rate? What's the turnover rate? And how much does space currently cost? If the buildings are fully leased, then this idea doesn't get very far. But if they aren't . . . how about this:
Make Mt. Lebanon, and Washington Road in particular, the South Hills home of the start-up technology community in Pittsburgh. There are little companies all over Pittsburgh -- in Oakland, on the South Side, in the Strip, up in Wexford. What do little companies need? Inexpensive space, food for lunch and dinner, and access to a coffee shop with free wireless. If Mt. Lebanon has a surplus of office space, then building owners and managers -- and their lenders -- could discount their rents to get occupancy rates up and to help business across the neighborhood.* Folks who work at tech startups have boundless energy; work all day and all night; and need to eat and shop near where they work.
There are plenty of entrepreneurs and investors living in Mt. Lebanon already who could be approached to participate on the tenant side. Some of them are affiliated with Pittsburgh's leading tech development organizations, such as Innovation Works.
Discuss. Please.
(* Yes, I know that Mt. Lebanon once had a single tech startup on Washington Road: Sightsound.com, founded by Mt. Lebanon guys, which has since relocated to Oakland. If it had company -- and tech startups gather in clusters -- maybe it could have stayed.)
Labels: economic development, washington road
26 Comments:
I'm afraid there may be no hope for Washington Road. The bottom line and at least my reality tells me that Washington Road will never ever be the Walnut street of the South Hills. The two main reasons are a four lane road called Route 19 south, with ample traffic all day long with angry motorists trying to get to Peters Township. The second reason is lack of free parking. Its one thing to pay parking in downtown, its another to pay for parking in the suburbs. Most locations that Mt. Lebo competes with offer free parking.
Any other ideas?
I work for a startup right now, from home. I'm seriously considering renting some space around Beverly Shops or Washington Road when I move into town. I looked at lease prices on the municipality website. They seem high for a one-man show. I could look into subletting.
This is not me starting up a new business, however. That's always a possibility and - if I do - I'd be happy to get it rolling in Mt. Lebanon.
Washington Rd, near Aldo Coffee, is an obvious choice for a startup business. The trick is to keep rent really low. Does anyone want to start or branch a local incubator?
Lets take that 6.1MM and use it to convert some empty office space on Washington Road into a co-working space. I would pay a small amount of rent and be expected to collaborate with others using the space. If someone wants to discuss this more – especially if you're an official – I'd be happy to meet with you. Imagine what happens when multi-disciplined creatives get together in your town and start sharing ideas.
Good to think about.
Casey:
I think your idea of doing something like Creative Treehouse in Mt. Lebanon is a great idea. I've read the CT web site, but I can't find any information about how much it costs to be a member -- so I'm wondering how much their costs are -- rent, utilities, wireless, etc.
The next question is -- where to put it? As you mentioned, Washington Road seems to be the most logical place to have it -- but what about other locations? Beverly Road? Cochran Road? Could a co-working space thrive anywhere else other than Washington Road?
There definitely is a need for this. I have seen so many different business people at Aldo's, Uptown and Coffee Tree Roasters in Mt. Lebanon (and at every Panera I've been at!) Wouldn't it be great to put all of those people in one place in the hopes that people would interact and possibly generate new business for each other?
As part of my job, I meet with all kinds of small business owners who have technology and creative needs. I'd be the first person to sign up for a space like this because it would enable me to conduct business with them in a comfortable office space with the wireless Internet that we'd need as well. I would make sure that this space did not offer food or drink -- but rather BYOF or BYOD (bring your own food/drink) so that people would be able to patronize the local businesses and then come to the creative space for the work they want to do. I just wonder if we could get enough people to join the community in order to keep it going.
As I said, this is a great idea -- but where do we go from here? If you want to seriously consider this Casey, let's see if we can organize a group of people that are all motivated to do a project like this. We can identify locations, funding, etc. and see where the future leads us. We could also talk to the owners of Creative Treehouse to see how they did it and how we may be able to collaborate with them. Maybe our facility could be Creative Treehouse South. :)
Dear Anonymous,
Where is there free parking? Maybe way up in Cranberry or Wexford. The areas that "compete" with Mt. Lebo, the southside, shadyside, strip, oakland, and just about everywhere else in town have metered parking and/or parking garages.
Paying for parking is something we have to deal with when shopping in these districts. It is a pain, but its not going to stop us from going places that have unique shops, like the strip or southside, and even Mt. Lebo.
Is the question: "Build it and they will come" or "Show up and you will be served (eventually)?"
It is both - the buildings with leased/unleased work space and the businesses on the street are co-dependent. They should figure out how to make money for each other. And stop complaining it is the township's job.
I think its more "build it and they will come", but in order to get businesses to open up shop in your district, especially one that is new or under-developed like Washington Rd, there needs to be incentives, subsidies, etc (free parking?) to get the businesses in there.
The Southside works, when it first opened, offered incentives to the first businesses to move in there. One of the business owners told me first hand that SSW offered them $$$ for the build-out of theirs shop, they practically paid for all of it. Today, when looking into leasing a space at SSW, I find that rent is higher and there are no incentives for build out.
I was just looking at the municipality website and checking out the lease rates for some of the office spaces. Good luck to the agents trying to lease those spaces out in the high teens and even above $20/sqft. SSW has the foot traffic and office workers and their rates aren't much higer.
If free parking makes a difference, the Zamagias tenants at the new Washington Park development should be wildly successful Parking for these stores will free to the customers and free to the business owners. The parking and elegent environs will be paid for with tax money that rightly belongs to the schools. Mr. Ravita spoke in favor of this private use of public dollars. Either uptown businesses are comfortable with this unfair competitive advantage or they think they should get the same deal. The ones that should be on fire are the beverly rd businesses. They can't get any help from the parking authority and their quarters are paying for the parking suplus on washington rd. If you drive past the new academy ave lot it is never more than 1/3 full. Its several million dollar price tag is subsidized by the rest of the system. Beverly rd needs the help. Those businesses want to expand but the township will not let them until they build more parking. All the attention goes uptown.
The parking issue is interesting. As a soon-to-be resident I find strategic value in paid parking. I frequent Palo Alto in California for business travel. They have a very similar parking structure and it's quite intentional. They want people to walk, to use public transportation, and to live in Palo Alto.
I think Mt. Lebanon is doing the right thing here by making it more lucrative to walk, use public transport, or simply live in Mt. Lebanon to avoid paying parking fees.
The upside is less cars. I like that. The downside – in Pittsburgh – is the culture of driving that's constantly fostered in the region. Even so, I like where Mt. Lebanon's head is at in this regard.
If I started a business in uptown or on Beverly my co-workers could avoid parking using one of the previously mentioned methods. I'm actively pursuing "living in Mt. Lebanon" to avoid paying parking fees, because I love the shops on Washington and Beverly Roads.
Free parking could devastate the quality of life for those of us that intentionally live near commercial areas. It could also easily disrupt the balance between local and visiting patrons. I think that's a net loss for the residents.
Did you know the Parking Authority did not earn enough to pay debt service on their bonds last year. Each parking dollar was paid for with about 12 cents of your taxes.
I don't shop on Washington roar because og the meter maids.
Casey,
Agreed. I used to work for a startup off Route 19 in Wexford. Parking was free - but you have to drive to get anywhere!
No disrespect to anyone here, but as I mentioned earlier, a four lane highway called Route 19 south runs right through the center. There is nothing quaint about that. If you think paid parking is going to help eliminate traffic you are sadly wrong.
If I was a business owner on Washington road I would be concerned where my clients are going to park. Repeat business will make up 80% of a traditional business model. If they need to get to your office on a regular basis, they are not going to want to park at Academy and walk 5 blocks down. Especially in this region.
Can you say SUV, SUV, SUV?
Its not going to work people!
Would diagonal parking make more parking spaces...would it be easier than parralel parking? Is there room to park this way and maintain the lanes? It is four lanes ,two lanes, three lanes depending on who is parking...stopped for a delivery, time of day. Why not just make it a two lane and those not wanting to travel it will find another way into town.
Anonymous,
Parking garage? I won't repeat 3 times but there is a parking garage and several cross walks in that area. I do not think route 19 or SUVs have anything to do with the lack of foot traffic. It comes down to basic economics - if rents are more attractive more tenants will come. It is a competition and if the building owners on Washington Rd are unreasonable businesses will rent offices for less or the around the same rate at a district with better amenities (like SSW) and potential.
"Its not going to work people!"
I love your sense of Pittsburgh optimism. The "It won't work" attitude is too common around these parts. How about this - let's stop the conversation. Let's just leave it alone and maybe things will get better on their own. No need to expend any more time or energy on this since you say it won't work.
Interesting - does anyone else notice that the areas held up as successful - Southside Works & Shadyside specifically - are chain oriented? Maybe not 100%, but it's certainly a major cross section of the stores in both locations.
As to what the demand side request would be...don't you need to know who your target audience is? Is it families? Then you need toy stores, kids clothing stores, and a kid friendly restaurant or two. Is it startups? Then you need cheap office space, all day parking that won't kill employees who don't live in MtL, good lunch places, and your business supply store back. Artistic types? Buildings need to be prepared to house studios, have good lighting, perhaps power infrastructure for a kiln, sound proofing for bands. College kids? Cheap beer, good public transportation, bands, good traffic enforcement. Yuppies? Boutique, upscale stores with hours that accomodate long work days. Bohos? Vintage clothing, leather store, vegan friendly restaurants....
Cheryl
Mike,
I love this idea. Years back the Cyclops building was largely vacant, but I don't know if that's the case anymore. I think that there are a variety of perceived drawbacks (e.g. lack of free parking, difficulty of access) to Mt Lebo for startups, but I think they could overcome with strong incentives and appropriate marketing. On the plus side, the Washington road corridor has lots of rental apartments within walking distance for young employees. Employees could also live pretty much anywhere along the T and get there more easily than getting downtown or to Oakland. (once the T starts running normally again :-/)
The big question is whether there is enough space on Washington Rd to do something like that? I worked for a small tech startup in Pittsburgh 10 years ago. I think they still have fewer than 25 employees, but their Forest Hills offices would probably consume more than one floor of the Cyclops building. Part of the reason they need so much space is that they design hardware as well as software, and the associated shops/labs take many more sq.ft/person than programmers' offices. Any kind of hardware or biotech business probably has similar space needs. On the other hand, pure software/web startups don't require as much space, and those kinds of businesses, if run right, can accomplish a lot with very few people.
I think this would need a coordinated marketing effort, including getting all the local businesses on board, and sending reps to the miriad local organizations that "support" startups around here, pitching Lebo as a new home. (And someone please convince Uptown Coffee that wireless should be free!)
Joe, Casey, Chris, Jefferson and others potentially intrigued enough to take this idea seriously -- Follow the comments on this related post over at Pittsblog.
I like Mike's idea, although, having lived in Mt. Lebanon for a couple of years, right off Washington Road, I've yet to figure out what's wrong with Washington Road. It offers a lot more now than it did then. Perhaps growing up in the suburbs lowered my standards for walkable business districts.
Yet I can't figure out where all this Shadyside envy comes from. People do have to pay to park on Walnut Street, unless you are lucky enough to find a spot on one of the side streets. (Granted, that's not really an option on the Washington Road business district, since you can't park on much of Shady Drive East. and a lot of other side streets aren't as accessible or don't have available parking.) Traffic is perhaps a disadvantage; another thing Walnut Street has is greater residential density.
Still, all this handwringing seems misplaced.
Some of the handwringing, actually, seems to come from the Municipality, which seems altogether too eager to foist on Washington Road a high-end condo-and-retail development. I happen to think that the particular energy is misdirected, but the general sense that Washington Road (and other business districts in Mt. Lebanon) need attention is a good one.
Some of it comes from urban refugees who are bored in the suburbs. I don't have Walnut Street envy myself; Walnut Street is about as charming to me as the Mall at Robinson. But there's an obvious appeal to the idea of being able to walk to town and spend an afternoon walking up and down the street, visiting with friends and neighbors, having a cup of coffee, browsing for books or toys or even hardware, and then walking home. Mt. Lebanon is one of the few towns in the region that has the streetscape -- i.e., an extensive network of sidewallks -- to support that sort of thing, and it seems a shame (to me, anyway) that the resource isn't better exploited.
And some of it comes from the merchants themselves, several of whom are out there marketing and hustling like mad, with not enough return to show for it. I like the idea of helping local businesses succeed.
Uptown will never be like Walnut street. Long ago walnut street was a Bohemian center with jazz clubs and the like, and it gentrified into its current incarnation as "the Galleria, with snow". The "old Walnut St" is impossible, because Mt Lebanon comissioners and police would never allow anything even remotely Bohemian on Washington Rd. if there was any chance that it would draw any "bad element" from elsewhere (bad = non-suburban non-yuppies). Plus, Mt. Lebanon is already gentrified. (sorry, but in the age of Starbucks, coffeshops don't qualify as bohemian anymore.)
A business district like the current Walnut St. is impossible because those kinds of stores already have a home (with free parking) in The Galleria. In fact, The Galleria seems to already be what the municipality envisions for Uptown. It's a pleasant, walkable environment with boutique shops, restaurants, a movie theater, and a Starbucks. Nothing remotely challenging or non-conformist, and totally grit free! Trying to duplicate that Uptown is a waste of time. Uptown needs to be something else.
Don't get me wrong, Mike; I like your idea and I like that Mt. Lebanon citizens want to make things better. Believe me, I don't need to be lectured on the virtues of a walkable business district that includes more than just restaurants and a few specialty stores. (By the way, isn't there already a hardware store? Did something happen to Rolliers, which I always loved because of their little convenience store.)
But I've seen people use the word "destination" on this blog and that makes me roll my eyes, because chasing that elusive concept is what makes communities do the silly things that you, Mike, clearly seem to want the municipal government to avoid. And I'm not sure the addition of the start-ups, with what I would imagine would be a relatively small workforces, are going to provide the critical mass needed to bring the kind of stores that you believe are lacking. (A toystore, bookstore, etc.) Certainly, those extra workers would help the businesses that are there survive and thrive. Perhaps, in the long run, if your vision succeeds, enough of those start-up employees will choose to live in the community, and that might make the difference.
I didn't mean to mislead; Rollier's is just fine and it's one of my favorite places in Mt. Lebanon. My last comment was just a bit of literary idealism.
I do have a "walkable neighborhood" ideal in mind -- my neighborhood in Oakland, CA in the early and mid-1990s. College Avenue between Broadway and Alcatraz, for anyone who knows that area and remembers what it was like 10-15 years ago, with Chimes on the corner and Such a Business for kids. Before the money arrived and made it precious.
Mike you struck a "cord"in my brain when you said "before the money came." It reminded me the 60's and 70's growing up in Dormont. What a great selfcontained community! On Potomac and West Liberty Avenues, what ever you needed from appliances to a fur coat you could walk from your home and purchase what you needed! Even though gas was probably 50cents a gallon our families used very little fuel compared to our modern living where everything needed means getting into your 30,000 van to drive a mile to the store to buy your scotch tape! You can have your granite countertops and your stainless steel appliances but I long for early days were neighbors knew neighbors (adults and children) and you could walk to the store or even send your kids to store to pick up some milk and bread!!!!
Beverly Road has diagonal parking. It is easier to run into the bank on Beverly than on Washington Road...It is easier to get a cup of coffee, an ice cream cone,,,a slice of pizza. Come on Parking authority...one little change could mske such a big differenve. Don't you read the Blog Parking Authority?
Diagonal parking will not work on wash rd. There is plenty of parking you just have to be willing to walk 2 blocks. At the village people walk that far to the door and then another 3 blocks from boscovs to macys and 3 back.
Why wouldn't diagonal parking work on Washington if it works on Beverly ? Please explain.
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