Pittsburgh’s
EastSide was spotlighted during the
Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) “Reinventing Retail” conference in Beverly Hills on Feb. 22nd. Selected as a model case study, EastSide was detailed during “A deteriorated shopping district gets its groove back,” a presentation by Steve Mosites, president, and Mark Minnerly, director of real estate with
The Mosites Company, Robert Rubinstein of the
URA and Rob Stephany with East
Liberty Development, Inc.
Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, a ULI fellow, suggested EastSide to conference organizers as an example of cutting-edge retail redevelopment. “It’s an authentic, grassroots development. We worked through the community to create an essential place,” says Mosites, who introduced plans for EastSide III, IV and V.
“The EastSide story goes back to the turn-of-the-century, when East Liberty was the Rodeo Drive of its time,” says Rubinstein. “Attracting
Home Depot began true revitalization, which kicked into full swing with
Whole Foods--now people flock to East Liberty from all over western Pennsylvania.”
More than 750 people attended, including developers, architects, governmental officials, and investors. Last week, as a result of the talk, Rubinstein took a New York City-based developer on a tour of Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh team was invited back and asked to write an article for the ULI. “This project was clearly a model,” says Rubinstein, citing creative financing and partnerships between community groups, government and private sector developers and retail. Rubinstein says audience members were “kind of astounded” by EastSide’s “art of big box meets science of main street” approach. “It takes developers willing to do the right thing--it’s green, urban and well-designed--this makes it easier for me to provide financing.”
Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Steve Mosites; Robert Rubinstein
Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene