The Pittsburgh Business Times is hosting an online poll to find out which long awaited project Pittsburgh residents believe will be completed first. Choices are:
1. Mon-Fayette Expressway
2. New Arena for Penguins
3. North Shore Connector
4. Don Barden’s North Shore Casino
The results right now are overwhelmingly in favor of one project, but they really should have added these three other options:
5. The renovation of the Fifth-Forbes Corridor
6. Renovation of Federal-North Buildings
7. Riverparc (the Pittsburgh cultural district hotel and housing project which received a pledge of $12.3 million today from the State of Pennsylvania)
1 response so far ↓
1 Mike // Apr 6, 2007 at 2:11 am
Well, the connector project is underway. So, that’s a good sign. There’s a big hole in the ground on the northside and a lot of heavy machinery.
The demolition for the new arena has made some progress. Part of the church’s campus is being torn apart to make the site ready. But I haven’t seen any big time demolition of the other buildings yet.
The casino is on hold, but I don’t know why. Surely the additional revenue that would be generated by starting to build now should offset the added risk of starting before the appeals process ends. Don says its a lock, so what is he waiting for?
I don’t know about the expressway.
My guess is that the connector will continue for a long time. After all, it’s mostly federal money. It should finnish more or less on time but with added cost.
The casino will be built but with great delays. I guess Don’s just not a gambler.
The arena will be more or less on time and budget. It has to be or the Penguins can still walk away.
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