Paramount building ideal for tax-producing office space

Concurrent with the historic nomination of the Paramount Pictures Film Exchange, YPA engaged a developer to come up with a development scheme for the reuse of the site.

What was developed was a 431-page proposal to convert the 1926 structure into a LEED-certified green medical clinic. The project would entail a $2.6 million rehab and build-out. Ultimately, the medical clinic would produce monthly rental income of $15,540 and $33,632 in cash flow after year three ($131,087 in cash flow in year 9).

YPA and its developer's offer to purchase the building and create the medical clinic was ignored by the owner. “The building's location and lack of parking does not make it a good place for anything but a warehouse," said David Montegomery, one of UPMC’s lawyers, at a recent Historic Review Commission hearing. "This simply is a pie-in-the-sky dream that this is going to become a public destination point."

He neglects to mention, however, that with Mercy hospital a few blocks away, the location would be ideal and parking would be plentiful. Besides, no one expects the Paramount to become a focus of public interest, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth putting to adaptive reuse as an office building or something similar.

After all, Greater Pittsburgh OB/GYN has an office at 1811 Blvd. of the Allies and Harvey M. Rubin is a pediatrician at 1709 Blvd. of the Allies, and Campbell Phillbin Medical Associates is less than a block behind the Paramount on Locust St., which proves that the stretch of road is indeed viable for medical office spaces.

However, if UPMC has their way, this huge swath of land will be forever removed from the tax rolls.

Update on the Historic Nomination of the Paramount Pictures Film Exchange

The public hearing on the Paramount Pictures Film Exchange to be held last Tuesday, Nov. 17, was postponed to January 12, 2010.

A Wikipedia entry has been prepared: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Film_Exchange_%28Pittsburgh%29

Here's reporter Diana Nelson Jones' blog on the Paramount Nomination:

Council's "Oops!" moment, Nov 18: http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/citywalkabout/archive/2009/11/18/council-s-latest-big-quot-oops-quot.aspx

In the meantime, Duquesne University is now opposed to the designation. Could this be a possible conflict of interest?

Charles J. Dougherty, Ph.D.

Duquesne University President

He is a member of the board of directors of UPMC Mercy Hospital, where he chairs the Ethics Committee;

the Senator John Heinz History Center, The Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the

Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.

YPA’s offer to buy the building for $100,000 was rejected (we had lined up the financing, too). Meanwhile, the owners are willing to sell for much less--as little as $60,000.

In addition, a review of property ownership in the Bluff/Uptown shows that UPMC and Duquesne University own just about everything. They have assembled a huge amount of land that could only be used for one thing: to construct a monster building.

Or a parking lot.

Support the Paramount Pictures Film Exchange!

YPA has nominated the Paramount Pictures Film Exchange in Pittsburgh's Uptown neighborhood to be a City Historic Landmark. Built in 1926, the Paramount film exchange served as the sole distribution point for major motion pictures, between Hollywood and local theaters. Drew Levinson, a film student, created a YouTube video of the film exchange:

Some of the most popular movies came through this film exchange, including Sunset Boulevard, Roman Holiday, and The Ten Commandments. The director Cecil B. DeMille himself spent several days in Pittsburgh at the Paramount film exchange while promoting a new Paramount movie. These were the central meeting point for directors, actors, producers, and theater owners.

Film exchanges existed in most U.S. cities; however, only a few exist today. As movie distribution systems changed, most film exchanges became obsolete by the late 1960s. Pittsburgh Paramount Pictures Film Exchange ceased operation in 1968 and it served many other uses since then. But it has been vacant for the last several years. Many film exchanges in other cities have been preserved and reused, such as in Chicago, Oklahoma City, and Seattle.

Most of Pittsburgh's film exchanges along the Boulevard of the Allies have been demolished. YPA envisions the reuse of Pittsburgh's last remaining original film exchange as an asset for the Uptown community. The first step is local historic designation to prevent demolition.

YPA has worked with a developer to assemble a proposal to convert the building into a LEED-certified green medical clinic that would serve the population of Uptown, Hill District, and West Oakland.

City Council takes testimony on Tuesday, November 17, at 1:30. Please come out and support this important landmark. Or, write a letter of support. More information is on our website, http://www.youngpreservationists.org/ypa-nominates-uptown-building-to-be-historic-landmark