Right now there is $3.1 billion of active and announced investment in Downtown.
This is one of many facts and findings released today in the 2016 State of Downtown Pittsburgh report, by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP). The fifth annual publication provides a comprehensive look at economic development indicators in Downtown Pittsburgh as well as data set comparisons to similar Central Business Districts.
Here are highlights from the report:
- There are now 116 sidewalk cafes in Downtown. The number of outdoor dining seats has increased 164% since 2010. Nearly half of all dining establishments that opened after 2010 have included sidewalk cafes or open storefronts to provide outdoor dining elements to patrons. The success of outdoor dining in and around places like Market Square has spread throughout Downtown to include sidewalk cafés, courtyards, open-air storefronts, and rooftop spots. This practice, becoming commonplace among new and existing restaurants, has been aided by matching grant funds provided by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the PDP. One restaurant reported a 30% uptick in business after installing floor to ceiling operable windows in its sidewalk-facing storefront.
- Pittsburgh Pirates attendance set a new record at PNC Park with nearly 2.5 million attendees, surpassing the PNC Park attendance record set in the 2001 opening season. Also reported: PNC Park diverts 76% of its waste from landfills through recycling and composting initiatives.
- There has been a 33.7% increase in the population growth in the Golden Triangle between 2010 to 2015. The current residential population is at 14,395 and 29% of Downtown residents are under 30 years old. Downtown has a 92.2% apartment occupancy rate.
- Downtown has a walk, bike and transit score of 99, 81 and 100 respectively. There are 25,000 average monthly bike trips in the 1200 block of Penn Avenue. Real-time bike data for Downtown is available here. There are 15 bike share stations in Downtown, 47.25 acres of park space and 13 miles of riverfront trails.
- An economic impact analysis of 39 Greater Downtown arts and culture organizations performed by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council showed 4.2 million attendees in 2015. The organizations’ annual expenditures on salaries, programs, physical plant, and professional services increased by 3.8% to $172 million, equating to nearly 7,800 full-time equivalent jobs and $163 million in household income. Additionally, local and state tax revenue from these activities surpassed $27.2 million in 2015.
“We regularly hear from investors that they utilize this report to make informed decisions about development opportunities in the economy of Downtown Pittsburgh,”says Jereme Waldrup, president and CEO of PDP. “The report describes the more than 7.2 billion dollars in investments into the market, highlighting the exciting changes in our evolving neighborhoods.”
The full report is available for download at http://www.downtownPittsburgh.com/sodp.