March 2011 Update: Ground has broken and work is underway. Click here to read more.
As some of you may have seen in this weekend’s Post-Gazette article, there are plans to build a new full-service restaurant at Schenley Plaza within the next year. We’ll be working with the Eat ‘n Park Hospitality Group to offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner with both indoor and outdoor seating. The plan is to begin construction during the off-season this winter and open in spring 2011.
We’re pretty excited about the restaurant, since it’s always been a part of the plan for the park and we think it will add a wonderful amenity to the setting. The grassy area near the Hillman Library that faces the PNC Carousel has been set aside for this purpose. We know that some park users will be concerned about the creation of a commercial enterprise in the park, so we’d like to share why we think this is a positive development.
When we visited Bryant Park this summer, the restaurants were packed and the park was still active well into the evening.
When Schenley Plaza was being imagined, it was modeled heavily on New York City’s Bryant Park, which had gone from a rundown space that many people avoided to a vibrant destination. The Bryant Park Restoration Corporation accomplished this by providing park users with the things they most wanted in a park: free programming, clean restrooms, family activities like the carousel, and dining options. If park users had a place to eat in this prime location in the city, they would stay longer…and they would provide a source of revenue that would keep the park operating at a high level. (For a little more on Bryant Park’s resurgence, click here.)
The same model has worked wonderfully in Central Park, with Tavern on the Green and the Central Park Boathouse becoming destinations within the park. And in fact, this model is already at work in Schenley Plaza and elsewhere in the park with the Schenley Park Café. All of our tenants pay rent to the Parks Conservancy, providing a crucial source of revenue that helps to maintain the park, freeing up our staff to raise funds for other important projects. By working with capable partners like Bartho Nietsch at the Schenley Park Café and now Eat ‘n Park Hospitality Group at Schenley Plaza, the Parks Conservancy can focus on what we do well–helping to restore the parks–while providing additional, high-quality amenities to park users.
We’re happy to hear your feedback on this venture–feel free to leave us a comment below!
The restaurant will be located in the yellow shaded area, which was created during the design process to accommodate a future restaurant.
You might want to edit: “The same model has worked wonderfully in Central Park, with Tavern on the Green and the Central Park Boathouse becoming destinations within the park.”
Considering:
“Tavern on the Green had its last seating on December 31, 2009. It is auctioning off its interior decorations and closing its doors due to bankruptcy.” – Wikipedia.
There are already a lot of dining options around this area that offer low-mid range prices and qualities. If there is to be a restaurant added I would hope that it would offer something different and compliment the Museums, Concert Hall, Library, and Phipps… hearing Eat N Park, is not encouraging. Try Big Burrito or the guys that run Toast.
Either way, always hoping the best for PPC.
Yikes, hadn’t heard about Tavern on the Green! You’re right, that is unfortunate. Obviously nothing is a sure thing, so we are hoping for the best.
The restaurant will not actually be an Eat ‘n Park, but more in the style of the company’s Six Penn Kitchen–somewhat more upscale but still family-friendly. The idea is definitely to create something that will complement the other attractions in Oakland.
Just wanted to post a quick update on this comment from someone who has done more research than me! Tavern on the Green did not close because it was financially unsuccessful–in fact, it was so successful that there was a bidding war between operators when the current operator’s lease was coming up for renewal. It will reopen under new ownership, although it may not still be called Tavern on the Green.
Here’s a link for the story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/12/22/tavern.on.green.closing/index.html
A terrific idea. Very excited about this.
So long as there are Smiley Cookies! I feel this is an excellent idea considering it’s right at the heart of the Pitt campus and is to be located in a very popular urban space. Eat n’ Park will probably do a great job of making it work and meld with the community. Their specialty seems to be their ability to relate and cater to the local market. I remember a few years back there was talk about building a new Atria’s in this location, which I’m sure would have been successful, but an Eat ‘n Park ‘concept restaurant’ will probably go over as a big hit too.
Eat N Park in Schenley, Boooo!
Again, just to reiterate, it won’t actually be an Eat ‘n Park–it’ll be a new restaurant with a different name.
This is restaurant idea for Schenley Plaza is out of character for the Schenley Farms Historic District. This seems to be nothing more than an expedient money grab by the Parks Conservancy and the greedy management of Eat n Park. This area is largely free from commercial buildings, which seem to be everywhere else in Oakland. Instead of viewing across the green from one library to the next, we’ll be faced with a wall, a visual impairment blocking the Hillman Library from Schenley Plaza. This area is one with colleges, libraries, and museums. A commercial restaurant is completely out of place in what amounts to the beaultiful core of the University of Pittsburgh campus. This is a very crass idea that should never have seen the light of day. Shame on you!
I think it is a good idea. After having lived in Manhattan for four years I welcome a place that would have the drawing power of The Boathouse or the Tavern on the Green. It is vitally important to make both Oakland and Downtown places where business is conducted but also are destinations for people to enjoy.
Every great museum system is close to eateries so that one can have a full day of enjoying what the museum (and library in this case) without leaving the area – it is a model that has been successful in every big city.
One only has to look so far as The Cafe’ at the Frick to see that restaurants like this can be pleasant and successful.
Pittsburgh is well known nationally for it’s Parks System (really, it is) so I trust that the Conservancy has the city and the citizen’s best interests in mind here – even through the worst economic down times Pittsburgh’s Park have remained healthy and intact – that is no small feat.
And really – just a few years ago this space was asphalt parking spaces… everything done is a major step up here.
I agree to some extent with Paul. At this stage in the plaza’s life, a full scale restaurant seems unnecessary to draw people to the plaza which already sees high usage. It’s orientation would seem to wall off the west edge of the plaza thus visually and physically separating the plaza from the existing institutional buildings of the university. This would seem to contradict the design efforts at Bryant park for “increased visibility from the street”.
Being one of the few open public spaces remaining in an area highly congested with structures, I would hope the decision to build a permanent structure is carefully reevaluated. Similar decisions to build on the open spaces of the Cathedral of Learning lawn were reversed in the 1950s by the public sentiment for the importance of such rare open spaces. For the long-term atmosphere and character of the Schenley Plaza space, it may be more desirable to return the restaurant plot to a tree-lined park area similar to that which existed prior to the original plaza renovation. If a restaurant is ultimately built, perhaps the congestion could be reduced if one of the original design propositions is returned to: closing the portion Schenley Drive between Forbes and Clemente in order to better connect the plaza to (and buffer the restaurant structure from) the Hillman/Forbes Quad portion of the Pitt campus.
Good to hear about Tavern on the Green… when I was there in late August there was discussion of its closing and then seeing that wikipedia article, I assumed it did.
Also glad to hear that it would be more like 6 Penn than an Eat N Park.
re: Mike – “This would seem to contradict the design efforts at Bryant park for ‘increased visibility from the street’. ”
- I agree… I think it would be pretty amazing if the retaurant was dropped down below street level with seating available on its “roof” just above street level. But I’m sure you all have a lot of ideas floating around. I would vote for the least obtrusive structure when viewing the lawn from the Hilman Library… but if it was possible to block the view of the UGLY Hillman Library from the lawn at the same time, that would be nice
I am very much opposed to a restaurant in Schenley Plaza, and hope this will be seriously reconsidered. I have expressed my views in the Post Gazette in Letters, March 26, 2010. The park is lovely the way it is, and will become commercialized with this new addition. The looks, smells, and crowds that come with a full service restaurant don’t belong in any park. Aren’t you losing sight of the park idea? With so few attractive public areas in Oakland, I think it is important to remember the park’s reason for being. If you need more funds have regular fundraisers in the plaza – people will give as a way of maintaining future opportunities to attend the many wonderful free events. With so many students looking for internships, create a program that uses their talents in spearheading this effort. I have been using this park since it opened; I walk through it on most mornings. This morning I so enjoyed the beautiful grouping of daffodils in bloom as I walked to work. Please don’t take the easy way out on this; our city greenspaces are far too precious.
Terry’s comment is right on the mark. Green spaces are special, and they should be preserved, not contaminated by yet another commercial enterprise. We have more than enough of those already.
Raise my taxes if you need more money to support the wonderful work you do.
I can’t imagine the University of Pittsburgh without Schenley Plaza. How is the restaurant going to fit in such a small place? I can only imagine over-crowding with the added touch of a tacky out of place restaurant. This makes me very sad.
As a Pitt student, I hope that I speak on the behalf of many other students when I say that building a restaurant in Schenley Plaza is distasteful (no pun intended). I had lunch at the Plaza just today with friends. When I walk into the area, I feel a sense of community, seeing everyone outside, enjoying their breaks. It’s a beautiful space, and the recent sunshine has only accentuated that beauty. It may sound cliche, but the park is an oasis among Oakland’s heavily polluted, urban streets–streets that are lined with a wide variety of eateries that are both affordable and within short walking distances from the neighborhood’s main attractions, such as the museums.
With that, I don’t believe a new restaurant is necessary in the least for attracting patrons to the museums (especially because the museums have their own cafes) or any other venue. What a commercial restaurant WILL attract are more cars, more pollution, and more waste. I feel that it would make the park more impersonal by both physically partially blocking it from street view as well as by adding yet another layer to the consumer culture. To me, it seems obvious that such a restaurant (even one that’s “a step up” from Eat n’ Park), would be oil to the park’s water. They don’t mix.
I agree with other comments that alternative methods of fundraising are feasible; please consider more deeply the consequences this structure might have in the short and long run.
This restaurant will not succeed simply because there is no parking in Oakland. As a former PITT student I can tell you that the people that this restaurant hopes to attract will not be able to figure out where to park and how to get around Oakland. They are used driving up to a restaurant, getting out of a car and walking 3ft to the door. That won’t be happening in Oakland.
The college students will not go to this place because there are plenty of good, cheap places as it is.
Thank goodness the first design was tabled. A restaurant in the plaza at this point is completely unnecessary. Please stop the madness, preserve the green space, and nix the what is now, years after the original plan for this parcel, a very bad idea.
I hope this idea is reconsidered and abandoned. A restaurant on Schenley Plaza will significantly diminish the quality of the Plaza. Consider both the noise pollution from exhaust fans and the constant smell of fried food. Why not use the space for a farmer’s market so that families visiting the park can find something fresh and healthy to eat?
After revisiting this subject I do wonder – how exactly do the Pittsburghers who have negative reactions to this plan think the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy stays active? I mean do people believe money falls out of the sky for the PPC to do good works with?
I don’t know the details of the business arrangements between the PPC and the eat n’ Park people but I assume that a percentage of profits will find their way to the PPC as part of this deal, as they should.
Plus, if I’m not mistaken (and as stated above) a space in the park-let was always set aside for use as a commercial venue. It was realized early on that would be an integral part of this project.
I am concerned about the addition of a large (for the site) commercial structure on Schenley Plaza. It is the openness and green space that seems to draw us all there especially on sunny days. The small pods seem much more appropriate to the scale of the site–and allow one to see around them. As I read the comments and replies above I am a little frustrated since the PittsburghParks response is on the food quality and money to be gained where I see more of the comments about whether this is what we want to commit to in a very limited green space in Oakland. I also don’t understand what role if any public input has in this process. I saw fliers for a zoning hearing–is that because the restaurant is too big for the space? And the fliers seem to imply that only people present at the hearing could file an opinion? The process does not seem very transparent…
I have lived in Pittsburgh since 1981; a transfer from Manhattan brought me here. So many outstanding changes have taken place here since then that were created by many who fought long and hard to make progress in a city that was dying.
Pittsburgh’s Parks are indeed a gem of the city, including the ingenious idea of Schenley Plaza. While I have not seen any renderings of the proposed resturant, a well-thought out design, scaled appropriately, is a great idea and addition to the park. In the winter, the kisoks are closed and if the menu is right at this resturant, it will serve as a great place to go on the Pitt campus in all seasons.
It is indeed frustrating to hear so many complainers about change in this city. Be open, be positive! Eat and Park, and their other ventures are good neighbors and stewards–not only of our Parks, but of Pitt as well. Trust that the PPC will make good decisions. Look and marvel at all of the changes at Phipps–beautiful work that makes Pittsburgh shine. (Sure nice to have the 1st family come visit there, no?)
Keep up the great work PPC.
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