Volume 28 No. 9
September 2012
Central Northside considers rebranding By Kelsey Shea
Photo by Kaitlin Balmert Above: Representatives from several East Ohio Street project partners celebrated their progress with a nail pounding ceremony on August 28.
Two more properties on E. Ohio Street slated for redevelopment By Kaitlin Balmert The revitalization of East Ohio Street continued this month in Historic Deutschtown with a nail pounding ceremony at two properties in the business district. Representatives from the Historic Deutschtown Development Corporation, the Northside Community Development Fund, the Northside Leadership Conference, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Rivers Casino and the city celebrated the planned redevelopment of two more storefronts. “East Ohio Street had its low, but store by store it is coming back,” said City Council President Darlene Harris as the Historic Deutschtown Development Corporation The ceremony took place on
Tueday August 28 and focused on the renovation of the storefronts at 431 and 433 East Ohio Street. The façade renovations are part of a larger revitalization plan along East Ohio Street that has already included renovations of 362 East Ohio Street and the acquisition of vacant commercial buildings at 502 and 624 East Ohio Street. As 431 and 433 are two key components along East Ohio Street, once they are restored this will allow for two retailers as well as several housing units. Anticipating the renovations that will be done directly next to her Sweet Time Café and General Store, HDDC President Barbara Burns stated, “East Ohio Street is a family and needs good neighbors.” During the ceremony, Senator
See Storefronts, page 7
What’s in a name? According to the Central Northside Neighborhood Council, quite a lot, which is why they’re proposing a remarketing of their neighborhood that would include changing its name from Central Northside to Allegheny City Central. While the name change wouldn’t be official to the City, the CNNC hopes that by remarketing their neighborhood they will bring in new residents and businesses and dispense negative connotations with the name Central Northside. “Sometimes communities grow faster than perceptions about the community,” said Greg Spicer, one of the CNNC member working on the branding initiative. “This isn’t about a name change of the neighborhood, but a marketing strategy.” In a presentation on August 8, Spicer and the CNNC rebranding committee presented their proposed plan for remarketing the Central Northside to community members in attendance. The remarketing plan, developed in collaboration with North Star, a firm that specializes in community brands andthe marketing firm Karen Bryant and Associates, includes a new logo, slogan, website and neighborhood name that could be promoted using billboards, bumper stickers, advertisements and street pole signs. After researching residents’ perceptions of the neighborhood,
the CNNC found that residents didn’t know how to define the Central Northside. Some residents said they lived in the Mexican War Streets, while others described their area as simply the Northside or the Upper North Shore. They noted that media often called the neighborhood the Central Northside when reporting bad news and simply the Northside when reporting positive news. A vision survey reported that 80 percent of Central Northsiders had a negative connotation with the name Central Northside, confirming their belief that the name Central Northside was a bad brand. Additionally, they found that media and real estate agents had begun describing the Garden Theater Block and the Federal Hill homes as being a part of the “Upper North Shore,” an identity that the CNNC felt put them in an uncomfortable position. “If we don’t do something, the market will do it for us,” explained Spicer. The committee decided on the name Allegheny City Central to unify the micro neighborhoods within the Central Northside and the rebuff the imposition of the North Shore name on prime real estate in the Central Northside. Spicer explained that Allegheny was used in the name because it was familiar and used by local businesses and key Northside institutions. In keeping with the idea of familiarity, Pittsburgh colors, black and gold, were used for the
See Allegheny City, page 7