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PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - Downtown Pittsburgh is thriving, according to a new report from the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
New housing and hotels and improved office space. Those are some of the factors they say are luring residents and businesses downtown.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says the proof is in our public transportation ridership.
“Around the country we’ve seen about a 2 percent decrease in public transportation ridership over the last year, well we bucked that trend here in Allegheny County as the Port Authority is up over 2 (percent),” said Fitzgerald.
That's despite a train derailment and flooding that forced some public transit closures this year.
Over the next year, downtown is likely to see 4,000 new apartments and condos and another 1,100 hotel rooms.
Fitzgerald credits an improved economy, better transportation and an airport focusing more on customer and business needs now.
“That airport when it was build 30 years ago was misnamed, it should’ve been called the U.S. Air International Airport not the Pittsburgh International Airport because that’s what we built it for and now finally with (Airport CEO Christina Cassotis) and her team passenger service has been up five years in a row, 7 and a half percent last year,” said Fitzgerald.
He adds Downtown office space is nearly 90 percent filled.
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