The Pittsburgh housing authority has approved a sale of land to Pitt for new athletic facilities.  The property is right next to the Oak Hill apartments.  The land left over will be sold to Beacon developers to more than double the number of housing units of Oak Hill.  This is great stuff for 2 reasons.  The obvious reason would be so many new houses in an otherwise undeveloped section of the Hill.  More houses mean more residents.  More residents mean demand for more restaurants, stores, etc.  More development also bridges the shady gaps of the Hill district and makes it a more aesthetically pleasing place to live.  All of that leading to higher property values.

The second good thing to come from this is having pitt's footprint spread beyond Oakland.  The further into the Hill District that Pitt goes, the more student foot traffic the Hill will see.  Eventually, they'll see Centre avenue as a great route to downtown.  Pitt creeping into the Hill district really fills in the blanks around the area and all just becomes a well blended section of the City.  So when you're driving down Centre Avenue, you don't have that obvious unsettling feeling of, "oh, we must be in the Hill District now."  It'll be seamless, just like going from shadyside to squirrel Hill.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08207/899398-53.stm?cmpid=news.xml