Places: Are building owners violating city code by restricting use of open spaces?

In the plaza at the foot of Four Gateway Center, there are "Private Property -- No Loitering" signs at every entrance. One sunny afternoon last week, I passed one on my way into the plaza opposite the Post-Gazette Building.

Would I be loitering if I sat on a bench and read my book? Would I be shooed away like flies at a picnic?

For 30 minutes I read, disturbed by nothing more than a leaf blower. Then I came back to the office and hit the dictionary.

To loiter is to "linger aimlessly" or "to move in a slow, idle manner, making purposeless stops." Reading a book is purposeful. Clearly I was not regarded as a loiterer, nor were any of the others who passed purposefully through the plaza.

In another plaza a few blocks away, Martin Cunningham of Robinson had a different experience, as he related in a Sept. 10 letter to the editor of the Post-Gazette. Mr. Cunningham had gotten into the habit of sitting in EQT Plaza on Liberty Avenue as he waited for his bus.

"Last week, while taking up my usual spot, I was greeted by a smiling guard who informed me that, as I was not an EQT employee, I was required to 'move on,' as I was trespassing on private property.

"Feeling like a reprobate, I moved on but circled back to find any public posting of the private nature of the plaza. It took me a few minutes to locate a postcard-sized plaque that forbids 'loitering.' It was positioned, apparently, to be virtually invisible to anyone who was not actively seeking it."

Perhaps Mr. Cunningham needed a book.

Have Downtown plazas become a lot less welcoming? An entire section of Four Gateway Center Plaza, in front of Elements Cuisine restaurant, recently was closed to pedestrians, blocking access to and from a portion of Liberty Avenue. Elements has an outdoor dining area there, but so did the space's former occupant, Palomino, and pedestrians always could pass next to the restaurant seating. Three other entrances to the plaza remain open.

One thing that has changed since Palomino's occupancy is that with the subway's North Shore Connector under construction, more public transit riders are waiting for their buses at that entrance to the plaza, sometimes sitting on its steps. Is that the problem?

Neither the building's property manager nor its owner, Hertz Investment Group, responded to e-mailed questions.

EQT Plaza is the current name of the building originally known as CNG Tower, later Dominion Tower. Named for its anchor tenant, EQT Plaza is owned by New York-based Blackstone Group. As part of capital improvements to the building it purchased in 2005, Blackstone installed a black metal fence and large planter boxes along the Liberty Avenue side of the plaza. They are attractive but not-so-subtle ways of sending a keep-out message.

Security has tightened around office towers across the country since 9/11, and the security planter box is a common solution here and elsewhere. We can understand why building owners would want to limit access to truck bombers, but pedestrians waiting for their buses generally do not pose a threat.

Is there, I wondered, a policy at EQT Plaza that only building employees can use its outdoor space?

"EQT is a tenant in the building and doesn't control use of the outside plaza area," wrote EQT spokesman Kevin West in an e-mail response to the question. Blackstone did not return phone calls.

Both Four Gateway Center plaza and EQT Plaza are private property, no question about that. But they are also what Pittsburgh's zoning code defines as Urban Open Space.

Downtown is blessed with a variety of great urban open spaces that did not happen by accident. In the zoning code, the most recent version of which was enacted Jan. 1, 2010, there are requirements for Urban Open Space and guidelines for its landscaping, seating, trees, even trash receptacles. The provisions relating to access in Urban Open Space in Downtown, known as the GT District for Golden Triangle, are unambiguous: Pedestrian access, for the most part, shouldn't be denied.

"The Urban Open Space shall be open without restriction to the general public at least during business hours normal to the area in which it is located and during periods of heavy pedestrian movement in the area."

Also, "When a development site is adjacent to a bus stop or transit station, the required Urban Open Space shall be designed to provide access to and waiting areas for transit riders."

Mr. Cunningham may want to keep a copy in his wallet.

Architecture critic Patricia Lowry: plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.

First published on September 29, 2010 at 12:00 am