Editorial: How to make the most of the Esplanade development

Nearly a decade after it was first conceived, the biggest residential-and-retail development project in Pittsburgh since the SouthSide Works is officially under construction. Esplanade will transform the Ohio riverfront at the south end of the Chateau neighborhood, bringing over 800 units of housing, restaurants, an amphitheater, a marina and a Ferris wheel with views of the Point and the Golden Triangle.

It’s the kind of ambitious project that could be remembered, in the years and decades to come, as a symbol and catalyst of a resurgent city. Or it could seen as an absurd extravagance, a white elephant that sits uneasily in the urban fabric, burdens city infrastructure and primarily serves to highlight its overall stagnation.

We are optimistic for the former outcome. But Esplanade won’t