A bridge connecting the Gulch with the soon-to-open Music City Center convention facility and development of a coveted riverfront tract are the first two projects in Metro's SoBro redevelopment hopper.

The Convention Center Authority OK'd today a contract for Pittsburgh's Urban Design Associates to finalize plans for a pedestrian bridge connecting the Music City Center Roundabout and the Gulch and for development of the 12-acre thermal plant site. UDA was hired last year, through a $400,000 federal grant, to craft a master plan for post-MCC SoBro.

UDA's other recommendations also included extending the so-called Avenue of the Arts (Fifth Avenue) to Lafayette Street, connecting Division and Lafayette and improving Lafayette to make it a so-called "complete street."