Wright's redesign did not win over the Allegheny Conference authorities. One official, Park Martin, wrote to Kaufmann that "to do what Mr. Wright has portrayed would cost a minimum of $100,000,000 and would probably run more." Wallace Richards reported that "Wright himself admits that Project II would cost not less than $150,000,000. In turn he feels that Project I would be in the neighborhood of $400,000,000." These cost figures were far beyond what the city was willing to pay. Both men, however, praised Wright's ideas; Richards comments that "what he has conceived for Point Park is magnificent."[19] Kaufmann later wrote Wright asking him to consider doing a much more limited design for an opera house on the Point. Wright did some preliminary sketches, but by June 30, 1948, Kaufmann told him to stop work. Wright's involvement in the redevelopment of the Point was ended.[20]
He would later criticize the role that cost considerations played in the rejection of his scheme, stating, "You're building a $100,000,000 highway [the Penn-Lincoln Parkway] here... Is it impractical to spend several hundred million to further your culture which will survive good or bad long after the Parkway has collapsed?"[21] Cleary writes that Wright enjoyed "being an outsider occupying the moral high ground", a position that would cause his clients to grant him the mantle of "absolute authority and faith", permitting him to avoid "compromises which he was not prepared to endure". Though Kaufmann was willing to grant Wright such a position, the city's other political leaders were seeking "team players who would fit into the system they had constructed rather than prophets who would shake its foundations."[22]
Ultimately, the site was turned into a park with historic and recreational aspects, Point State Park. The Fort Pitt blockhouse remained intact, and three of the five bastions of the fort have been restored. The state acquired almost all property for the site by 1949, at a cost of $7,588,500; the park was finally completed in 1974. Areas adjoining the park were condemned to permit commercial development, most notably Gateway CenteChalkboard underkläder
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