New Development in Findlay/Moon Twp.

A parcel of land near the Pittsburgh International Airport is now going to be named Findlay Crossing.  This development will be across from the Park 'N Fly near the Dick's Headquarters.  This area is set to be for businesses in the area and maybe a retail parking venture.  The property is being developed with three local investors.  You can find out more by checking out bizjournals.

A local partnership is buying a 30-acre parcel of land near the Pittsburgh International Airport on which it plans to develop a 335,000-square-foot office park called Findlay Crossing.

CDR Development LLC reached an agreement of sale a few weeks ago to buy the lot on Flaugherty Run and Clinton Roads near the Dick’s Sporting Goods corporate campus from Atlanta-based Park 'N Fly, an operator of airport parking lots, according to Ron Sofranko, a partner in the firm.

CDR is named from the first initials of the company’s three partners: Charlie Brown, an airport area parking entrepreneur; David Dietrich, a principal of an at-home senior health care services firm; and Sofranko, a restaurateur and consultant who also has developed real estate.

“I think the timing is perfect,” Sofranko said of his partnership’s plans for the site. “We’re excited. It’s a great piece of property.”

Joe Crisafulli, senior director of business development for Park 'N Fly, said his company hasn’t operated a parking lot on its Findlay property in more than five years and the company has opted to focus on its core markets.

“I don’t know any reason why it won’t close,” he said of the sale.

So far, CDR is working on two potential plans for the site.

The first would be to develop about 20 acres into a 335,000-square-foot office campus, with Brown using the remaining 10 acres for a parking operation, Sofranko said. Alternatively, the parking lot could be scrapped for more office space if demand calls for it, Sofranko noted.

Sofranko expects the plan by Brown to use a portion of the property for a parking venture will help finance the project but emphasized there isn't an expectation to build a 200,000-square-foot office building on a speculative basis.

It’s a location that is not only close to the airport and the headquarters for Dick’s Sporting Goods but also a 10-minute drive from the cracker plant proposed by Royal Dutch Shell in nearby Beaver County, added Sofranko.

He expects the sale to close in the next 90 days after a due diligence period and put the value of the land at about $200,000 per acre.

Sofranko said CDR is working to hire a commercial real estate firm to represent Findlay Crossing. An architect has yet to be chosen to design the development. CDR is working with Hampton Engineering.

The announcement of Findlay Crossing marks another major development project in a Parkway West office submarket that has seen a dramatic turnaround from facing double-digit vacancies two years ago to one where it’s challenging to find larger blocks of space.

Dan Adamski, a managing director in the Pittsburgh office of Jones Lang LaSalle, said he is working with several office clients seeking more than 50,000 square feet of space who are finding limited options.

“Right now, the Parkway West has gotten incredibly tight for large blocks of space,” he said. “So the timing is excellent.”

Kim Ford, managing principal for Cresa Pittsburgh, which specializes in tenant representation, sees the Parkway West office market as a selection of offices that are either new or old with little available in the middle in a time when she’s seeing more and more clients sensitive to rising rents in the region.

Rates at Findlay Crossing will be key, she said.

“I think it will depend on what the rental rates are,” For said. “If they can keep the rental rates in the low $20s (per square foot), I think they’ll be successful.”

New Office Spaces Are Opening in the Strip District

There will be new office spaces opening in Strip District.  These spaces are great for tech companies, and are equipped to handle those types of businesses needs.  The space also has a unique touch.  The guitar and music themed offices lead to an interactive music environment that is a highpoint for anyone working there.  Keep reading or check out Pop City for more information.

An office building in the Strip District is getting a rock and roll makeover. Its exterior walls will soon be wrapped in the likeness of a giant, backlit guitar as the building formerly known as 3030 Penn Avenue becomes the Penn A Caster Loft Offices.
Tusk Development bought the 24,000 square-foot building late last year and wanted to give it a new identity. So when co-owner Jim Genstein returned from a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, they were inspired to give it a new guitar-centric theme.
In addition to the exterior changes, an interior lobby has been redeveloped and now features a guitar touchscreen that controls a video wall and streaming music. Lami Grubb Architects is the project architect.
The three-story building was built in the early 1900s as a warehouse and stored salt as well as the horse-driven carriages that drove goods to and from the nearby Allegheny River.
Genstein’s partner Andy Schaer says the office space is ideal for a tech or creative services company. The loft offices feature brick walls and exposed beams, as well as abundant natural light.
The building is wired for any tech company’s needs—including battery backup for uninterrupted power—and could be built-out to meet tenant needs. The site also includes over 100 parking spaces.
The name Penn A Caster is derived from the Fender Telecaster guitar, which has been played by countless musicians including Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, and George Harrison.
Schaer expects the new guitar-clad facade to be complete within the next eight weeks.

Beaver County and New Development

Beaver County will be starting some major development projects over the next year.  There has been an upswing in commercial real estate sold, and there will be more properties developing over the next few years.  Keep reading or click here to learn more about Beaver County.

Beaver County developer Chuck Betters may be under more confidentiality agreements than he can count, but, he could still tell a crowd gathered at Community College of Beaver County about his optimism regarding redevelopment potential of the county.

“I can tell you this, all hell is about to break loose,” he said, noting that he has option agreements with three to four different companies that are all waiting on a decision from Royal Dutch Shell on whether it will build a petrochemical facility in Potter and Center townships.

Betters and other Beaver County leaders were on hand Thursday afternoon to discuss the activity going on in the region in the kick-off for this year’s Corridors of Opportunity event series held by the Pittsburgh Business Times.

This was the first of four events to be held focusing on a county in southwestern Pennsylvania. Future events will look at Washington, Butler and Westmoreland counties. There is complete coverage on Beaver County in the March 22 edition of the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Betters acknowledged that early on Shell was evaluating his property in Aliquippa for the potential ethane cracker before settling on Horsehead’s property as the preferred site and that he was actually relieved his property didn’t make the cut. He is focusing on potential midstream projects.

Though Shell’s final decision still hasn’t been made, Betters and other speakers said there is too much happening surrounding natural gas development in the region for the petrochemical industry not to come to town.

This will lead to rising demand in housing he said and he hopes the county will be able to meet the challenges that an influx of people might bring.

Ed Rae, founder and president of Re/MAX Select Realty said in the last 18 to 24 months he has seen an uptick in activity in his real estate offices. Business was benefiting from the large office developments of Cranberry Woods in nearby Butler County and Southpointe in Washington County but he told the more than 300 gathered at the event that he saw major potential for further demand if there is development of the petrochemical industry.

“I do think we could be sitting on a boom town like we have never seen,” he said.

However, he and others noted that to reach this full potential the county will have to address issues such as creating ammenities to draw in young people and families, building up education infrastructure and adjusting the tax base.

Pat Nardelli, partner at Castlebrook Development agreed with Betters and Rae and added that the reason the county is able to hold these discussions is based on the cooperation within communities.

He noted that even without the potential cracker projects are already underway. He pointed to the successful $20 million sale of a 410,000 square foot spec building in Big Beaver Falls earlier this month and progress on various hospitality projects throughout the county.

“Beaver County has arrived,” he said, though he added it has been a hard sell to get recognition from national lenders. Both Nardelli and Rae said the lending industry will be a major factor in how future developments come online.

Development that comes through increased natural gas activity or the introduction of the petrochemical industry will also require a robust pipeline of workers and Joe Forrester, president of Community College of Beaver County told the crowd he and the region’s other community colleges are working together to ensure the talent will be there.

Specific to the potential petrochemical industry, CCBC is launching an industrial maintenance program in April that is designed so that other related programs can be added. Plus, he noted the school is developing process technician and management degrees that can be used by existing companies such as Nova Chemical and BASF.

Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, who gave Thursday’s keynote speech, said the downstream development will be biggest opportunity for Beaver County.

It’s an opportunity to attract back large energy consuming companies. But to do this, the region must work together, he said, adding that the conference has been working with local leader to attract industry.

Food or Shopping?

Food or Shopping?  That is the question that many developers are facing right now.  Downtown Pittsburgh is booming with developments popping up everywhere.  However, the question that has come up recently is what would perform better downtown.  Many restaurants are coming into Pittsburgh at rapid pace, but are those restaurants going to see customers without shops to go to.  Keep reading to learn more about this question, and what developments are coming to the city.


 
When it comes to more dining in downtown Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is thinking about stepping away from the table for one would-be restaurant.

This morning, longtime PHLF president Arthur Ziegler told me the organization is reconsidering putting a restaurant into the Thompson building redevelopment just off Market Square in order to see if there’s any opportunities for a retailer in the location.

“We haven’t decided,” said Ziegler. “We are trying to evaluate more food or more retail.”

Zeigler suggested the organization is beginning to wonder whether there’s a greater need for retail than more restaurants in downtown right now considering what’s happened with the market there.

Restaurants are rushing in to downtown these days.

The Pittsburgh office of CBRE reports that 26 new restaurants have opened downtown in the past two years, with 12 more on the way. The pace is simply not the same for incoming stores, even though PHLF is working on a number of buildings on Wood Street it is targeting for use by independent women’s clothing stores.

A short walk from the Thompson building that is part of PHLF’s Market at Fifth development that includes a Heinz Healey Gentlemen’s Apparel store and The Nettleton Shoe Shop, most of Market Square is almost entirely occupied by restaurants right now, with the potential for added seating for outdoor dining serving as more of a natural draw for restaurants than stores.

It’s a very different market than when PHLF first announced its plans for the Thompson building in September 2011, announcing at the time that the $2.2 million renovation, pursued with a $1 million grant from the Allegheny Foundation, was fully expected to be a restaurant, working informally with a Florida-based restaurant management firm.

Ziegler said PHLF is still working with the restaurant group and may still go with the same plan for a two-level restaurant in the building that it did two years ago. He expects a final decision will come in the next few weeks as PHLF finishes adding an elevator and stairs in the building.

Construction is expected to be completing in the upcoming months.For more information see BizJournal.

New Development Coming To East Liberty

The second phase of Bakery Square is now in development thanks to Walnut Capital Partners.  The Reizenstein School was purchased to create two office buildings totaling 400,000 square feet. This new commercial development is expected to create 1200 jobs.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on Wednesday announced that Shadyside-based Walnut Capital Partners has officially closed on the purchase of the vacant Reizenstein School on a stretch of Penn Avenue that creates a border between the neighborhoods of Larimer and Shadyside.

The final sale of the property to Walnut Capital and its financial partner, RCG Longview Fund, will enable the development team to break ground on the second phase of Bakery Square. The new project consisting of two office buildings totaling 400,000 square feet, and two 175-unit apartment buildings along with townhouses, is expected to be built at a budget of $100 million. The first Bakery Square is across the street.

Demolition is expected to begin soon on the school building and construction is expected to begin on the first apartment building in March.

Financing for the acquisition and demolition was provided by the Employee Real Estate Construction Trust Funds, which leverages building trade pension funding to help create jobs for its membership.

Bakery Square 2.0 is expected to create 1,200 jobs.

For more information see Biz Journal.

Developments to Open In Lawrencville

2013 looks to be a promising time for commercial development in the Pittsburgh area.  The new Shops at Doughboy development in Lawrenceville will feature commercial retail space for new businesses. The shopping area received a $250,000 dollar grant to help fund the massive project.

It has been decades since Lawrenceville’s Doughboy Square was a vibrant urban center.  But with a $250,000 grant to the Shops at Doughboy, a planned mixed-use development, redevelopment there has been given another boost.

The Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority last week awarded the community infrastructure and tourism grant to the $7 million, 48,000-square-foot project.

The Shops will be adjacent to the Roberto Clemente Museum at the intersection of Penn Avenue and Butler Street.  Central Real Estate Holdings, a partnership between October Development and Senko Construction, is the developer.

The URA, which has been heavily involved in redevelopment of Doughboy Square, requested the grant from the county.  The funds will be used for site work ahead of construction, which is expected to begin next spring.

The URA’s Paul Svoboda calls the site a “100% corner” that is important not just to Lawrenceville, but to the entire city.  The intersection is a gateway between Lower Lawrenceville and the Strip District.

Though the project has been reviewed by a number of neighborhood organizations, designs and renderings are yet to be finalized.

Because of a slope at the site, parking will be integrated below the Penn Avenue street grade, accessible from the building’s rear.  Retail will front the street, with residential units above.

Svoboda praises the developers for taking an early financial risk in acquiring the site, and for working with local stakeholders to ensure the design is amenable to all parties.

“There’s some risk that they took, but the rewards are going to be big,” Svoboda says.  “Not only for them, but for the whole city.”

Svoboda says recent investments in the square are making good on priorities outlined years ago in blueprints such as the Allegheny Riverfront Vision Plan, which called for an intense focus on Doughboy Square.

Shops at Doughboy is building on the momentum of several other projects in the square.  In the 3400 block, the Doughboy Square Townhomes development, which was completed last year, brought five single-family infill homes to the neighborhood.

And at 3431 Butler Street, the planned Doughboy Apartments is a four story, mixed income and mixed use building that includes 39 apartment units and 17,000 square-feet of first-floor commercial space. 

For more information see Pop City.

Development to Open Near Airport

 New developments are expected to be built in the Airport area.  Two complexes alongside a new road are expected to be developed, with more than 240 acres available for more business opportunities. The development will feature more than 360,000 square feet of office space, with possibilities for more in the near future.

A major new tenant signing a lease for two buildings with a development team that expected to build only one for a future tenant to come. A new road opening up more than 240 acres for new development. And the potential to come for another 7,000 acres of land owned by the Airport Authority of Allegheny County.

Such are signs of progress surrounding the Pittsburgh International Airport detailed by three well-established developers in the area and Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald who participated in a panel discussion at the Corridors of Opportunity event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel hosted by the Pittsburgh Business Times.

“This corridor continues to grow and to grow in a very positive way,” Fitzgerald said.

Joining Fitzgerald on the panel were Dick Donley, principal of Chaska Properties and co-general partner in the new Pittsburgh International Business Park, which is developing in partnership with Continental Real Estate Cos.; Bill Hunt, chairman of Downtown-based Elmhurst Group, owner of the Airside Business Park among other airport area properties; and Jerry Bunda, president of Imperial Land Corp., the developer of the Findlay Industrial Park, along with plans for others.

Donley is the newest developer to operate in the airport corridor. His joint venture with Continental Real Estate achieved a major boost in October when it reached a lease with mortgage services company Service Link LP, to occupy two 54,000-square-foot buildings the joint venture has started building. Donley described the development so far, which is working with a ground lease with the Allegheny County Airport Authority, as succeeding well beyond expectations.

With more than $14 million of public investment already invested in the infrastructure, Donley said the project as a whole calls for 360,000 square feet of flex office space.

Bunda is hopeful to see similar results at Findlay Industrial Park. The park has seen recent progress with the extension of its main road, Solar Drive, further into property at the master planned development, which he said will now make newly available more than 240 acres for development.

Hunt, whose company has owned Airside Business Park for some time and has been a developer in the western suburbs for 28 years, noted that the tenant demand in the airport area has gradually become more diversified over the years, improving from the days when US Airways dropped the airport as a hub.

For more information see Biz Journal.

Hill District and East Liberty Developments

East Liberty is becoming the place to develop in Pittsburgh.  The mayor and two senators from Pittsburgh are announcing a development in East Liberty that will create jobs and help the area's economy.  East Liberty is set to acquire a new boutique hotel that is being constructed from a historic building that has set empty for years.  This funding that has opened up is also helping to support new developments in the Hill District as well.

Two major neighborhood development projects, one in East Liberty, the other in the Hill District, received word of a federal infusion of grant funding.

An $800,000 grant will go to East Liberty Development Inc. to help fund the renovation of a historic five-story former YMCA building in the center of the neighborhood into a new 63-room
boutique hotel.

In the Hill District, a $789,000 grant will go to the Hill House Economic Development Corp. to help build a new Shop ‘N Save grocery store long pursued in the neighborhood.
Both grants came from the Office of Community Services, a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The funding was announced by Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl along with community leaders from East Liberty Development,Inc. and the Hill House Economic Development Corp.
According to an announcement from the mayor’s office, Ravenstahl worked on securing the grants with U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., and U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pittsburgh. Both new developments are expected to create hundreds of jobs, according to the mayor’s announcement.

The hotel plan will be pursued as a partnership between ELDI’s private real estate arm, ELDI Real Estate LLC, and Edile LC, led by East Liberty entrepreneur Matt Ciccone. The plan calls for redeveloping a historic building that has sat vacant for 10 years into what may be the city’s first boutique hotel at a total development cost of $19 million, including $500,000 in loans from the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority to help acquire the building.

With a budget of $11.5 million, the new Hill District grocery store is planned to be a new 30,000-square-foot Shop ‘n Save providing full-service shopping and selection in a project expected to create 100 jobs.

The project, which has faced budget shortfalls and delays, has established a broad range of funding support that includes a $1 million Community Development Block Grant and $275,800 in deferred land acquisition financing from the URA.

The grocery store is to be operated by local store owner Jeff Ross and the construction project is being managed by Massaro Corp. on behalf of the developer, Hill House Economic Development Corp.

Ravenstahl praised the Obama administration for providing financial support to help continue to spur new development in the city.

For more information see Biz Journal.

University of Pittsburgh and CMU Come to Bakery Square

SEI with Carnegie Mellon will partner with the University of Pittsburgh to take over 38,000 square feet of space in Bakery Square.  This extra space will help them prepare for the growth of their software engineering and cyber security programs.  The US Government is also working with SEI to develop new cyber security software.  Through these programs, East Liberty is being developed into a branch of the Oakland tech community.

Walnut Capital Partners has leased most of the remaining first-floor space in Bakery Square to the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, the latest validation of the East End neighborhoods of Larimer and East Liberty becoming a branch campus for the city’s university district in Oakland.

Walnut Capital announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement ago for SEI, which will take 38,000 square feet of office space at Bakery Square. SEI will join such other local institutions as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Technology Development Center and the University of Pittsburgh, which operates an office for its School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and its Masters of Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics Program, along with the building’s predominant tenant, Google.

Paul Nielsen, director and chief executive officer of the SEI, noted the lease represents an expansion for the institute, whose main office is on Fifth Avenue in the heart of Oakland.
”While our main headquarters will remain in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh near the Carnegie Mellon University campus, we look forward to opening up additional space at Bakery Square,” said Nielsen, in a prepared statement. “The extra space there will help us prepare for the anticipated growth of our programs in software engineering and cybersecurity.”

Also nearby on Penn Avenue is Chatham Eastside, an expansion of the instution’s larger campus nearby on Fifth Avenue, bringing the presence of three universities to a stretch of Penn Avenue that would have seemed highly unlikely 10 years ago.

The institute has 500 employees and in addition to its Pittsburgh headquarters it has offices in Los Angeles, Arlington, Va., and Frankfurt Germany. While no projections were provided on how many people would work at SEI's new office, a 38,000 square foot lease projects to 190 people base on a formula of five employees per 1,000 square feet.

The SEI was established in 1984 at CMU by the Department of Defense as a federally funded research center. It works with various government agencies, academia and industry on a variety of software engineering activities. The institute is active in the areas of cyber security, process management and research and development.

In 2010, the US government extended its contract with SEI through June 2015 with a value of $584 million.

Todd Reidbord, president of Walnut Capital, described the lease as another example of the project's ability to draw on the strengths of the city's universities, institutions and high tech partners. Jeremy Kronman and AndrewMiller of CBRE represented Walnut Capital in the lease while Keefe Ellis represented SEI. Downtown-based Strada LLC will design the space for SEI.

The prospect of the SEI establishing an office at Bakery Square bodes well for the surrounding neighborhoods as well for the potential for Bakery Square II, which Walnut Capital plans to expand across Penn Avenue on a school property to be redeveloped into a major mixed-use development comprising office space and apartments.

“I think you’re seeing East Liberty transforming itself into a branch of the Oakland tech community and there’s certainly room for other areas to do the same,” said Councilman Bill Peduto, whose district includes portions of East Liberty.

Walnut Capital, whose financial partner on the development is RCG Longview Fund, expects to soon begin construction on Bakery Square II in January and projects it will be occupied in the summer of 2014.

Gregg Broujos, managing director of the Pittsburgh office of Colliers International, expressed surprise at the first floor space not renting out as retail, “because everyone thought that retail would fly off the shelf.”

He expects that Walnut Capital filling its remaining space intended for retail should bode well for other East Liberty developers such as Steve Mosites and Ed Lesoon, who have been working to lease empty store fronts at the same time that the SEI will further the revitalization of the area.

“It just continues to bolster all the development going on there,” he said.

For more information see BizJournal.

Wood District and Market District Renovation Projects

Four million dollars in restoration work is underway for several different historic structures in the Wood District and Market District Corridors.  This partnership between the mayor’s office and a preservation organization is a first in this country.  The Pittsburgh Historic and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is being employed by the city to hire and supervise the construction projects of these two corridors. 

The Wood County Corridor project is being emphasized as a women’s retail district. The men’s corridor will be on Market and Fifth Street. The project has garnered a great deal of interest from different retail stores, who are interested in moving in as soon as space becomes available. This peaked interest is great for the project, as the construction is starting soon.  One of the first tasks on the restoration list is to restore the cast iron facades on the front of the buildings. As the president of PHFL Arthur Ziegler explained, “We’re the city of iron and steel. We have three of these in a row on Wood Street, they are all in very bad shape, and we will take them back to what they looked like originally.”

The project is also helping a local university secure more housing for the campus.  Point Park University is working with the organization to try to secure student housing in the upper floors of the retail properties. 

The groups involved in this project are hoping that if they can improve the graphic and facades of these buildings, the same will be done in the private sector.  This will help continue the overall goal of the historic preservation of Pittsburgh.  This project and the historic preservation of the city are two goals the mayor has to promote economic revitalization in the city.

For more information please see PopCity.

New Restaurants to Open in the Strip District

New restaurants, businesses, and night clubs are heading into the Strip District with their openings occurring in July.  These businesses are just some of the developments heading into this area of Pittsburgh.  This Pittsburgh shopping district is starting to become busy with activity, and it is bringing a whole new set of shoppers to the area to experience what it has to offer.

A string of openings have come to the Strip District, including the new Italian restaurant Emilia Romagna; Marty's Market; and R Wine Cellar.

Marty's Market , a specialty food store and café, held a soft opening on Saturday, giving shoppers a glimpse of the new market that replaces the former Right By Nature at 2305 Smallman Street.

The market is one-third smaller than the former grocery store, and specializes in locally grown and organic foods. But Marty's seeks to distinguish itself as a unique retail experience, starting with design.

Renovations to the space include three glass garage doors--which open to the downtown skyline--two kitchen areas, and a coffee bar.  Owner Regina Koetters says transparency, from the kitchen to the street view, was a guiding principle in the market’s design.

Marty’s cafe, which seats up to 45, serves made-to-order meals from a menu that changes daily.  The cafe is also planned to serve as a community kitchen of sorts, with tastings and cooking demonstrations by local chefs and amateurs alike.

-  Just a few blocks away Emilia Romagna will celebrate its grand opening this Friday.  The restaurant is a project of Chef Jonathan Vlasic, of the Allentown restaurant Alla Famiglia, and Peters Township’s Arlecchino.

The menu features dishes inspired by those regions of Northern Italy, as well as popular dishes from the proprietors’ other two restaurants.

Located at 108 19th Street, the space will also introduce a new nightclub to the Strip--V Ultra Lounge--which will also open on Friday.  The lounge will occupy the building’s second floor and balcony, and will feature a limited menu of antipastas, burgers, and sushi.

The lounge and restaurant are a project of Vlasic, Vince Isolde, and Chef Cory Hughes.

-  R Wine Cellar has opened at 2014 Smallman Street, selling house-made wines.  The cellar, a family owned urban winery, currently has four reds and four whites available, including oaked and un-oaked Chardonnays.

Although juices are currently brought in from elsewhere, all wines are fermented, blended, and bottled on site.  And several wines are made using grapes from the Lake Erie Region, including the white Traminette ($12) and the Lake Erie Red ($13).

Owner Steve Russell says they chose this location because they wanted to be in the middle of the developing Strip District.

"We think the potential here in the future is very strong," he says.

Koetters agrees, and says it’s an exciting time to be part of the Strip District, and recognizes that each new businesses is a boon to the neighborhood.

“We’re fortunate to be enjoying a great time in the Strip,” she says.  “There’s a lot of stuff going on… [and] I want Marty’s to be a vehicle to encourage more investment in the Strip.”

For more information on these restaurants go to PopCity. 

Night Market on Liberty

Another reason for Pittsburghers to make their way downtown!  Market Square will host a Night Market featuring music, vendors and various types of food.  The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is sponsoring the event to showcase Liberty Avenue and all it has to offer.

For the first time in recent memory, an unused lot in Downtown Pittsburgh is being transformed into a one-night-only Night Market, giving city residents one more reason to venture to (or stay in) the Golden Triangle after work.  The Night Market, which takes places this Friday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. will feature music by DJ Soy Sos, independent vendors of jewelry, art, and crafts, and food from a variety of local eateries.

Jeremy Waldrup, president of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, says his organization created this event in order to showcase this particular stretch of Liberty Avenue as a block filled with activity, including a variety of bars and restaurants, and the August Wilson Center.

“By providing individuals with another reason to come to this street we hope to encourage more folks to mill around downtown and see what opportunities there are to experience,” Waldrup says. 

At Friday’s market (located at 917-919 Liberty Avenue), the restaurant Meat & Potatoes will offer a preview of food from its new concept, Pork & Beans, which is expected to open later this fall.  And Conflict Kitchen, which is set to open Downtown in the coming months, will also be serving food.

Among the 15 independent vendors will be Tugboat Printshop and Devorah Naturals.  And café tables and chairs will be set up at the Night Market to encourage guests to linger in the space.

This Friday is also the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Gallery Crawl, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

“It should fit very well into the [Gallery Crawl] with people exploring that area,” says Ida D’Errico, of PDP.

D'Errico says this is the only Night Market currently planned, but based on the event’s success there could be more in the future.

“Pittsburgh enjoys various markets and our outdoor plazas, and so potentially this could expand into another location at some future point in time,” she says.

The Night Market is the latest endeavor to come from the Project Pop Up Program, a partnership between Mayor Ravenstahl, the URA, City Planning, and the PDP.


For more information on the Night Market please see PopCity.

New Jobs and Developments Are Coming to Pittsburgh

Hundreds of jobs will be coming to Pittsburgh thanks to the development of three aircraft hangers and other numerous projects coming to the area.   The projects are expected to have a positive impact on the community and the economic development of the city.

The development of three aircraft hangers, an environmental study to demolish a dilapidated building and other redevelopment projects expected to create hundreds of new jobs will get a boost from gaming fund revenues awarded by the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA).

"The approved projects will improve public safety and have a positive impact on community and economic development in Allegheny County," said Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary C. Alan Walker. "The gaming fund revenues will provide important infrastructure improvements to the area, which in turn, will add capacity for future economic development."

Five projects in Allegheny County will each receive $500,000 under the CFA's action. The $2.5 million in total funding comes from the Pennsylvania Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund Program (GEDTF), which was established to fund community and economic development projects in Allegheny County, through revenues from the Pittsburgh – The Rivers Casino. 

GEDTF program provides grants for single-year and multi-year projects that promote community and economic development in Allegheny County, including: economic and infrastructure development, job training, community improvement, public safety, public interest and costs to administer GEDTF funds. 

For more information and a detailed list of the projects please see US Politics.

Bicycling Just Got a Little Safer in Oakland.

People who commute by Bicycle in Oakland will be happy to know their dangerous journey through four lanes of traffic will be getting a little easier very soon.  The first meeting of the ThinkBike workshops took place in Pittsburgh, and it looks like Oakland will be the lucky area to get a bicycle lane that makes it safer for the commute.




After two days of ThinkBike workshops, the City of Pittsburgh is ready to bring the highest level of bicycle infrastructure to Oakland.

Based on the recommendations of Dutch mobility experts, the City is beginning the process of installing separated cycle tracks in the Fifth-Forbes corridor of this heavily trafficked neighborhood. 

According to the City's Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Stephen Patchan, cycle tracks represent the most progressive piece of bicycle infrastructure currently available, and offer the highest level of safety for both cyclists and motorist.

Cycle tracks are on-street, bicycle-only paths, and often include physical barriers, such as curbs, between automobiles and cyclists.  In Homestead, a cycle track was recently installed along the Great Allegheny Passage.  The proposed track in Oakland would be the first in Pittsburgh.

Patchan says the city has no timeline for installing the cycle tracks, and will conduct extensive public outreach and engineering studies before selecting a design and location.  He says the project will necessarily impact existing conditions for automobiles.

“We're trying to figure out a way to mitigate the impacts, but also provide a piece of infrastructure that's required for getting from hundreds [of cyclists]...to several thousand cyclists biking through that corridor.”

Although the corridor is currently used by many bicycle commuters, Patchan says the street’s current design--three to four lanes of one-way traffic--doesn’t encourage new riders.

“It takes a certain personality to ride on that street,” he says.

ThinkBike is a multi-city initiative of Dutch experts and companies to increase bicycle use in the U.S. and Canada.  Since the first workshop in Toronto, ThinkBike has been held in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles.

Patchan says ThinkBike contacted the City to host a workshop because of its rising reputation as a bicycle-friendly city, and its maturing cycling community.

But Patchan says the city intends to do more, and create cycling infrastructure on-par with the best Dutch cities.

"We're going to be a world-class bicycle city, so we're going to need the infrastructure for it," he says.

For more information on ThinkBike go to PopCity. 

Retail and Commercial Development Coming in Sheraden

Two projects that consist of retail and commercial space has been approved by the Urban Development Authority.  These new developments will bring in new clients and renters thanks to the money set aside to update the land and property.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has voted to approve two projects that will bring new residences and retail or office space to the Lawrenceville and Sheraden neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, including apartments in Doughboy Square and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in Sheraden.

The Doughboy Apartments, located in the 3400 block of Butler Street, is a mixed-used development in Lawrenceville that will include 39 residential units and approximately 17,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space. 

The infill project will be located amongst a mix of old and new structures, like The Clemente Museum’s historic Engine House 25, and newly constructed townhomes on Butler Street.

“Right now, most of this property is vacant land, so it'll provide an attractive building to anchor a pretty strategic location in the corridor,” says Tom Cummings of the URA.  “It will bring additional residents to the community that will help to bolster the main street shopping district.”

The URA approved a $1.4 million Pittsburgh Development Fund loan, and a $100,000 Urban Development Fund loan for the project, as well as a request for multifamily financing bonds up to $10 million from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. The total development cost of the project is $13 million.

Developer Ralph A. Falbo, Inc. is partnering with architect Chris Desmone, whose architecture firm is headquartered in the historic Pennsylvania National Bank building in the center of the Doughboy Square.

The apartments will be one- and- two-bedroom units, with basement-level parking.  A majority of the apartments will be market rate, while 20 percent will be offered as affordable housing.  Cummings says neighborhood organizations are very supportive of the housing mix panned for the project.

And in Sheraden, seven abandoned homes will be acquired, rehabilitated, and sold to owner-occupants through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). 

In January the URA received a $333,400 NSP III grant from the federal program, and PNC Bank has stepped forward to provide $500,000 in acquisition construction financing.

Three of the seven homes, located on Bergman Street, have been acquired, with construction to begin within the next month.




For more information on the developments click on PopCity.

Pittsburgh Eligible in Innovative City Contest

Mayor Bloomberg of New York is hosting a contest in which cities can come up with ideas that will improve city life by addressing a problem or situation the area is facing.  The winning city will receive 5 million dollars to pursue the idea and make it a reality.  Pittsburgh is eligible to win that prize.


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's charity will give $5 million to one city that comes up with a groundbreaking idea for change.

Pittsburgh is among the 1,300 U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more eligible for the prize, or one of four $1 million awards.

Other eligible cities include Penn Hills, Bethel Park and Mt. Lebanon.

To win, cities must submit an innovative idea that would "improve city life by addressing a major social or economic issue, improving the customer service experience for citizens or businesses, increasing government efficiency and/or enhancing accountability, transparency and public engagement," according to a statement from Bloomberg Philanthropies this morning.
Pittsburgh officials said they were excited to participate in the challenge.

"Pittsburgh is a city of innovation," said Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. "We're thrilled to have been picked for this competition, and we thank Mayor Bloomberg for thinking of Pittsburgh."

Doven speculated that Pittsburgh would create a private-public partnership that includes residents to come up with ideas.

Bloomberg has donated more than $2.4 billion to causes aimed at impacting communities through programs centered on health, sustainability, literacy, social welfare and the arts, according to his website. Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $330 million worldwide last year.

City Councilman Bill Peduto said he hopes the city will look to residents and businesses, rather than government officials, to devise a plan for the competition.

"City government doesn't need to create it. We just need to enable it," he said.

For more information check out The Pittsburgh Tribune.

PNC to acquire, restore historic Lord and Taylor building Downtown

PNC plans to purchase the historic Lord and Taylor building downtown and convert it into offices for their Pittsburgh banks.   PNC plans to return the building to it's classic style with granite exterior, and return it to it's original function as a bank. 

The former Lord and Taylor building, a key historic structure in Downtown’s Fifth-Forbes corridor, will soon be active again as PNC Financial Services Group has reached a deal to purchase that landmark.  The bank plans to relocate 800 employees there, returning the granite, Classical-styled building to its original use as a bank.


Fred Solomon, of PNC, says this building presented the best opportunity for consolidating the bank’s real estate portfolio in that neighborhood.  Solomon adds that PNC employees enjoy working downtown, citing restaurant and shopping options, and access to public transportation.

The building has been vacant since November 2004, when the department store closed its doors citing declining sales.  Its most recent owners, J.J. Gumberg Co., had purchased the building in 2005 for $2.5 million.

Built in 1924, the six-story building served as a Mellon Bank branch for seven decades before its conversion to a retail use.  Solomon says PNC believes it can easily convert the space to office uses, and will utilize the building’s new escalators and elevators.

Solomon says PNC plans to restore the building’s exterior, which was designated a city historic structure in 1999.

“We have no intention of changing anything on the building's exterior,” he says.  “We plan to honor its heritage.”

PNC plans to close on the building by the end of this month.  Remodeling will start soon after, with a completion date around the end of 2013.

Solomon says PNC has been a longtime supporter of Downtown, and cites its other developments in that area.

“The company's been on the same corner at fifth and Wood for approximately 160 years,” he says.  “We expect to be at the same intersection for much longer with the construction of the Tower at PNC Plaza, which will be our new headquarters building in Pittsburgh.”

For more details on the project check out Popcity. 

Moon Township in a Development Upswing.

Moon Township is on a development upswing as more than 20 new development projects are underway in the area.  Walmart, a school, and a hilton hotel are just some of the things that the area has to look forward to in the next few years.  Many of these developments are taking place around the Cherrington Parkway.

An upturn in the economy and the planned Walmart construction on University Boulevard has renewed developers' interest in Moon Township, officials said.

"Definitely looking back at the applications for 2011, it was a slow year for development plans," said Moon Planning Director Adam McGurk. "It's hard to say what it is, but it does say that the economy is picking up in terms of commercial development." 

McGurk said more than 20 projects are now in the construction phase in the township. 
Developers this year have unveiled plans for a new, 130,000-square foot Hilton hotel, slated to be constructed off Fed Ex Drive. The project was set to break ground in 2008, but developers backed out as the economy sank into a recession that year.

The 117-room Hilton Homewood Suites, which will be designed by the Pittsburgh-based Gateway Engineers, is still in the planning phases, but could break ground as early as this summer, developers said.  

The owner of the proposed Moon Township Goddard School for Early Childhood Development said he plans to open the school's doors in January 2013. The 8,500 square-foot building will sit on the cul-de-sac on Commerce Drive
Randy Forister, senior director of development at the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said a strengthening economy has sparked new interest in airport-area development.  

"We are seeing a lot more activity this year, much more so than in the last two years," Forister said. "I think it's the economy picking up, and I think that people in general like to be near the airport."

Forister said construction is set to begin later this year on the first, 53,000-square foot building in the Pittsburgh International Business Park, a planned campus of office buildings to be located off Cherrington Parkway.

Construction on the project will be phased over a ten-year period, and will take place on 40 acres of land adjacent to the Cherrington Corporate Center.

The project has been in the works for a number of years, Forrester said. In 2009, the Moon Transportation Authority and airport authority partnered to connect utility infrastructure in the area. Ohio-based Continental Real Estate, which developed the Waterfront in Homestead, and Cranberry Business Park developer Chaska Property Advisors, are spearheading the project. 

Allegheny County, which owns the property, is leasing the land to the joint venture. No tenants for the property have yet been announced. 

Forister said the project has helped "jumpstart development” in the area.

"You’re right by the airport. It's 19 miles from downtown so you have easy access there," he said of the Cherrington Business Park. "It's just going to be a great business location."  
Mark Handlovitch, a Robinson-based Remax broker, said commercial developers are eyeing the planned University Boulevard military commissary, which could draw military personnel from across the region to the township.

After a series of setbacks, construction on the 43,000-square foot regional commissary is expected to begin this year. The building, which will replace the existing Oakdale commissary, will be built on the corner of the Interstate 376 Business Route and University Boulevard. 

"There's definitely more interest in the airport corridor," Handlovitch said. "I think it's been stagnant for a while—really since the airport moved 20 years ago. But with projects like Walmart and the military commissary, you're going to have a lot of people coming into this township." 

Walmart, which announced plans to build a 150,000 square-foot store on the grounds of the former West Hills Shopping Center, is now working with PennDOT traffic engineers to obtain a highway occupancy permit, said PennDOT spokesman James Struzzi. No ground-breaking date is yet available for the project. 

Handlovitch said he believes Walmart’s arrival in the township could be a boon to area business. The project has been in the planning phases since the national retailer purchased the defunct shopping center in 2007.

The former plaza has been razed, leaving a vacant lot at the corner of University Boulevard and Brodhead Road. 

"There's good and bad that can come with it," said Handlovitch of the Walmart construction. "But the bottom line is, it was an old rundown plaza. If we want to see growth as a township, we need updated buildings and plazas. We need new development coming in."

For more information check out Moon Patch.

The gateway project in the historic Deutschtown neighborhood is set to revitalize the neighborhood and encourage development in this unique and important Northside business district.  This project includes refurbishing Victorian storefronts and adding business and administrative space in the area.

The Historic Deutschtown neighborhood is working to give the 50,000 cars that pass through it on a daily basis even more reason to pause.  The Deutschtown Gateway Project, which is currently underway, includes restorations of several Victorian storefronts on East Ohio Street, an effort that neighborhood organizations hope will improve the entryway of this important Northside business district.

Phase I of the Deutschtown Gateway Project is the complete restoration a Victorian-era commercial building's facade at 632 East Ohio Street.  Located near I-279, it is a highly visible landmark for commuters and visitors exiting the highway. 

Among other improvements, colored art glass windows, hidden for decades behind an earlier remodeling, will soon be restored. The building’s current tenant, Grace Period, plans to expand its administrative offices to a renovated second floor.

The restoration is part of a larger redevelopment plan of the Historic Deutschtown Development Corporation (HDDC) and the Northside Leadership Conference (NSLC). 

At 620-628 East Ohio Street, a combination restoration and infill construction project will add updated retail space to the block, whose buildings are mostly vacant.  The project will create 6,000 to 8,000 square-feet of horizontal commercial office space per floor, on the 2 ^nd and 3^rd stories of this multi-parcel redevelopment.

According to NSLC Executive Director Mark Fatla, the project will bring a type of large office space the district currently lacks.

“We’ll be able to offer the office market what it wants,” Fatla says.

HDDC is also planning renovate several other buildings it owns, including 431, 433, and 502 East Ohio Street.

For more information check out: PopCity 

Ravenstahl Heads to Development Convention

Mayor Ravenstahl is heading to Vegas for the the International Council of Shopping Centers Convention.  Ravenstahl is setting up a booth at the convention, and hoping to explore some future development projects for Pittsburgh.  This includes a development project for the old site of the Mellon Arena. 

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and the Urban Redevelopment Authority are sponsoring a booth at RECon, the annual Spring convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers    scheduled for Sunday, May 20 to Wednesday, May 23 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
City officials believe it is the first time the city of Pittsburgh has established a booth at the convention, which is expected to draw more than 30,000 attendees for four days of panel discussions, networking and deal-making for new development and shopping centers throughout the country. In the past, members of the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority have attended the ICSC convention as visitors without renting trade show space.
Ravenstahl is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion with a host of other mayors, an event former mayor Tom Murphy also participated in more than 10 years ago at the ICSC Spring Convention.
Yarone Zober, chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Authority the mayor’s chief of staff, said the idea to attend the event came out of the Downtown retail working group, which Ravenstahl started to find new ways to recruit retail into the urban core. The retail working group was established in the wake of Saks Fifth Avenue    closing Downtown after decades in operation.
“The goal is to gain additional exposure for the city of Pittsburgh,” said Zober.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and the Urban Redevelopment Authority are sponsoring a booth at RECon, the annual Spring convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers    scheduled for Sunday, May 20 to Wednesday, May 23 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
City officials believe it is the first time the city of Pittsburgh has established a booth at the convention, which is expected to draw more than 30,000 attendees for four days of panel discussions, networking and deal-making for new development and shopping centers throughout the country. In the past, members of the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority have attended the ICSC convention as visitors without renting trade show space.
Ravenstahl is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion with a host of other mayors, an event former mayor Tom Murphy also participated in more than 10 years ago at the ICSC Spring Convention.
Yarone Zober, chairman of the Urban Redevelopment Authority the mayor’s chief of staff, said the idea to attend the event came out of the Downtown retail working group, which Ravenstahl started to find new ways to recruit retail into the urban core. The retail working group was established in the wake of Saks Fifth Avenue    closing Downtown after decades in operation.
“The goal is to gain additional exposure for the city of Pittsburgh,” said Zober.
The subject came up at the URA meeting on May 10 when the board voted to approve $20,000 in funding for marketing materials by Wall to Wall Studios. Zober did not provide details on what the convention would cost and did not indicate how many people would be attending as part of the Pittsburgh contingent. With URA funds expected to be used to pay for the trip in a city that's long faced budget challenges, Zober expects attending RECon will prove a good investment, describing not investing in such events as “penny-wise and pound foolish.”
The subject came up at the URA meeting on May 10 when the board voted to approve $20,000 in funding for marketing materials by Wall to Wall Studios. Zober did not provide details on what the convention would cost and did not indicate how many people would be attending as part of the Pittsburgh contingent. With URA funds expected to be used to pay for the trip in a city that's long faced budget challenges, Zober expects attending RECon will prove a good investment, describing not investing in such events as “penny-wise and pound foolish.”

For more information: go to bizjournal