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.