PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[chiaroscuro]

From suburbs to city, Pittsburgh developer is on the move

[PittsburghPA]

I would love to see US Steel build another skyscraper somewhere either downtown or in the strip. I'd love to see our skyline redefined (i absolutely love our skyline by the way)

[Minivan Werner]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

I suppose they would. The article states they are considering more of a traditional downtown development as opposed to a "campus-like" setting.

They're considering both types.

[Austinlee]

If US Steel builds a campus style building in Findlay, it will no doubt be on one of the freshly excavated sites directly adjacent to Dick's Sporting Goods campus. And it would probably be about the same size too.

[Private Dick]

Either way, I'm glad that US Steel is considering building a new HQ, but I'll be a little disappointed if it isn't downtown. Campus-like HQ's can be really nice to work at, so I can see the attraction (and obviously there are other incentives for a company to build in that way -- taxes, airport/access, etc -- rather than a downtown highrise)... hopefully the city/county can come together to sweeten the deal somehow to convince them to stay downtown.

A steel company almost has to be in a skyscraper, it seems. And if they expand into the US Steel tower, maybe they can take those fucking UPMC letters off of it

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Either way, I'm glad that US Steel is considering building a new HQ, but I'll be a little disappointed if it isn't downtown. Campus-like HQ's can be really nice to work at, so I can see the attraction (and obviously there are other incentives for a company to build in that way -- taxes, airport/access, etc -- rather than a downtown highrise)... hopefully the city/county can come together to sweeten the deal somehow to convince them to stay downtown.

A steel company almost has to be in a skyscraper, it seems. And if they expand into the US Steel tower, maybe they can take those fucking UPMC letters off of it

I agree with you there. It would be great to keep US Steel in the Pittsburgh area, but it would be even sweeter to keep them Downtown should they move out of US Steel Tower.

It kinda seems as tho many large corporations are going for low-rise campus-like settings in an auto-centric suburban office park. I don't get it. That's about as exciting as C-span... or visiting a mobile home park...

[markson33]

I would be very surprised it they built another skyscraper. The simple fact is that skyscraper's aren't highly efficient work spaces. Most big companies want large, wide open floor plates.

The strip district site would allow them to have a campus feel and still maintain a downtown location. A million square feet would really make a huge impact on Buncher's site.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by markson33

I would be very surprised it they built another skyscraper. The simple fact is that skyscraper's aren't highly efficient work spaces. Most big companies want large, wide open floor plates.

The strip district site would allow them to have a campus feel and still maintain a downtown location. A million square feet would really make a huge impact on Buncher's site.

I think the strip is probably the early favorite for that reason & I agree with you.

[glowrock]

Just as long as they don't force Buncher to agree to acres and acres of surface parking, a limit of 4-5 stories on their buildings, etc... etc... I actually think a more urban corporate campus could work out well, perhaps something along the lines of American Eagle's HQ in Southside Works, perhaps? Maybe just taller? Structured parking, keeps the street grid, decent architecture, etc... etc...

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Just as long as they don't force Buncher to agree to acres and acres of surface parking, a limit of 4-5 stories on their buildings, etc... etc... I actually think a more urban corporate campus could work out well, perhaps something along the lines of American Eagle's HQ in Southside Works, perhaps? Maybe just taller? Structured parking, keeps the street grid, decent architecture, etc... etc...

Aaron (Glowrock)

Yeah, fair enough. I could see a grouping of 10-to-15-story buildings built there, and it would certainly extend the density of downtown into the Strip...

Call me crazy, but I'm not exactly buying into the "skyscrapers are not efficient workplaces" statement. True, if you have a narrow building, that would certainly be true. Not all highrise buildings are built with small floor plans nor do all have to be. Take their current hq. Each floor contains an acre of space. So you have 60 acres of office space stacked on top of one another...

But... I guess it can be assumed they don't want to be in a highrise anymore...

[PITairport]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

If US Steel builds a campus style building in Findlay, it will no doubt be on one of the freshly excavated sites directly adjacent to Dick's Sporting Goods campus.

I assume you mean the sites located to the east of the Dick's hq. This will actually be the PIT International Logistics Centre, which will have a focus on air cargo logistics:

http://vision.mindmatrix.net/knowletcontent/Norhtfield.pdf

http://www.trammellcrow.com/pitlogistics

[TBone7281]

Been stupid busy lately. Here are some shots I've taken the last month or so.


Lot 24

8/2/12





And they finished the mural on our office so the Lot 24 pool dippers won't have to look at such dismal brickwork.



8/16/12




8/23/12






8/30/12








31st Street Bridge demo - 8/16/12

People watching from the pedestrian bridge.


*bang... poof*

[markson33]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

Yeah, fair enough. I could see a grouping of 10-to-15-story buildings built there, and it would certainly extend the density of downtown into the Strip...

Call me crazy, but I'm not exactly buying into the "skyscrapers are not efficient workplaces" statement. True, if you have a narrow building, that would certainly be true. Not all highrise buildings are built with small floor plans nor do all have to be. Take their current hq. Each floor contains an acre of space. So you have 60 acres of office space stacked on top of one another...

High rises can have a lot of space on each floors, but the floors aren't efficient. Most skyscrapers have high loss factors, meaning they lose a lot of space to building core functions (elevators, stairs, chase ways). USS Tower has a multi tenant loss factor above 25%, so a tenant that leases 20,000 sf only actually has 15,000 useable sf. Most suburban buildings have multi tenant loss factors between 10-12%, so they are far more efficient.

US Steel might have to lease 1 million sf in a skyscraper when they could lease 900k in a surban building. Add in the extra per sf cost of a high rise (about $10/sf) and a skyscraper could cost $250 million more over the life of the lease than a suburban campus.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by markson33

The strip district site would allow them to have a campus feel and still maintain a downtown location. A million square feet would really make a huge impact on Buncher's site.

I kind of have a problem with devoting a large portion of that land to a private corporate HQ in a campus-type setting.

Talk about upping the boring factor in the Strip. That just takes a huge portion of the available riverfront land and turns it into an unusable, secured "park". If that is to be the case, I say move to Findlay Township. Because there is almost nothing worse from a planning standpoint (if the idea is to reinvigorate and revive an urban area) than a "campus-setting" in the middle of a downtown/near-downtown area. It's a kiss of death for vibrancy.

[chiaroscuro]

PMC Property only bidder to buy Reed Smith Building in Downtown Pittsburgh

PMC Property only bidder to buy Reed Smith Building in Downtown Pittsburgh

By Sam Spatter

Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 12:01 a.m.
Updated: Wednesday, September 12, 2012

PMC Property Group will soon buy what will be its fifth Downtown office building after winning a bankruptcy court auction on the vacant nine-story Reed Smith Building on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

PMC’s bid of $5.5 million was the only one on the property at 435 Sixth Ave. The auction was held at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. PMC is based in Philadelphia.

“We expect to close on the building in mid-October,” said Jerry Novick, PMC’s executive vice president.

At this time, no definite plans have been made for the use of the building but Novick said it probably will be primarily residential.

The sale ended a bankruptcy declared by the former owners of the building, which was initially scheduled for sheriff’s sale in August.

The owners, 600 William Penn Partners LLC, headed by Gerson Fox and Michael Kamen, both of Los Angeles, had failed to pay a $2 million mortgage to PNC Bank.

The former Reed Smith Building was purchased in 2008 for $6.5 million by Mika Realty Group of Los Angeles under the 600 William Penn name. Fox and Kamen were officials of that firm.

Fox and Kamin also own the Union Trust Building, Downtown, which also is in bankruptcy. U.S. Bank of Minneapolis is owed $41 million.

The Reed Smith building, also known as the James H. Reed building, has been empty since 2009 when the law firm Reed Smith moved its offices to Three PNC Plaza on Fifth Avenue. The building once housed Duquesne Light Co.

The Reed Smith building is close to the Regional Enterprise Tower, also on Sixth Avenue, which PMC purchased in March for $7.05 million. PMC plans to convert that 31-story tower into an office and residential structure with 241 rental units above office space.

PMC also has converted the former Verizon Building, Downtown, now called 201 Stanwix St., into a 158-unit apartment with lower floors housing a school.

The company recently purchased a building at 908-10 Penn Avenue that it plans to convert into about 30 apartments. And it has a sales agreement on the Jackman Building at 526 Penn. It also is the proposed buyer of the John Robin Civic Building, at 200 Ross St.

PMC owns the 150-unit Penn-Garrison Apartments in the 900 block of Penn Avenue and the 209-unit Kenmawr Apartments in Shadyside.

Sam Spatter is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7843 or [email protected].



Read more: http://triblive.com/business/2583632-74/...-angeles-avenue-bankruptcy#ixzz26LrGV1AR
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by PITairport

I assume you mean the sites located to the east of the Dick's hq. This will actually be the PIT International Logistics Centre, which will have a focus on air cargo logistics:

http://vision.mindmatrix.net/knowletcontent/Norhtfield.pdf

http://www.trammellcrow.com/pitlogistics

These are the shovel ready sites that I was thinking of.



That or maybe the RIDC park? I'm not sure.

[Austinlee]

I got an email today talking about my companies commercial division doing well. Thought some of you other buildings nerds would like to see these figures.

Good Afternoon:

In the Pittsburgh Business Times Commercial Real Estate Guide, published September 7, 2012, Howard Hanna Commercial ranked #1 in commercial real estate listings in Western Pennsylvania.

Howard Hanna Commercial 287

CB Richard Ellis 268

Pennsylvania Commercial Real Estate 145

PRC Commercial 137

Colliers International 128

Langholz Wilson Ellis 118

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank 104

Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT 85

Oxford Realty Services 75

RIDC 70

Congratulations to all of our great real estate professionals in our Pittsburgh Commercial Group for achieving the #1 status.

Located in downtown Pittsburgh, in the Koppers Building at Grant and Seventh, Howard Hanna Commercial is part of the Howard Hanna Real Estate network, one of the four largest in the United States. More then 20 full-time professionals provide real estate services to local, regional and national companies and have access to the referral network of Howard Hanna’s more than 4,700 sales associates and employees.

In addition to our Pittsburgh office, Howard Hanna’s Commercial Division includes offices in Erie and Harrisburg, and a Commercial Division in Ohio. www.HowardHannaCommercial.com

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by markson33

High rises can have a lot of space on each floors, but the floors aren't efficient. Most skyscrapers have high loss factors, meaning they lose a lot of space to building core functions (elevators, stairs, chase ways). USS Tower has a multi tenant loss factor above 25%, so a tenant that leases 20,000 sf only actually has 15,000 useable sf. Most suburban buildings have multi tenant loss factors between 10-12%, so they are far more efficient.

US Steel might have to lease 1 million sf in a skyscraper when they could lease 900k in a surban building. Add in the extra per sf cost of a high rise (about $10/sf) and a skyscraper could cost $250 million more over the life of the lease than a suburban campus.

I guess that's why some high rises above a certain total floor count have a sky lobby. I guess it's a way to shrink the amount of space devoted to elevators in the central core.

I wonder what the loss factor is for One World Trade Center or the Columbia Center in Seattle. I wonder why a sky lobby wasn't considered for US Steel. The Columbia Center isn't that much taller than US Steel...

[BrianTH]

10+ story buildings, or even 8+ story buildings, would be OK with me in the near Strip. What I would like to avoid is a bunch of surface parking surrounding the buildings.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

10+ story buildings, or even 8+ story buildings, would be OK with me in the near Strip. What I would like to avoid is a bunch of surface parking surrounding the buildings.

I completely agree, BrianTH. As I said, how about a campus-style development along the lines of American Eagle's in SSW, perhaps just a few floors higher? It's dense, it's got structured parking, and it fits in very well with the rest of the development.

Aaron (Glowrock)