PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[Evergrey]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-kraft-hei...-or-pittsburgh-lose-more-jobs-1427308717

In Kraft-Heinz Deal, Will Chicago or Pittsburgh Lose More Jobs?

Tussle to retain positions likely to emerge between hometowns of packaged-food giants

By JAMES R. HAGERTY
March 25, 2015 2:38 p.m. ET
0 COMMENTS
PITTSBURGH—H.J. Heinz Co. and Kraft Foods Group said their merger will create a new company “co-headquartered in Pittsburgh and the Chicago area.” That fuzzy concept will leave people in both places nervous.

In Pittsburgh—where the Heinz name is stamped on a music hall, a history museum, a college, a chapel and the Steelers’ football stadium—the ketchup company has been shrinking its local employment for decades. After 3G Capital Partners LP of Brazil took over Heinz in 2013, the new owners eliminated about 350 office jobs in Pittsburgh, leaving around 800 employees here today, mostly in a glass-walled tower named after another local company, paint maker PPG Industries Inc.
3G executives on Tuesday wouldn’t discuss whether they plan any layoffs, but the deal is likely to lead to a tussle for jobs between Pittsburgh and the Chicago suburb of Northfield, Ill., where Kraft is located. Kraft had some 2,300 employees in Northfield as of last April, according to the local government’s annual report.

Chicago has the advantages of a more central location and better airport connections. Greater Chicago is already home to a number of other major food and agriculture companies, including McDonald’s Corp. and Kraft’s corporate cousin Mondelez International Inc. Grain-trading giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. last year moved its headquarters to Chicago from a more remote part of Illinois to give top executives a more cosmopolitan and accessible hub. Chicago’s two airports, O’Hare International and Midway, together serve 216 cities with more than 1,400 flights a day. That includes nonstop service to much of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Brazil, where 3G Capital has its headquarters. Pittsburgh International Airport, whose traffic has dwindled in recent years after it lost its role as a regional hub, serves 35 cities with about 150 flights a day, according to flight-data firm Innovata, including only one year-round international destination: Toronto.

Pittsburgh has the edge on housing costs, which affect the salaries needed to keep and retain employees. The median home price in the Pittsburgh metro area is $125,000, compared with $183,000 in the Chicago area, according to Zillow Group Inc.

...

[BrianTH]

I have no idea if the new company will keep a significant presence in Pittsburgh. A lot of times it comes down to something as arbitrary as which top-level executives survive and where those handful of individuals want to be. But also sometimes companies do keep a presence both places even if the HQ officially consolidates in one place (see, e.g., BNY-Mellon).

Regardless, though--the fact is Heinz is not such a large employer here these days that this is hugely significant no matter what happens. Not that people shouldn't care at all, but I don't personally care that much.

[themaguffin]

It's just unfortunate that another iconic Pittsburgh company is fading away.
The only way that it won't happen is if Pittsburgh becomes the true HQ and Chicago I'm sure is seen as having more advantages unless Pgh is cheaper or the lower cost of living is appealing.

[Private D]

As long as Heinz Field stays Heinz Field, I don't care about anything else.

[Private D]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I have no idea if the new company will keep a significant presence in Pittsburgh. A lot of times it comes down to something as arbitrary as which top-level executives survive and where those handful of individuals want to be. But also sometimes companies do keep a presence both places even if the HQ officially consolidates in one place (see, e.g., BNY-Mellon).

Regardless, though--the fact is Heinz is not such a large employer here these days that this is hugely significant no matter what happens. Not that people shouldn't care at all, but I don't personally care that much.

Heinz' CEO and Chairman are retaining their roles with Kraft Heinz. Those guys don't live in Pittsburgh now, so I doubt that they will be moving here with this merger. I imagine the company will keep a presence here because there are a lot of valuable employees here that are not going to up and move to Chicago, but I have a hard time believing that an actual HQ will stay here. Maybe in name only.

And while Heinz does not have the presence in Pittsburgh that it once had, having a globally-recognized consumer brand HQ'd here is significant. I'm hopeful that can survive here with Kraft Heinz... but these things have not gone Pittsburgh's (nor the overall region's way) historically.

[Evergrey]

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/ne...developer-looking-for-opportunities.html

Indianapolis developer looking for opportunities in Pittsburgh

Mar 26, 2015, 11:45am EDT

A young Indianapolis-based development firm backed by a major investment partner is setting up a presence and looking for projects in Pittsburgh.

Shawn Kichline, the vice president of development for Milhaus, gave the basic rundown of his company’s plans to pursue new multifamily and mixed-use projects in Pittsburgh as part of an ICSC Next Gen panel discussion hosted by the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel in Pittsburgh.

“We’re actively negotiating and identifying different sites in Pittsburgh. We like Pittsburgh a lot,” he said. “Cities are coming back and Pittsburgh is sort of leading the way.”

Kichline said the Milhaus, which has two employees dedicated to Pittsburgh projects right now, was founded four years ago to focus on urban infill development projects, focusing on mixed-use and multifamily while also recently extending into for sale urban housing as well.

The company was launched with the support of a $100 million fund that led it to expand beyond Indianapolis to Cincinnati, Louisville, Ky., Oklahoma City and Memphis, Tenn. After growing a portfolio of more than 20 projects in less than five years, Milhaus is expanding into Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Nashville. Tenn., supported by a second $100 million fund.

Kichline wouldn’t divulge any specific projects Milhaus was pursuing in Pittsburgh but expects the company to pursue two or three here in the range of 150 units to 300 units.

Sources familiar with the company and its dealings here indicate it at one time was in discussions about a redevelopment of the downtown headquarters of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Kichline said the firm will consider neighborhoods in the early stages of revitalization and has looked at Homewood and neighborhoods in and around East Liberty.

...

[BrianTH]

Always nice to be bringing in outside capital looking to do development projects. It would be particularly interesting if they did decide to bargain-hunt for sites in neighborhoods like Homewood.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

As long as Heinz Field stays Heinz Field, I don't care about anything else.

Yeah, and i'm not going to Kraft Hall to see some cheesy stand up comedian perform.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Always nice to be bringing in outside capital looking to do development projects. It would be particularly interesting if they did decide to bargain-hunt for sites in neighborhoods like Homewood.

Maybe Wilkinsburg with its great access to the East End Busway?

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I have no idea if the new company will keep a significant presence in Pittsburgh. A lot of times it comes down to something as arbitrary as which top-level executives survive and where those handful of individuals want to be. But also sometimes companies do keep a presence both places even if the HQ officially consolidates in one place (see, e.g., BNY-Mellon).

Regardless, though--the fact is Heinz is not such a large employer here these days that this is hugely significant no matter what happens. Not that people shouldn't care at all, but I don't personally care that much.

I think we have seen all too clear that where a company is headquartered is often the choice of the executive team and that pretty much is always going to mean New York or Chicago.
Alcoa, BNY Mellon, Heinz and others like all of us want to live near people like themselves. In this case the best housing, the best prep schools. And the biggest corporate cities are going to win out.
Our civic leaders need to keep this in mind to maybe form some kind of corporate retention strategy to help the highest level execs the options that might make them decide to stay here on occasion.

[Private D]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Yeah, and i'm not going to Kraft Hall to see some cheesy stand up comedian perform.

Kraft... cheesy... good one...

[TBone7281]

From this week. Walked down to Stage AE to get a ticket on Monday.


BIG HEART.




Homewood Suites in the Strip from the 16th St. Bridge.




Downtown from 16th St. Bridge. PNC Tower filling in nicely and you can sort of tell it's of decent height from here. I always feel like everything is skewed from this perspective though because of how uncontested US Steel is.

[TBone7281]

From today.

The Yards. Hard to tell 🞵🞵🞵 is going on, but there is fair amount of block up for a bunch of buildings now.



They've also started demo on the building across the street (27th and Railroad) seen HERE.


Oxford's first office building is starting to get some cladding.




And Railroad St. was jammed up while trucks waited for the crane to lift up the HVAC system to the roof.




And finally, I was beginning to think Consumer Products had stopped using the railroad tracks to make deliveries because I hadn't seen any train cars there in a few weeks. Nope.

[eschaton]

Just walked through Market Square today. The Gardens is looking nice. I really hope there's plans to replace Moe's building with something a little bit taller in the future though, because it's now looking massively out of scale. Plus it's not historic anyway, so it might as well be replaced by something 3-6 stories tall with apartments or offices above.

[Minivan Werner]

It's kind of weird how 1 railcar just shows up there. I don't understand how it breaks off from the main line and what's getting it there? And why it couldn't be done by a truck?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Minivan Werner

It's kind of weird how 1 railcar just shows up there. I don't understand how it breaks off from the main line and what's getting it there? And why it couldn't be done by a truck?

I'm presuming it gets pushed in by a small locomotive which then goes back to whatever depot it comes from.

The railcar looks identical to the one on the Google Maps image from June of last year. Right down to similar graffiti. I'm guessing it's actually owned by Consumer's Produce directly. I'm not sure where they stow it when it's not there however.

[themaguffin]

This is a development in Columbus. I don't feel that the even the modest scale of this lives up to the potential of prime locations that we often talk about, but I like the more traditional design and think Pittsburgh could use something like this in less prime locations and also places like Oakland or east end areas...

http://www.columbusunderground.com/second-lc-riversouth-building-may-rise-up-to-10-stories-tall

[Private D]

Originally Posted by TBone7281

From this week. Walked down to Stage AE to get a ticket on Monday.


BIG HEART.

I didn't realize that Stage AE was up in Cranberry. Huh, who knew?

[TBone7281]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

I didn't realize that Stage AE was up in Cranberry. Huh, who knew?

I suspect you're trying to be clever, but I don't follow.

Stage AE is on the North Shore like it has always been.

Edit: Oh right, the building. Derp.

[Private D]

Originally Posted by TBone7281

I suspect you're trying to be clever, but I don't follow.

Stage AE is on the North Shore like it has always been.

Edit: Oh right, the building. Derp.

Yeah... I'm not very clever though. Not that I've loved or even liked those Continental north shore buildings, but I've never viewed them as overly-suburban or anything. But the angle of the photo with just the grass and blue sky gave me a very office-parky feel... especially with the new signage. I feel like I'd see this while driving on 79 passing through Cranberry... or somewhere in Oklahoma.