TOP PITTSBURGH NEWS | Week Ending October 23

Robotics firm buys Lawrenceville headquarters property from RIDC

Carnegie Robotics⁠ took a major step to cement its anchor presence on Robotics Row by closing on the acquisition of its headquarters campus in Lawrenceville, the 50,000-square-foot “Blue Building” reconfigured out of a former Heppenstall Steel Co. mill shed and the surrounding four-acre property.

The company, which first set up shop at the property in 2014 as a spin out of the nearby National Robotics Engineering Center, bought the property by exercising an established option agreement with the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Western Pennsylvania, and marks the first time RIDC⁠ has sold off a portion of the Lawrenceville Technology Center, the nonprofit development institution’s repositioning of a defunct 14-acre steel mill it bought in 2002…Read More

PPG recommits to downtown, renews lease at headquarters

One of Pittsburgh’s cornerstone public companies has renewed its commitment to its headquarters downtown.

PPG Industries Inc.⁠ (NYSE: PPG) confirms it has signed a renewal to maintain its global headquarters presence at PPG Place, the six-building, 1.5 million-square-foot office complex downtown for which the company was the original developer before selling it off decades ago…Read More

Alcosan breaks ground on $1B Ohio River tunnel, largest infrastructure project in county history

When it comes to commemorating the start of the largest infrastructure project in the history of Allegheny County, Alcosan faced both a logistical and symbolic challenge that came with the standard group photo shoveling moment.

To be sure, Alcosan’s leadership, staff and mascot, Frankie the Fish, all did their part in hoisting their shiny shovels in front of two large banners representing the public authority and the joint venture construction firms contracted to build out the Ohio River tunnel…Read More

Oregon-based robotics firm announces new “center of excellence” in Pittsburgh

Oregon-based Agility Robotics Inc.⁠, which first set up a small, local presence in the vicinity of Robotics Row in the years before the pandemic, is making a major expansion in Pittsburgh.

The Salem, Oregon firm that specializes in a humanoid robot called Digit, announced it is engaged in adding a new 50,000-square-foot facility in Pittsburgh, a ramp up in local presence that comes as the company works to become the first public company in the United States specializing in humanoid robotics…Read More

Lender seeks court order to foreclose on Heinz 57 Center

Lenders are seeking court approval to push one of downtown’s largest buildings, the still-named Heinz 57 Center on Smithfield Street, into foreclosure.

According to a late September legal filing in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Wilmington Trust filed a foreclosure action against the ownership of Heinz 57 Center, an affiliate of McKnight Realty Partners called 623 Smithfield Associates Ltd. Legal filings and loan servicer reports also indicate the lender seeks the appointment of a court-ordered receiver to oversee the tower’s day-to-day operations…Read More