Pittsburgh Commercial News | Week Ending July 10th

 
West Penn Hospital has big ideas for the coming decade.
 
Over the next 10 years, the Bloomfield hospital expects moderate growth, says an institutional master plan submitted to the city’s Planning Commission. Among other proposed building projects, West Penn would build an ambulatory care center and a new garage, enabling it to increase inpatient beds from 360 to 600… Read More.
 
J.C. Penney, the bankrupt department store chain, has reversed its decision to close two Pittsburgh-area stores.
 
The locations at Monroeville Mall and Beaver Valley Mall have been removed from a list of impending store closures. That list still includes the J.C. Penney stores at Clearview Mall in Butler and at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills…. Read More.
 
A technology community’s resources and homegrown talent define its identity, but to reach a bigger stage it will ultimately need to attract others to its cause.
 
So, in Pittsburgh, it was viewed as a turning point when Google came to the city. Opening an office within Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 that was helmed by a professor it hired from the institution, the big tech company grew the office to 150 employees that led it to open a new office in Bakery Square in 2011.
 
It was a landmark of economic transformation, anchoring the redevelopment of a former Nabisco factory that now also houses University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. And UPMC Enterprises, the university’s venture arm that is committing $1 billion to new life sciences investments, is there, too… Read More.
 
07/09/2020: URA steers nearly $600,000 to two Larimer developments
 
Larimer stands to get a new indoor community or commercial space and two affordable for-sale homes following Thursday’s Urban Redevelopment Authority board meeting.
 
The URA board voted to increase construction lending by $517,261 and the architect’s contract by $23,200 on the conversion of the Larimer School’s auditorium and gymnasium into developable space. It could end up becoming a food co-op, community space, a business incubator, a food preparation site or a place for health and wellness activities, according to the URA… Read More.
 
One of the country’s most popular haunted attractions is set to open a new location at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills just in time for Halloween.
 
ScareHouse, a local attraction ranked as one of “America’s Scariest Halloween Attractions” by Travel Channel and featured by a number of national media outlets, signed a lease for 20,005 square feet at the super regional mall in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. ScareHouse is expected to open in September… Read More.
 
Separated by train tracks from The Waterfront shopping center, the neighborhood of Homestead hasn’t seen much new investment in a long time — but slowly, steadily, things are starting to happen. One example is the restoration of the Masonic Hall at 338 E. 9th Avenue, by Q Development, into 20 market-rate apartments called the Homestead Masonic Hall Lofts.
 
After talking to people in the neighborhood, Rick Belloli of Q Development thinks it’s the first fully market-rate project in Homestead since at least the 1980s. Rents start at $800 for a studio apartment and average $1,300 for a one-bedroom unit. There are also 1,400-square-foot live/work studios for $2,500… Read More.
 
In the days when women wore hooped petticoats, Allegheny Commons Park was converted from 100 acres of pasture into an 84-acre haven for humans, with a wide promenade.
 
In 1867, what’s now known as the North Side was Allegheny City, a prosperous little burg that was swept up in the national parks movement of the time. In 1907, it was annexed into the city of Pittsburgh. The original design, and original park, had an allee of trees that lined a grand promenade. Soon it will have one again… Read More.
 
With the massive, five-block Terminal redevelopment in the Strip District on its way to completion this fall, the same developer has plucked a nearby piece of land for future development.
 
Chicago-based McCaffery Interests has acquired a 3.5-acre site adjacent to the former produce terminal from Rugby Realty, a New Jersey-based developer that had planned the $80 million Brickworks office development on the spot.
 
“The seller had approved plans, but we may take a second look at them,” says Dan McCaffery, CEO of McCaffery Interests. “I don’t think it’s wise to start something new today — just hold on for a while, and monitor progress of the city, the area, everything.”…. Read More.
 
 
The latest CoStar data shows that Pittsburgh posts some of the country’s highest levels of growth in available office sublet space.
 
About 1.6% of the local office market was listed for sublease at the close of the second quarter. That is a notable jump of about 0.7% from the final quarter of 2019.
 
Such a spike is unsurprising given the upheaval caused by the coronavirus. At a national level, the amount of available sublet space has more than tripled in the past two quarters. Downsizing plays a role in these decisions, but major corporations such as Facebook, Twitter and Nationwide are also reassessing their office footprint as remote working becomes more feasible, and in some cases, desirable… Read More.
 
Spoon, which has anchored East Liberty dining since 2010, has closed. The restaurant, a perennial fixture on Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best Restaurants list, announced on its social media channels that it will not reopen when the current restrictions imposed by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases are lifted.
 
“Due to the many unprecedented challenges, our industry continues to experience and the expiration of our lease, we have decided it is best to close this chapter and look towards the future. During this uncertain time, we will spend time with our loved ones, taking a step back to better prepare us for our next adventure!”… Read More.
 
Construction has begun on a new on-street bicycle connection that extends the Great Allegheny Passage to Point State Park by way of the city’s central business district. 
 
This is the final segment of “GAP to the Point,” a $927,000 federally-funded transportation project by the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to increase safety for the more than 1,100 bikers who commute to work every day, as well as for recreational cyclists visiting Pittsburgh.
 
The new accommodation stretches from Stanwix Street at Third Avenue to Stanwix at Penn Avenue, then extending to Commonwealth Place and Liberty Avenue… Read More.