Last month, the Planning Commission for the city of Pittsburgh approved a revised Preliminary Land Development Plan for Hazelwood Green, a 178-acre riverfront site—and the last big developable contiguous land mass in this metro—that was once where LTV Steel and Jones & Laughlin Steel milled steel and coke.
The site’s owners—a partnership of Heinz Endowments; and the Richard King Mellon, Benedum, and McCune Foundations, which acquired this property in 2002 for $10 million—on October 1 issued through its Almono LLC a Request For Qualifications (RFQ) to developers for the first 27-acre phase of Hazelwood Green. Developers have until November 19 to respond.
The larger redevelopment, which could take two decades to complete, envisions a world-class model for sustainable development, with a targeted total density of 8 million sf of mixed-use space for offices, R&D, light manufacturing, housing, retail, and 30 acres of public open spaces, all supported by a multimodal transportation system. Hazelwood Green's developers are targeting LEED for Neighborhood Development plan certification, Pittsburgh p4 Performance Measures, and the International Living Future Institute's Living Community Challenge.
The Remake Group, a sustainable development and design consultant, is the project’s manager.
The 27 acres covered in the RFQ would surround Mill 19, a 190,000-sf former steel mill that’s undergoing an $80 million repurposing and expansion to 264,000 sf. MSR Design is the design architect and Renaissance 3 Architects the associate architect on the Mill 19 reconstruction; Atelier Ten, Bala Consulting Engineers, and Lennon Smith Souleret Engineering the engineers; and Ten x Ten the landscape architect.
The Building Team peeled off the mill’s roof and will attach a canopy for a 2-MW solar array. Mill 19’s industrial skeleton is being retained around a new steel-and-glass building nestled within the old mill with three floors for office, research and light manufacturing.
The 90,000-sf Phase A of Mill 19's redevelopment is under construction, and its first tenants—Carnegie Mellon University's Manufacturing Futures Initiative and the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute—have agreed to lease 58,000 sf of that space. (Turner Construction is the GC on this building.)
The first new space is expected to be finished by next Spring. The 70,000-sf Phase B (whose GC is Jendoco Construction) should be completed by next Summer or early Fall 2019, says Tim White, senior vice president of development for Mill 19’s owner/developer, the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He also confirms that RIDC will take office space within Mill 19.
Hazelwood Green’s infrastructure includes the recently completed 1.5-mile, $27 million Signature Boulevard, whose financing was abetted by a $9.5 million loan from the Power of 32, a coalition of 32 counties in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland.
Future redevelopment plans for Hazelwood Green call for plaza that would be twice the size of Pittsburgh’s Downtown Market Square, and would include retail and, possibly, high-density housing.
Related Stories
| Oct 13, 2010
Editorial
The AEC industry shares a widespread obsession with the new. New is fresh. New is youthful. New is cool. But “old” or “slightly used” can be financially profitable and professionally rewarding, too.
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
| Oct 13, 2010
Campus building gives students a taste of the business world
William R. Hough Hall is the new home of the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The $17.6 million, 70,000-sf building gives students access to the latest technology, including a lab that simulates the stock exchange.
| Oct 13, 2010
Apartment complex will offer affordable green housing
Urban Housing Communities, KTGY Group, and the City of Big Bear Lake (Calif.) Improvement Agency are collaborating on The Crossings at Big Bear Lake, the first apartment complex in the city to offer residents affordable, eco-friendly homes. KTGY designed 28 two-bedroom, two-story townhomes and 14 three-bedroom, single-story flats, averaging 1,100 sf each.
| Oct 13, 2010
Residences bring students, faculty together in the Middle East
A new residence complex is in design for United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, UAE, near Abu Dhabi. Plans for the 120-acre mixed-use development include 710 clustered townhomes and apartments for students and faculty and common areas for community activities.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community college plans new campus building
Construction is moving along on Hudson County Community College’s North Hudson Campus Center in Union City, N.J. The seven-story, 92,000-sf building will be the first higher education facility in the city.
| Oct 13, 2010
Bookworms in Silver Spring getting new library
The residents of Silver Spring, Md., will soon have a new 112,000-sf library. The project is aiming for LEED Silver certification.
| Oct 13, 2010
County building aims for the sun, shade
The 187,032-sf East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Calif., will be oriented to take advantage of daylighting, with exterior sunshades preventing unwanted heat gain and glare. The building is targeting LEED Silver. Strong horizontal massing helps both buildings better match their low-rise and residential neighbors.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.