Month: July 2017

Condos Instead of Offices

Posted on July 24, 2017 | Leave a comment

Thursday the Parking Authority chose the Davis Companies’ team for the development of the 9th and Penn corner Downtown. The plan is for 185 condos and commercial/retail integrated into a 900-plus-car garage. The Authority chose Davis over competing proposals from Millcraft and Oxford Development. The proposal from the latter apparently involved an mid-rise office tower similar to the one Oxford had proposed for 350 Fifth Avenue and involved a 250,000 square foot tenant that needed construction to start immediately.

9th-and-penn-STREETVIEW-03202017-PhysCamera001-1 — Rendering by AE7 Architects

AHN short-listed the competitors for construction management of the $25 million cancer institute at AGH to Mascaro, Massaro, PJ Dick and Rycon. Mid-Atlantic Capital is taking final bids from P2 Contracting and Franjo Construction for the build-out of Stonehaven Brewing & Restaurant, a $4 million renovation of the former Spaghetti Warehouse. CDC is reporting that Dinsmore & Shohl picked A. Martini & Company for its $2 million tenant improvement at 6 PPG Place.

The Pipeline Continues

Posted on July 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

Earlier this week Burns & Scalo Real Estate announced its plans for a 150,000 square foot office – called The Riviera – in the Pittsburgh Technology Center. That office park is getting an interesting boost from the new Hotel Indigo that is under construction.

DLOcMY2U — Rendering of The Riviera by NEXT Architecture.

City Planning Director Ray Gastil believes that the hotel will bring a change in dynamics to the PTC and spark development of other types of properties. The city’s planning commission is looking at two other projects of interest this week. Walnut Capital submitted plans for a $6 million renovation to a former car dealership building at Craft Place and the Boulevard in Oakland. PJ Dick is the project’s contractor. And Matthews International revealed its plans to add 18,000 square feet and renovate its North Side headquarters. Turner Construction is the CM for Matthews.

In project news, Massaro Corp. was awarded the $3 million new entry at UPMC Presbyterian University Hospital and the Mercy Hospital ERC behavioral health projects. UPMC will have the economic impact report for its $180 million UPMC South presented to South Fayette Township supervisors tonight. Proposals for the CM services should go out after the township approves the project later this summer.

University of Pittsburgh is taking proposals from Mascaro, Turner, A Martini, PJ Dick, Volpatt, and Rycon on its new $26.5 million life sciences building at the Greensburg campus. St. Clair Hospital will release its $10 million-ish physical plant building for bids again by the end of the month.

PTT Steps to the Plate

Posted on July 3, 2017 | Leave a comment

The recent North American Petrochemical Construction Conference was held in Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago and there were plenty of pronouncements about the beginnings of the plastics and chemicals industries building out in Pittsburgh. The problem was there were few specifics to support the assertions. Maybe I’m still accustomed to the other shoe dropping but without some logical argument as to why the industries should locate strategic manufacturing assets here, I was unmoved by the PR coming out of the conference.

This morning came news that Thai-based PTT had exercised its option to buy the 168-acre site on the Ohio that has been proposed for construction of a second ethane cracker in the Marcellus/Utica region. The site was the Burger First Energy power plant and has been getting a demo and cleanup that JobsOhio has funded to the tune of $14 million. PTT had auditioned Fluor and Bechtel last year to provide preliminary engineering and budget estimates, with the intention of making a final investment decision in January 2017. Instead of pulling the trigger, PTT deferred the decision until late 2017. That was a cause for concern, although Shell delayed their FID several times and still moved ahead.

This morning’s news is another bit of affirmation that inertia for the petrochemicals industry is building in the Appalachia. Understand that a $13.8 million land buy won’t assure that PTT makes the FID soon or even goes ahead with the project, but it’s comforting news nonetheless. You can read the Pittsburgh Business Times story here.

Contractors seem to be comforted by Pittsburgh’s market conditions since the first quarter. The Master Builder’s Association’s C3 Index – a reading on commercial contractors’ sentiment about the market – showed big improvement in the second quarter. The MBA’s Eric Starkowitz released the C3 Index on July 1 and reported that a significant increase in backlogs had raised expectations about the future.

765ae82b-beeb-4a43-a990-42ea54c67cfd-large One significant project that has made news in the plastics industry is Ensinger Plastics’ expansion. After South Strabane Township officials hamstrung Chapman Properties’s development of Southport, where Ensinger was to locate, the manufacturer shifted plans and will add 214,000 square feet at its existing North Strabane location. The construction cost should still be in the $20 million-plus range. Ensinger is taking bids from Franjo, Bear Construction and Fairchance Construction in mid-July.