Developer nears end of work in North Shore revitalization
Some 15 years after a Columbus, Ohio, firm began the arduous task of trying to breathe life into the acres of asphalt between PNC Park and Heinz Field, its work is nearing completion.
With a groundbreaking Wednesday on a seven-story office building that will house the German software company SAP, Continental Real Estate Companies, in partnership with the Steelers and the Pirates, has only one parcel left to develop on the North Shore.
The new building, said Mark Hart, the Steelers vice president of planning and development, is the “latest in a great effort” among the partners to transform the North Shore, which now is home to three office complexes, a music venue, a hotel, a bevy of restaurants and nightspots, and more than $200 million in investment.
He recalled just how desolate the area was during the era of Three Rivers Stadium, when about the only food produced outside the venue was at grills during tailgate parties.
“To go from that venue and that palette of really concrete and parking lots to where we are today is ... actually remarkable,” he said. “We’re talking today about a great global company like SAP Ariba, retaining them and attracting them to Pittsburgh and the North Shore. Seventeen years or 15 years ago, that was something that was beyond our belief.”
SAP will move 850 employees from its offices in the K&L Gates Center Downtown to the new riverfront location. It plans to add as many as 250 workers over the next several years.
Valerie Blatt, vice president of global enablement for SAP, said the company did an extensive search of possible locations and “felt like the North Shore was the best place for us and SAP.”
“Pittsburgh is a vibrant city. It has a huge talent pool. It is surrounded by a deep tech ecosystem,” she said in listing some of the reasons the company decided to settle and expand here.
Commitments like those, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said, could help in the region’s bid for Seattle online retail giant Amazon, which is soliciting proposals for a second headquarters that could employ as many as 50,000 people over time.
“What happens often times is companies follow each other. Oh, they’re moving to Pittsburgh, maybe there’s something in Pittsburgh that’s pretty good. And again, that would be an example we would use in our
pitch,” he said.
SAP might not be the only big name moving into the newbuilding.
Continental is in “very seriousdiscussions”withrepresentatives for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger about opening a restaurant within the building’s 21,000 squarefeet of retail space, said Barry Ford, president of developmentinPittsburgh.
“We think they’d be a great addition here for us, andwe’re trying to get a lease done with them and hope to havesomething formal to tell you soon, but I don’t at this point,”he said.
Mr. Roethlisberger has been looking for a space on the North Shore for a restaurant for the last couple of years.
With work set to start on the new office building, Continental has one last parcel left to develop — lot 4 adjacent to the Hyatt Place Hotel and PNC Park. The site, about three acres, is bordered by Mazeroski Way, West General Robinson Street and NorthShoreDrive.
At one time Continental had considered building a $65 million apartment complex there. But apartments now are out in favor of some other type of development, said Frank Kass, Continental’schairman.
“It will be some combination of office, possibly hotel, lots of restaurants, and [an] entertainment venue, and a completely different streetscape than there is now,”he said.
While that development likelywould end Continental’s roleontheNorthShore,thedeveloper still is actively involved in other projects in Pittsburgh.
One of them is a proposed redevelopment of the Post-Gazette building on the Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown. Mr.Kass said the firm is working on “two exciting things” at that location, one office and one multi-family. “It’s one or theother,”hesaid.
The Post-Gazette currently is a tenant in Continental’s North Shore Place I and II office and retail complexnext to Stage AE.