Boston developer eyes potential role at old Hazelwood mill site

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Boston firm behind the restoration of Downtown’s historic Union Trust Building is in talks about a possible collaboration in the redevelopment of another old structure — the Mill 19 building at the former LTV Coke Works in Hazelwood.

The Davis Companies is one of a number of firms that the Regional Industrial Development Corp. is talking to about a possible partnership involving the third phase of the Mill 19 redevelopment at the Hazelwood Green site.

A possible collaboration is one of a number of options RIDC is evaluating with the goal being to get “additional development happening as soon as possible,” president Don Smith said Tuesday.

He would not name other potential partners he has talked to. Jim Scott, vice president, investments, for The Davis Companies, declined comment.

RIDC already has started the construction of the 94,000-squarefoot first phase that is being built inside the old mill’s superstructure, turning a relic into a hub for technology and research.

The nonprofit has landed Carnegie Mellon University’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute and the Manufacturing Futures Initiative to anchor the first phase. CMU will lease two floors, or about two-thirds of the first building. It plans to move in next April.

RIDC is building the second phase, just under 70,000 square feet, without a signed tenant. It has awarded a contract to Jendoco Construction Corp. with plans to get started on the work this summer, with completion scheduled for fall 2019.

Each building will cost in excess of $20 million to develop. The regional development organization is looking for a potential partner for the third phase in part to spread some of the risk and bring in additional capital, Mr. Smith said.

RIDC would like to move quickly on the third phase, with