Old Hazelwood locomotive roundhouse could host tech, coworking space
An old locomotive roundhouse at the former LTV Coke Works site in Hazelwood may go from serving trains to fueling tech.
Representatives of Almono LLC — the owner of the sprawling 178acre property known as Hazelwood Green — briefed city planning commission members Tuesday on a proposal to convert the structure, which dates to 1887, into collaborative work and event space.
In a statement, Todd Stern, managing director of U3 Advisors Inc., development advisers to Almono, said the rehabbed roundhouse will be marketed as a technology acceleration and coworking space, while providing outdoor space for the public.
The project would represent the second major redevelopment on the site, which has struggled to gain traction despite a prominent spot on the Monongahela riverfront.
As part of the work, Almono LLC and the GBBN architectural firm plan to incorporate original elements from the old 10-bay roundhouse, including the turntable and operator cab, crane, fume hood room and track rails.
Also included is an addition to be built at the rear of the structure that will house “vertical circulation serving a new partial second floor within the existing building.” The project also involves landscaping improvements, a rain garden, bicycle parking and outside seating areas.
Almono LLC — a partnership made up of The Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation — intends to seek an environmentally friendly LEED Gold designation for the redevelopment.
“Our design vision has been to connect to the history of the roundhouse and its importance to
Pittsburgh’s past while repositioning the space to usher in the future of community enrichment, technology, manufacturing and entrepreneurialism in the city,” said Anne Chen, GBBN principal.
Construction is expected to start after planning commission approval and take a year to complete.
In prepping the structure for the rehab, Almono already has replaced parts of the roof, removed an enclosure that was collapsing, and hauled away abandoned vehicles.
The roundhouse was built by the Monongahela Connecting Railroad and later owned by Jones & Laughlin Steel and the LTV Steel Co. It and the turntable were used in part to service train engines.
Outside of an Uber Technologies test track for autonomous vehicles, the only other development to take place at Hazelwood Green is Mill 19, a 265,000square-foot complex built from the bones of an old coke works structure by the Regional Industrial Development Corp.
The first Mill 19 building houses Carnegie Mellon University’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute and its Manufacturing Futures Initiative. Catalyst Connection also has moved into the building. Autonomous vehicle startup Aptiv will be moving into an RIDC-built second building this spring. A third building is being designed. In addition, Almono hopes to complete a public plaza now under construction this spring and finish Lytle Street by the end of the month.