Offices could again be part of Strip’s terminal rehab
Offices could be back in the mix as part of the redevelopment of the Strip District’s iconic produce terminal.
Dan McCaffery, CEO of Chicagobased McCaffery Interests, said Monday that he has received inquiries from people interested in leasing the secondfloor space at the far east end of the terminal.
For years, that end of the 1,533foot- long warehouse housed the Society of Contemporary Craft, an arts center now known as Contemporary Craft. As part of McCaffery’s deal to take control of the terminal, the group moved out of the space and relocated to Lawrenceville. McCaffery contributed $ 1.3 million toward the relocation.
The developer is hoping to fill most of the terminal with restaurants, brewpubs, retail and a “food- centric” market at its western end near 16th Street.
Mr. McCaffery said he has not secured leases for the secondfloor space but is open to it.
“I think it would be wonderful to have offices because we’ve got to keep the retailers alive,” he said. “You need the daytime population. It’s as hard as hell to keep something alive” with just evening business, he added.
At a groundbreaking last year, the developer said offices were no longer slated to go in the main stretch of the terminal, but didn’t rule out that use altogether.
On Monday, Mr. McCaffery said he is open to leasing a small office or two in the five- block warehouse, once a hub for fruit and vegetable wholesalers, but doesn’t want anything major. “We’re not out there looking to get a 100,000- square- foot office use,” he said.
Across the street from the terminal, the company is redeveloping another old warehouse at 1600 Smallman St. into more than 110,000 square feet of office space.
Aurora Innovation, an autonomous vehicle company now in Lawrenceville, will be taking the vast majority of the building. “That, too, is fantastic. You can’t ask people to open a small restaurant and not have people around to eat in it,” Mr. McCaffery said.
Work on the $ 62.6 million project is expected to finish in a couple of months. Mr. McCaffery has said he has signed leases for 30% to 40% of the space, although only one tenant has been named.
That would be a Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection store operated by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. It will occupy 9,654 square feet of space and is set to open this fall.
As part of the rehab, McCaffery expanded the terminal’s long dock on Smallman to accommodate outdoor dining and seating, and cut passageways through parts of the building to allow access to the Allegheny riverfront.
The developer is seeking $ 8 million in state redevelopment assistance capital grants to help complete the work on the terminal and 1600 Smallman.
Next to the terminal, McCaffery recently paid $ 19.5 million to acquire a 3.5- acre vacant tract from New Jerseybased Rugby Realty, which at one time had plans to build an $ 80 million office and retail development there. The sprawling tract runs along Smallman from 21st to 23rd streets.
Mr. McCaffery said he has yet to decide what to do with that land, which is now used mainly for parking in a neighborhood where it is hard to find a space, particularly on weekends.
For the time being, the plan is to maintain it as a “very handsome parking area.”
“It takes pressure off parking in the area. It will help everyone from Penn Avenue on down,” Mr. McCaffery said.