[Evergrey]

:previous: Hey Pittsburgh!

You're welcome. :tup:

if you knew anything about the history of USAir (formerly Allegheny Air), you would realize what a misguided sentiment that is

anyways.. it certainly is no gift... as we're shelling out $108,000 for every new job this will create... this type of economic policy is folly IMO!

[Evergrey]

here's an interesting article about our city from the Boston Biz Times... Superstar Boston is threatened by Pittsburgh's robotics sector... sounds like a lot of insecurity on their part

http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2007/02/19/story2.html

Robot rivals

Boston wants to prove it has robotic leadership over can-do Pittsburgh

Boston Business Journal - February 16, 2007by Todd WallackJournal Staff

Boston's tech industry has long competed for attention with Silicon Valley. But now it's jealous of a less glamorous rival: Pittsburgh.

While local tech leaders insist Boston is the Hub of the robotic universe, they gripe that Pittsburgh -- also known as "Roboburgh" -- is winning more of the credit. Now locals are hatching a plan to steal the thunder back.

http://cll.bizjournals.com/story_image/72046-400-0.jpg?rev=2
W. Marc Bernsau
Nathan Desmeule, field service engineer at Foster-Miller, with the company's Talon Robot. Boston-area robot manufacturers are peeved because they feel that Pittsburgh — a.k.a. "Roboburgh" — is getting a reputation it does not deserve as the nation's robot central

"We think we're bigger,'' said Joyce Plotkin, president of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council Inc. "We're going to document our lead."

To be sure, Pittsburgh boasts dozens of robotics companies, including McKesson Automated Healthcare Inc. and Bombardier Transportation. It hosted a key robotics industry conference last year. And the area is home to the federally funded National Center for Defense Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University's expansive Robotics Institute (including the National Robotics Engineering Center ) and the Robot Hall of Fame (also located at CMU).

But Tom Hopcroft, vice president of the Mass Technology Leadership Council, counters that most of Pittsburgh's robotics companies are tiny and its national centers are national in name only. The National Center for Defense Robotics, for instance, is an arm of a Pittsburgh economic development group and mostly funds local projects .

"I think Pittsburgh is doing a good job of talking about what they have there," said Hopcroft. "We have a lot more substance here."

In fact, the Massachusetts group estimates there are at least 150 local robotics companies in the Greater Boston region, including the best known robotics firm in the country -- Burlington's iRobot Corp., which makes the Roomba robot vacuum. And while CMU claims it operates the world's largest robotics research center, council leaders contend it can't match the combined firepower of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the galaxy of other local research centers.

To plant Boston's flag on top of the mechanical mountain, the council plans to commission a formal study of the size of the industry and spend money promoting the sector. The council recently won a $50,000 grant from the Mass Technology Collaborative in Westborough to fund its efforts.

"We want to define the sector to let people know what is here and educate people," Plotkin said.

But a Pittsburgh official says the competition is misplaced.

"Whether Pittsburgh is No. 1 or Boston is No. 1 is irrelevant,'' said Bill Thomasmeyer, head of the city's Technology Collaborative, which runs its defense robotics center. "This industry is going to grow. If you are No. 1, or 2 or 3, you are going to be in a good position."

Regardless, experts say both Pittsburgh and Boston have gained a national reputation as leaders in the emerging field of smart robots -- robots capable of making independent decisions, rather than the mechanical arms that have been used on assembly lines for decades.

"It's a horse race in this country," said Dan Kara, president of Robotics Trends Inc. in Upton, which tracks the industry. Kara says Boston has some advantages, such as a larger pool of venture capitalists, while Pittsburgh has heftier backing from state and local government.

Last year, Kara's company teamed with IDG World Expo Corp. of Framingham to hold the national RoboBusiness industry conference in Pittsburgh. But this year, RoboBusiness is moving back to Massachusetts.

The event is slated to be held May 15-16 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

Still, Kara and Thomasmeyer say there is also stiff competition from other parts of the world, such as Osaka, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; and Munich, Germany.

Indeed, Thomasmeyer argues U.S. cities are better off working together amid international competition.

Yet some industry players insist bragging rights matter.

Bob Quinn, a vice president at Foster-Miller Inc. in Waltham, which makes mobile robots for the military and law enforcement, said he thinks smaller robotics companies in the Bay State could have a tougher time getting attention because so much of the limelight is aimed at Pittsburgh.

"It hurts,'' Quinn said. "All the trumpets keep blaring in Pittsburgh about why it should be considered the robot capital of the world."

Now council leaders are mulling whether Boston needs its own robo-nickname to compete with Pittsburgh.

"Certainly branding clusters help,'' Plotkin says. "We'll probably take a look at that."

Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@bizjournals.com.

[PA Pride]

That could be our new motto:
Pittsburgh: The Less Glamorous Rival
aka(What they really meant) Pittsburgh: The Shit-stained retard looking Fuckfaces.

When our city finally has something to be proud of us, we still get shat upon. Isn't it funny how no matter how big your city is, the city that is a little bit bigger has to look down upon you and laugh and joke about what a horrible fate it must be to be from THAT city....
Everyone likes to talk shit about Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Yet if you are from Philly or Seattle, then it's LA and NYC who are like oh, you're going to little ol' Seattle; What a quaint place... HAR har har, Biff you're soo funny.

[PhillyRising]

:previous: Hey Pittsburgh!

You're welcome. :tup:


It's about time a SunBelt City loses to a Northeastern City in a competition for jobs! Way to go Pittsburgh! Phoenix can't have every job.

[Evergrey]

This week's Pittsburgh Business Times includes that Boston robotics article as well as a local rebuttal. "Roboburghers Say Ploy Is Petty". I have to agree. Carnegie-Mellon University's Robotics Institute is the largest research institute of its kind in the US, serving as an umbrella organization for 7 robotics sub-centers. "Imagine Youngstown having commissioned a study 100 years ago on which city had more steel mills."

Regardless of whoever has the larger robotics community... this is a lot of high-profile coverage for Roboburgh!

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_494757.html

Uniontown call center to hire 200

By C.M. Mortimer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, February 24, 2007


TeleTech Holdings, Inc., a Colorado-based telephone and Internet customer-service provider, said Friday it is actively recruiting to hire more than 200 employees at its call center in Uniontown.
TeleTech said it won a new contract and workers are needed to provide over-the-phone help to customers in military families. Workers at the facility in the Uniontown Mall will handle inbound calls only.

TeleTech plans to hold a job fair at the Uniontown facility from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Call types include life insurance questions, account balances, bill payments, money transfers, stock quotes and insurance claims.





TeleTech would not identify the organization with whom the contract was made. "It is not a government contract," said KC Higgins, TeleTech spokeswoman.

TeleTech operates call centers in Moundsville and Morgantown, W.Va. Higgins said the three centers each employ 500 or more workers.

TeleTech said new hires in Uniontown will be given paid training before taking live calls. The company said workers will be offered a competitive hourly base pay in addition to monthly performance-based incentives. New hires will be offered a benefit package that includes 401(k), medical, vision, dental and tuition reimbursement.

TeleTech employs about 47,000 people at 88 centers worldwide, including 29 in the United States.



C.M. Mortimer can be reached at cmortimer@tribweb.com or (724) 836-5252.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07059/765428-28.stm

PNC moves closer on Mercantile deal
Wednesday, February 28, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PNC Financial Services Group is one step closer to a major foothold in Baltimore and Maryland after Mercantile Bankshares shareholders approved the Downtown-based bank's $6 billion acquisition, leaving only two minor regulatory hurdles before the deal can close early next month.

The purchase would solidify PNC's status as one of the nation's strongest regional financial institutions, with more than 1,000 branches on the East Coast and a geographic footprint that stretches between the Hudson River and the Potomac River -- a territory that cuts through some of the country's wealthiest and best-educated communities

Already Pennsylvania's largest financial institution, PNC would become the 11th-largest bank in the nation, as ranked by deposits, the second-largest bank in Maryland, where Mercantile has 188 branches, and the second-largest in Delaware. Mercantile also has branches in northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. -- bolstering PNC's 2005 purchase of Washington, D.C.-based Riggs Bank.

With the addition of Mercantile, almost 70 percent of PNC's branches will sit east of the Appalachians.

The Federal Reserve approved the Mercantile purchase on Feb. 15. PNC still needs regulatory approval from the state of Delaware and a final sign-off from the Department of Justice at the end of this week.

Both moves are expected.

Mercantile shareholders gave their thumbs up yesterday morning in a meeting in Baltimore. They are entitled to .4184 shares of PNC common stock and $16.45 in cash for each share they own.

PNC spokesman Brian Goerke said the Mercantile branches will not convert to the PNC name until mid September -- unlike the Riggs market conversion in May 2005, when PNC changed the name of all 51 branches during the first weekend of ownership. But Mr. Goerke emphasized that customers will be able to bank at PNC using their Mercantile accounts and cards.

"It's banking as usual for them," he said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.)

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_495282.html

Credit for Heinz growth spread around


By Rick Stouffer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, February 28, 2007


Nine months of solid economic growth at the H.J. Heinz Co., with net income increasing nearly 13 percent, and total sales climbing almost 10 percent, begs the question:
Is it Heinz, or is it Nelson Peltz? Analysts and industry watchers say the positive results at Heinz are a combination of the two.

Nearly one year ago, Heinz was notified by the billionaire and activist investor that he and some investor friends were buying into Heinz, and that they were looking for more earnings from the iconic Pittsburgh company.

Thus followed six months of what industry watchers described as a nasty proxy fight, with management and dissidents each presenting eerily similar growth plans for Heinz, both sides calling the other names, and both promising shareholders a vote for them meant growth and prosperity. Peltz and fellow dissident Michael Weinstein in August were elected to the Heinz board.

Heinz is doing everything management promised in its Superior Value & Growth Plan, analysts said. On Tuesday, for example, the company reported net income jumped 88 percent in the three-month period ended Jan. 31. The food giant's net income totaled more than $219 million, or 66 cents a share, up from $116.6 million, or 35 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Net income from one year ago was impacted by a $16.6 million loss from discontinued operations.

Worldwide sales at Heinz rose 5 percent to $2.3 billion from sales in the comparable period a year ago of $2.2 billion.

Heinz shares closed at $45.86, down $1.15 a share.

"We originally discussed our growth plan with analysts in September 2005, we repackaged it for June 2006 release," said Heinz spokesman Michael Mullen yesterday. "We continue to execute our plan."

"The company really had been stepping up with a clear, coherent plan to increase sales and earnings before Peltz entered the picture," said analyst Alexia Howard, who follows Heinz for Sanford Bernstein, New York. "However, Peltz brought a sense of urgency to the situation -- he put the onus on company management to stretch themselves."

"Peltz lit a fire under management to execute its plan," said Craig Hutson, a senior investment grade analyst who follows Heinz for independent bond research firm Gimme Credit LLC, New York. "His presence keeps the pressure on to meet goals."

"We are pleased with our momentum," said Art Winkleblack, Heinz's chief financial officer, during a conference call yesterday with analysts.

Winkleblack said the outlook for Heinz's full-year results looks very positive, with sales to reach $9 billion, operating income to increase by more than 7 percent, and earnings per share to range between $2.35 and $2.39.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comparing plans: Heinz vs. Peltz

• Over a two-year period, H.J. Heinz wants to cut $355 million in costs and $145 million in trade spending, with savings reinvested to fuel sales through an 18.7 percent increase in marketing and advertising this year to $317 million. Also, close or sell 15 plants.

• Nelson Peltz's Trian Group wanted to reduce costs by $575 million, including trade deals and allowances by more than $300 million, and drive growth by reinvesting the funds in marketing and product innovation.

• Heinz recommended a double-digit increase in research and development in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, to return nearly $2 billion to shareholders over the next two years via a 16.7 percent dividend increase, to $1.40 per common share in 2007 from $1.20 in 2006, and a $1 billion share buyback over the two-year period

• Trian wanted Heinz to raise debt and use the proceeds and cash on hand and from divestitures to repurchase shares.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Rick Stouffer can be reached at rstouffer@tribweb.com.



PDF:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/video/2007_pdfs/GX-Heinz-ch-02-28.pdf

[vertex]

if you knew anything about the history of USAir (formerly Allegheny Air), you would realize what a misguided sentiment that is

anyways.. it certainly is no gift... as we're shelling out $108,000 for every new job this will create... this type of economic policy is folly IMO!

Believe me, it wasn't misguided. I have a very good understanding of how U.S Airways/America West operates. The gains made by the airline's decision to expand the operations center here are huge. There were some practical reasons for doing this, and the incentive package certainly helped. But the need for political capital and goodwill are just as important.

Let's just enjoy Pittsburgh's good fortune. This investment will eventually pay for itself.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07061/766195-28.stm

Westinghouse nails down China nuclear deal
Monroeville firm will build four plants along China's eastern coast starting in 2009
Friday, March 02, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070302ho_westyNUKEPLANTA_450.jpg
Westinghouse will build four AP1000 nuclear power plants, like the one seen here, along China's eastern coast. The first plant is to open in 2013.

After 21/2 years, Westinghouse Electric finally has a "framework agreement" to build four nuclear power plants in China, starting in 2009.

The project details, revealed yesterday, differ somewhat from a tentative agreement touted last December during a high-profile ceremony in Beijing. Instead of two plants in the south and two in the east of the world's most-populous nation, Monroeville-based Westinghouse now will build all four plants along the eastern coast, near the East China Sea. Two will go in Sanmen, about 150 miles south of Shanghai, and the other two will go to Haiyang, north of Shanghai but southeast of Beijing. The first plant is expected to be ready in 2013.

Final contracts for the four plants are expected by midyear.

The two southern Chinese plants originally pegged for Westinghouse will go instead to a French rival, Areva, according to a report yesterday in the Oriental Morning Post. The French contracts are worth $5 billion, according to the report, and the Westinghouse's contracts are valued at $6 billion to $7 billion.

Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert would not confirm an exact figure. "It is up to our customer to make a comment," he said.

The highly complicated and sensitive political process that produced this week's framework agreement illustrates how challenging it is to do business with the Chinese -- and also how willing the Chinese are to divide up plum projects both domestically and internationally.

For Westinghouse, the Chinese nuclear deal is expected to generate as many as 5,000 U.S. jobs, many in this region, where the company already employs 3,000 and may add 2,000 -- in part on expectations of the four Chinese plants and 12 other U.S. plants -- through an expansion of its research facilities either in Monroeville or Cranberry.

For China, the deal fills a need to develop as many as 30 new reactors by 2020 as nuclear power grows to 4 percent of the country's total energy sources, up from 2.3 percent today.

Such an outlay could cost the Chinese as much as $50 billion, according to the Oriental Morning Post.

Westinghouse began competing for the Chinese nuclear power deal in 2004, offering its latest model plant, the AP1000. When the Chinese announced a tentative agreement with Westinghouse in December 2006, there was no mention of Areva, Westinghouse's rival for the assignment, signaling a clear win for the Americans.

But the French government, which controls Paris-based Areva, never stopped lobbying the Chinese, sending French President Jacques Chirac to Beijing in the fall and Areva Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon in January, when the company apparently signed a "preliminary agreement" with the Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., owner of the southern Chinese plant projects.

Areva struck a more advanced agreement on Feb. 14, according to a Chinese news report, agreeing also to provide uranium fuel to China.

While dividing plants between the French and the Americans, the Chinese also appear to be dividing the ownership of the plants among different companies domestically, reflecting a shake-up within China's nuclear power industry.

The two plants in Haiyang will be owned by an upstart, the China Power Investment Corp., which wants to break the "monopoly" of the Chinese nuclear reactor industry, according to Caijing magazine, which covers finance and economics in China. The two giants that currently control much of the industry are Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., which signed the deal with the French, and China National Nuclear Corp., which will work with Westinghouse on two plants in Sanmen.

China Power Investment first gained some assets during a 2002 restructuring of the Chinese power industry and by late 2004, its chairman revealed that the company had been authorized to be the third group company developing nuclear power in China, according to Caijing magazine. Its advantage in the Westinghouse-Areva competition was that it had no past experience working with technology produced by the French and thus there would be no need for an adjustment process with Westinghouse's new AP1000 technology.

"All in all it seems like the Chinese government was exceedingly Solomonesque in how it handled both the international competition and the domestic competition," said Louis Schwartz, president of Squirrel Hill-based China Strategies, which advises U.S. companies on how to do business with the world's largest nation. "Whether that will be good for the further development of China's nuclear issue is an open question."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. )

[Evergrey]

an example of the budding regionalism movement in our highly fragmented metro

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07061/766265-85.stm

Counties cooperate to boost airport
Washington, Allegheny, Beaver unity helped land flight operations center
Friday, March 02, 2007

By Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



US Airways last week gave the region a much-needed economic boost with the announcement it would build a $25 million flight operations center in Moon rather than in competing locations of Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C.

But while the center, which will employ 600, will sit on 10 acres close to the Pittsburgh International Airport in Allegheny County, it could have easily ended up in an adjacent county. The airline specified only that the operations center be within five miles or a half-hour drive from the airport.

So why wasn't Beaver County, home to many US Airways employees, or even Washington County, fighting for the opportunity to land the facility, a practice that has occurred before as counties in this region have vied against each other for desperately needed jobs and expanded tax bases?

The answer is that the three counties four years ago came to realize that by working together, they all could potentially share an even bigger bounty. So they signed a cooperative agreement in 2003, forming the Tri-County Airport Partnership, to spur development throughout southwestern Pennsylvania and capitalize on both Pittsburgh International and the huge parcels of land surrounding it.

Government and development officials say the partnership, which also includes the Allegheny County Airport Authority, was significant in helping the Pittsburgh region win the US Airways center. The partnership realized early on that a site in Moon had the best chance of any location in the three counties to beat out Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix, said Ken Zapinski, senior vice president, transportation and infrastructure, at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

"They said, 'We are in the fight and doing it through T-CAP (as the partnership is known) is the best chance for southwestern Pennsylvania to get this.' "

The group's efforts didn't start and end with just the operations center. Mr. Zapinski noted that it also was critical in getting federal legislators to designate the Route 60/Parkway West corridor as a future interstate highway corridor and helping to prepare 2,000-plus acres of land in and around the airport for future development.

"The lack of ready-to-go sites was recognized as a real bottleneck in development of southwestern Pennsylvania by companies here and those who wanted to move here from elsewhere," he said.

The Allegheny Conference estimates that, overall, more than $2 billion has been invested in infrastructure around the airport in the recent years, resulting in sites such as Clinton Commerce Park, Westgate Business Park and Starpointe that could serve as home for 25,000 new local jobs in coming years.

For its efforts, the Tri-County Airport Partnership last night received the "Supporter of Development" award from the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Other awards at NAIOP Pittsburgh's annual banquet at the Westin Convention Center hotel were:

Renovation: Sampson Morris Group for 800 Commonwealth Drive, Thorn Hill Industrial Park, Marshall.

Speculative building-office: Soffer Organization for Quantum 2, South Side Works.

Speculative building-industrial: Imperial Business Park LP for 150 Crown Court, Imperial.

Build-to-suit office: Continental Real Estate Companies for Del Monte Center, North Shore.

Creative deal: The Elmhurst Group for Rand Corp. Building, Oakland.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Joyce Gannon can be reached at jgannon@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1580.

[PittPenn 03]

Not sure if this is the same call center that is posted above.

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/02/26/daily36.html?jst=b_ln_hl


Lancaster marketing firm adding call center
Pittsburgh Business Times - 3:59 PM EST Thursday, March 1, 2007by Patty Tascarella
Vision Marketing Services, a Lancaster, Pa.-based direct marketing company, is adding a new call center in Uniontown, Pa., near Pittsburgh, that will create at least 168 new jobs by 2010.

Vision Marketing said it will establish a 72-seat, multiple shift outbound call center to help meet customer demand. It is expected to be operating by late spring.

The $620,000 expansion project includes a $343,600 investment package form the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The company worked with the Governor's Action Team and the Fay-Penn Economic Development Corp. to obtain the financing.

Vision Marketing employs 305 at locations in Johnstown and Lancaster. The company creates loan origination programs for the financial services industry.

[Evergrey]

whew!

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07062/766473-28.stm

Bayer's local division will likely escape cuts
Saturday, March 03, 2007

By Teresa F. Lindeman and Steve Massey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Bayer AG's plans to cut 1,000 jobs in the United States and 6,100 overall worldwide appear to have spared the Pittsburgh region.

The cuts, being made as Bayer integrates Schering AG into its health-care unit on the heel's of last year's $22.5 billion acquisition of the fellow German giant, are not expected to have an impact on Bayer Corp., the Robinson-based division that provides business support to other offices and employs about 1,500, a company spokeswoman said.

Also spared locally is Medrad Inc., the fast-growing medical device maker. Indeed, the subsidiary of Schering AG, the Indiana Township-based company that employs about 1,200 in the region, is moving in the opposite direction. It's been adding workers and expects to add hundreds more the next few years, bolstered by a new manufacturing plant in Butler County.

Construction of the 120,000-square-foot facility, which will double Medrad's capacity for manufacturing sterile disposable products, is expected to be completed in this year's fourth quarter. It initially will employ about 100, but that number is projected to grow to 500 by 2011.

Medrad also is readying the move of about 250 workers to a new corporate headquarters in Marshall at the Tech 21 Research Park that is slated to be occupied in April.

"We're continuing to grow and are adding people," said Michael Howard, Medrad's senior vice president and chief financial officer. The cuts being made at Bayer and Schering, he added, are in the pharmaceutical end of the combined companies.

Bayer had outlined plans to trim jobs as a result of the merger several months ago but yesterday's announcement offered more details on where exactly the cuts would come.

Earlier estimates called for eliminating 600 research jobs in Connecticut and California, with another 200 positions trimmed in various departments as the organizations merged. That second number has since been bumped up to 400.

"We went through a very detailed organizational analysis," said Meredith Fischer, spokeswoman for Bayer HealthCare in North America. She said the company hopes to minimize the actual number of workers who leave. A number of positions are open and the cuts will come gradually over the next two years.

"I'm pretty hopeful because this is going to spool out over a long period," said Ms. Fischer.

Bayer employs 18,000 in the United States and 100,000 worldwide.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Teresa Lindeman can be reached at tlindeman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2018. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07062/766477-28.stm

PNC works to allay Baltimore's fears over Mercantile buyout
Saturday, March 03, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Long before PNC Financial Services Group completed its $6 billion acquisition of Baltimore blue-blood Mercantile Bankshares Corp. yesterday, the work of winning over skeptics in Mercantile's hometown had begun.

Mercantile was one of the most recognizable corporate names in Baltimore, prudently overseeing assets of local elites since the time of the Civil War, when it protected money from seizure by the Union Army.

The news last fall of its sale to Pittsburgh-based PNC prompted hand-wringing and grousing about a potential loss of prestige, jobs and community involvement. "It's hard to swallow," wrote one Baltimore newspaper columnist.

As a way of buying goodwill, PNC pledged $1 million to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Feb. 27, the day Mercantile shareholders overwhelmingly approved the sale over the objections of Baltimore Community Foundation trustee emeritus Herbert Katzenberg, who made this sentimental plea: "For the good of Baltimore city, vote against the merger," he said, as quoted by the Baltimore Sun.

PNC also committed $25 million to a Mercantile charitable fund that is part of the Baltimore Community Foundation, hoping to ally concerns about a drop-off in support to local charities and development projects.

"In every single acquisition PNC has been involved in we have contributed more money to the resident community than the resident company did before," PNC Chief Executive Officer James Rohr said last October, when the deal was first announced.

Pittsburghers can certainly identify with the local concerns. When The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial Corp. announced a merger last year that will move Mellon's headquarters to New York, taking yet another blue-chip firm from the city, it was the most recent in a string of high-profile corporate departures stretching back to the 1980s, all blows to civic pride. Mellon, as a way of mitigating any outrage, promised to add 1,000 to 2,000 local jobs and increase its charitable support.

PNC, though, did not make any promises about new employment in Baltimore, where Mercantile kept a headquarters Downtown. In fact, back-office job losses are likely among a Mercantile work force of 3,600. But PNC did provide reassurance for people who deal directly with customers, face to face, saying they would probably be able to keep their positions.

The Mercantile acquisition, after its official closing yesterday, gives PNC a total of 1,092 East Coast branches, from Ohio to Washington, D.C., and $119 billion in assets. PNC now ranks as the 11th largest bank in the nation in terms of deposits and 16th-largest in terms of assets.

PNC does not expect the 240 Mercantile branches in Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia to change names, signs and systems until mid-September. Until then, Mercantile customers will not be able to bank at PNC; instead, they are being asked to use their current accounts and cards while PNC prepares for the transfer.

It's "banking as usual," said PNC spokesman Brian Goerke.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_495930.html

Findlay facility brings jobs and potential expansion

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, March 3, 2007


A new $5 million technology center adds 10 jobs to the 400 already in place at Lanxess Corp.'s North American headquarters in Findlay, officials said Friday.
The addition solidifies Lanxess' Western Pennsylvania presence and innovations could lead to further expansion, officials said at an opening ceremony.

"This not only brings innovation to our company, it also has the potential to bring new jobs to Pittsburgh," said Rainier van Roessel, a member of the Leverkusen, Germany-based Lanxess' board of management. "We see great potential in the United States, and thanks to the highly favorable business environment, Lanxess feels perfectly at home in Pittsburgh."

Lanxess, a maker of chemicals and polymers, said the center houses laboratories for product testing. Features include an aging room, mixing room, biological testing, colorant and extruding labs and analytical testing space. Lanxess is the largest producer of synthetic rubber in the world, selling to customers that make products such as door moldings or engine hoses for automobiles.





When Lanxess announced it would locate its headquarters in Findlay in 2004, the state provided $3.5 million in funding with the expectation that 435 jobs would be created, said Gov. Ed Rendell, who attended yesterday's event.

At that time, Lanxess was being spun off as an independent company from Germany's Bayer AG, the parent of Bayer Corp. in Robinson.

As part of the agreement with the state, Bayer and Lanxess were to invest $100 million in Pennsylvania operations within three years.

"They're about 350 (new jobs) now, and they (both) have until September to make that, and I am confident that they will," Rendell said.

Lanxess is not ready to expand yet, but with the opening of the tech center, it has run out of room at its headquarters building, said Randall Dearth, Lanxess president and CEO. The company has begun to explore other buildings near its headquarters.

The technology center occupies about 10,000 square feet on the first floor of Lanxess' 105,000-square-foot headquarters at the Regional Industrial Development Corp.'s Industrial Park West.

The parent company recently said it is exploring acquisitions. If any of those are in the U.S., it could bring more jobs to Pittsburgh, said van Roessel.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_495910.html

JetBlue looking for local 'signs of life'

By Kim Leonard
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, March 3, 2007


JetBlue Airways' bookings in Pittsburgh need to start showing "signs of life" to secure the low-cost carrier's future in the region, one of its executives said Friday.
Chris Nasipak, manager of revenue management for the airline that started local service in June, told an audience at a Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce event that JetBlue strongly believes in Pittsburgh, but JetBlue must see more support here for its service to Boston and New York's JFK Airport.

"Please just try us once," he said, "and I guarantee you will come back again and again."

For 2006, JetBlue had the third-best complaint record among the nation's 19 largest airlines, according to U.S. Department of Transportation records. For every 100,000 JetBlue passengers, 0.40 filed complaints with the government last year.


Nasipak said JetBlue's share of the Pittsburgh market to Boston and New York is now in the mid-20 percent range. But JetBlue's four daily flights to New York and two to Boston have many empty seats, he said, without offering specifics.

JetBlue has seen its fare cuts stimulate flying to and from Pittsburgh International Airport, he added, but passengers often book with more established carriers when those airlines match JetBlue's prices. "They continue to fly US (Airways), but now they fly at the $59 fare vs. the $199 they charged before we entered the market," he said.

JetBlue started off strong, launching service just before Major League Baseball's All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, but doesn't have the passenger numbers it needs to expand service with flights to Florida, for example, Nasipak said.

He knows of no plan to cut service. "It takes a year for a market to mature, so we give it the time it needs to show signs of life," Nasipak said.

JetBlue's widespread, weather-related schedule problems last month forced cancellation of all Pittsburgh flights at one point, he said.

The Department of Transportation received 20 complaints from JetBlue passengers after the fiasco at New York's JFK International, said agency spokesman Bill Mosley. Of the complaints, 17 related to the flight delays and cancellations, and three pertained to people stuck on planes that sat for long periods on the tarmac.


On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters asked the department's independent inspector general to review the JetBlue incidents of leaving passengers "stranded on board aircraft for hours," said an agency statement. Peters also asked the inspector general to look into a similar incident with American Airlines which occurred in December in Austin.


"I have serious concerns about airlines' contingency planning that allows passengers to sit on the tarmac for hours on end," said Peters. "It is imperative that airlines do everything possible to ensure that situations like these do not occur again."

Allegheny County Airport Authority spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny said JetBlue has marketed its Pittsburgh flights well, "but they are running into the same things that plague all the low-cost carriers here" with competitors rushing to match lower ticket prices.

Jenny said the authority urges travelers to try the discounters. "If they are not able to fill their planes, they are going to start cutting back," she said, "and once those flights go away those fares go straight back up. That is the economics, and we are concerned about that."

Downtown-based Atlas Travel Service doesn't use JetBlue that often, travel consultant Jane Seekings said, though the airline generally has had a good reputation and, for flights from Pittsburgh strictly to JFK, it's a good option.

One problem, Seekings said, is that JetBlue lacks agreements with other carriers to send luggage straight through to a final destination. Passengers who fly from Pittsburgh to JFK would have to transfer their own bags to British Airways before taking off for London, for example.



Kim Leonard can be reached at kleonard@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5606.

[AaronPGH]

I have flown JetBlue to NYC twice now, and it was wonderful, but do you want to know what the real problem is with flying them? JFK. All the other airlines that match their price land at LaGuardia, which is MUCH closer to Manhattan than JFK. If I take JetBlue to NY, I have to pay a 40 some dollar cab fare to Manhattan. If I take US Airways or United to LaGuardia, the cab fare is only $14. That's why all of my friends and I always go with those airlines over JetBlue and will continue to do so.

[Evergrey]

Is there not any type of rail/bus service that links the airports to Manhattan? Even PIT has the 28X... which is soon to be cut anyways... I suppose NYC has a powerful taxicab lobby.

[Grego43]

Is there not any type of rail/bus service that links the airports to Manhattan? Even PIT has the 28X... which is soon to be cut anyways... I suppose NYC has a powerful taxicab lobby.

Yes...The JFK Airtrain connects all the terminals to the Long Island Rail Road and the subway. From Jamaica Station, the LIRR goes direct to Penn Station, or connect to the E, J, or Z subways. The Airtrain also connects at Howard Beach Station to the A train.

See it all here: http://www.panynj.gov/airtrain/

As for buses, numerous lines connect both JFK and LGA to subways and/or direct service into the city.

(and yes, NYC has a powerful taxi lobby)

[themaguffin]

Below is Business Times editorial. They cover recent activity and they being more reserved than the PG, makes this somewhat noteworthy. we mostly know all of this development, but I agree that there is certainly some improvement in the region.

A welcome climate change
Pittsburgh Business Times - March 2, 2007by Jon Delano


The decision by US Airways to relocate 150 jobs from Tempe, Ariz., to Pittsburgh and to place the operations control center for the airline in this region is more than just a good news story.

It signals, perhaps more clearly than some other recent announcements of greater scale, that the Pittsburgh region is on the move again.

Now I am not some Pollyanna cheerleader for the Allegheny Conference or any chamber of commerce. Like most of you, I want hard evidence that this area has turned a corner in economic growth and job creation. I think I am beginning to see it.

After years of downsizing and withdrawing from Pittsburgh, US Airways rejected a better financial package in Arizona to choose Pittsburgh.

The reason, said Scott Kirby, the airline's president, was clear, as readers of the Arizona newspapers found out: Pittsburgh has many skilled and experienced workers.

Brain power, coupled with a lower cost of living, relatively safe communities and diverse recreation activities, may finally be cutting through the ancient image of Pittsburgh.

Last week, I sat down with Robert Kelly, the CEO of Mellon Financial Corp., who will soon lead the merged Bank of New York Mellon Corp. or BNY Mellon, as it is likely to be branded. Kelly says he is the only executive currently scheduled to move to New York City and, even then, he intends to spend a lot of time here. More importantly, BNY Mellon will grow its technology facility at Northpointe, hiring perhaps as many as 2,000 new employees in the years ahead. Like the skilled employees at US Airways who will guide flights across the world, these financial hires will not be off-the-street minimum wage employees, but rather skilled workers who will assist the merged giant manage $3 trillion. These are not the only new jobs coming to this region. The Allegheny County Office of Economic Development lists the following as job creators in the months ahead: Westinghouse, 1,500 new jobs; PNC Financial Group Inc., 1,000 new jobs; Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., 750 new jobs; Lanxess, 450 new jobs; Medrad Inc., 400 new jobs; American Eagle Outfitters Inc., 325 new jobs.

Indeed, some 60 new companies have recently entered this market, and 80 companies are expanding, said Dr. Marick Masters, who studies these things at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. It's a powerful trend, but Pittsburghers are traditionally very skeptical of good economic news.

At the US Airways announcement, I asked Gov. Ed Rendell about the perception that Pittsburgh has turned the corner economically. Admitting his perspective comes from a Philadelphian, he said the region has turned but, similar to his experience when his city was reborn in the 1990s, Rendell says public perception lags about 18 months behind reality.

It might take longer here. The governor correctly observed that there is no region in the commonwealth that is more cynical about itself than Pittsburgh.

Maybe we have a right to be cynical. The collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s was a profound experience affecting almost every family in some way. And bad news, whether it's the city's financial crisis or the death of a beloved mayor, always overshadows the good news. But it's hard to ignore the growing evidence that Pittsburgh is being "rediscovered" by a business world that makes decisions on the hard reality of a cost-benefit analysis, not some feel good slogan trumped up by marketers.

The governor made one other comment to me that I hope is true about our own perceptions. When the reality sinks in that Pittsburgh is on the move again, Rendell said, it will hit like a tidal wave. After a generation of economic doldrums, that's one climate change we would all welcome.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07065/767068-28.stm

Bombardier rail cars represent area's contribution to 2008 Beijing Olympics
Tuesday, March 06, 2007

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070306lfRailVehicle02Buz_450.jpg
Lake Fong, Post-Gazette photos
This light-rail car headed to the 2008 Beijing Olympics was built by Bombardier Transportation in West Mifflin.



By Dan Fitzpatrick
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A 33,000-pound rubber-wheeled railway car will leave Bombardier Transportation's West Mifflin factory Thursday, bound for Beijing, the last of 11 vehicles designed to ferry millions around China's capital city airport during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

To project manager Hao Liu, the red-and-yellow-striped car is a point of pride.

"A dream job," said the 53-year-old Chinese-born Bombardier engineer.

The cars, each affixed with the official "Beijing 2008" iconography, are Pittsburgh's contribution to an event that will showcase China's recent economic and physical transformation to a worldwide audience. For the 1,000-person Bombardier factory on Lebanon Church Road, the $68 million delivery is more evidence of a recent business shift to Asia, and how growth in that part of the world can add jobs here at home.


http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070306lf_RailVehicle01Buz_450.jpg
From left, Ray Betler, president of total transit systems for Bombardier, Hao Liu, project engineering manager for the Beijing airport project, and Tim Smith, manufacturing director of the West Mifflin plant, stand in front of a light-rail vehicle headed to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

It was three and a half decades ago, when still part of Westinghouse Electric Corp, that the West Mifflin factory pioneered the use of rubber-wheeled automated transit systems. It built the people mover used to ferry passengers back and forth at Pittsburgh International Airport, and its hallways are lined with photos of similar projects in Tampa. Fla., (its first commercial system, finished in 1971), Miami; Atlanta (where its system carries 250,000 people per day), Orlando, Fla.; Denver; Dallas and Las Vegas. The factory survived several ownership changes and joint ventures before being sold in 2000 to Montreal-based Bombardier Inc., the world's largest railway equipment maker, for $725 million.

There were some stumbles in 2001 and 2002, as Bombardier pared positions in the United States and Canada due to a slowing economy and declining orders.

But Asia has the local factory roaring again.

In the last two years, Bombardier's West Mifflin operation added 250 workers, and local revenues jumped 40 percent in 2006, according to factory boss Ray Betler. Asia now accounts for about 60 percent to 70 percent of the factory's output and 50 percent of its annual revenues. It has projects in Seoul, South Korea; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Beijing; Taiwan; and possibly Guangzhou, a southern Chinese boom town where the Bombardier operation is bidding for work. Mr. Betler believes that there will be 30 project opportunities across China in the next decade, as the fast-growing country spends $155 billion on transportation infrastructure.

Late last week, as the bulky Mr. Betler strolled the brightly-lit factory floor, he explained the firm's Far East strategy as workers prepared more vehicles for shipment. Having just finished the Beijing airport contract, Bombardier is now busy with a $550 million order for Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, an island located off the eastern coast of mainland China that wants 202 elevated subway cars, half of which will be made in West Mifflin and half in Taiwan.

The company has shipped 48 cars so far from West Mifflin.

Outside, along a quarter-mile test track built specifically for the Taiwanese contract, Mr. Betler steps aboard a blue, green and white vehicle designed to travel 50 mph and carry 80 people once in use. Mr. Betler tries to describe what the ride would be like in Taipei, a city of 2.6 million.

"These are packed when people are on them over there," said Mr. Betler, grabbing a handle to steady himself during the test run.

"Absolutely packed."

Walking through Bombardier's parking lot, Mr. Betler points out the last car destined for Beijing, parked on a flatbed truck, ready for pickup Thursday around 9 a.m. The car will travel first to Baltimore and then via container ship to Tianjin, a northeastern Chinese city, before being trucked to Beijing.

He explains how the shells for the cars arrive from Scotland and his workers add the wiring, piping, propulsion equipment, doors and air compressors; how each car is tested for a minimum of 500 miles; and how Mr. Betler landed the Beijing contract in 2004.

"It was a dogfight," he said.

The negotiations lasted five months, back and forth. At the end, Bombardier won the job by a margin of $1 million, beating out a Japanese rival. He gave the job of managing the project to Mr. Liu, who came to the United States in 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The colors chosen for the cars were red and yellow mixed with white, the colors of "good fortune," Mr. Liu said.

No doubt, then, that Bombardier is benefitting from a hot Chinese market. But what of the recent volatility, the severe drop in the country's stock market, the talk of a possible slowdown? It doesn't seem to bother Mr. Betler. The factory, he said, has a six-year backlog of work and the market for automated transit systems is "robust."

"For us, it's not an issue."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/51startups.aspx

For Tech Startups, No Place Like Here
By: Reid Frazier

March 7, 2007
When Patrick McGregor and Matthew White decided to quit their jobs to start a data security company a few years ago, the first thing they had to figure out was where to start it.

They popped in on Raleigh-Durham, checked out Boston and San Francisco and Atlanta to have a look-see. But the former Carnegie Mellon roommates soon discovered the right place to launch was staring them in the face. “In the end, the right choice was abundantly clear,” says McGregor, the CEO of Downtown-based BitArmor. “It was clear that we needed to start in Pittsburgh.”

The two 30-year-olds are in good company these days. A growing number of 20- and 30-somethings are choosing to start their tech companies in and around Pittsburgh. Many are graduates of local universities tapping the wealth of expertise the city has to offer.

“Carnegie Mellon is arguably the number one institution in IT (Information Technology) in the country. Pitt is among the elite institutions in the country in life sciences,” says Steven Zylstra, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. “There’s a lot of great minds in region, a lot of students being produced; that’s always fertile ground for start-ups.”

The profusion of young entrepreneurs is helping to build a friendly atmosphere for start-ups in a region long thought of as risk-averse. “There’s an interest in what is percolating in Pittsburgh,” says Catherine Mott, managing partner of BlueTree of Allied Angels, a four-year-old venture capital group in the North Hills that has invested in 12 local start-ups, many of them technology-based.

“We’re seeing a change,” says Mott. “When we started back in 2003, there was essentially no outside money coming into Pittsburgh. Since then, the number of venture capitalists that have called us from out of town, that want to see our deal flow, has really gone up.”

On Your Mark, Get Set...

The relatively low cost of living and deals on real estate is a big reason why young people feel they can start their companies here. “It’s a great city to start a business in,” says Nathan Martin, co-founder of Deep Local, an East Liberty-based digital mapping software company. Martin came to Pittsburgh on an artists’ residency at the Studio for Creative Inquiry, an inter-disciplinary atelier at Carnegie Mellon. While there, he worked on what would eventually become the company’s flagship product, MapHub.

“This is a city where you can take a risk. You can start a company with a lot less money here. To exist for a month in New York might cost $70,000 for a company like ours. Here, it would cost a third or a quarter of that,” he says.

Technology is also alleviating some of the hurdles to locating in Pittsburgh. Eric Brown, co-founder of Impact Games, which makes the Peacemaker video game, contracts work out to programmers as far away as London and Seattle. “It’s getting to that point to where you’re doing business doesn’t really matter as much as how you’re doing business,” says Brown, 30, who grew up in Point Breeze but has “boomeranged” after stops in St. Louis, Seattle, and New York.

Brown began working on Peacemaker, a game that challenges players to broker peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, as a grad student at CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center. He’s taken full advantage of the friendly atmosphere among the region’s business community. “You don’t need to be shy about writing to anyone for advice—it’s a very open community here.”

It turns out, the expertise, money, and encouragement one needs to start a business can be a lot easier to get in a city of Pittsburgh’s size than in some bigger markets. McGregor and White spent months cold-calling anyone they thought could help—other entrepreneurs, potential investors, CEOs of similar high-tech companies.

“One thing we found is that people here are very open to talking with you and offering advice.” Simply put, McGregor said, “People here answer the phone.” Pittsburgh’s size also helps good ideas to spread pretty quickly, says Michael Matesic, CEO of Idea Foundry, the Oakland non-profit that helps get local start-ups off the ground. “If you’re in the door at one place, they can open up doors for you somewhere else,” he says.

Knock Knock. We're here.

Getting doors opened is important for young entrepreneurs, says Shanna Tellerman, an ETC alum who co-founded Sim Ops Studios last year. The company makes simulated training software for firefighters and other high-risk occupations.

“My background’s not at all in business,” says Tellerman, 25. “I’ve had a lot of smart advisors and people willing to walk me through everything about running a company.”
The same could be said for BitArmor’s co-founders. After graduating from CMU in 1998, McGregor went on to get a Ph.D. in cryptology at Princeton. White stayed in Pittsburgh, working as a chip engineer with Marconi Plc, the North Hills networking equipment maker.

“A lot of our initial introductions were related to personal friends of mine and professional networks, especially Matt’s,” said McGregor. One example is two tech entrepreneurs that White had come in contact with while at Marconi. “They met with us and made immediate introductions to potential investors. We met with basically all the sources for high risk capital in Pittsburgh,” he adds.

In 2003, from a basement office in Oakland, the duo launched the company with help from the Technology Collaborative which promotes Pittsburgh’s high tech industry.
The company now occupies an office with a lofty view of the Allegheny, PNC Park and the incline, on the 19th floor of Gateway 3 in the Golden Triangle. Yet it retains that start-up feel: No receptionist, blank walls, with some cubicles yet to be filled.

McGregor says they’ve learned a lot about what it takes to start a business—mainly a lot of late nights in front of a computer. “You can’t be committed to it 90 percent,” he offers. “You have to know in your core that this is an idea that will succeed.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reid Frazier is a Pittsburgh-based writer. This is his first feature for Pop City.

[Evergrey]

good analysis on the regional economy... there are still challenges ahead... but it seems that we've really turned a corner


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07070/768325-28.stm

Analysis: Pittsburgh's economy is better than you might think
Sunday, March 11, 2007

By Norman Robertson

Hope for a more robust job market in the Pittsburgh area received something of a setback with the announced merger of Mellon Financial with the Bank of New York. True, there have been welcome statements regarding the likelihood of job increases in the local area over the coming years. But only time will tell whether the merger will have a positive, negative or neutral impact on the Pittsburgh economy.

So far as the current job market is concerned, the latest employment statistics show a slow but relatively steady improvement. As one example, service-related jobs at the end of 2006 were up 6 percent over the January 1999 level of activity. Admittedly, this gain was little better than half the national increase of 11 percent, but Pittsburgh fared much better than most other major metropolitan areas in the Fourth Federal Reserve District, including Cleveland and Dayton and Toledo, Ohio. Service-producing employment in Cleveland, for example, was up a minuscule 1 percent at the end of last year from January 1999.

A similar pattern is visible with respect to manufacturing jobs. While the 15 percent decline in Pittsburgh's goods-producing employment between January 1999 and the end of last year was considerably higher than the 9 percent drop recorded in the nation as a whole, it was still significantly less than the cutbacks reported in Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo, all of which were hard hit by work force reductions in the motor vehicle industry and its suppliers.

Looking ahead, the 2007 employment outlook for the Pittsburgh area still looks positive, with modest gains in service-related jobs but little if any change in the level of manufacturing employment. I'm expecting an increase of roughly 10,000 over last year's figure of 1,145,900.

Positive signs

Given the sluggish gains in payroll employment, it is surprising -- and encouraging -- to find that the growth of personal income in the Pittsburgh area has matched or exceeded not only that reported in other manufacturing areas but in the nation as a whole. In 2005 -- the latest year for which data is available -- the per capita income in the Pittsburgh area was $36,000, slightly above the U.S. average of $35,000.

Even more impressive was the fact that in 2005, Pittsburgh ranked 54th in the nation as compared with a ranking of 60th in 1999. This performance compares very favorably with a sizable drop in the rankings of all the other major metropolitan areas in the Fourth Federal Reserve District. Cleveland, which ranked 42nd in the nation in 1999, fell to 61st place in 2005. And Columbus, Ohio, which placed 59th in the country in 1999, ranked 68th in 2005.

The statistics on unemployment tell a very similar story. Last year, the jobless rate in the Pittsburgh area averaged 4.8 percent, slightly above the 4.5 percent rate recorded in 1999 and very close to the national average of 4.6 percent. Elsewhere in the Fourth Federal Reserve District, however, the increase in the jobless rate between 1999 and 2006 generally ranged between one and two percentage points.

For instance, last year's unemployment rate in the Cleveland area was 4.7 percent, up from 2.7 percent in 1999. And in Lexington, Ky., the jobless rate climbed from a very low 2.1 percent in 1999 to 4.6 percent last year. To a degree, of course, Pittsburgh's low jobless rate can be attributed to the lack of growth in the area's labor force. But in addition, it can be argued that Pittsburgh now has a more stable -- and secure -- economic base than it did in prior years.

Turning for a moment to the housing market, it is clear that the national boom in home-building activity that has now collapsed bypassed the Pittsburgh area, which saw the trend of building permits issued for new residential construction remain essentially flat from 1999 through 2004. During the same time period, the number of building permits issued in the nation as a whole advanced nearly 25 percent.

Solid foundation for future

The Pittsburgh market has not entirely escaped the slump in new residential construction activity as evidenced by the significant decline in the number of permits issued in both 2005 and 2006. But this downturn appears relatively insignificant when compared with the much larger declines expected in many areas of the country, including California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.

To sum: While the forthcoming Mellon/Bank of New York merger raises a number of unsettling questions, we continue to take the position that Pittsburgh has finally shaken off the negative effects of a steadily deteriorating industrial economy. While many other regions and metropolitan areas are still struggling to cope with the decline of their once dominant manufacturing industries, Pittsburgh has completed the painful transition from an industrial economy to one increasingly based on service-related activities, including health care, information technology and financial services.

With strong and farsighted political leadership that recognizes the need for a hospitable business climate and, among other things, encourages the forces of innovation and change, Pittsburgh is now well-placed to build on what in our opinion is a much more solid economic foundation.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Norman Robertson, former chief economist for Mellon Bank, is economic adviser for Downtown-based Smithfield Trust Co. )



btw, see the posts on the first page of this thread to see similar analysis in comparison to the rest of the 4th Federal Reserve District...


and this chart is always useful...

our performance vs. Cleveland:
this is from a Cleveland business blog called Cleveland 2.0
http://homepage.mac.com/edmorrison/edpro/Resources/PCI%20Index-6%20cities4.jpg
http://www.i-open.org/cleveland2/2006/08/pittsburgh-makes-top-ten.html

[PA Pride]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK Cleveland.












J/K

[Wheelingman04]

The Post-Gazette has had some really cool articles about the Pittsburgh area economy lately.

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/52plsg.aspx



March 14, 2007
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse turns corner, appoints new CIO
Recently appointed Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG) Chief Investment Officer, James Jordan, was living in Boston and on his way to another job when he got a call from a recruiter to come to Pittsburgh 2 ½ years ago.


“I fell in love with the whole concept of executive-in-residence and I’ve stayed,” explains Jordan, who has made his home here. “I have 23 years of life science experience and I knew the reputation of this area. The executive-in-residence program brings people to the area with domain experience and works as a bridging strategy.”


It works because Pittsburgh has a 1.9 trillion health care system, he adds. All that is needed is people and money to help get new biotechnologies off the ground, such as the successful growth of Redpath Integrated Pathology.


PLSG has turned a corner this year. Having fostered 33 start-up biotechnology companies, the greenhouse hopes to begin growing as a money-making business. It is one of three greenhouses in the state and it hopes to put Pittsburgh on the map in the world of life sciences research.


The PLSG was founded by the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and UPMC Health System along with the state and foundation community. The group invests in and supports regional life sciences companies in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the areas of bioinformatics, bionanotechnology, diagnostics, medical devices, medical robotics, therapeutics and tools and services.

Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: James Jordan

[Evergrey]

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/03/12/daily25.html?surround=lfn

Range Resources puts regional home in Southpointe

Pittsburgh Business Times - 11:40 AM EDT Thursday, March 15, 2007by Tim Schooley
Range Resources, a Texas-based oil and gas firm with a market capitalization of $4 billion, has established a home for new regional headquarters at Southpointe.

The company has signed a lease to take a major portion of the 60,000-square-foot Southpointe Plaza II in the business park in Cecil Township, Pa.

The company will establish its local subsidiary, Great Lakes Energy Partners, in the new regional headquarters as it continues to expand its exploration of natural gas in western Pennsylvania.

Previously, Great Lakes Energy Partners was based in Hartville, Ohio.

Range's new offices at Southpointe are part of what the company expects will be a growing amount of investment and activity in the region.

Ray Walker, vice president for Appalachian Shale for Range, told the Business Times in January that he expects to launch the office with between 25 and 40 employees, mostly geologists and engineers.

He added that Range could add staff up to 100 in the first year. With drilling rights to approximately 500,000 acres throughout Washington and Beaver counties, Range expects to invest $90 million in its drilling operations here within the year and could double that in following years.

"Range Resources is making a large investment in the community, as we launch our drilling program here, taking an initial office lease and hiring our core staff," Walker said in a prepared statement. " With success, this investment will expand in 2008 and beyond with an accelerating drilling program and a greater economic impact on the area."

Range was also considering a regional location in Allegheny County, but did not disclose where.

Nationwide Appraisals, which was recently purchased by Land America, just moved to a Millcraft development in downtown Washington called the Crossroads.

Jack Piatt, chairman of Millcraft Industries, the owner of Southpointe and the Crossroads, said he was able to meet the needs of two tenants be believes will help improve the local economy.

"In addition to the jobs retained by keeping Land America (another real estate) in the region, the new jobs that will be created by backfilling the vacant space with Great Lakes will be another significant shot in the arm for Washington County," said Piatt.

tschooley@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3826

[Evergrey]

thought this was pretty neat

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/business/media/12adnewsletter1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Dig This Campaign

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/03/12/business/coalspan.jpg

The ad campaign for Consol Energy, the second-largest coal company in the United States, is part of an effort to recruit employees.

By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: March 13, 2007
You load 16 tons, and what do you get? How about a paycheck, vacations, a dental plan and a 401(k)?

That, with apologies to Merle Travis, who wrote the song “Sixteen Tons,” is the approach being taken in a campaign for Consol Energy in Pittsburgh. Consol is the largest producer of bituminous coal in the United States and the second-largest coal company overall, behind Peabody Energy.

The campaign, by Blattner Brunner in Pittsburgh, seeks to burnish the image of Consol — and of coal as an energy source — to help the company recruit employees. The campaign, with a budget estimated at $3 million, carries an assertive theme, describing Consol, and by extension coal, as “America’s on switch.”

The campaign is under way in a variety of media outlets that include television, magazines, the Internet and billboards. The TV commercials are a first for Consol.

There are also some unusual touches like signs that appear on elevators and escalators in places like sports arenas and department stores, which feature photographs of coal mines and miners. As the elevator signs descend and ascend, they suggest the trip that the miners take each day to go to and from work.

The ads are indicative of efforts by marketers to reach multiple audiences with a single campaign. Many ads that are meant to cultivate a better reputation for a company, for example, are intended as much for internal consumption by employees as they are for outsiders like consumers.

In this instance, the Consol campaign is speaking to potential employees along with current workers and customers.

“Our ads say the coal industry, and Consol Energy, have the ‘Help Wanted’ sign out, and will have it out for five to seven years,” says Thomas F. Hoffman, senior vice president for external affairs at Consol, who oversees assignments that include advertising, public relations and investor relations.

“A big component of the campaign is recruiting because we’re an industry like many with a baby-boomer demographic,” Mr. Hoffman says. “Over half our people are 50 and over, and we need to recruit to replace them.”

“But it’s hard to recruit people if people don’t know who you are,” he adds. “We’re saying to those who might consider working here that this is an important business that keeps the lights on.”

The recruitment element of the campaign also seeks to address a change in the job market, Mr. Hoffman says. “Twenty years ago, I might have been competing for workers with other coal companies,” he said. “Today, I’m competing with every heavy industry in the country for engineers, mechanics, electricians.”

The campaign presents Consol’s workers, some of whom appear in the ads, in larger-than-life, even heroic, fashion.

One print ad, for instance, shows a giant miner looming over a cityscape. The light on his helmet acts like a spotlight to illuminate the headline: “Providing a better life for millions of Americans is no small task.”

“Not everyone has what it takes to produce more than 70 million tons of coal a year,” the text of the ad reads, “coal that helps generate more than half the country’s electricity. Fortunately, there are thousands of miners who do.”

“If you think you have what it takes,” the ad continues, readers are invited to call Consol or visit the company’s Web site.

The signs on the elevators depicting the miners declare: “We mine the coal that powers the nation. Not to mention, this elevator.” The signs on the escalators, next to photographs taken inside coal mines, assert, “America would have 50 percent less electricity if our coal miners didn’t make this trip every day.”

Some parts of the campaign are more image-oriented. “For more than 140 years, we’ve been powering your life and the life of the nation,” says a raspy-voiced announcer in the TV commercial, which uses special effects to zoom rapidly down to a coal mine from energy-consuming sites above ground like a city, a fairgrounds and a baseball stadium.

“We’re working down here,” miners say in a print version of the spot, “to keep America running up there.”

The heroic depictions of the miners are intended to address “misperceptions about mining,” says Dave Kwasnick, vice president and group creative director at Blattner Brunner.

“Nobody will come work there if their perceptions about working in a mine are from 1932,” he adds.

Still, says Scott Morgan, president at Blattner Brunner, the ads are rooted in “the real world,” sooty uniforms and all.

“It’s a dirty business, no matter how much technology has changed it,” Mr. Morgan says. “You’re still getting coal dust on you.”

That was underscored when 10 Consol miners traveled to California to shoot the commercial at Zoic Studios, bringing along their equipment and gear.

The makeup woman was having trouble re-creating the look of coal dust on the miners’ faces, Mr. Kwasnick recalls, so one miner “brought out a small paint can with coal dust inside” that he brought along from work.

“Voilà!” Mr. Kwasnick says, laughing. “Instant mine.”

The campaign also discusses another real-world issue: the debate over energy sources that offer alternatives to coal.

For instance, as the commercial shows the interior of a coal mine, the announcer says, “Hydro, nuclear, wind and solar, and all the other sources of electricity up there combined don’t provide as much power as the coal we mine down here.”

Coal, Mr. Hoffman says, “is huge, and we need to reintroduce people to that fact.”

“We should increase the use of wind and solar and nuclear, all forms of energy,” he adds, “but we strongly believe, like it or not, we’re going to continue to use coal.”

Consol is not expecting the campaign to help recruit workers who are too far afield from the world of mining coal, Mr. Hoffman says, even though “we have people without four-year degrees who are making $100,000 a year.”

“We think the ads will help us tap into the pool of labor surrounding the coal fields,” he adds, in states like Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

“The people who often work for us are people who enjoy a more rural lifestyle,” Mr. Hoffman says. “A hundred thousand dollars may not be a lot in Manhattan, but in Shinnston, West Virginia, it goes a long way.”

If you like In Advertising, be sure to read the Advertising column that appears Monday through Friday in the Business Day section of The New York Times newspaper.

[Evergrey]

OUCH! can't say it wasn't unexpected though...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07075/769963-28.stm

Sony cutting 900 jobs in New Stanton

Friday, March 16, 2007

By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



What seemed so promising a decade ago has now become another sign of the region's economic struggles: Sony announced yesterday it would slash up to 900 jobs at its Westmoreland County TV manufacturing plant as it shifts production of rear-projection sets to a lower-cost facility in Mexico.

The move, set to be complete by July 1, will leave the sprawling facility with just 250 workers, a skeleton crew compared with the more than 3,000 employed there at its peak in the late 1990s.

At the same time, the North Huntingdon complex will start assembling popular flat panel LCD sets, spokesman Michael Koff said. The highly-automated line requires much less manpower, but if sales continue to grow, it's possible Sony would add jobs to meet demand, he said.

The company plans to lay off 300 workers in the next 30 days, followed by another 500 to 600 over the coming year. Severance includes one week's pay for each year of service, plus an additional 60 days pay, Mr. Koff said.

Prices for rear-projection, high-definition sets have tumbled as consumers' tastes have shifted to more aesthetically pleasing flat-screen TVs, making it necessary for Sony to move production of the rear-projection models to Tijuana to save money, Mr. Koff said.

The 20-year-old Tijuana facility also makes flat screen sets for the North American and Latin American markets. But with demand surging for those models, the company decided to move some production to Westmoreland to better serve local markets. The plant is Sony's only TV production facility in the United States.

"Sixty percent of the TV market is located east of the Mississippi," Mr. Koff said. "We can serve the East Coast a lot better from here than Tijuana."

The complex also will keep its customer service center and a chemicals operation, which makes ribbon for printing bar codes.

Last May, Sony shut down its glass production plant at the complex, which made glass funnels and panels for traditional cathode ray picture tubes, throwing 350 people out of work. That plant was purchased late last year by Commonwealth Renewable Energy Inc., which plans to transform it into the largest ethanol plant in the country that will employ about 100 when it's up and running late this year.

The cuts at the Sony complex come as traditional TVs are rapidly being replaced in U.S. households by digital sets. "The [TV] business and technology have changed incredibly over the last three years," Mr. Koff said yesterday. "The public is looking for the flat panel displays."

Sony opened the Westmoreland facility in an abandoned Volkswagen plant in 1992 with high hopes and fanfare, promising to restore thousands of jobs to the hobbled region. After a slow start, employment peaked at around 3,300 in the late 1990s.

In recent years, employment has dropped off considerably, but staffing levels have spiked in the 3,000 range with the addition of temporary workers during the pre-holiday rush.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_498159.html

New TV line an 'opportunity' for Sony plant

By Rick Stouffer and C.M. Mortimer
For the Tribune-Review
Saturday, March 17, 2007


Losing 900 jobs at Sony Technology Center-Pittsburgh is hard to swallow, but the potential for manufacturing liquid crystal display televisions in Westmoreland County is a real plus, a former Sony executive said Friday.
"If they do get the Bravia line (of LCD televisions), that's a real growth opportunity for Pittsburgh," said Edward Taylor, San Diego-based vice president of television research at DisplaySearch, Austin, Texas, and former head of business planning for Sony's U.S. television operations.


In announcing layoffs and moving assembly of rear-screen projection TVs to Mexico, Sony said it will relocate to New Stanton production of its Bravia LCD televisions from Mexico and convert the technology center to an immense distribution center.





"We're going to be putting more emphasis on the Bravia brand ... going forward, rear projection (TVs) will come under the Bravia name," said Rick Clancy, spokesman for Sony Electronics Inc.

"Pittsburgh always had a unique advantage in that 60 percent of consumers live in the East," Taylor said.

Seventeen years ago Sony agreed to take over the former Volkswagen assembly plant in the Hempfield-East Huntingdon area of Westmoreland County. The company said it would invest $300 million to manufacture 1 million color picture tubes annually, and the state anted up $40 million in incentives.

Now, Sony Technology Center-Pittsburgh no longer manufactures anything, only assembles Grand Wega and SXRD rear-projection TVs; and that business moves to Mexico this year.

"This move has been in the works for some time," said Taylor, who left Sony in December.

Clancy said the decision to move Bravia production from Mexico to Sony Technology Center-Pittsburgh was due to Bravia's success in the market.

Bravia's success emphasizes a technology turnaround Sony has undergone within the last three years. Earlier this decade, it trailed its competitors due to internal problems, specifically a failure to realize how quickly consumers would embrace flat panel TVs.

"The industry is going flat," said Michelle Abraham, principal analyst with market research firm In-Stat, Scottsdale, Ariz. "Plasma or LCD, it all depends on what size you want."

Traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) TV sales in North America are projected to fall to about 10.4 million units this year from some 14.4 million in 2006, while LCD sales will jump to 17.8 million from 10.9 million last year, according to market research firm iSuppli. It projects only 2.1 million cathode ray tube TVs will be sold by 2010, out of 44 million sets sold.

"In North America, this is the year that LCD sales will outpace CRT sales," said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst with iSuppli. "Sony over the last three quarters has done very well, its LCD television lineup has gained market share, and it's been reacting very quickly and aggressively to changes in the market."

Sales of rear-projection televisions, considered an intermediate step between cathode ray tube technology and LCDs, are flat in the U.S., while the cost of flat-panel sets, LCD or plasma, continues to drop, according to Abraham. Cutting costs in this case means cutting labor costs, and thus the move to Mexico.

"The way things go with Sony is that things start in Japan, then they bring the idea to the U.S. to refine it, then when they're really ready to ramp up production, they'll take it to Mexico," Taylor said.

"The key will be getting the initial (Bravia) line up and running. We're looking at one or two lines," Sony's Clancy said. "The growth of the flat-panel market has been fast, and significant, and it's the fastest-growing part of the television industry at the moment."


Taylor said the work relocation from the Westmoreland County plant wasn't due to the plant's workers, whom he called "just top-notch."

"It's really a shame that plant has continued to be whipsawed by what's happened with technology and in the market," Taylor said.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07076/770185-96.stm

Bits&Bytes: Discussions that might lead to local robotics R&D shop ongoing

Saturday, March 17, 2007

By Corilyn Shropshire, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Could rumors that a major defense contractor -- the likes of Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman -- is close to setting up a robotics-focused research and development outpost in Pittsburgh have some heft?

So far, no one's talking.

Not the companies and not Bill Thomasmeyer, who heads up the National Center for Defense Robotics, which aims to connect producers of robotics technology with the military.

"Discussions are ongoing," said Mr. Thomasmeyer, declining to comment further.

"Roboburgh," the moniker Pittsburgh earned in the late '90s and has been working hard to make real, has courted and been courted by defense giants, particularly Boeing and Northrop Grumman. The companies sent officials in 2002 and 2003 to check out this area, which is known to be rich with futuristic robotics technology.

Years later, the region has nearly doubled the number of robotics firms, Carnegie Mellon University's renowned Robotics Institute has been tagged the best in the country, yet no announcement has been made.





Some spillage caught in this week's Pittsburgh Angel Venture Fair: Innovation Works is close to signing investment deals with two startups that pitched investors on Wednesday.

The fortunate two are Oakland-based electronic design software firm Concurrent EDA, in the midst of a test-run with Compunetix, and Mobile Fusion, the South Side-based firm helmed by Ric Castro, which is developing a softball-like sensor that when thrown into potentially dangerous locations, acts as the eyes, ears and "Spidey sense" for soldiers and first-responders.

The amounts, for now, are undisclosed.







Pittsburgh transplant Virtus Advanced Sensors, which set up shop Downtown last year, has opened a Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo.

Virtus Japan will focus on landing opportunities to do research and product development with Japanese firms as Virtus seeks to tap into the exploding Asian consumer electronics market.

Virtus is the creator of supertiny detectors that brace consumer gadgets for potentially disastrous damage -- such as being dropped on the floor. Asia is expected to be the first to embrace micro-electromechanical parts being fitted into wireless, robotics and gaming devices.

Pittsburgh native Louis Ross returned home last year after an extended time abroad to head Virtus U.S. operations.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Got tech buzz? Contact Corilyn Shropshire at cshropshire@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1413. )

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some economic tidbits from this week's Pittsburgh Business Times:

1. Chicago-based steelmaker Esmark, which acquired Wheeling-Pittsburgh steel recently... is considering Pittsburgh for its new corporate headquarters. Also in the running are Chicago and Wheeling. Esmark is seeking 75,000 sq. ft. of space with expansion options to accommodate a starting employment base of 60. Esmark will be a "$2.5 billion company, and our plan is to be a Fortune 500 company within 18 months", according to Esmark CEO James Bouchard. Bouchard lives in Pittsburgh but commutes to Chicago... his preference is for the HQ to relocate to Pittsburgh. He said he's looked at properties Downtown and in Moon Township. Esmark also tried to purchase Weirton Steel recently, but Mittal Steel decided to hang on to it.

2. Consus Ethanol, based in Ross, has plans to build a $250 million dollar ethanol plant in Aliquippa. Consus is already going ahead with Pennsylvania's first ethanol plant in Curwensville, Clearfield County. This plant would be located on a 60-acre parce in the Aliquippa Industrial Park, with plans to produce 80 million gallons of ethanol per year by 2010. The plant is expected to create 70 permenant full-time positions.

3. Bottler Glenshaw Glass has been resurrected after several years of dormancy, and currently has 45 employees. It has plans for expansion and acquisitions.

4. Cranberry-based Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals has doubled its workforce in the past 6 months to 42.

[themaguffin]

I remember reading last year or so that they would change to LCD or one of the other non tube TVs in Westmoreland, so it's not shocking, but I assumed it would transition, not shutdown so to speak and be in limbo.

[AaronPGH]

It hasn't really made news or been posted around here, but my company (Ten United - the 2nd largest advertising agency in Pittsburgh), has been hiring at a frenetic pace. I think we've already added about 20-30 people in 2007 alone and they don't seem to be stopping. We are currently building out on the 18th floor of Gateway 1 since we ran out of room on the 19th floor.

[Evergrey]

It hasn't really made news or been posted around here, but my company (Ten United - the 2nd largest advertising agency in Pittsburgh), has been hiring at a frenetic pace. I think we've already added about 20-30 people in 2007 alone and they don't seem to be stopping. We are currently building out on the 18th floor of Gateway 1 since we ran out of room on the 19th floor.

Isn't there a new Crazy Mocha there?

BTW, congrats on the growth... Pittsburgh seems to have a healthy advertising industry.

[SteelCity15]

Isn't there a new Crazy Mocha there?

BTW, congrats on the growth... Pittsburgh seems to have a healthy advertising industry.

Agreed, this is all good news for us. Jobs are being created.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07079/771018-100.stm

Westinghouse picks Cranberry for new research center

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Westinghouse Electric Co. has chosen Cranberry over Monroeville as the site for a new research center and headquarters for the nuclear energy firm's western Pennsylvania operations.

Construction of the new complex at the Cranberry Woods office park will begin within three months.

The company's nuclear power plant unit will occupy the new buildings during the first half of 2009. Employees currently in Monroeville and Churchill will follow, with all employees expected by year end 2010.

Westinghouse, which employs about 3,450 people locally, expects its workforce to increase by at least 1,000 over the next five years.

Employees currently located in Blairsville, Madison and New Stanton will remaining in their existing facilities.

The selection of Cranberry ends a regional competition that began late in 2006 when Westinghouse said it would keep its worldwide operations here in southwestern Pennsylvania and choose between an expansion of its current headquarters in Monroeville or a new facility in Cranberry, near the intersection of Interstate 79 and Route 228.

The decision to build in Cranberry is due to the site's ability to accommodate future growth and handle parking requirements of a larger work force. The facility will be 775,000 square feet and cost more than $100 million

Construction is still contingent on approval of tax abatements by local governing bodies.

[AaronPGH]

Isn't there a new Crazy Mocha there?

BTW, congrats on the growth... Pittsburgh seems to have a healthy advertising industry.

Yep! It's a small one, not nearly as large as their other stores...but that's probably all that's necessary for the Gateway towers. I'm a frequent visitor down there.

[Evergrey]

here's another major company that fled Allegheny County for the outer suburban counties


http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/53consol.aspx

March 20, 2007

Consol Energy announces major hiring and new headquarters

Consol Energy Inc., the largest producer of bituminous coal in the U.S., has announced plans for major hiring and a move of its headquarters on Washington Road, Upper St. Clair, to Southpointe in Cecil Township.

In the next five years, the company expects to replace 4000 of 7200 jobs at all levels of production, explains Joseph Cerenzia, director of public relations for Consol. Due to the number of employees who plan to retire in the coming years, positions will open up on all levels, from the coal mine to engineers and accountants. At least 1500 will be hired this year. The company plans to move to its new headquarters, a 400,000 square-foot main building and a second smaller building, leased from Horizon Properties, at Southpointe II in Cecil Township in September of 2008.

“Southpointe presented a unique opportunity because of its location to major highways and mining operations in Washington and Greene counties,” Cerenzia says. “We were able to configure the space to fit our needs.”

Consol has been a fixture in the South Hills since the 1950s, when it first opened its offices as the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company. Through expansion and acquisitions, Consol has evolved from a single-fuel mining company to a multi-level producer of coal, gas, and electricity. Consol is the largest coal producer in the state, and largest gas producer in Appalachia, and has 17 mining complexes in six states including the largest underground mines in the world.

Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Joseph Cerenzia, Consol




Image courtesy of Consol

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/PGH%20Innovates/Issue%2053/consol2_300.jpg

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http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/53mogoes.aspx

March 20, 2007

Meet your virtual guide, MoGoes where you go

Imagine taking a hand-held tour of a college campus, or strolling with history downtown. Imagine going on tour anywhere, instantly, at the touch of your cell phone and you have MoGoes, the latest in cutting-edge mobile technology.

And Pittsburgh has it first.

MoGoes, pronounced moe-goes, won a Phase I award at Pittsburgh Technology Council's EnterPrize Business Plan Competition last week, and this week it’s all the buzz.

"Cool things happen in Pittsburgh," laughs Christa Ross, company president, clearly basking in the glow of a winning product. "We're launching the product in Pittsburgh, but looking to take it nationally. We plan to expand in a big way, hiring 100 people in the next three years, and we plan to do it all in Pittsburgh."

MoGoes, formerly Mobile Media Ventures, LLC, signed its first contract with Visit Pittsburgh, the county’s tourist promotion agency, and Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP), which promotes the city and all its amenities. Together they are working with MoGoes to develop tours that hit the highlights of the region.

What makes MoGoes unique from similar mobile technologies is the “user-friendly” package it offers to companies, says Ross: A complete product from creation to distribution and marketing of the product to the users. Mobile video and audio tours tours are just the beginning. See an interesting restaurant? Download the menu. Lost? Tune in to a global positioning system.

MoGoes are informational and entertaining, further proof that Pittsburgh is a vibrant, technologically advanced market, adds Michael Edwards, president and CEO of the PDP.

Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Christa Ross

Image courtesy of MoGoes

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/PGH%20Innovates/Issue%2053/mogoes_300.jpg

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http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/53greenproducts.aspx

The Growing Green Scene

By: Meghan Holohan

March 21, 2007
The boathouse sits over Lake MacLeod, a cold, damp and poorly insulated structure. But Neal and Tim Shipley liked the convenience of a dock extending over the lake and they knew the boathouse added value to their development property, Lake MacLeod, in Pine Township. But who wanted to spend the day fishing in a cold building?

As the Shipleys and friend, Dan Preston, investigated ways to insulate the building, they stumbled across a company in Derry Township, Pa, that made structured insulated panels (SIPS). The SIPS, which consist of eight inches of foam sandwiched between two pieces of strand board, are energy efficient and two and a half times stronger than traditional construction panels when it comes to crushing force. Houses built with SIPS sustain less damage if a tree falls on it. And when it comes to lateral force—think hurricane-force winds—SIPS are five times more resilient than traditional structures.

Preston and the Shipleys were so impressed with the advantages of SIPS, that when they learned the company was for sale, they bought it and renamed it SureTight.


EPP 101

While SureTight is one of 1,800 companies in the region that manufacture building products, its SIPS are distinctive, known as green or environmentally preferred products (EPP). EPPs have one of five characteristics: they’re made from recycled products, or bio-based, or low in chemical emissions, naturally or minimally processed, or use little energy.

While it’s estimated that there are 100 projects using EPPs in the region, the Green Building Alliance (GBA) isn’t certain how many manufacturers actually produce EPPs. But it their hope that more Western Pennsylvanian companies take the lead, building on Pittsburgh’s green reputation and making the region a center for green building products.

Most large companies, like Zurn and PPG, have at least one EPP line while companies such as Eat n Park are getting into the act with plans to use biodiesel made from its used cooking oil to fuel its catering vehicles. According to the report Green Building Products: Verifying and Defining the Opportunity for Western Pennsylvania issued by the GBA in November 2006, no other U.S. city is as far along as Pittsburgh in becoming a center for EPPs.

"It is widely recognized that the southwestern Pennsylvania region is at the vanguard of the national market shift towards green building.Over the past two years, Pittsburgh has been cited for its green building leadership in The Economist, Fortune, USA Today and The New York Times,” reads the report. Due to the leadership of the region in green building, the area is in a unique position to take advantage of the growing interest in building green. "Western Pennsylvania is the green building product manufacturing center and the GBA is poised to support that reality for years to come,” it says.


A Communal Greening

“I love what they’re doing. What Rebecca Flora [GBA executive director] has done, positioning Southwestern Pennsylvania as the green building capital, is great. People are trying to make Pittsburgh a tech capital, but every state has [a tech capital] and we are competing with those,” says Miranda Berner, a project manager with Berner International, a 50-year old New Castle company which produces environmentally-friendly air curtains. “Green building products allows us to be distinctive and provide some real value for Western Pennsylvania to continue to take off economically,” she adds.

Flora notes that she often fields calls from other cities, impressed with GBA’s work with a desire to support a similar plan. They are keeping an eye on Pittsburgh’s progress, and progress is being made.

The GBA outlined four ways to aid this transformation:
1) A green building product industry network will form in the next few months to foster growth in the EPP sector.
2) An investment council will pair investors with groups interested in manufacturing EPPs.
3) The GBA will engage universities and foundations into formal partnerships to develop new EPP technology.
4) And the GBA will serve as overall coordinator for the transfer of information.

“We have several competitive assets," says Flora who cites the national recognition the leadership of Western Pennsylvania has achieved in green building. “The amount of innovation going on here—research grants and related type of R&D activity—is quite high.”

For example, the University of Pittsburgh was one of the first in the nation to offer a master’s degree in green construction while Carnegie Mellon University has advanced degrees in sustainable design. From 1990 to 2004, both universities, along with local companies, garnered 2,700 patents for EPP technology.


Planting Roots Here

After researching the market, Preston and the Shipleys discovered the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast would benefit from SIPS. While their biggest market is along the Mississippi, the company never considered moving their headquarters from Wexford, Pa., or their manufacturing operations from Greensburg, Pa.

Preston likes the area because of its proximity to many sources of transportation. The Greensburg plant is near interstate trucking, rail and barge transportation. For a company hoping to sell its environmentally friendly products to construction firms along the Mississippi River, easy access to rivers is a bonus. And, the local government and nonprofits support green building. In fact, the GBA hopes to lure more firms to realize its dream of an economic center for EPPs.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Pittsburgh ranks third in the number of green buildings—behind Seattle and Portland, Ore—with 17 LEED certified buildings. Building on this reputation makes it easier for Western Pennsylvania to get the word out about its commitment to green building products.

Rich Overmoyer of GSP Consulting, who served as project manager on GBA’s report on EPPs, notes that many people already contribute to green by buying Energy Star certified appliances. While many companies don’t know how to go green, it’s easier than they think, he says.

SureTight’s SIPS are green in several ways. First to make the strand board, the company uses wood scraps that are unusable for other projects. Also, insulated panels make a structure more energy efficient. And, the glue used for the SIPS is water-based, posing no health consequences.

Another example of an EPP is Berner International’s air curtains, a door system that uses steady bursts of air to create a seal, keeping cold air out and warm air in (or vice versa in the summertime) for box stores and retailers. The result? Big savings on heating and cooling bills.

Berner says that many companies in Western Pennsylvania already use recycled material, making them EPP manufactures. Talk to her at one of the monthly green drinks events, where architects, engineers, manufacturers and anyone interested in green building get together, and she’ll rattle off a list of local companies who use recycled products because they’re cheaper than new.

“The construction industry has this idea that green is going to cost them a lot of money,” Berner says. Although the initial costs may be more, an investment in green building products pays off as companies reap more of a profit from them.

Why wait to convert from traditional to green? Eventually all companies will have to be green, Overmoyer says. Within the next few years, the market for EPPs is projected to increase from $10 billion to $60 billion.

Preston, who serves as SureTight’s vice president of marketing, knows first hand about the boom in EPPs. Just the other day, he heard that the housing construction market is in a downturn and the leading housing construction firms are seeing huge loses in sales of new homes. Many manufacturers can’t sell their products. Yet SureTight has so many orders that they are busy for the next quarter fulfilling them. Which gives a whole new meaning to going green.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meghan Holohan is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07080/771061-28.stm

Medrad sales, employment on rise

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

By Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Medrad Inc., the Indiana Township medical device maker, said 2006 sales jumped 16 percent to $478 million, fueled by increased demand for the company's imaging products used for diagnosis and treatment.

Besides growing its sales, Medrad added 180 full-time employees last year, bringing total employment to about 1,700, including 1,200 in the Pittsburgh region. It expects to add another 100 full-time jobs here in 2007.

The company plans to move its headquarters next month to a new facility in the Tech 21 Research Park in Marshall that initially will house 260 workers. It also expects to open later this year a new manufacturing facility in Saxonburg, where it projects to employ 500 in five years.

Medrad became a subsidiary of Bayer AG last year when the German conglomerate acquired Medrad's owner, Schering AG, for $22.5 billion. Bayer's annual sales for 2006 totaled $38.2 billion.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Joyce Gannon can be reached at jgannon@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1580.)

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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_498742.html

$3M per year in tax breaks awaits Westinghouse

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 21, 2007


Westinghouse Electric Co. estimates it will save $3 million a year in state and local taxes for up to 15 years once it creates a new hub for its expanding Western Pennsylvania operations at the Cranberry Woods office park in Butler County.
The company's highly-sought $100 million-plus project will be one of the first two projects in Pennsylvania to benefit from a newly-created tax break program, designed to attract major corporate expansion/relocation projects. The other is in Philadelphia, state officials said.

The Legislature and Gov. Ed Rendell late last year established four special geographic zones known as Strategic Development Areas, or SDAs, within the state, including one in Western Pennsylvania specifically targeting Westinghouse.

"The SDAs were very important," said Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert. "They really made Pennsylvania competitive with the other states we surveyed."

For Westinghouse, the special zone was to be created in any local community in which the company decided to locate its new project. It eventually narrowed the list to two potential sites, and yesterday chose Cranberry over its existing Monroeville headquarters.

The SDAs operate much like the state's Keystone Opportunity Zones, a program providing tax-free zones to attract companies and jobs.

But unlike the KOZ program, SDAs aren't aimed at hard-to-develop, older industrial sites. Tax breaks under SDAs are available up to 15 years, three years more than KOZs offer.

To be eligible, companies must commit to creating or maintaining at least 500 jobs and make $45 million or more in capital investments within three years. The Westinghouse project is expected to bring 1,000 jobs and retain 2,000 positions.

The state extends tax breaks on sales, corporate net income and corporate stock and franchise taxes.

Cranberry and Butler County officials, as well as the Seneca Valley School District, are expected to approve the tax-free zone. All three government entities previously adopted non-binding resolutions supporting the program.

"The bulk of the tax break undoubtedly will be with state taxes," said Cranberry Township Manager Jerry Andree, but he said local tax breaks would include property and possibly mercantile taxes.

Andree estimated that at current values and rates, the township will lose an estimated $30,000 in tax collections; the county, $60,000; and the school district, $290,000.

But he said: "When you create that number of jobs, it will benefit all of Western Pennsylvania. It's a contribution we have to do to be part of the region."



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

[Evergrey]

oh wow... this HQ looks extraordinarily bland

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07080/771146-56.stm

Westinghouse center goes to Cranberry

Butler County site picked over Monroeville; nuclear energy complex will employ 3,000

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070321ho_westinghouse_450.jpg
An artist's rendering of the planned Westinghouse headquarters and research facility in Cranberry.



By Dan Fitzpatrick and Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



When John Milius heard yesterday about Westinghouse Electric Co.'s decision to leave Monroeville and bring more than 3,000 jobs north to Cranberry, he called it a "great day for our region."

"Westinghouse has been a pillar of the Pittsburgh area's economy for more than a century," said Mr. Milius, chairman of the Cranberry supervisors. "Cranberry is flattered to become the steward of that legacy."

Westinghouse's plan to build a 775,000-square-foot, $140 million nuclear energy campus in Cranberry Woods, an office park at the corner of Interstate 79 and Route 228, was the subject of fist-pumping celebration yesterday in fast-growing Butler County -- and in Harrisburg, where state economic development chief Dennis Yablonsky hailed the move as "a huge win."

Mr. Yablonsky cited the average salary of $70,000 that will be paid to at least 1,000 new workers that will come with the expansion, in addition to the 2,150 high-paid workers moving from Monroeville and Churchill, and the fact that the research facility could have been built in another state altogether, such as North or South Carolina. "It's a great story," Mr. Yablonsky said.

Only Monroeville was not in the mood to celebrate. A local official involved in the effort to keep Westinghouse in that eastern Allegheny County town was "stunned" and "disappointed" by the decision.

"It is like losing a family friend," said Chad Amond, president of the Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce. "Westinghouse has been an integral part of this community for 35-plus years and losing them, it stings, it really does. It stings."

Westinghouse is the largest employer in Monroeville, with 1,900 people, and its 585,000-square-foot campus is a major source of tax revenue for the Gateway School District.

By the end of 2010, there's concern much of that will be gone. Westinghouse expects to be permanently established in Cranberry by then, and Monroeville leaders worry that local run-off business will vanish, too.

"Westinghouse is our No. 1 client," said Lance Rihn, general manager of the Radisson in Monroeville. "It's 5,000 room nights per year with our hotel." The loss of such a large employer means "I just have to go out and find new business. It's going to impact the Monroeville area and community."

The competition between two communities from separate counties was politically delicate from the beginning.

Both offered to forgo taxes for 15 years and become one of Gov. Ed Rendell's Strategic Development Areas, free of all state, local, county and school district taxes. The package in Cranberry will save Westinghouse $3 million a year.

While the economic development derby between Cranberry and Monroeville never got nasty, both sides had concerns about the other, and that tension was still there yesterday. Back in December, when Westinghouse narrowed its search to two sites, state Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, complained openly about the potential use of tax incentives to shift jobs from one part of the region to another.

Asked about that yesterday, Mr. Amond of the Monroeville chamber admitted to mixed emotions.

"We wish the folks in Cranberry nothing but the best as part of this deal," he said. "Having said that, it is difficult for us to really sing the praises of this decision as a step forward in terms of economic development in southwestern Pennsylvania.

"Essentially what has happened is the pieces have been moved around the chess board. From a broader perspective, it is a great thing for Pennsylvania that Westinghouse stayed [in the state]. From a regional standpoint, it is difficult to argue there is a net gain to the region in making this move."

He added: "It is a difficult pill to swallow to imagine that tax incentives are being used for that purpose. It is what it is."

Mr. Yablonsky, secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said he understands Monroeville's disappointment but argues that it was better to keep the 1,000 new jobs than lose them to another state. "I believe we all have to think regionally about these kinds of things," he said.

Cranberry was not exempt from competitive concerns, either. Some in that Butler County community were privately critical of the lobbying done for Monroeville by Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, someone who defines himself as a regional politician.

"Many of us were upset" by Mr. Onorato's actions, Butler County commissioners Chairman Scott Lowe said yesterday. "We in Butler County have always tried to promote regionalism. But, it seems like there are some in Allegheny County who have a vision of regionalism that ends at their county line."

Mr. Onorato, who could not be reached for comment, issued a statement saying the decision, while disappointing for Monroeville, is still a "testament to our region's competitiveness."

In the end, Westinghouse chose Cranberry for reasons of cost and future convenience.

The move to a flat 80-acre site in Cranberry Woods, an office park owned by O'Hara-based MSA, formerly known as Mine Safety Appliances, will save Westinghouse $10 million over the cost of adding new office and parking space at the Westinghouse Energy Center in Monroeville, a sloped site of 138 acres where Westinghouse first moved in 1971.

Westinghouse needs more space to fill a worldwide demand for nuclear power plants, including four in China. Westinghouse expects to add at least 1,000 workers over the next five years, and it's possible that the number could grow to 2,000.

Westinghouse, which employs about 3,450 people in southwestern Pennsylvania, will keep about 1,300 employees currently located in Blairsville, Madison and New Stanton in their existing facilities.

Construction of the new Cranberry complex will begin within three months, the company said yesterday. Westinghouse's preliminary plans are for three office buildings, the first 406,000 square feet and the next two 182,000 square feet apiece.

A fourth building would be planned later, if growth goes as expected. Detailed site plans are expected to be submitted to the township in May. It will likely take will take three or four months to complete the approval process.

The plan is for the company's nuclear power plant unit to move during the first half of 2009. Employees currently in Monroeville and Churchill will follow, with everyone expected by year-end 2010.

Before construction can begin, three taxing bodies need to sign off on the tax abatement package -- Cranberry, the local school district and the county.

No one reached yesterday expected that to be a problem.

"What are we going to do?" said Jerry Andree, Cranberry Township manager. "Say 'No' and have them go to North Carolina and get the governor mad? That's not going to happen. This what the governor requested of us and each of our supervisors has indicated support for the project. They believe it is good for southwestern Pennsylvania."

Forgoing taxes for 15 years means Butler County would give up about $224,000 annually, the township would waive $135,000, and Seneca Valley School District would pass on $1 million a year.

Nevertheless, "I see it as a boon for the community and for our students," said Seneca Valley Superintendent Don Tylinski. "The potential ancillary benefits, in terms of jobs and even in terms of connections for our students is profound,"

The superintendent could not predict how his board would vote on the issue, but he acknowledged a 6-3 vote late last year in favor of the concept.

Butler County commissioners Chairman Lowe said he is certain he and his fellow commissioners will vote in favor.

"We are on board with this. We're behind it 100 percent," he said. "Yes, we're giving up taxes, but it's shortsighted to emphasize that. We're all about bringing jobs to Butler County, and these aren't minimum wage jobs. These are high-paying jobs. How could we not be in favor of this?"


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Anya Sostek contributed. Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. Karen Kane can be reached at kkane@post-gazette.com or 724-772-9180. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070321westinghouse.gif

[Wheelingman04]

Cranberry must be the best place in the metro area. It is booming.:haha: :slob:

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_498930.html

Deal completes Airside lineup

By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 22, 2007


The Elmhurst Group of Pittsburgh has signed Countrywide Home Loans Inc. as the anchor tenant for a new 81,000-square-foot building at its Airside Business Park, in Moon, near Pittsburgh International Airport.

Countrywide, a subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corp. of Calabasas, Calif., plans to relocate 400 current employees to the new facility and eventually add 200 more employees.
The company plans to consolidate in the new building operations located in two other locations, one in another building at the Airside park, said Bruce Longenecker, Elmhurst vice president.

The new three-story building is expected to be ready for occupancy by late spring of 2008. It will be Elmhurst's fifth building in the park, collectively offering about 413,000 square feet of space.

It will complete development on the 24-acre site, located on property that formerly was occupied by the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport.

Build-out at the park is being completed ahead of schedule, Longnecker said.

"When we leased the site from the (Allegheny County) Airport Authority in 1999, we were expected to complete development there in 15 years," he said. "We have done so in less than 10 years."

Bill Hunt, Elmhurst's president, said, "Countrywide's expansion in Pittsburgh is a positive sign of growth in our region."

The Elmhurst Group owns over 2 million square feet of real estate in Western Pennsylvania, and has won numerous industry awards. Bill Hunt was a 2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and was named the 2002 Developer of the Year by the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. He is the great-grandson of Alcoa Inc. co-founder Capt. Alfred Hunt, and grandson of Roy Hunt, Alcoa's president from 1928 to 1951.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.

[Evergrey]

Related to the recent Census estimates that detail a continued population decline in the region... here is a map detailing county population change, migration trends, natural increase and immigration on a national scale:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/census_0307/flash.htm

you can see from the map that the problem afflicting us is not strong out-migration... but weak birth rates resulting from a period of EXTREME out-migration 20 years ago

Allegheny County has a slight out-flow... in contrast to the core counties of Detroit, Cleveland and Cincinnati... which have STRONG out-flows... Washington and Butler counties have slight in-flow while the rest of the Metro PGH counties have balanced flows

Notice that Western Pennsylvania is unique amongst major regions in its across the board birth deficit... this is a key difference between other declining regions such as Cleveland, Buffalo and Detroit... which are all seeing natural increases but are experiencing massive out-flows to offset this... this is a legacy of the epic steel collapse... an economic contraction more severe and extreme during those few years in the 80s than the prolonged difficulties of Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit... which have never experienced such a region-shattering event... Pittsburgh's present population decline is a unique story in that it is largely caused by natural decrease as opposed to large out-flows

on a side note... I do have to admit suprise at the strong rate of natural increase in Southeastern Michigan... the current economic crisis in Michigan and Northern Ohio could potentially cause a similar demographic trend that Western Pennsylvania experiences today... if it gets worse

on another side note... the one "hotspot" for population growth in Western Pennsylvania... Forest County... was a tiny county of about 4500 people... which increased to over 6000 when a prison was built there a couple years ago... sometimes a map can deceive even when it's done correctly... if you don't know particular circumstances of an area...


the following is a bit of a regional analysis I threw together drawing heavily on a website/blog called Pittsburgh Future:

http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/downloads/...onaleconomy.pdf (http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/downloads/analysisofpittsburghregionaleconomy.pdf)

Much like anything concerning Pittsburgh... it's easy to look at one raw number... like raw population growth or raw job growth and think this region is falling apart. But if you look into the numbers and actually do some analysis... you'll get a different picture.

The data used is from 1999-2005... the trends would look a bit better if 2006 data was included... since 2006 was our best year "economically" since before the 9/11 economic contraction that hit our region hard (9000 US Airways jobs lost, for example).

Why do we have such sluggish raw job growth? The primary reason is due to the aftershocks of the 150,000 steel jobs lost in the 80s and the resulting population exodus. We are losing jobs in sectors that depend on population growth... creating a bit of a downward spiral. These include public sector jobs, transportation jobs (USAir again), construction and distrubution centers. As Pittsburgh Future states, 1/3 of all jobs created nationally in this period were GOVERNMENT JOBS (amazing!)... half of these are public school jobs... which Pittsburgh is obviously not adding due to stagnant population. In fact, Pittsburgh had a net loss of government jobs.

http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/govtjobs9905.gif

The following declining sectors are considered "population-dependent sectors":
http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/4keysectorsforjobs.gif

As Pittsburgh Future states, "When a region is growing, more buildings are built, more people shop, more kids go to public schools and more public services are needed."

If you take away those 4 population-dependent sectors... Pittsburgh's job growth has actually exceeded the national average:
http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/componentsofjobchg9905.gif


As for the much-ballyhooed manufacturing decline... every region is experiencing it... and Pittsburgh is certainly not the worst
http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/manufjobchg9905.gif


Health care and Higher Education are leading the way in our high-wage job growth
http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/newhiwagejobs9905.gif

Low wage growth sectors. The tourism sector continues to boom:
http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/newlowagejobs9905.gif

We exceed most other regions in rate of growth for science and engineering jobs. These 6000 new jobs pay an average of 50% more than the overall average for the region:

http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/sciengjobchg9904.gif

7300 new health care jobs also pay 50% more than regional average:
http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/healthjobchg9904.gif

We lost 18,000 management jobs, however :( :
http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/mgtfinjobchg9904.gif


As Pittsburgh Future says, "Slow Population Growth Will Continue to Make Overall Job Growth Look Slow"

hopefully we can keep creating more good jobs in high-wage sectors so that we eventually do see population growth and a growth in employment in population-dependent sectors... though it's important to note that most population-dependent jobs are low wage jobs

Pittsburgh Future also backs up what I said previously about the roots of our population decline: "Slow population growth does not mean that the region is an undesirable place for young people - contrary to popular myth, the Pittsburgh Region's population remains stagnant because of low birth rate and low international immigration, not because of continuing outmigration of young people. The low birth rate today is due to the outmigration of young people 20 years ago following the collapse of the steel industry - when they left the region, they took their future children and grandchildren with them. Although the Pittsburgh Region still has net domestic outmigration, so do most other regions..."

http://www.pittsburghfuture.com/economy/regionalmigration20002004.gif


It's important to note... that despite population decline and sluggish overall job growth... the Pittsburgh Region's "Per Capita Personal Income" has rapidly increased over the past decade... which correlates to our growth in key high-wage sectors. In 2004, the Pittsburgh Economic Area (which includes the 10-county SWPA region plus Wheeling metro and Weirton-Steubenville metro) had a Per Capita Personal Income at 100% the national average. The annual growth rate of PCPI for the Pittsburgh EA from 1994-2004 was 4.3% compared to 4.1% nationally. Over this period, we became a "higher-wage" region in comparison to national trends. However, despite impressive wage growth... our sluggish population and job growth resulted in a rate of growth in Total Personal Income less than the national average.
http://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/acti...amp;yearin=2004 (http://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/action.cfm?fips=57129&areatype=57129&yearin=2004)

[Evergrey]

I have to agree with the outrage expressed by the Trib editorial board:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/archive/s_499290.html


Mellon compensation: Thick ick

Saturday, March 24, 2007


Why do we get that icky feeling when we review the 2006 compensation record for top executives of Mellon Financial Corp. of Pittsburgh? No doubt it's because the banking giant paid its top three bosses a combined $37.2 million to effectively strip Pittsburgh of yet another corporate headquarters.
Mellon, of course, isn't long for this world. Sometime this year it is expected to be subsumed by The Bank of New York in a $16.5 billion deal. The new entity, Bank of New York Mellon, will be headquartered in New York City. Mellon's nearly 140-year Pittsburgh headquarters run will end; there are dubious promises of increased employment locally.

The co-architect of the deal is Mellon CEO Robert Kelly. On the job with Mellon for a mere 10 months in 2006, his compensation was $16.5 million. Steven Elliott, the senior vice chairman, received $13.5 million. Ronald O'Hanley, the executive vice chairman, got $7.2 million.

Not a bad 10 to 12 months' pay for knocking down another notch the city of your corporate birth, right?

Ickier still: Mellon paid departed CEO Marty McGuinn $17 million last year.

Ah, yes, we are told, this is all "business." And, gee, Mellon really is doing quite well when you review its "financials," observers add. But the ick is thick with Mellon packing its HQ bags. And there may never be enough soap for the community to wash its hands of it.

[Evergrey]

THIS SUCKS

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07083/772121-28.stm

Revised jobs data cast a gray cloud

Saturday, March 24, 2007

By Steve Massey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Usually when the state revisits its local jobs data, the Pittsburgh region ends up looking better, with revised gains much higher than initial estimates showed. Not this time.

The latest benchmark revisions from the state Department of Labor and Industry show businesses in the seven-county region shed a net 800 workers in 2005, a turnaround from a previously estimated gain of 3,300, meaning 2005 marked the fourth straight year the region lost jobs. And 2006's gains -- initially estimated at near 10,000 -- were trimmed by more than half, to 4,600.

Combined, the state's revisions to the 2005 and 2006 local payroll employment data put the region's nonfarm job gains over the past two years at 3,800. That's about a third of what initial estimates suggested and represents a fractional 0.2 percent annual increase, well below the state and national rates.

The 2006 figures will be revised again next year, when the state matches its payroll estimates for the year, based on surveys of area employers, against actual payroll tax records for the year. Historically, when the state has matched those tax records against estimates based on the employer surveys, the numbers have gone up significantly, reflecting the difficulty of accounting for startups and newer industries that no longer fit the region's profile.

Revisions in early 1996, for example, found that local job growth in what then was the six-county region of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties (Armstrong was added after the 2000 census) totaled 22,100 workers over the two-year 1994-1995 period, nearly triple the previously estimated 8,700.

But changes made to the state's local payroll surveys since then have made such annual benchmark revisions far less volatile, suggesting that the new figures more accurately reflect the region's jobs situation.

While local experts are still calling for the region's job growth to pick up this year, that growth now will be coming off a smaller base. According to the state's latest revised estimate, the region's payrolls averaged 1,137,400 workers last year, nearly 17,000 below the 2001 peak of 1,153,900. The decline in the intervening years reflects the impact of a national recession, a sharp decline in U.S. manufacturing, and US Airways' massive local pullback.

The prospects for a big pickup in local growth don't appear all that good, if the state is any guide. It reported yesterday that, through February, nonfarm payrolls for all of Pennsylvania were running only 0.2 percent above the year-ago pace, with manufacturing still in decline.

The state's jobless rate, adjusted for seasonal factors, did plunge seven-tenths of a point to 4 percent in February, the state said. But that was because of a big drop-off in the size of the labor force -- people working or seeking work -- and not a big jump in jobs. Economists view a shrinking labor force as a sign of weakness, not strength, because it undermines the capacity for an economy to grow.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Steve Massey can be reached at smassey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1174. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/54venturecapital.aspx

March 28, 2007

Venture Investment study paints glowing picture for the region

The news is good--the Pittsburgh region is fast becoming one of the biggest venture capital (VC) success stories in the country, and Pennsylvania ranks third in the country for total VC jobs.

A decade ago, venture capital investing in Pittsburgh was a blip on the national radar, number 31 to be exact, down from cities like San Francisco, Boston, and New York. Data compiled by the National Venture Capital Association, Thomson Financial, and PWC Money Tree for 2006 shows the Pittsburgh region at number 16, one of the largest relative increases in venture capital (VC) investment among all regions in the United States. Of the top 40 U.S. metro areas in 1997, Pittsburgh VC grew at the fastest rate relative to its starting point.

In addition, Pennsylvania venture-backed companies added the most U.S. jobs in the 2003-2005 period at 167,000, beating Texas and California.

Mott sees a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit emerging in the region. When Blue Tree launched in late 2003, there were few outside investors knocking on the doors. Now, investors are tracking her down.

“What we are sensing is that there is an interest in outside venture firms in what is happening in Pittsburgh," says Catherine Mott, managing partner with Blue Tree Capital."Pittsburgh is one of the richest areas in the country for intellectual property. We’re finally getting known for it."

It helps that Pittsburgh is 7th in the country in National Institute of Health funding, Mott says. With the help of seed money organizations like Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, Innovation Works , and Idea Foundry, new companies like RedPath are taking off.

Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Catherine Mott, Blue Tree Capital;
National Venture Capital Association



check out the interesting numbers here: http://www.innovationworks.org/PghVentureInvestmentLevels.pdf

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_499891.html

Sycor headquarters to stay in the region

By The Tribune-Review
Wednesday, March 28, 2007


Sycor Americas Inc., an international consulting firm specializing in business process improvement and information technology, has selected the Pittsburgh area as the permanent home for its headquarters in the Americas.

The German-owned firm hopes to add as many as 100 new jobs in the region by 2009, with the help of a three-year, $400,000 incentive package offered by the state and Allegheny County.

The public funds will complement its own investment of $3 million to expand its offices at the Penn Center West office complex in Robinson.

Sycor officials and State Secretary of Community and Economic Development Dennis Yablonsky are to discuss further details of the firm's expansion plans at a news conference at noon today.


http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/03/26/daily24.html?surround=lfn

Sycor expanding local operations

Pittsburgh Business Times - 12:10 PM EDT Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Technology consulting firm Sycor Americas Inc. will expand its local headquarters in Robinson Township, thanks in part to a $360,000 incentive package from Pennsylvania and Allegheny County.

The firm, based in Germany, advises clients in industries such as chemical processing and medical device manufacturing.

The funding it is receiving from the Governor's Action Team and the Department of Community and Economic Development includes a grant of up to $100,000 through the opportunity grant program, up to $100,000 in customized job training funds and up to $160,000 in job creation tax credits.

The funds will go toward the company's $1.7 million expansion of its Penn Center West office complex in Robinson.

"Sycor considered a number of cities, including Montreal, Toronto and Minneapolis, for this expansion, but Pittsburgh won out on the strengths of its civic leadership, quality of life, talented workforce, transportation infrastructure and relative cost of doing business," Mike Langley, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, said in a statement.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_499890.html

Respironics will place staff in ex-bowling alley

By C.M. Mortimer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 28, 2007


Respironics Inc. has hired about 340 new workers over the past year, and to accommodate growth, the maker of devices to treat sleep and respiratory disorders is renovating a bowling alley in Plum, where it plans to relocate about 180 workers by July.

"We've been growing steadily over the past five years, and this move will free up some space at headquarters and meet our growth needs there as well," said spokeswoman Maryellen Bizzack.

Respironics plans to use about 33,000 square feet at the former Holiday Lanes, 801 Presque Isle Drive, located off Route 286, Golden Mile Highway. The company signed a 10-year lease with Monroeville-based Sampson Morris Group. Bizzack did not disclose terms of the lease.

"(Holiday Lanes) was going to vacate last year, but we kept it open until we found another viable tenant. The bowling alley is moving out and Respironics is coming in," said Michael Morris, president of Sampson Morris.

Respironics celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. In July, Respironics passed the $1 billion mark in annual revenue for the first time. It employs nearly 5,000 workers worldwide, including about 2,600 in the United States and about 1,600 in Western Pennsylvania. Its medical devices are used in homes, hospitals, alternative care facilities and emergency medical settings.

Bizzack said several departments are moving, including customer relations, product services and clinical support personnel. The renovations will have the capacity to house 255 workers. "They all work closely with our customer base," she said.

Bizzack said the renovation will include several conference rooms, reception area and a full-service kitchen. Parking will also be expanded from 195 to 255 spaces.



C.M. Mortimer can be reached at cmortimer@tribweb.com or (724) 836-5252.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_499889.html

CNX Gas moves to Robinson

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 28, 2007


CNX Gas Corp., a natural gas development and production company spun off in 2005 from Consol Energy Inc., is relocating its corporate headquarters to the Penn Center West office complex in Robinson.
The company, which has been leasing space at a South Park Township building owned by Consol, plans to move its offices to the fourth floor at Five Penn Center West office building just off the Parkway West, effective Sunday.

About 30 headquarters employees will occupy 20,000 square feet of space in the five-story building under a seven-year lease with the Soffer Organization, a Pittsburgh development firm.

The lease has an option for an additional 10,000 square feet to support future expansion.





"This move increases the visibility of CNX Gas Corp. within the Pittsburgh region," said CEO Nicholas J. DeIuliis in a statement.

"Locally-produced energy is becoming more important to the country's future and this move strengthens the claim of Pittsburgh as a significant regional energy center. We're proud to tell investors in New York and Houston that we're from Pittsburgh."

The company considered about a half-dozen facilities before selecting the Penn Center West location, said spokesman Dan Zajdel. It was represented in the search by Matthew Virgin, broker with the Langholz Wilson Ellis, Inc., a Downtown commercial real estate firm.

CNX has been in a growth mode, with total employment now at about 200, up from 134 at the end of 2005.

Its natural gas exploration, development, production and gathering operations are centered in the Appalachian Basin.

"Actually, we're the second largest gas producer in Appalachia (behind Equitable Resources Inc.)," said Zajdel. "We produced 56.1 billion cubic feet in 2006. Our 2006 net income was nearly $160 million."

Platts, an energy industry publisher owned by the McGraw Hill Corp., recently named CNX Gas as one of five finalists for its "Hydrocarbon Producer of the Year" award.

CNX increasing its investment in the region, Zajdel said. It plans to spend $312 million in capital investments in 2007, including $84 million in its Mountaineer gas drilling program in Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07087/773180-100.stm

Highmark, Independence Blue to merge

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Highmark Inc. and Independence Blue Cross today announced their boards have approved a merger agreement that would combine the two organizations and maintain dual headquarters in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

The companies said the agreement would allow the combined operations to hold administrative fees flat for two years, resulting in direct savings to customers of $300 million; better manage prescription drug costs, which are expected to result in $280 million in drug cost savings for customers; and provide more than $650 million to help expand access to health insurance for Pennsylvania's uninsured population.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

[Evergrey]

wow... that "600 miles within half the country's population" thing was actually listed as a reason for a company locating here lol

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07088/773338-28.stm

German company will make area home

Penn Center West also lands CNX Gas headquarters

Thursday, March 29, 2007

By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was a good day for the folks at Penn Center West in Robinson.

First, German consulting company Sycor GmbH yesterday announced it has chosen the Pittsburgh region as the permanent home for its North American subsidiary, Sycor Americas Inc., and that it will expand into larger digs at the Robinson complex.

Then Consol Energy spinoff CNX Gas, a producer of natural gas from coal beds, confirmed it was moving its headquarters from South Park to the Soffer Organization development next Monday, with 30 of its 200 employees occupying 20,000 square feet.

Sycor, which provides information technology services to manufacturers in the chemical, plastic, glass, medical device, oil, gas, mining and cement industries, said it has leased new space in Building No. 1 and expects to add 80 jobs by 2009. It currently has 15 employees in Building No. 3.

It chose Pittsburgh over Montreal, Toronto and Minneapolis as the home for its North American headquarters, Sycor executives said, because the region is within 600 miles of half the population of the United States and Canada, has strong universities and quality communities.

Sycor also was enticed by a $360,000 incentive package from the state, including $200,000 in recruitment and training grants and $160,000 in tax credits. "This was a competitive situation," Dennis Yablonsky, secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said at a press conference at Sycor Americas' new offices. "We're glad they chose Pennsylvania."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Post-Gazette reporter Anya Sostek contributed to this story. Brian David can be reached at bdavid@pos-gazette.com or 724-375-6816.)

[Evergrey]

Mellon may have acquiesced to the awesome power of New York... but PNC continues to reaffirm its commitment to Pittsburgh

on a side note... I'm shocked that Massachusetts only has 9 Fortune 500s


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07088/773395-28.stm

PNC trying to groom young talent to stay here

Thursday, March 29, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



William Demchak sees no reason why the most talented financial minds in America cannot work from Pittsburgh.

The vice chairman of PNC Financial Services Group is responsible for a new recruitment program designed to improve the "bench strength" at Pittsburgh's largest bank, prepare the next generation for leadership and re-establish Pittsburgh's one-time status as a financial hub, even as Mellon Financial Corp. moves its headquarters to New York.

In just the last year, PNC funded a $1 million chair of computational finance at Carnegie Mellon University's business school, assigned senior-level executives to recruit students at 12 East Coast colleges and began assigning the most promising recruits to a yearlong on-the-job training program that involves face time with PNC's senior leadership and experience across all sectors of the business. Forty new employees begin the training program in June -- the second class to do so.

PNC wants to find "the leaders of tomorrow," said Stephanie Novosel, chief operating officer for PNC's corporate and institutional side, reporting to Mr. Demchak. "Right here" in Pittsburgh.

The push at PNC comes as leaders in another financial hub, Boston, mull over a warning earlier this week from consultant McKinsey & Co. that Massachusetts, much like Pittsburgh, has lost ground in the financial industry arena and must take steps to keep and grow what's left.

Boston recently lost the headquarters of two financial giants when Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America purchased FleetBoston and Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp. bought John Hancock Financial Services. And last month, Montreal-based Power Financial Corp. said it would buy Boston-based Putnam Investments, a mutual fund firm.

The concern in Boston is that the out-of-town companies are shifting jobs elsewhere. "If we choose to do nothing," said Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce President Paul Guzzi at a Tuesday news conference, "the trend lines are not positive."

There was a time when Pittsburgh and Boston rivaled New York for financial supremacy.

In Pittsburgh, the longtime leader was Mellon, once one of the nation's largest banks and financier to large parts of industrial America. But just as the country opened up to cross-state banking acquisitions, giving Pittsburgh a chance to seize assets around the country, both Mellon and PNC stumbled in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to bad loans and poor investment choices while regional banks in Charlotte expanded under the leadership of risk-taking executives like Hugh McColl at Bank of America and Ed Crutchfield at Wachovia.

As a result, Charlotte now stands as the second-largest financial center in the United States, behind New York. Despite its stumbles, Pittsburgh is still in the top 10, with $133 billion in banking assets, and PNC's recent acquisition of Baltimore-based Mercantile Bankshares pushed the bank to 11th-largest in the country, as ranked by deposits, the same ranking it held following the 1983 combination of Pittsburgh National and Philadelphia's Provident National.

Moreover, employment in the region's financial services sector is now 68,500, or 6 percent of the seven-county Pittsburgh-area workforce, up from 5.9 percent in 1996 and 5.6 percent in 1990, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. According to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, local companies have added 5,461 new financial-service jobs in the last five years and cut 2,628 -- a net gain of 2,833.

No doubt, though, that the prestige of Pittsburgh's financial sector suffered with Mellon's decision in December to merge with The Bank of New York and move its headquarters to New York, arguing that it makes more sense for Mellon to be located in the financial capital of the world, near its institutional clients.

Mellon, which exited the retail business in 2001, still employs 6,300 in Pittsburgh, and in announcing the move to New York it promised to create 1,000 to 2,000 Pittsburgh-area jobs over the next three to five years. Pittsburgh, it said, will still be home to several key business units, as well as a center for technology, operations and administration.

But Boston may want a piece of the new company, as well. Mellon still employs 2,500 there and three top executives in charge of Mellon's business units are all based there -- Ron O'Hanley, Dave Lamere and Jim Palermo. All will remain as part of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Mr. O'Hanley, president of Mellon Asset Management, acknowledged in an interview this week with Bloomberg News that the nine Fortune 500 companies left in Massachusetts "don't need to be here" and that "we need to make sure that when they make that incremental investment, they don't make [it] in Pittsburgh or London or Hong Kong -- they make it here in Massachusetts."

Mellon spokesman Ron Gruendl, when asked whether Mr. O'Hanley's comments, said "we continue to stand by the announcement we made" in December regarding new jobs in Pittsburgh -- in January the company announced the move of 210 jobs from New Jersey.


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(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. )

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07088/773447-28.stm

Top Pa. health insurers merging

Deal between nonprofit giants Highmark and Independence announced after 2 years of talks

Thursday, March 29, 2007

By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The state's two biggest health care insurers, Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc. and Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross, are joining forces, creating one of the biggest health insurers in the country.

The merger of the two nonprofit giants, which together control more than 50 percent of the state's insurance market, was unveiled yesterday but was two years in the making, officials said. An announcement had been expected in recent days after word leaked out that directors were meeting to consider the deal, which they did separately, each approving it unanimously.

The new company will operate dual headquarters in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, executives said. Highmark Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Melani, 53, will become CEO of the combined company, while Independence Blue CEO Joseph Frick, 54, will be president and chief operating officer. Both men will maintain offices in both cities, a spokesman said.

Independence Blue's chairman of the board, M. Walter D'Alessio, will continue to serve in that post for the merged company, while Highmark's board chairman, J. Robert Baum, will be vice chairman.

No layoffs are planned as a result of the merger, executives said, adding they anticipate any jobs cuts would be handled through attrition and reassignments.

The combined company would employ 18,000 in Pennsylvania and 28,000 nationwide.

The potential merger of the two companies has been talked about for years, sparking concerns among industry observers that the considerable clout of the combined company would further diminish competition in Pennsylvania and lead to higher insurance premiums for employers and consumers.

Yesterday, the two companies sought to soothe those fears, promising that the new, larger entity would use operating efficiencies to produce "$1 billion in economic benefits" for Pennsylvanians.

Specifically, Highmark and Independence Blue said they would hold administrative fees flat for two years, "resulting in direct savings to customers of $300 million"; have the clout to negotiate lower prices with prescription drug companies, saving customers $280 million; and extend commitments to contribute millions to community health programs in the state, including the state's adultBasic health insurance program for the uninsured.

Under a 2005 agreement with the governor, the four Blues in Pennsylvania agreed to contribute nearly $6 billion over six years to community health programs. The merged company would voluntarily extend that commitment for an additional three years, although executives wouldn't give a dollar amount.

"This combination is great for our customers, our providers, our employees, our communities and for Pennsylvania," said Dr. Melani, a physician who has run Highmark since succeeding John S. Brouse in January 2003 and who, over the past year, has been open about saying Highmark and Independence were talking merger.

Others weren't so sure about the proposed benefits. Concerned about the potential impact on competition, the state Senate yesterday approved a bill that would give the Insurance Department more power over mergers involving nonprofit health care insurers like Highmark and Independence Blue.

The department, which helped draft the bill, already regulates Highmark and Independence Blue subsidiary companies, but the law currently exempts holding companies from state scrutiny.

"Giving the department oversight power is an important step in ensuring that mergers of these companies do not result in a virtual monopoly in the industry," said Sen. Don White, R-Indiana, chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee and sponsor of the bill.

Mr. White said he was worried that the merger "could create a single, multibillion-dollar, mega-entity which would crush what little competition remains in Pennsylvania's health care insurance market."

He urged swift approval of the bill, which would be retroactive to Jan. 1.

Mr. White also said he likely would call a public hearing on the proposed merger.

The deal will need clearance from state insurance departments where the companies do business, Dr. Melani said.

The U.S. Justice Department and state attorney general's office will be reviewing the deal for antitrust and charitable trust issues.

Dr. Melani said there was no timetable for completing the merger.

Executives have not yet settled on a name for the new company, but said whatever they decide on will include the Blue Cross and Blue Shield name and logo.

"The cross and shield name will remain with us," Dr. Melani said. "It's one of the most recognized brands in the world, equivalent to Coke, McDonald's and Visa."

Executives said there were no plans to follow many other Blues across the country and convert the merged entity into a for-profit company.

"One of the principal reasons we worked on this deal is to maintain our nonprofit status," Dr. Melani said. "The boards are committed to that. There never were discussions about converting to for-profit."

For-profits typically strive for higher margins to please shareholders. Some fear that if the company were to flip to for-profit status, reimbursements to doctors and hospitals would fall and insurance premiums would rise.

Various concerned parties yesterday weighed in on the proposed merger.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society issued a statement saying it supported the Senate's bill giving the Insurance Department more oversight power and would "closely monitor the proposed merger and articulate our concerns."

The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania said it would be watching, too.

"Hospitals and health systems will participate in the regulatory approval processes," the association said.

"We will be looking for detailed analyses ... [about] the proposed merger on communities, patients, hospitals and other health care providers across the state."

Together, the two insurance giants would rank No. 3 in the nation, behind UnitedHealth Group of Minnetonka, Minn., and WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Patricia Sabatini can be reached at psabatini@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3066. )

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http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/55bayer.aspx

April 4, 2007

Bayer HR//direct brings 60 new jobs to Pittsburgh

Bayer Corporation announced it will open its first HR//direct facility in the U.S. at its Pittsburgh campus, promising 60 new jobs for professionals who will staff the operation for Bayer’s U.S. employees.


“For Bayer and the region, it’s more than the number of high paying jobs coming in,” remarked Dr. Attila Molnar, president and CEO of Bayer Corporation, during a festive announcement at the Bayer facility last Friday. “Pittsburgh won out in a beauty contest against other lower cost competition in the U.S.”


“The national competition was unbelievable,” added Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato, who was on hand for the occasion, along with U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy and Lt. Gov. Katherine Baker-Knoll. “Pittsburgh’s on a pretty good roll, with seven wins in the last two years.”


The call center, named Bayer HR//direct, will be staffed by trained Bayer associates who will field calls and emails from Bayer employees nationwide. Those associates will be supported by a staff of specialized HR experts who will deal with routine and complex HR issues. Centralizing the HR department has become a major priority for global companies, a move aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing costs.


Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Dr. Attila Molnar, Bridget McCourt, Bayer

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based in Ligonier

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/04/01/8403349/

Death of the cell phone charger

A Pennsylvania entrepreneur has developed technology that gives you all the battery juice you need directly from the air. Business 2.0 reports.

By Melanie Haiken, Business 2.0 Magazine
March 30 2007: 7:08 AM EDT


(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- How much money could you make from a technology that replaces electrical wires? A startup called Powercast, along with the more than 100 companies that have inked agreements with it, is about to start finding out. Powercast and its first major partner, electronics giant Philips, are set to launch their first device powered by electricity broadcast through the air.

It may sound futuristic, but Powercast's platform uses nothing more complex than a radio--and is cheap enough for just about any company to incorporate into a product. A transmitter plugs into the wall, and a dime-size receiver (the real innovation, costing about $5 to make) can be embedded into any low-voltage device. The receiver turns radio waves into DC electricity, recharging the device's battery at a distance of up to 3 feet.


Picture your cell phone charging up the second you sit down at your desk, and you start to get a sense of the opportunity. How big can it get? "The sky's the limit," says John Shearer, Powercast's founder and CEO. He estimates shipping "many millions of units" by the end of 2008.

For years, electricity experts said this kind of thing couldn't be done. "If you had asked me seven months ago if this was possible, I would have said, 'Are you dreaming? Have you been smoking something?'" says Govi Rao, vice president and general manager of solid-state lighting at Philips (Charts). "But to see it work is just amazing. It could revolutionize what we know about power."

World's 11 coolest products
So impressed was Rao after witnessing Powercast's demo last summer that he walked away jotting down a list of the industries to which the technology could immediately be applied: lighting, peripherals, all kinds of handheld electronics. Philips partnered with Powercast last July, and their first joint product, a wirelessly powered LED light stick, will hit the market this year. Computer peripherals, such as a wireless keyboard and mouse, will follow in 2008.

Broadcasting power through the air isn't a new idea. Researchers have experimented with capturing the radiation in radio frequency at high power but had difficulty capturing it at consumer-friendly low power. "You'd have energy bouncing off the walls and arriving in a wide range of voltages," says Zoya Popovic, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Colorado who works on wireless electricity projects for the U.S. military.

That's where Shearer came in. A former physicist based in Pittsburgh, he and his team spent four years poring over wireless electricity research in a lab hidden behind his family's coffee house. He figured much of the energy bouncing off walls could be captured. All you had to do was build a receiver that could act like a radio tuned to many frequencies at once.

"I realized we wanted to grab that static and harness it," Shearer says. "It's all energy."

Entrepreneur finds 'suite' dreams
So the Powercast team set about creating and patenting that receiver. Its tiny but hyperefficient receiving circuits can adjust to variations in load and field strength while maintaining a constant DC voltage. Thanks to the fact that it transmits only safe low wattages, the Powercast system quickly won FCC approval--and $10 million from private investors.

Powercast says it has signed nondisclosure agreements to develop products with more than 100 companies, including major manufacturers of cell phones, MP3 players, automotive parts, temperature sensors, hearing aids, and medical implants.

The last of those alone could be a multibillion-dollar market: Pacemakers, defibrillators, and the like require surgery to replace dead batteries. But with a built-in Powercast receiver, those batteries could last a lifetime.

"Everyone's looking to cut that last cord," says Alex Slawsby, a consultant at Innosight who specializes in disruptive innovation. "Think of the billion cell phones sold last year. If you could get Powercast into a small percentage of the high-end models, those would be huge numbers."

Could Powercast's technology also work for larger devices? Perhaps, but not quite yet. Laptop computers, for example, use more than 10 times the wattage of Powercast transmissions.

But industry trends are on Shearer's side: Thanks to less energy-hungry LCD screens and processors, PC power consumption is slowly diminishing. Within five years, Shearer says, laptops will be down to single-digit wattage--making his revenue potential even more electrifying.

http://i.cnn.net/money/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/04/01/8403349/buzz_in_air_chart.gif

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07094/774830-28.stm

Samuel Adams comes calling on Latrobe brewer

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

By Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

City Brewing's plans to restart the former Latrobe Brewing plant got a shot in the arm yesterday when Boston Beer Co. said an undisclosed amount of its Samuel Adams beers will be brewed there.

Boston Beer Co. said it would invest $3 million to $7 million in the Latrobe brewery so it could accommodate the proprietary yeasts and extended aging time its brewing process requires. The company also is considering taking an ownership interest in the facility, acquired by City Brewing last year.

"This partnership ensures that Latrobe's historic brewery will be back up and running and is the first step in building a thriving and vibrant operation in Latrobe on a long-term basis," said City Brewing Chief Executive Officer Randy Smith.

It won't be the first time Sam Adams has been brewed in Western Pennsylvania. The Boston beer formerly was brewed at now bankrupt Pittsburgh Brewing in Lawrenceville.

"We're looking for good things to happen up there with Boston because they sell a lot of beer," said George Sharkey, business agent of the IUE/Communications Workers of America, which represents workers at the Latrobe brewery.

He said Samuel Adams accounted for about 60 percent of production at Pittsburgh Brewing before Boston Beer made other arrangements about a decade ago.

Boston Beer produced 1.6 million barrels last year, up 18 percent from 2005. Just how much the company will rely on the Latrobe facility could depend on whether it supplements production at breweries in Boston and Cincinnati by building a plant in Freetown, Mass.

The company is obtaining preliminary bids for the Massachusetts project, based on producing more than 1 million barrels of beer and its Twisted Tea brands. Boston Beer estimates the project would cost $170 million to $210 million and expects to decide this summer on whether to proceed.

City Brewing produces beer, energy drinks, flavored malt beverages and other drinks under contract for Boston Beer and other companies. The LaCrosse, Wis., company purchased the Latrobe plant from InBev.

Production of Rolling Rock halted in July after Anheuser-Busch purchased the brands from InBev for $82 million and moved production to its Newark, N.J., brewery.

Gov. Edward Rendell visited the Latrobe plant in January to announce $4.5 million in aid for resuming production and promised more than $7 million in additional assistance.

Employment at the facility is projected to reach 100 by year's end and 250 within three years.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Len Boselovic can be reached at lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941.)

[James Bond Agent 007]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07096/775479-28.stm

Region's businesses in hiring mode, survey says
Friday, April 06, 2007
By Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Job-seekers, take heart: A new survey of local business owners suggests that more of them will be hiring in the next six months.

The survey of small and mid-sized businesses, conducted by PNC Financial Services Group, reports that 23 percent of respondents expect to increase their number of full-time employees within the next six months, up from only 15 percent who expressed such plans six months ago, when the last survey was taken.

The prospect of increased hiring offers hope for a sluggish local economy. The state Department of Labor and Industry this week said the region's labor force, defined as people working or seeking work, shrank by more than 7,000 in February, suggesting that discouraged job-seekers were giving up the hunt.

Besides saying they expect to hire more people soon, the business owners polled by PNC expressed overall optimism about their own businesses as well as the local and the national economy. More than half -- 58 percent -- said they expect their sales to increase and 53 percent said they expect their profits to increase.

Their greatest concern was the prospect of higher energy prices during the next six months -- of five factors that might have a negative impact 44 percent cited higher energy prices. Other concerns included higher inflation, slower economic growth, prospects for another interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve and an increase in the federal minimum wage.

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the Cleveland Fed just did a piece on our regional economy

Take a look at the largest MSA in the Fourth District. Surprisingly, Pittsburgh, known as the "Steel City," has a smaller manufacturing employment share than the US. Though employment growth after the 2001 recession was slow it looks as if Pittsburgh has turned a corner...

http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/Trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607.cfm

03.28.07

Regional Activity

The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area

by Christian Miller and Brian Rudick

The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), home to more than 2.3 million people, is the District’s largest metro area. (The MSA is composed of Alleghany, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.) Surprisingly, Pittsburgh’s share of employment in manufacturing is smaller than the nation’s. This wasn’t the case in the 1970s and early 1980s, but since then, manufacturing’s share of total employment has fallen faster in Pittsburgh than in the U.S. On the other hand, the metro area’s share of employment in the education and health services industry is 1.5 times larger than the nation’s. It is the MSA’s second-largest sector (behind trade, transportation, and utilities), accounting for about one-fifth of total employment.

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-1.gif

Since the last business cycle peak, in March 2001, Pittsburgh has lost 1.5 percent of its jobs, compared to Pennsylvania's gain of 1.2 percent and the nation's gain of 3.6 percent. In this respect, the metro area bears a closer resemblance to other Fourth District MSAs than to Pennsylvania as a whole. Pittsburgh’s employment growth began to improve in 2006.

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-2.gif

Since the last business cycle peak, Pittsburgh has increased its nonmanufacturing employment by about 1 percent, whereas the U.S. is up 6.6 percent. In addition, manufacturing employment losses over this period were more severe in the metro area (21.4 percent) than in the nation (16.6 percent).

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-3.gif

Not surprisingly, a look at the components of employment growth shows that manufacturing has been a drag on total employment growth for the past six years, although its negative impact has lessened over the past four. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities also weighed down employment growth. Service industries, on the other hand, have been critical for job growth over the past six years. Education, health, leisure, government, and other services have contributed an average of 0.5 percentage point to total employment growth in each of those years.

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-4.gif

Since January 2006, Pittsburgh’s employment has increased 1.0 percent, compared to the nation’s gain of 1.6 percent. Although U.S. employment growth outpaced that of the metro area, the only industries that posted job losses in Pittsburgh were trade, transportation, and utilities; and financial activities. Moreover, the MSA’s rate of employment growth in natural resources, mining, and construction industries outpaced the nation’s by more than 1 percent.

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-5.gif

The MSA’s unemployment rate has closely tracked the nation’s for the past decade. In January, Pittsburgh’s unemployment rate was 4.8 percent, compared to 4.6 percent for the U.S.

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-6.gif

Except for three years in the early 1990s, the population growth rate has been consistently negative in the metro area since 1980. By contrast, the nation’s population has grown steadily since then, at an annual rate of about 1 percent.

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-7.gif

Pittsburgh’s population, like Pennsylvania’s, has a smaller percentage of minorities than the U.S, although the MSA is still more homogenous than the state. Of Pittsburgh residents aged 25 and older, 27.1 percent have attained a bachelor’s degree, compared to 27.2 percent for the nation and 25.7 percent for the state. Pittsburgh is home to more elderly residents (65 and older) than either the state or the nation and has a higher median age.

Selected Demographics
Pittsburgh MSA PA U.S.
Total population (millions) 2.3 12.0 288.4
Percent by race
White 90.1 85.5 76.3
Black 8.6 10.7 12.8
Other 1.3 3.8 10.9
Percent by age
0 to 19 23.8 25.5 27.8
20 to 34 17.0 18.1 20.1
35 to 64 42.7 41.7 40.0
65 or older 16.5 14.6 12.1
Percent with bachelor's degree or higher 27.1 25.7 27.2
Median age 41.7 39.7 36.4


In 2005, Pittsburgh’s per capita personal income was $36,208, exceeding that of the state ($34,848), the nation ($34,495), and the average for all metropolitan areas ($34,668 in 2004).

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0407/01regact_032607-8.gif

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the Cleveland Fed examines payroll employment for Fourth District metros... during 2006...

as you can see... Pittsburgh was the worst performer in the district in goods-producing sectors... our rapidly declining manufacturing sector bogged down a pretty decent showing in service sectors... the recent increase in government jobs must be a recent thing... as we were one of the worst performing regions... and actually lost government jobs from 1999-2005... education and healthcare continues to be our shining star... and we've seen a recent rapid increase in leisure and hospitality... apparently people are finally looking at Pittsburgh as a place to visit for pleasure... the ongoing hotel boom in the city obviously reflects this... compared to other metros in the 4th District... we're doing quite well in service industries... especially compared to Cleveland... which is seeing anemic growth or declines in just about every sector

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2007/0207/02regact_020507-3.gif

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just playing around with charts on the Cleveland Fed's website...

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/regional/chartsdata.cfm


I noticed that Pittsburgh MSA has experienced a significant divergence from Cleveland MSA in Total Nonfarm Employment since January 2000... Cleveland is pretty close in size and is the closest major metro to Pittsburgh... and has a similar economic history rooted in heavy manufacturing... as well as banking, health care and higher education...

January 2000 Total Nonfarm Employment (in thousands):

Pittsburgh 1,115
Cleveland 1,113

January 2007:

Pittsburgh 1,122
Cleveland 1,051

Net:

Pittsburgh +7
Cleveland -62

Pittsburgh's growth has certainly been modest since 2000... hampered by the post-9/11 recession... which lingered here for a couple more years after the U.S. emerged from it... but at least we haven't seen the severe economic erosion that neighboring Cleveland has. The other two major MSAs in the 4th District (Columbus, Cincinnati) had a net employment gain greater than Pittsburgh, though their gains were quite modest as well.


btw... it's important to compare employment numbers using the same month... as there are usually major gains during Decembers due to holiday retail activity... which then drops off in January... June also sees large gains due to "summer job" activity...

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the region's largest employer makes a huge move

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07101/776738-28.stm

UPMC logo may top off U.S. Steel Tower

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070411pd_steel0411_450.jpg
Peter Diana, Post-Gazette
The UPMC logo may soon adorn the three sides of Pittsburgh's tallest skyscraper.

The region's largest employer will sit atop the city's tallest office tower.

So, the thinking goes, why not put the logo up in lights, too?

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center President Jeffrey Romoff confirmed yesterday that he wants the "UPMC" sign atop the 64-story U.S. Steel Tower as part of an agreement to move the headquarters of the Oakland hospital conglomerate Downtown. UPMC will fill five floors in the triangle-shaped landmark -- bringing science and medicine to a building associated with Pittsburgh's history as an industrial power.

The deal gives Mr. Romoff the best view in all of Pittsburgh. He and other senior executives will work from the 62nd floor -- the highest rentable space and former home of the panoramic Top of the Triangle restaurant, which closed in 2001. Board members will meet up there, too.

UPMC needs city permission to place its logo on all three sides of U.S. Steel Tower -- no, the name would not change. A request is expected to go before the Pittsburgh Planning Commission, and based on past controversy surrounding skyline signs from Highmark and Mellon Financial Corp., the application could generate some debate.

How does U.S. Steel -- which still has its headquarters there -- feel about the prospect of a UPMC sign atop a building that honors the Steel City's namesake industry?

U.S. Steel spokesman John Armstrong said, "That's an arrangement they made with the building. I am not going to comment on that. The building is still the U.S. Steel building."

He then added: "We are delighted to have them as a neighbor."

Both companies lease space in the building.

It is "fitting" that the region's largest employer (UPMC has 43,000 workers in southwestern Pennsylvania) would one day sit atop Pittsburgh's largest building, said Oxford Development Co. President David Matter, who attended yesterday's news conference.

"It's where they belong," he said. "UPMC has almost singlehandedly replaced heavy manufacturing as the backbone of the regional economy."

UPMC, a nonprofit that booked $5.7 billion in revenue last year, expects to start occupying its new Grant Street address in March 2008. It will move approximately 2,250 employees there over four years, consolidating people from the executive staff, finance and treasury, corporate communications, legal, planning, marketing, human resources, payroll, benefits and information technology.

Along with space on the 62nd floor, UPMC also will occupy the 58th, 57th, part of the 56th and the 22nd floors. It currently has employees on the 28th floor -- and they will remain in that space for another three years, according to building leasing agent Andy Wisniewski, who approached UPMC about moving 14 months ago.

Initially, UPMC will lease 185,000 square feet, although it expects to need as much as 500,000 square feet within five years -- bumping U.S. Steel Tower's occupancy rate from 82 to 96 percent.

The move also alleviates some space pressure in Oakland.

Once UPMC's headquarters moves Downtown, the nonprofit will shift clinical administrators into its current Oakland headquarters -- Forbes Tower along Meyran Avenue. The maneuvers will free up valuable space in its nearby hospitals to expand clinical programs.

Another argument made yesterday at a press conference was that UPMC's move Downtown will strengthen the connection between Pittsburgh's business center in the Golden Triangle and the city's academic and medical nexus in Oakland. UPMC believes that connection could be even stronger if it is allowed to merge with the financially-troubled Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, a Catholic medical center in the Lower Hill District.

UPMC and Mercy are awaiting federal and state approval of the $120 million merger -- a deal that would give UPMC access to more than half the hospital market in Allegheny County. The Federal Trade Commission recently asked both hospitals for more information, indicating a heightened level of scrutiny. Both the FTC and the state attorney general are looking into possible antitrust issues.

Mr. Romoff is "optimistic" the merger will happen and dismissed concerns that the union will result in higher prices and less competition. UPMC operates 19 other hospitals.

Such criticisms, he said, "couldn't be further from the truth." It's a "simple decision." That being "whether Mercy hospital will continue to exist." If Mercy closes due to financial problems, patients will migrate to UPMC anyway, argued Mr. Romoff, and the community will lose the chance to retain about 3,000 jobs and potential for new investment in the Lower Hill.

"We are confident the attorney general will see this issue . . . as we have," Mr. Romoff said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.)


...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_502107.html

UPMC's relocation provides growing room


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2007-04-10/0411promoff-a.jpg
UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff announces that UPMC will be moving its corporate headquarters into the USX Tower/US Steel Building.
Steven Adams/Tribune-Review

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 11, 2007


Jeffrey A. Romoff, who turned the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center into the region's largest employer, soon will work in offices on top of the city.
Romoff and other executives will assume the former Top of the Triangle restaurant space atop the 64-story U.S. Steel Tower, Downtown, nearly three miles from the main hospital complex in Oakland.

"We're adding more than 5,000 employees a year," Romoff said an announcement Tuesday explaining the move. "We will seek to revitalize and add to the wonderful things that are going on Downtown."

UPMC plans to relocate 2,000 to 3,000 employes from its cramped Oakland facilities to consolidate corporate, administrative and other business operations in the next five years. UPMC employs 43,000 people in Western Pennsylvania.

It hopes to win city permission to place its logo near the top of the rust-colored, 2.3 million-square-foot structure on Grant Street, which would retain the U.S. Steel name. The steel corporation opened the building in 1971.

The health system has discussed reviving a long-closed helipad on the roof, according to Andy Wisniewski of CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, leasing agent for the tower.

"This move will free up much-needed space for hospitals to expand clinical services" in Oakland, said Elizabeth Concordia, UPMC senior vice president. "Along with the new Children's Hospital construction in Lawrenceville, this will help us decongest some of the busiest clinical areas and enhance our ability to serve the health care needs of this community."

UPMC has grown ninefold since Romoff became CEO in 1993, according to the medical center's Internet site. It's now a $6 billion yearly operation with 19 hospitals, an insurance division and ventures in Europe and the Middle East.

It has been criticized for some moves, including a proposed merger with Mercy Hospital, but this decision appears to be good one, said Cliff Shannon, president of SMC Business Councils, which represents 5,000 small businesses statewide.

"If UPMC were gong to build another 300-bed hospital in Shadyside, my hair would catch on fire," Shannon said. "But on first blush, this appears to be good for Downtown, and I don't think it will have any impact whatsoever on health care competition."

Selection of the U.S. Steel Tower came after a nine-month search, which included other prominent Downtown office buildings, he said. Oxford Development Co. represented the company in the search.

Starting in March 2008, UPMC will take about 185,000 square feet of space in the U.S. Steel Tower, including the former restaurant space on the 62nd floor for executive staff. Other personnel will occupy a portion of the 56th floor, and all of the 22nd, 57th and 58th floors.

Ultimately, UPMC will lease as many as 14 floors, totaling close to 500,000 square feet. That will include floors 59 and 60 now occupied by the H.J. Heinz Co., which is relocating its world headquarters to PPG Place, Downtown.

UPMC estimates at least 2,250 employees will move into the building in phases. Departments will include the executive staff, finance and treasury, corporate communications, legal, planning and marketing, human resources, payroll and benefits, and information technology services.

Romoff and his staff will come from the 11-story Forbes Tower, at Forbes and Meyran avenues. Others will come mainly from hospital facilities.

"We are pleased to have as a neighbor the headquarters of one of our country's leading medical centers and one of the jewels in Pittsburgh's crown," said John Armstrong, spokesman for U.S. Steel.

That company has about 1,000 employees and occupies about 450,000 square feet in the office tower, including executive offices on the 61st floor, Wisniewski said.

UPMC's relocation will raise occupancy in the U.S. Steel Tower from 82 percent to 96 percent, he said.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

[Evergrey]

the number of workers "Downtown" has increased by 20% in the past decade.
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/04/09/daily23.html?surround=lfn

Finance, service biggest Downtown employers

Pittsburgh Business Times - 2:27 PM EDT Wednesday, April 11, 2007

A study released Wednesday found that employment in Downtown Pittsburgh has grown more than 20 percent since 1996, and that the finance and service industries are the largest employers there.

The Downtown Worker Profile Study, released by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, found that the service industry (33 percent) and finance (31 percent) accounted for almost two-thirds of the work force in 2006.

The study also found that from 1996-2006, the number of Downtown businesses grew less than 1 percent annually, but the number of workers grew 2.1 percent a year.

"With UPMC's recent announcement that they are moving their headquarters Downtown, our study supports the fact that the number of employees working in Downtown has risen at an annual rate of almost 2.1 percent. These new downtown workers will play an important part in increasing the momentum in Downtown Pittsburgh," Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership President and CEO Mike Edwards said.

Other findings of the survey included that 137,000 people work at 5,000 business establishments located across the five census tracks (Uptown, Golden Triangle, Strip District, South Shore, North Shore) that collectively define Downtown Pittsburgh, with the Golden Triangle alone accounting for nearly 80 percent of the businesses and employees.

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is an advocacy group that represents 350 property owners and businesses.


...


Here's a link to the study: http://www.downtownpittsburgh.com/cms/assets/pdp_daw_final_4_11%20presentation.ppt

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07102/777235-28.stm

Downtown work force jumps 23% in 10 years

Thursday, April 12, 2007

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070412ds_TRIANGLE_450.jpg
Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette
The Golden Triangle is a second home to about 80 percent of Downtown workers.



By Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


The number of people working Downtown has grown 23 percent the past decade, according to a new study by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, an advocacy organization for businesses and residents in the Golden Triangle.

The partnership said its study, conducted by the Mount Lebanon-based Strategic Metrics Group, found 136,928 people worked Downtown in 2006, up from 111,557 in 1996.

It defines Downtown by five census tracts -- the Golden Triangle, the North Shore, the Strip District, Uptown and the South Shore, which stretches from the South Side to the West End Bridge. Most of the growth, it said, occurred within the traditional central business district's borders, with 109,619 workers in 2006, vs. 88,549 in 1996.

Financial and service businesses each employed about one-third of the Downtown work force, the study said, led by finance holding companies and other investment firms that employed a total of 14,399, followed by insurance carriers at 12,229 and legal services at 11,581 workers.

PDP President and Chief Executive Officer Michael M. Edwards said expanding the definition of Downtown to include census tracts beyond the Golden Triangle reflects public perception. "I think the geography in people's minds is sort of changing as to what constitutes Downtown," Mr. Edwards said.

For example, while Three Rivers Stadium was not considered part of Downtown, Heinz Field and PNC Park are. "The way those facilities are being designed, you're visually connected" to the Golden Triangle, he said, adding that "the rivers are being integrated as part of Downtown, not as borders to Downtown."

The increase in the number of workers does not mean that Downtown has become crowded. On the contrary. In 1996, the office vacancy rate for the central business district and the neighborhoods that commercial real estate brokers call "the fringe" -- the Strip, Uptown, South Side, North Side -- was 16 percent. At the end of 2006, it stood at 20.5 percent.

Mr. Edwards attributed the higher vacancy rate to new construction, which will continue with PNC Financial Services Group's construction of a tower with 360,000 square feet of office space, and to companies economizing in their use of space.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Elwin Green can be reached at egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969. )

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070412downtown_employees.gif

[PhillyRising]

Great News for Pittsburgh for the increase in Dahnthan workers....but eww on the UPMC logo on the Steel Building. The building is perfect with the way it is...

[BMikeSci]

of course that buyers market means you are going to have a hell of a time selling that house or getting alot of value out of it later in this market

Home ownership has been about the best investment anyone could make in this country for as long as I can remember. Try renting an apartment in another city. In NYC a studio will cost you $2000 a month. If you have a family, you'll probably need to spend around $4000 a month. Thats $48,000 a year down the drain. You can buy a nice home in PGH for that much.

In expensive cities, people don't have the option of buying an affordable home. That $4000 a month apartment would cost about $700,000, and your taxes would be over $1000 a month; so most people don't buy.

If you own your home, there is a really good chance that it will appreciate overtime - perhaps even to the extent that it will cover all living expenses for the period you own it. Now that doesn't always happen, but it certainly won't happen if you rent.

PGH has had really poor real estate returns for 30 years, but basic economics suggesst that eventually, this market should turn around hard.

Markets tend to come into equalibrium over time. So this real estate should rise or fall, more or less equally with other markets. If one market is historically 3 times more expensive than another but now it's 20 times; then that market should either fall somewhat or the other should rise.

This is a general rule of markets. It doesn't always pan out that way, but over time, generally, markets do act in that manner.

The fact that PGH hasn't moved a hell of a lot in 30 years means that it has built a long baseline. In some parts of PGH, including parts of the downtown, prices are about the same as they were 30 years ago. That's so crazy! Of course, markets don't have to be rational.

I guess if I had been a home owner in PGH for the last 30 years, my opinion might be depressed. I do think that over the next few years the downtown in PGH especiall will be on the fast track. There are billions of dollars being invested here now. Many predict that the downtown especially will be transformed.

With all this in mind, I hope you don't end up kicking yourself because you miss a great market opportunity.

[BMikeSci]

This very significant news:

It only makes sense. It's still possible to open businesses here because it's affordable and there are loads of well educated people.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07111/779829-96.stm

Bits&Bytes: Apangea embraces Downtown's vibrancy, ideas, opinions

Saturday, April 21, 2007

By Corilyn Shropshire, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The third floor of Downtown's Ewart building was abounding with bright young people at Apangea Learning Inc.'s coming-out party Thursday evening.

About 30 fresh-faced staffers clad in crisp white shirts bearing Apangea's logo mingled with the crowd celebrating the firm's move into the city from its former home in Blairsville, Indiana County.

Despite being the haven of a team where all but four are under the age of 40, Apangea's new offices are decidedly Un-Google-y -- devoid of foosball tables, parcheesi boards, Ikea-esque sofas or exercise balls doubling as chairs.

"I don't have Google's budget," said Matt Hausmann, Apangea's vice president of marketing and business development, laughing.

If Google's well-chronicled work space is leading the revival of geek chic tech offices that were famous in the work-hard-play-hard 1990s, Apangea's seemingly pristine digs, might be tech space 2.0. -- serene, simple, airy, crisp but cozy.

Chief Executive Officer Louis Piconi picked Downtown for the 5-year-old firm's January relocation, in part, as a carrot to attract young talent -- such as Mr. Hausmann, who moved here from Boston.

Apangea wanted to join the "vibrancy" emerging in the Golden Triangle, Mr. Piconi said.

"We enjoy being in town where we get to exchange ideas and opinions with other professionals and academics."

Apangea has been on a hiring spree that won't slow anytime soon as the firm aims to pick up more customers for its SmartHelp tutoring program and works toward launching new product lines -- and as some have suggested, perhaps even expanding beyond the K to 12 market.

Details will trickle out in the fall, but in the meantime, Mr. Piconi is working to secure dollars from investors to help the firm's expansion, even though the "vast majority" of Apangea's growth has been fueled by customer revenue, he said. Just how much money he wants to raise, Mr. Piconi declined to disclose.



Pitches from a select group of headhunters are in, and the search committee charged with finding a new chief for the Pittsburgh Technology Council will begin interviewing recruiters next week. Former Respironics CEO Jim Likens is leading the group, which also includes venture capitalist Sean Sebastian.

Expected to be on the list of executive headhunters being considered is Randy Frasinelli of the Pittsburgh office of Grant/Williams Associates, who eight years ago managed the council's eight-month search that culminated in the hiring of former CEO Steven G. Zylstra, who resigned this month.

Founder and former tech council chief Tim Parks has been bombarded with questions of whether he'd consider taking the helm for a second tour.

He didn't say he would, but hasn't rule it out, either.

"It's too early to say," Mr. Parks said. "It'll likely take several months before people know what the council will be."

Indeed, insiders said the 40-person board will take it's time to determine the council's direction and mission before its members choose who will guide it. Insiders said the board would tackle reinvigorating the council, which has faced flat-lined finances and membership that, at 1,350 is still large, but hasn't grown in four years. Programming and attendance at council events also are going to be considered, in addition to the council's role in the greater community.

"It's not broken, but it needs a lift," said one source.

Pittsburgh should count its blessings because most regions don't have the access to state and federal lawmakers that Pittsburgh's tech council has, said Jim Cookingham, who founded the 700-member Cleveland-based North East Ohio Software association in 1998.

The cachet Pittsburgh possesses, he said, is due in part to the sheer size and breadth of the group, but also thanks to Mr. Zylstra and his smart and well-networked government affairs chief, Brian Kennedy.

Other organizations in regions that are comparable or even more tech-steeped are "much smaller," Mr. Cookingham said. "It is interesting to hear negative comments about an organization that is only the dream of most regions of North America."

Spokesman Kevin Lane dismissed rumors of morale and personnel problems at the council.

"We have committed and thoroughly professional individuals here who embrace our mission and are eager to serve our constituency," he said. "They see the current situation as a clean slate. We're all very optimistic about how we can move on."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Got tech buzz? Contact Corilyn Shropshire at cshropshire@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1413. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07108/778774-28.stm

Prestigious economics magazine calls Pittsburgh home

Wednesday, April 18, 2007


By Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



If Rick Sebak ever does a show on the most prestigious things nobody knows are headquartered in Pittsburgh, he might well start off in the South Side, in a building that formerly housed the Gimbel's warehouse.

There, on the second floor of what is now River Park Commons, lie the offices of the American Economic Review -- arguably the world's pre-eminent economics journal.

"If you get published in the American Economic Review, it will change your life," said Jane Voros, the publication's managing editor, who moved to Pittsburgh a couple years ago from a job at the United Nations in New York.

The journal, which was founded in 1911 and is published by the American Economics Association, previously rotated its headquarters around the country, depending on where its current editor was based.

In 2004, while the journal was being edited by Ben Bernanke -- then a Princeton professor and now chairman of the Federal Reserve -- the AEA decided to choose one city to be a permanent home for all of its publications.

Pittsburgh was chosen over other cities where the AEA had a presence, such as Princeton, N.J.; Palo Alto, Calif.; and Nashville, Ten., in part because the city already housed considerable computer infrastructure to host EconLit, the association's online bibliography. "It made more sense to have them all in one place," said Ms. Voros, who now reports to an editor based at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Since 1969, Pittsburgh also has been home to the AEA-published Journal of Economic Literature, which was founded by a University of Pittsburgh economics professor.

Dave DeJong, chairman of Pitt's economics department, called the American Economic Review "probably the flagship journal in our profession" and remembered fondly when he found out that he would have an article published in 1991.

"It felt great, especially for a kid without tenure," he said. "Getting a paper published [in the AER] is something everyone would love to do at least once in [his or her] career."

Mr. DeJong said that while there are three other economic journals also held in highest esteem by economists, the AER prides itself on having general appeal, meaning that the articles would appeal to all economists, even if the specific topic isn't in their field.

Indeed, the March 2007 edition includes economics articles on topics ranging from Internet advertising to police hiring quotas to climate change.

Every year, the AER receives about 1,300 submissions from economists all over the world -- of which it rejects about 93 percent through a peer review process.

Partially for that reason, the association is planning to launch four new publications: on macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic policy and applied economics.

"AER is a general journal, and there were very good papers that [were] getting turned away," said Michelle DiBlasi, who was a business journalist in New Jersey before moving to Pittsburgh. The new journals, which will start receiving submissions in June, also will compete with for-profit publications covering similar topics.

To staff the new journals, as well as incorporate new responsibilities such as typesetting, the Pittsburgh-based staff has grown substantially since the consolidation -- from 14 employees in 2004 to 28 currently.

Most of the hires have been local, with many people just a year or two out of college or graduate school. "We've been extremely lucky," said Drucilla Ekwurzel, director of publication services for the AEA. "We have wonderful, smart, talented people, and people have been able to grow into these new jobs."

The offices now smell like wet paint and drywall plaster as they physically expand by more than 50 percent to fit another seven employees expected by 2009.

"It's a very exciting time," said Ms. Voros. "It's a little known thing in Pittsburgh, but we're becoming a publishing powerhouse here."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Anya Sostek can be reached at 412-263-1308 or asostek@post-gazette.com. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/5704equitable.aspx

April 18, 2007

Equitable Resources will hire 200 after acquisition settles

Equitable Resources of Pittsburgh’s recent acquisition of Dominion Peoples will result in the hiring of at least 200 new positions in June, once the deal is finalized and the regulatory red tape is crossed.

“We plan to add up to 200 positions throughout the greater region in a variety of jobs,” says Pat Kornick, spokesperson for Equitable. “They will be a variety of jobs: technical, customer service positions and field operations.”

The acquisition is part of a $970 million deal announced last year that includes the sale of Dominion Resources Inc.'s Pennsylvania and West Virginia gas subsidiaries to Equitable. Dominion Resources is based in Richmond, Va. As a result, Equitable will be the largest gas distribution company in the state and the second largest natural gas distributor in western Pa., Kornick said.

The deal between Equitable and Dominion has been on hold pending state regulatory requirements. On Friday, state utility regulators gave Equitable the go-ahead to purchase Dominion. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), however, sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block the sale. The FTC claims the deal constitutes a monopoly in the Pittsburgh area that would undermine competition.

Kornick says that Equitable maintains that the benefits of the deal are indisputable and the PUC's ruling has affirmed that the acquisition is in the public interest.


Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Pat Kornick, Equitable

[BMikeSci]

Manufacturing Jobs

Is it possible that PGH has a smaller share of manufacturing jobs because of the area's facility with robotics? Could it be that we've replaced many many jobs with automation? I'm not sure how to check this theory. Any ideas?

[Evergrey]

actually, you are correct... today's manufacturing sector demands much less labor... so the "decline" in the manufacturing sector is really more from a jobs perspective as opposed to performance...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_504209.html

2 robotics firms sell for $9.2M

By Rick Stouffer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 24, 2007


Two robotics-related companies with Carnegie Mellon University roots have been acquired for as much as $9.2 million by Foster-Miller Inc., the largest supplier of robots to the Department of Defense.
The deal is expected to increase employment at both companies, and help breathe life into the Pittsburgh area's eight-year-old nickname "Roboburgh," as the region graduates from being just an idea developer to producing what its researchers dream up, experts said.

O'Hara-based Automatika Inc., which designs, develops prototypes and does small-scale manufacturing of robotic systems, and Applied Perception Inc. of Cranberry, which creates software and control systems for navigating unmanned ground vehicles, will be able to fast-forward their designs and ideas, executives said.

"For us, this deal is a particular advantage, as we do research and development, and have small production development capabilities," said Noellette Conway, cofounder, president and CEO of Automatika, and former Carnegie Mellon adjunct professor of environmental management. "Foster-Miller has large-scale production and marketing capabilities."

"I've been here for 17 years, involved in robotics the entire time, and Pittsburgh always has been known for giving birth to robotics," said Todd Jochem, founder and president of Applied Perception, and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. "As far as I am aware, this deal is the first credible step in getting robotics from research and development actually into the field."

As the deal is structured, Foster-Miller, which is owned by London-based QinetiQ Group PLC, will pay $6 million cash for the two companies, with an additional $3.2 million deferred payment due two years after the transaction closes.

Conway and Jochem said they expect to hire additional personnel, with Applied Perception currently employing 16 and Automatika employing 12.

But actual robotics-related production also could find a home locally, Conway said. "Foster-Miller is hoping to expand here. They are talking about doing actual production here."

"Both companies will have project deployment and support through Foster-Miller," said Martial Hebert, professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. "It's always a good thing when information technology companies make it. It's good for the area, good for the university, good for Pittsburgh's image."



Rick Stouffer can be reached at rstouffer@tribweb.com or 412-320-7853.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07114/780402-28.stm

Buyouts raising regional profile of German giant Siemens

Out of the Shadows

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


It is almost lunchtime in a rural Westmoreland County industrial park, and Siemens Corp. Chief Executive Officer George Nolen is strolling through one of 100 U.S. factories under his control, greeting a few of his 70,000 employees.

"Hi, I'm George," he says, extending his hand, reaching over desks to make contact.

The 50-year-old is a superstar in Upper Burrell. Employees step forward to greet the man in charge of U.S. operations for the quiet German engineering and electronics giant, which recently acquired Robicon, a twice-bankrupt, cash-poor maker of power conversion products based in the Westmoreland Business and Research Park. Siemens paid $184 million for the business in summer 2005 and then spent $8.5 million on new equipment and real estate, allowing the operation to double its sales to $200 million and add 191 jobs in less than two years. Officials cut the ribbon on a 30,000-square-foot factory addition last Friday.

The Siemens-led turnaround, said Gary Rauscher, general manager of the 475-person plant and veteran of the two prior Robicon bankruptcies, is "pretty amazing."

The rest of southwestern Pennsylvania also might be amazed to learn that Siemens, with 1,250 employees scattered throughout the area, is now one of the region's largest employers following four acquisitions in nine years. Bayer Corp., which has its North American headquarters in Robinson, is the area's largest German-based firm.

Two of Siemens' local operations have ties to the old Westinghouse Electric conglomerate. Robicon (now called Siemens Energy & Automation) was founded in 1964 by former Westinghouse Electric engineers -- and now is the world leader in power control systems and variable-speed drives, crucial components in motors used by water treatment plants and oil and gas pipelines. The other connection from Siemens to Westinghouse was the 1998 purchase of Westinghouse's old power generation business for $1.53 billion. The bulk of the business moved to Florida, but it still has a Churchill-based research and development unit exploring new ways to generate electricity -- in 2001 it promised to build a $122 million fuel-cell plant in Munhall but never fully occupied the 140,000-square-foot building, due to an economic slowdown. Other local purchases include the 2004 acquisition of Marshall-based water and wastewater treatment firm US Filter and the 2005 pickup of Downtown-based air-pollution-reduction firm Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control Inc.

In each case, Siemens is employing its worldwide scale to open up new markets and cut supplier costs while making investments in capital equipment.

"What we tell people is we don't want to do that to be fifth place," said Mr. Nolen, in an interview. "We want to be No. 1 or No. 2 in the markets we're chasing."

For the first time, on Friday, Siemens hosted a town hall meeting for all of its employees in the Pittsburgh area -- now "a major hub for us," said the Virginia-born Mr. Nolen, wearing a maroon-and-orange Virginia Tech tie to honor those killed recently at his alma mater.

It was clear from Mr. Nolen's visit last week that Siemens wanted to raise its profile in Pittsburgh and across the United States, where it has a presence in all 50 states yet remains an obscure name to most American households despite its widespread influence on daily life.

Not many know that Siemens generates about a third of the power in the United States; that it moves 90 percent of the mail through Siemens-designed sorting equipment; that 70 percent of U.S. automobiles operate with some piece of Siemens technology, from electronics to lighting; that its bomb-detection devices can be found at 438 U.S. airports, including Pittsburgh International.

"The most common response I get is, 'Wow, I had no idea,'" Mr. Nolen said.

"Would it surprise you if you looked at the Fortune 100 companies and I would pop in somewhere around No. 85 just on what we do in the United States?" he added, citing U.S. sales of $22 billion. "People don't think that."

The CEO promises that people will see more of Siemens as it begins a national print advertising campaign touting its contributions to American life. The goal, said Jack Bergen, Siemens' senior vice president of corporate affairs and marketing, is to "Americanize the brand."

That explains a deal inked a year and half ago to put the Siemens name on the iconic Spaceship Earth sphere at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, in Orlando, Fla., and remake the time-travel exhibit to feature technologies being developed by Siemens for the fields of medicine, transportation and energy. Students from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center are working with Siemens and Disney on a collection of arcade games designed to explain how Siemens' products influence daily life.

Even as Siemens tries to raise its public profile in the United States, it is trying to recover from a widening corruption scandal and allegations of bribery in Germany, where Siemens is a better-known name. The chairman of Siemens AG, Heinrich von Pierer, resigned on Thursday without admitting any responsibility for the alleged bribery of potential customers and the head of a labor group -- until 1999, bribes could be written off in Germany as business expenses. Hundreds of millions of transactions at the company's telecom-equipment division are under scrutiny.

The abrupt board shake-up forced Siemens AG Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfield, who has said he was unaware of any corruption, to cancel his plans to take part in the Pittsburgh area town hall meeting Friday and catch a plane back to Germany to deal with the crisis. During his remarks to Pittsburgh-area employees Friday afternoon, Mr. Nolen said he was "stunned" by the "massive allegations of illegal behavior by individual employees," according to his prepared remarks.

"I am sure all of you felt the same way."

Citing new rules put in place to prevent any future violations and a team hired to conduct an independent review of Siemens' internal controls, he pledged that Siemens would emerge from this as a "model of transparency" with "zero tolerance for illegal and unethical behavior." He said in an interview that the investigations had been a "distraction," but stressed that as head of U.S. operations, "I have not seen any illegal behaviors."




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/5807apangea.aspx

April 25, 2007

Apangea Learning expects to hire 40- 50 this year

Apangea Learning CEO Louis Piconi remembers the weeks on end without a paycheck when the model for the intelligent tutoring system was first developed five years ago. It was the kind of sacrifice the founders knew they had to make to develop a system that could blend computer learning with live tutors to reach every student, not just the wealthiest 20 percent that could afford private, hands-on learning.


So last Thursday was a personal celebration when Apangea opened its new digs in downtown Pittsburgh to the community, showing off its bright, airy space on the third floor of the Ewart building. The gathering officially marked its move from Blairsville, Indiana County, as well as the beginning of a string of new hiring and the launch of a second line of tutoring software.


“We are moving forward aggressively and will continue to hire for sales and service," says Piconi, who expects the company to more than double in the next year. Apangea currently employs 26 full-time and six part-time.

"At this stage, we are in one of every 10 districts in Pennsylvania and we’ve expanded beyond to urban school districts across the country, in Maryland, Florida, Virginia, Texas, California, and the D.C. corridor."


Apangea’s tutoring solutions include SmartHelp, math programs proven to dramatically improve achievement at a cost-effective price. What makes it different from other computer tutors is differentiated instruction for each student through its software and live, one-on-one human tutors, Piconi says. Later this year Apangea plans to roll out a second product line aimed at students with literacy challenges. And it will launch Math 4.0.




Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Louis Piconi, Apangea Learning

[BMikeSci]

Mass firm acquires PGH robotics firms:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/04/23/daily4.html?from_rss=1

[DBR96A]

Mass firm acquires PGH robotics firms:

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/04/23/daily4.html?from_rss=1

Fuck!

Any time we make headway in ANY industry, someone comes along and buys it away from us, centralizing everything in their city and leaving us with the crumbs --- and the call centers once the company gets bigger.

Why don't any of OUR companies do the buying? I want Pittsburgh to be the robotics capital of the U.S., not Boston. Our business leaders need to start operating with a "nothing to lose" mentality, because that's exactly what the rest of the country thinks of us --- NOTHING.

[Evergrey]

DBR... read the article I posted on that on the previous page... it's not a bad thing... there's many upsides to this...


anyways... nice to hear Fayette County's economy is booming... admittedly... it's my favorite county in the metro after Allegheny...

...but they claim to have a problem with offering attractive housing options to the workforce... it drives me mad because Uniontown is a delightful city with a resurgent downtown... but I suppose nobody can actually live in a real place anymore... there is a big sprawltopia in the planning stages for Fayette... so perhaps that will help out

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_504415.html

Workers in Fayette Co. do not come for jobs alone

By C.M. Mortimer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 25, 2007


A recent survey of employers in Fayette County showed that roughly 1,900 workers will be needed soon to fill expected job openings in the county within the next year, officials said Tuesday.
But where will they live?

Karen Stiles, director of system engineers and manufacturing for Fairfax, Va.-based Argon ST, searched long and hard for a place to live when she relocated from New Jersey to Fayette County more than three years ago.

"I think it's a real issue for anyone relocating here," Stiles said of the housing market. "You're first perception when you drive through town is not a good one. A lot of housing is through word of mouth. But I got lucky, and now I found a rental 10 minutes away from work. This is a real nice place to live, you just have to sell it."

Stiles was one of a dozen panelists who talked about job growth and the need for housing at a Workforce & Housing Summit at Penn State Fayette-Eberly Campus yesterday. The event was presented by Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, the agency charged with adding employment opportunities in the mostly rural Southwest Pennsylvania county.

"What's the purpose of creating a job if they don't want to live here?" asked Michael W. Krajovic, president of the Fay-Penn council. He said the survey of 42 local employers was conducted in February 2006.

Krajovic said the goal of yesterday's meeting was to raise awareness of current workforce issues. "Fayette County. ... Wake up. It's an entirely new day. The issues we face today are much different than 60 years ago," he said.

Some recommendations from the meeting included:

• Adjusting high school curriculum to reflect the need for qualified engineering and technical personnel.

• Aggressive promotion of quality-of-life issues in the county's rural setting.

• Building housing clusters, including larger homes, condominiums and rental communities.

• Creating an active Internet site specifically for Fayette County that lists housing and rental opportunites, and recreational activities.

"It's a chicken-and-egg situation. There's no critical mass for developers. If the educational system is solid, people will come. If we continue to invest in the educational system, kindergarten through college, the private sector will respond," said Emmanuel I. Osagie, who began his career as a science teacher in Nigeria and was named chancellor of Penn State Fayette on Feb. 1.

Argon ST's Stiles said the company has a hard time finding systems, software and testing engineers. As a contract manufacturer for the Department of Defense, Argon ST employs about 90 workers at two sites in Fayette County, including a manufacturing facility in Georges Township and an engineering and testing center in North Union.



C.M. Mortimer can be reached at cmortimer@tribweb.com or (724) 836-5252.

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http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/5807futurecity.aspx

April 25, 2007

Pittsburgh ranked as a "City of the Future"

Pittsburgh pulled in on top, ranking as one of the top 10 “North American Cities of the Future” in the April 2007 issue of Foreign Direct Investment (fDi) magazine, published by the Financial Times group in London. Pittsburgh tied for 10th.


Every two years, fDi selects its cities--from those that participate--through a “rigorous market research process” that compares cities from across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Pittsburgh rated in the category of cities with an over two million population out of 108 cities considered. In addition, it ranked as one of the five most “cost effective” cities for business and landed among the top five cities with the best infrastructure.

“The Cities of the Future is not your average list by your average publication,” notes Michael Langley, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. “This recognition indicates the growing prominence of southwestern Pennsylvania as a key area for global investment.”

“Recognizing Pittsburgh as a ‘City of the Future’ highlights the many benefits that the city and region have to boast,” adds William Peduto, Pittsburgh councilman. “The world is discovering what we already know: Pittsburgh is a great place to grow a business, raise a family and invest resources for the future.”

Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Michael Langley, Allegheny Conference, William Peduto and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance

Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene




...

http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/5807Biotechcorridor.aspx

April 25, 2007

Pittsburgh teams with Cleveland on biotech corridor

In a unique meeting of similar minds, two bioscience investment firms, one from Pittsburgh and the other from Cleveland, are teaming up to explore working together to accelerate the bioscience sectors of both regions. The pairing is the first of its kind.


BioEnterprise, Greater Cleveland’s bioscience business initiative, and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), a private/public partnership that invests in and supports the growth of bioscience companies in southwestern Pennsylvania, have enough in common and are close enough geographically to significantly help each other grow.


Together, the two boast more than $1 billion annually in combined National Institute of Health and industry health care research funding. They collectively raised more than $350 million in health care venture investment during 2005-2006 from medical device, biopharmaceutical and heath care service startups, and together they both have more than 700 bioscience companies to their credit, employing more than 25,000 people.

Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source:

[themaguffin]

I expected the Pgh Cleveland thing to make bigger news. At this point, I wonder if is worth it for Pgh to join them. I would prefer to join a city that can enhance Pittburgh.

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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_505026.html

Natural gas heats up CNX hiring outlook

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, April 28, 2007


Pittsburgh's newest major public company, the 2-year-old CNX Gas Corp., is in a hiring mode.
CNX, spun off in 2005 from Consol Energy Inc., officially opened its new corporate headquarters in Robinson on Friday, and CEO Nicholas J. DeIuliis said the company plans to add about 150 high-paying jobs to its 200-person work force over three years.

"We're going to be hiring a lot more people," DeIuliis said at the natural gas development and production company's offices at the Penn Center West complex.

CNX was leasing space from Consol in South Park. It completed relocating its 30-person headquarters staff to the fourth floor of the Five Penn Center West building off the Parkway West last month.

Deluliis expects the company to exercise its option to take an additional 10,000 feet in the five-story building owned by the Soffer Organization, a Pittsburgh development firm.

"For the next increment of folks that we will be hiring, I would say about two-thirds will be field operations and about one-third would be corporate, and that would be right here at Penn Center West," Deluliis said.

"These are very specialized, high-paying jobs, not just because of the base salary, but also because of the benefits," he said. "Our average salary is over $100,000 a year, and that's the type of salary on which you can start or grow a family."

Hiring will be in step with the company's plans for $350 million in capital investment in five Western Pennsylvania counties: Allegheny, Greene, Indiana, Washington and Westmoreland, Deluliis said.

Projects will include drilling natural gas wells and infrastructure investments to build gathering lines and processing equipment to take natural gas from the wells to an interstate pipeline and ultimately to people's homes.

When CNX and other companies expand supply, the general public stands to benefit, Deluliis said.

"Not only does it lower prices by increasing supply, it makes our energy supply far more secure," he said. "This is not oil from the Middle East, so it's a security issue and it definitely lowers the price."



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07118/781662-96.stm

Startups continue momentum with strong first quarter

Saturday, April 28, 2007

By Corilyn Shropshire, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After closing on a $2.8 million investment from a string of private investors, software firm Carnegie Speech capped the total dollars raised by seven Pittsburgh-area startups at nearly $45 million in the first quarter of 2007.

That continues the momentum generated last year when 11 local firms secured a total of $229 million -- the most money since those dot-crazy days in 2000 when nearly $886 million was raised.

Helping boost the region's figures was the $4.92 million that area venture capital firms Birchmere Ventures and Draper Triangle Venture Capital poured into medical device firm COPD Partners Inc. Smart grid firm BPL Global Ltd. raised $26 million and Draper and some unidentified investors funneled the $1.5 million to Andy Field's underground social networking firm, Entermedia Inc. (Entermedia's maiden product, Qlique, is reportedly still in testing).

Pittsburgh's uptick didn't outpace Philadelphia however, where 24 companies, many of them biotech, raised $167 million in the first three months of the year. Philadelphia is a much larger market and a center for the pharmaceutical industry.

The investment boost mirrors a national trend -- $7.1 billion was poured into 778 deals in the first quarter of 2007, the highest quarterly dollar amount since the fourth quarter of 2001, according to the MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data by Thomson Financial.

All these opened wallets have been a boon for Carnegie Speech's Chief Executive Officer Angela Kennedy, who's long been on the fund-raising path. The Oakland-based firm's investors include private "angels" and angel networks in states including New York, Connecticut, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Among the money-flushed this year was StageMark Inc., recently armed with $1.6 million from BioAdvance, the early-stage investment division of Philadelphia's QuakerBioVentures. (If anyone knows where StageMark's co-founder and now former Chief Executive Officer Bernard Cambou has landed, they aren't saying).

Dr. Cambou, who left Birchmere Ventures in 2005 to launch South Side-based StageMark, a developer of diagnostics and therapy for auto-immune diseases such as Lupus, reportedly had a less-than-friendly break with the company's previous investors, sources said.

The company's new chairman and interim President is Edward L. Erickson. Lorraine G. LoPresti is the new vice president and chief financial officer.



Expect more dollars to fall in Pittsburgh in the coming months. Members of the life sciences sector are on the fund-raising trail, including Clear Count Medical Solutions, based on the North Side, Cellumen with offices on the South Side, Logical Therapeutics in Ohio Township, and Arthritis Imaging, recently renamed Cartesia-DX, in Hazelwood.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07121/782320-28.stm

Jobless rate lowest since 1970

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The region's unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent in March -- its lowest level in more than 37 years.

The last time the seasonally-adjusted jobless count tumbled lower was January 1970, when it dipped to 3.1 percent. The current local rate is a percentage point lower than the state's unemployment count and eight-tenths of a percentage point below the national rate of 4.4 percent.

But a closer look at the numbers indicates some sluggishness. The size of the labor force, defined as people working or seeking work, shrunk by 7,000 in February and then 8,300 in March -- a sign of economic weakness, since it suggests discouraged job seekers are giving up the search for new work.

The number of employed dropped by 4,700 in March after rising by 2,000 in February.

Still, jobs are growing at their fastest pace in six years. A separate count of nonfarm payrolls, based on employer surveys, found that businesses in the seven-county area added a net of 6,700 jobs in March, keeping the job level above the year-ago count for the 14th consecutive month. If that trend holds through the rest of 2007, it could be the second year in a row the region scores a job-growth increase following five years of losses.

Much of the job growth is coming from the service sector, although in construction counts were up 3,500 as hiring for spring contracts heats up. The service sector represents a mix of jobs, such as teaching, trucking and health care that pay well and other jobs, primarily in retails and restaurants, that tend to hover just above minimum wage. Retailers expanded their payrolls by 1,000 in March, driven by the recent opening of a Costco in West Homestead. Restaurants added 1,100.

Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070501jobless_chart.gif

[PittPenn 03]

^This rapid drop in unemployment and employment numbers over two consecutive months makes me wonder if the predicted massive workforce shortage that was to come by the end of the decade is starting to set in.

Or did they change the way this is measured again?

If the workforce shortage is starting to set in, it should be interesting to see what it means for our population woes.

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This graph displays the difference between regional unemployment and national

http://bp3.blogger.com/_eE0bQo-kngw/RjefYBS-A6I/AAAAAAAAAI4/NaV9_YA-3Qc/s1600-h/unemp2.gif

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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_505614.html

Equipment company plans to add 400 jobs

By Joe Napsha
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, May 2, 2007


Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co., which moved its headquarters to Murrysville when it bought the former Beckwith Machinery Co., is adding 400 jobs in a $30 million expansion of its 26 operations across the state.
Cleveland Brothers is renovating and expanding its Caterpillar dealership and headquarters in Murrysville as part of its five-year plan to grow its sales and service business, the company said Tuesday. An undetermined number of jobs will move there.

The company began construction of an 85,000-square-foot central parts and distribution facility on land that was formerly part of Rockview state prison near State College. Cleveland Brothers said it intends to invest between $10 million and $12 million in the facility. It landed a $3.5 million financial package from the state, including $2.6 million in loans and a grant of $250,000.

The family-owned Cleveland Brothers said it intends to expand its operations in Dauphin, Lancaster and Northumberland counties.

Cleveland Brothers moved its headquarters from the Harrisburg area to Murrysville when parent firm Cleveland Brothers Holdings Inc. acquired Beckwith Machinery in late 2005 for an undisclosed price. The deal included Beckwith's One Call Rentals business, with outlets in Neville Island, Mt. Pleasant in Westmoreland County and Shinnston, W.Va.

CEO Jay W. Cleveland Jr. also moved to the Pittsburgh area, said spokesman Dennis Stromberg yesterday. Cleveland could not be reached for comment.

Cleveland Brothers has a new 50,000-square-foot sales and service facility in Hunker, near New Stanton, to support Caterpillar truck engines and power-generation systems, the company said.

The company has about 140 employees in Murrysville and more than 1,400 employees in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland.



Joe Napsha can be reached at jnapsha@tribweb.com or (412)-320-7993.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07123/782932-28.stm

Allegheny Technologies weighs expansion outside state amid uncertain electric costs

Thursday, May 03, 2007

By Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One of Western Pennsylvania's most prosperous companies says volatile electric prices caused by deregulation could prompt it to expand outside the region.

Allegheny Technologies Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hassey said the company is considering sites in West Virginia and Kentucky as well as its Brackenridge and Midland plants for a rolling mill that would convert slabs of specialty metals into sheet.

No timetable has been set for the project, Mr. Hassey said.

The specialty metals producer, whose booming aerospace business made it the best-performing stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 last year, prefers fixed long-term electric rates. Pennsylvania's decision to deregulate utilities has made electric costs too unpredictable, Mr. Hassey said -- a factor he said would weigh heavily in the decision about where to locate the plant.

Mr. Hassey said he is trying to get state regulators to allow electric providers to offer contract pricing that would give large power consumers more stable costs.

The Brackenridge and Midland sites have a major advantage over out-of-state locations: each has steelmaking furnaces that produce the slabs that would feed the rolling mill.

Mr. Hassey made the comments following the company's annual shareholder meeting, where shareholders re-elected Mr. Hassey and two other incumbent directors, approved a 2007 incentive plan and rejected a proposal offered by New York City public employee pension funds that would have required the company to provide a report on its environmental practices. Directors opposed the measure, saying they already provide information about the company's environmental policies.

The meeting was as upbeat as Allegheny's shares, which jumped 151 percent last year. Trading for less than $3 in 2003, when the former Alcoa executive arrived, they closed yesterday at $109.41, up 21 percent on the year.

"We're excited about the company. We're excited about its prospects and growth," Mr. Hassey told shareholders.

Net income increased 59 percent last year to $571.9 million while sales rose 39 percent to $4.9 billion. First quarter profits totaled $197.8 million, up 86 percent on sales of $1.4 billion.

The performance has been ignited by booming demand for titanium from the aerospace, defense and other industries, the resuscitation of the Allegheny Ludlum sheet business, and a strategic shift from commodity to higher-margin metals.

Aerospace and defense accounted for 30 percent of the company's 2006 sales while titanium accounted for 22 percent. Operating profits of its flat rolled business, which includes Allegheny Ludlum, increased from $61.5 million in 2004, Mr. Hassey's first full year at the helm, to $344.3 million last year.

With Allegheny's shares priced in three digits, a stock split at some point is possible, Mr. Hassey said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Len Boselovic can be reached at lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941.)

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Pittsburgh's recent economic performance compares favorably to our competitor regions within the Fourth Federal Reserve District.

The following is information concerning economic and workforce trends of the four largest MSAs in the 4th Federal Reserve District, headquarted in Cleveland. http://www.clevelandfed.org

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/regional/profiles/images/4district_sm.gif

Most recent numbers are for 3/2007 (in thousands)

Total Nonfarm Employment
Cincinnati: 1,031.60
Cleveland: 1,061.60
Columbus: 924.60
Pittsburgh: 1,131.00

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: 0.34
Cleveland: -0.36
Columbus: 0.30
Pittsburgh: 0.60

Manufacturing
Cincinnati: 120.70
Cleveland: 144.20
Columbus: 76.40
Pittsburgh: 98.70

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: 1.00
Cleveland: -2.44
Columbus: -1.93
Pittsburgh: -0.80

Trade, Transportation & Utilities
Cincinnati: 207.00
Cleveland: 196.50
Columbus: 185.60
Pittsburgh: 223.30

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: 0.00
Cleveland: -0.30
Columbus: 0.81
Pittsburgh: -0.49

Information
Cincinnati: 15.30
Cleveland: 18.60
Columbus: 18.60
Pittsburgh: 23.00

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: -2.55
Cleveland: -2.62
Columbus: -2.11
Pittsburgh: 0.00

Financial Activities
Cincinnati: 64.50
Cleveland: 76.80
Columbus: 72.90
Pittsburgh: 67.90

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: -0.62
Cleveland: -0.65
Columbus: -0.27
Pittsburgh: -0.73

Professional and Business Services
Cincinnati: 154.60
Cleveland: 137.70
Columbus: 143.00
Pittsburgh: 145.50

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: 0.52
Cleveland: 0.29
Columbus: 2.14
Pittsburgh: 1.39


Education and Health Services
Cincinnati: 140.90
Cleveland: 174.60
Columbus: 108.90
Pittsburgh: 230.20

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: 2.85
Cleveland: 1.39
Columbus: 0.46
Pittsburgh: 2.81

Leisure and Hospitality
Cincinnati: 101.90
Cleveland: 90.30
Columbus: 87.00
Pittsburgh: 100.00

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: -0.39
Cleveland: 0.11
Columbus: 0.58
Pittsburgh: -0.20

Other Services
Cincinnati: 42.40
Cleveland: 44.10
Columbus: 37.50
Pittsburgh: 54.50

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: 0.47
Cleveland: 0.68
Columbus: 0.00
Pittsburgh: 0.37


Government
Cincinnati: 135.50
Cleveland: 141.10
Columbus: 157.90
Pittsburgh: 131.10

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: -0.22
Cleveland: -1.40
Columbus: 0.00
Pittsburgh: 0.31

Homeownership Rate 1/1/2005
Units(%)
Cleveland: 74.40
Pittsburgh: 73.10
Columbus: 68.90
Cincinnati: 68.40

Building Permits (All Units) 3/1/2007
Cincinnati: 795.00
Cleveland: 324.00
Columbus: 436.00
Pittsburgh: 626.00

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: -23.26
Cleveland: -31.06
Columbus: -46.37
Pittsburgh: 7.01

Building Permits (Single Family Units)
Cincinnati: 612.00
Cleveland: 310.00
Columbus: 374.00
Pittsburgh: 302.00

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: -23.69
Cleveland: -30.02
Columbus: -48.06
Pittsburgh: -35.05

Per Capita Personal Income 1/1/2005
Dollars
Cincinnati: 35,618.00
Cleveland: 35,542.00
Columbus: 35,226.00
Pittsburgh: 36,208.00

Year-over-Year growth (%)
Cincinnati: 3.64
Cleveland: 3.73
Columbus: 3.22
Pittsburgh: 4.39

[ColDayMan]

Cincinnati and Columbus are competing with...Pittsburgh...?

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07124/783376-54.stm

Westinghouse plans OK'd in Cranberry

Friday, May 04, 2007

By Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The decision to move Westinghouse's corporate headquarters from Monroeville to Cranberry rankled many of the company's 2,000 employees, but Butler County's allure couldn't be ignored, a top executive told local officials last night.

It was the first public encounter between Westinghouse Electric Co. and the officials who will decide whether to put in place a Strategic Development Area, or SDA, endorsed by Gov. Ed Rendell, that would entail forgoing all property tax revenue for 15 years.

Following the meeting, Cranberry supervisors voted to approve the SDA.

Seneca Valley school board members are to vote May 7 and Butler County commissioners will vote May 9.

"A lot of the employees are not happy that we're moving a half-hour [west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike]," said Tony Greco, senior vice president for human resources, who added that the decision to move was "very difficult."

He said Westinghouse is working with existing employees -- 1,800 in Monroeville and 200 in Churchill -- to smooth the transition and he expects the 1,300 or so new hires to find the Cranberry facility to their liking.

Mr. Greco said Westinghouse picked Cranberry over Monroeville because there was room to expand on the 105-acre Cranberry Woods site, so the burgeoning engineering center could be located in one place. Westinghouse plans to build three, possibly four, office buildings there.

He noted that the drive to and from Pittsburgh International Airport will be easier for employees and visiting clients.

Mr. Greco also mentioned Cranberry's "highly favorable" commercial real estate market.

He predicted that a few Monroeville employees will relocate but said the company is looking into car pooling incentives and job scheduling options.

Mr. Greco said nuclear power is experiencing a "renaissance," and the new jobs are a direct result of growth in the nuclear generating market.

The company considered relocating to the Charlotte, N.C., area but opted to remain in Pennsylvania after the state Legislature, at Mr. Rendell's urging, last year approved the tax abatement.



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(Karen Kane can be reached at kkane@post-gazette.com or 724-772-9180. )

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07128/784191-28.stm

Alcoa bid joins mania for mergers in metals

Several nations need to OK takeover of rival Alcan

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

By Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Alcoa's $33 billion hostile bid for rival aluminum producer Alcan, the latest proposed merger in a metals industry caught up in a matchmaking frenzy, increases the stakes for the hunters as well as the hunted.

Wall Street hailed yesterday's surprise announcement by sending shares of both companies sharply higher, indicating its support for consolidation and the belief that other bidders could emerge for either company.

Alcoa disclosed the bid after two years of failed talks with Alcan President and Chief Executive Officer Richard B. Evans and directors of the Montreal-based producer. The cash-and-stock transaction values Alcan shares at $73.25, a 20 percent premium over their close on Friday.

Alcan shares rose to an all-time high, finishing at $82.11, up $21.08 on the day and 12 percent above Alcoa's offer. Alcoa's shares jumped $2.97 to $38.63, their highest level in three years, lifting the overall Dow Jones industrial average to another record close.

Even before the announcement, Alcoa shares had advanced 19 percent this year, propelled by strong earnings and speculation that sooner or later it could become the target for an acquirer.

The merger faces regulatory scrutiny in the United States, Canada, the European Union and other countries. But analysts say previous mergers among metals producers increase the chances Alcoa will overcome antitrust concerns.

Combined, Alcoa and Alcan would have annual revenue of $54 billion, 188,000 employees in 67 countries and the ability to produce 8.6 million tons of aluminum annually. That would be double the capacity of Russia-based United Company Rusal, formed in March by the merger of two Russian producers and Swiss commodities trader Glencore International.

The combined company would have dual headquarters in New York, where Alcoa is based, and Montreal, Alcan's home.

In a move aimed at gaining support among Canadian officials, Alcoa is promising it will move its primary metals research operations to Montreal, possibly jeopardizing employment at Alcoa's Technical Center in Upper Burrell. Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said it was too soon to say what impact the merger would have on operations in Western Pennsylvania, where Alcoa employs about 1,900.

Alcoa posted 2006 profits of $2.25 billion on sales of $30.38 billion, while Alcan earned $1.79 billion on revenue of $23.64 billion.

The merger would reverse Alcoa's 1928 divestiture of foreign operations into a company that eventually became Alcan and was controlled by Alcoa shareholders until a federal court order in 1950.

The decision to put the overseas holdings into a separate company was based partially on concerns that Alcoa was becoming a monopoly because it controlled more than half of the world's aluminum production. But New York University professor George David Smith, the author of a history of Alcoa, says Alcan also came into being because executives of then Pittsburgh-based Alcoa wanted to focus on the larger U.S. market for aluminum rather than pursuing much smaller markets overseas.

Eight decades later, the growth is overseas. Alcoa is spending billions to expand production at low-cost operations in Iceland, Brazil, Russia, China and other countries. Acquiring Alcan will deepen its already large global footprint and give it the size necessary to compete. Alcoa forecasts the merger will generate about $1 billion in annual pretax savings once it is fully implemented.

"The combination of Alcoa and Alcan creates a stronger, more diverse global competitor with the scale and cost structure to be competitive over the long term within a rapidly changing industry landscape," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alain J.P. Belda.

Other metals producers are chanting the same imperative for consolidating.

Mittal Steel, the world's largest steelmaker, is combining with Arcelor, the world's No. 2 producer. This year, India's Tata Steel was the successful bidder for European steelmaker Corus Group PLC, offering $11.3 billion while Indian aluminum maker Hindalco Industries Ltd. reached agreement to acquire Canadian producer Novelis for $6 billion.

Morningstar analyst Scott Burns said given the pace of metals mergers, "it's really kind of hard to raise a flag on an Alcoa and Alcan merger." The formation of Rusal "clearly gives Alcoa a leg to stand on," he said.

Mr. Burns added that it is possible that two large metals producers, Australia's BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, could lodge competing bids for Alcan, or eventually acquire the combined company if the merger is completed. BHP and Rio Tinto were rumored to be interested in making a bid for Alcoa earlier this year.

Alcoa is confident it can overcome any antitrust concerns about the merger in time to complete the acquisition by the end of the year. It said it has already begun discussions with regulators.

Others aren't so sure.

"It would be an interesting merger and apparently the market is thinking the same thing. I'm just not sure it's going to happen," said Andrew Seibert, senior portfolio manager for Stewart Capital Management in Indiana, Pa.

Analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research said the two companies dominate production of some aluminum used by the aerospace industry. But the increasing reliance of that industry on composite materials and exotic metals will alleviate some worries about a monopoly, said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group, a Fairfax, Va., industry consultant.

"Nevertheless, there are going to be some people who are going to be concerned," Mr. Aboulafia said.

Alcoa, which is considering divesting businesses that generate nearly $5 billion in annual revenue, could be required to make additional divestitures to clear regulatory hurdles, said Dale Hershey, an Eckert Seamans attorney who specializes in antitrust issues.

"The real problem here is that there are so many different governments involved," he said.

Analysts said Alcoa could have the toughest time selling the proposal to European regulators, who have blocked a number of cross-border mergers in recent years.

"The United States used to be the only country in the world that was concerned about antitrust. Now Europe is the bastion of trust busting," Mr. Smith said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Len Boselovic can be reached at lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941. )

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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_506507.html

Alcoa $33B takeover bid aims for return to top

By Joe Napsha
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 8, 2007


Alcoa Inc., considered a takeover target in recent months, turned hunter Monday by disclosing plans to acquire Canadian rival Alcan Inc. in a $33 billion hostile takeover bid.

"It brings together two companies with a shared history and will create a company with a strong future and enhanced growth opportunities," Alcoa Chief Executive Alain Belda said at a news conference in Montreal, where Alcan has its headquarters.

If Alcoa's bid is successful, it would create the world's largest aluminum producer. Alcoa said it expects it would take about three years to fully integrate the companies' operations.

The world's leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminum and alumina facilities, Alcoa wants to expand at a time when global aluminum demand is expected to double over the next 15 years, fueled by growth in China and India, Belda said.

But Alcoa will compete against major players in Russia, China, India and the Middle East for that business, Belda said. China has increased its share of the global market from 10 percent to 30 percent, as market shares for Alcoa and Alcan have decreased, he said. The Alcoa-Alcan combination would create a company with twice the capacity of United Company Rusal, which completed a three-way merger in March to top Alcoa as the world's largest producer.

Alcoa intends to formally begin a tender offer for Alcan shares today -- after failing in November to acquire Alcan through what Belda characterized as "a merger of equals."

Belda declined to speculate on whether he anticipates a counteroffer. If a bidding war for Alcan results, "We are always prepared," he said.

To entice Alcan shareholders, Alcoa is offering $58.60 in cash plus 0.41 of a share of Alcoa common stock for each share of Alcan, a mix of 80 percent cash and 20 percent stock. Based on Alcoa's closing stock price Friday, the offer is valued at $73.25 per Alcan share. That's a 32 percent premium to Alcan's average closing price on the New York Stock Exchange over the last 30 trading days. Including Alcan debt that would be assumed, the total value of the deal is $33 billion.

The offer to Alcan shareholders lasts until July 10. Alcoa said it would not proceed with the deal if it does not get two-thirds of Alcan's shares.

Alcan asked shareholders to defer any decision until the board of directors reviews the offer and makes a recommendation.

The stock market reacted to news by boosting Alcoa stock 8.3 percent, to $38.63 -- an increase of $2.97 a share. Alcan shares surged $21.08, or 35 percent, to $82.11, suggesting investors foresee a higher offer coming from Alcoa or another bidder.

Industry observers speculated last year that Alcoa was a takeover target of Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd. The bid to buy Alcan wasn't done to stave off any takeover attempt of Alcoa, Belda said.

He said it was necessary to grow "in an increasingly global fight against low-cost suppliers from Russia, China and elsewhere." As a combined company, Alcoa and Alcan would be well-positioned to meet the demand of every market it serves, Belda said.

"Bigger is better because of the type of politically risky and economically risky places you have to go to" in the aluminum production business, he said.

The combined aluminum giant would have 188,000 employees -- Alcoa has 122,000 -- and the capacity to produce 7.8 million tons of aluminum annually, or 3 million tons greater than Alcoa alone. Belda said the two aluminum producers would have generated $54 billion in revenue last year; Alcoa reported revenues of $30.4 billion.

If the deal is completed, the combined company would have joint headquarters in New York City and Montreal. Alcoa would maintain its Corporate Center on Pittsburgh's North Shore and the Alcoa Technical Center in Upper Burrell. Alcoa has slightly fewer than 2,000 employees in the Pittsburgh region, said spokesman Kevin Lowery.

Belda said at Alcoa's annual meeting in Pittsburgh last month that the company remains committed to keeping operations in Pittsburgh, where it was founded in 1888.

Alcoa said Montreal would become headquarters for the company's primary aluminum products division -- bauxite, energy, alumina and aluminum -- and for related research and development. Research and development of energy-efficient production methods would move to Canada, Belda said.

Alcoa is no stranger to Canada, where it employs more than 5,000 workers. The company generated more than $3 billion from its Canadian operations last year.

Buying Alcan would bring that company back into the Alcoa fold. Alcan evolved from Alcoa, which began operating in Canada in 1899. Under pressure from federal regulators, Alcoa divested itself of its international subsidiaries in 1928, but retained largely common ownership until a federal court order required a divesting of major shareholders.

Acquiring Alcan makes sense for Alcoa, because that would "jump-start its growth program," said William Selesky, an analyst who follows Alcoa for Argus Research of New York.

The deal should drive up the value of Alcoa's stock, Selesky said. Belda "has got beaten up by shareholders" for not returning enough value to investors, he said.

That criticism surfaced at the shareholders meeting.

Although this deal might position Alcoa for growth, Selesky believes it will not come without some restructuring in Pittsburgh and Montreal.

"Somewhere down the road, some heads will roll," Selesky said.



Joe Napsha can be reached at jnapsha@tribweb.com or (412)-320-7993.

[PhillyRising]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07121/782320-28.stm

Jobless rate lowest since 1970

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The region's unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent in March -- its lowest level in more than 37 years.

The last time the seasonally-adjusted jobless count tumbled lower was January 1970, when it dipped to 3.1 percent. The current local rate is a percentage point lower than the state's unemployment count and eight-tenths of a percentage point below the national rate of 4.4 percent.

But a closer look at the numbers indicates some sluggishness. The size of the labor force, defined as people working or seeking work, shrunk by 7,000 in February and then 8,300 in March -- a sign of economic weakness, since it suggests discouraged job seekers are giving up the search for new work.

The number of employed dropped by 4,700 in March after rising by 2,000 in February.

Still, jobs are growing at their fastest pace in six years. A separate count of nonfarm payrolls, based on employer surveys, found that businesses in the seven-county area added a net of 6,700 jobs in March, keeping the job level above the year-ago count for the 14th consecutive month. If that trend holds through the rest of 2007, it could be the second year in a row the region scores a job-growth increase following five years of losses.

Much of the job growth is coming from the service sector, although in construction counts were up 3,500 as hiring for spring contracts heats up. The service sector represents a mix of jobs, such as teaching, trucking and health care that pay well and other jobs, primarily in retails and restaurants, that tend to hover just above minimum wage. Retailers expanded their payrolls by 1,000 in March, driven by the recent opening of a Costco in West Homestead. Restaurants added 1,100.

Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.

http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070501jobless_chart.gif

Wow...that's incredible and great news! I can recall 10% and higher being the norm for most of Western Pennsylvania 20 years ago. Even Indiana County is doing well!

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/0508nanotech.aspx

The Big Business of Nanotechnology

By: Abby Mendelson

May 9, 2007
Imagine if you will:

Evermore powerful computers and cell phones, cleaner, stronger, more precise;
Medical detectors that can identify tumors as small as 100 cells;·
Programmable antibodies that find and destroy bacteria, viruses, and cancers without damaging healthy tissue;·
Sunscreens that absorb – not reflect -- ultraviolet radiation
Completely stain-repellant fibers;
Anti-microbial bandages;
Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines.
They’re on the way. And they all employ nanotechnology.


“Nanotechnology is not a what,” says Alan Brown, executive director of the new Pennsylvania NanoMaterials Commercialization Center, “it’s a how. It’s how we enable existing products to become better -- much better. How we add new features -- antibacterial coatings on hospital walls, for example. That’s how nanotechnology is being used. What it means for Pittsburgh is vastly increased research and development, premium prices for the advanced materials we create, higher profits, and far more jobs.”


As proof positive, Brown points to two very successful nano-based products: PPG’s CeramiClear and SunClean. The former, now standard with Mercedes Benz, uses nano-particles embedded in automotive paint to provide increased resistance to scratches, car washes, and tree sap. Similarly, SunClean glass mixes with sunlight and water so that windows actually clean themselves. “That’s pretty phenomenal stuff,” Browns says. “It has the potential to revolutionize a whole range of applications and industries.”



Say what?

The what of nanotechnology is engineering at the molecular level, creating structures with new properties and functions. Roaming across such disciplines as colloidal science, chemistry, physics, materials science, and mechanical and electrical engineering, nanotechnology manipulates matter at one to 100 nanometers -- one-billionth of a meter – and will forever change information processing, data storage, sensors, power generation, coatings, metals, robotics, medicine – name it. The science – and applications – are barely on the cusp.


Wherever we are, it’s flourishing here. In 2005 Small Times ranked Carnegie Mellon among the top five nano-universities. Premier is CMU’s Center for Interdisciplinary Nanotechnology Research. Founded in 2001 to bring together significant research being conducted throughout the university, CINR operates as both focal point and catalyst for new research, as well as a clearinghouse for nanotechnology information.


Already in the field, CMU and Seagate, the world's largest manufacturer of disc drives, have nanotechnology working on Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), a technology that stores data magnetically, meaning hard drives don’t require power to retain information. Imagine data storage that’s dense, fast, and static.


CMU’s Reconfigurable Nanotechnology Project, also known as the Phoenix Project, is exploring something called the Field Programmable Gate Array, another term for a fully programmable alternative to the computer chip. Currently, the world market for that little item is a cool $2.6 billion – so imagine the possibilities.


Across Oakland, Pitt’s Institute of Nanoscience and Engineering is much like its CMU counterpart. As one example of the Pitt’s cutting-edge work, the Center of Molecular and Materials Simulations uses computers to map carbon nanotubes – which could find their way into nanoscale transistors. In another Pitt project, researchers have found ways to create self-assembling nanotubes that can be trained to kill bacteria. As such, they have great potential for detecting and decontaminating biological and chemical weapons. Imagine: a paint that changes color and simultaneously destroys deadly substances.



Leveraging Assets

As futuristic as these ideas sound now, sooner or later, they and other nano-products will find their way to market. Recognizing this, in 2005 a team of regional leaders -- including Alcoa, Bayer Material Science, PPG, and U.S. Steel -- joined with CMU, Pitt, and Penn State to develop a coordinated strategy to leverage public and private investment in nanotechnology. Created in 2006 with Alan Brown as executive director, the new Pennsylvania NanoMaterials Commercialization Center provides assistance and funding to promising nanomaterials research with a well defined commercial application.


Born in England, raised in Toronto, imported from CAMP (Cleveland Advanced Manufacturing Program), Brown has a Ph.D. in physics – and a solid history of assisting companies and entrepreneurs in adopting and supporting advanced technologies, including nanotechnology. “I was so impressed when I came here,” he says. “Nowhere else in America is there this critical mass of Fortune 500 companies in material sciences. And that corporate leadership is very passionate that industry commercializes these emerging nanotechnologies.”


Acting under the Pittsburgh Technology Council umbrella, PNCC uses its non-profit status to secure grant money to fund projects with commercial promise. “The money comes from a variety of sources for us to find the best technology and bring it to a commercial application,” Brown says.


NanoLambda, developer of high-definition nanoscale noninvasive glucose monitors for health care -- and biochemical sensors for defense – is creating "an ultra-compact, inexpensive, high-resolution spectrometer on a chip," says NanoLambda CEO Bill Choi. "This technology will open up a new arena of optical sensing applications, a market whose potential has been limited by bulky and expensive conventional devices."


NanoLambda's Spectrum Sensor chip builds upon leading-edge plasmonics technology to produce the first nanoscale spectrum analyzer. Combining both optical and electronic data transfer, plasmonics allows data to be transmitted at fast optical frequencies along the surface of a nanoscale metal wire rather than a bulky fiber optic cable. "Imagine a wearable monitor for diabetics that’s always on,” Choi says. “That would result in overall health-care cost reduction and improve quality of life for patients who wouldn't have to take blood samples."


Plextronics continues development of its Plexcore PV for organic solar cells. As part of a new generation of polymer-based semi-conductive inks that increase solar conversion efficiency, "the primary commercialization challenge is achieving the required combination of operating efficiency and device life,” Brown says. “Nanotechnology is the key to success. The ability to control polymer design at the nano-scale enables Plexcore PV inks to be formulated with application-specific properties." As such, new thin film technologies, including organic solar cells, will enable such alternative energy sources as solar energy, meaning no emissions, meaning reduced reliance on fossil fuels.


And so on. Once again, we’re only on the cusp of the nanotechnology explosion. “It’s hard to quantify,” Brown says. “Nationally, within five to 10 years there could easily be a trillion-dollar impact.”


That’s trillion with a T. What Pittsburgh’s share will be is anyone’s guess. But as one of the country’s top nano-centers, growing exponentially and marketing aggressively, it will no doubt be substantial. In the process, it will revolutionize the region. In ways that will no longer be too small to be seen.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Award-winning writer Abby Mendelson is the author of numerous books, including The Pittsburgh Steelers Official History and Pittsburgh: A Place in Time. Ghost Dancer, a collection of short stories, is available at amazon and bn.com.

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_506895.html

Steel Factory Corp. of McKees Rocks plan wins tax abatement

By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 10, 2007


Steel Factory Corp. of McKees Rocks plans to construct a manufacturing facility on a brownfield site in Stowe Township that could employ about 300 people, officials said.
Stowe commissioners Tuesday approved a tax-abatement program for a 56-acre site that will exempt the value of improvements -- not the land -- from real estate taxes for up to 10 years, said Marie Incorvati, township secretary.

The company plans to build on about 22 acres of the property, extending from Nichol Avenue southwest to the Ohio River, opposite Neville Island.

Steel Factory, which produces prefabricated metal buildings, plans to consolidate operations from McKees Rocks and Beaver County at the facility. Company officials were not available for comment.

The Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County board last month approved a request from Steel Factory to apply for funding from the state Department of Community & Economic Development for infrastructure improvements. No decision has been reached yet on the amount or approval of the request.

Plans are to subdivide the property for other potential users unless Steel Factory requires the entire property.

The county acquired just over 49 acres there earlier this year for $890,000 from Keystone Riverfront LLC, based in Georgia. About 30 acres of the site were formerly occupied by the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_506889.html

North Shore's Equitable casts about for more office space

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 10, 2007


Equitable Resources Inc. is getting serious about searching for new office space, either next to its North Shore headquarters building or elsewhere.
The energy company has hired Fischer & Co., a commercial real estate firm, to help its search, said Pat Kornick, an Equitable spokeswoman.

The firm might need as much as 300,000 to 350,000 square feet of space to house up to 800 employees, Kornick said.

"We continue to explore all of our options in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including the North Shore," she said.





Kornick declined to disclose any locations the company may be looking at, although local real estate agents say sites in the North Hills and Cranberry in Butler County are among them.

It's less than two years ago that Equitable moved to its headquarters, a $35 million North Shore building owned by Continental Real Estate Cos. of Columbus. Equitable signed a 20-year lease at the 180,000-square-foot building, where about 400 employees work.

But that was before Equitable announced a $970 million acquisition of two natural-gas distribution companies from Dominion Resources Inc. The fate of that deal remains unclear because the Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit to stop it.

Continental Real Estate has plans to build another building on the North Shore that could accommodate Equitable's needs. But the utility's plans depend on its ability to complete the deal to buy Dominion Peoples Gas and Dominion Hope Gas in West Virginia.

Equitable warned last year it might move its base from the Pittsburgh area if it doesn't get government approvals for the Dominion deal.

Kornick said the company is concentrating its search in the Western Pennsylvania region.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

[PittPenn 03]

No mention where, but at least it seems it will be in Allegheny County:

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/05/07/daily15.html?surround=lfn

GameFly opens Pittsburgh distribution center
Pittsburgh Business Times - 4:37 PM EDT Tuesday, May 8, 2007
GameFly, an online video game rental service similar to Netflix, on Tuesday announced the opening of a distribution center in the Pittsburgh area.

The company declined to disclose the location of the center, which will be used to serve GameFly members in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

Launched in September 2002 in Los Angeles, GameFly sends games to subscribers through the mail in re-mailable, pre-paid envelopes. Like Netflix, it has various monthly plans allowing for the renting of several games for video game consoles such as Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's XBox 360.

In a news release, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonsky said, "this project, and the new jobs it will create, is great news for Allegheny County and the commonwealth."

[Evergrey]

the last 2 paragraphs are interesting

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07131/785127-28.stm

Demand for power plants boosts Westinghouse outlook

Company's chief bullish on growth, local hiring

Friday, May 11, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The demand for new power plants is so hot that Westinghouse Electric Co. now expects to double its sales over the next decade to $4 billion and exceed the initial 1,000-person local hiring projection made this spring when it announced plans for a new headquarters in Cranberry.

The nuclear power company originally said the new 775,000-square-foot campus near Route 228, which is expected to be ready in 2009, would house about 3,000 people -- 2,150 from Monroeville and Churchill and about 1,000 new workers. But with demand for new power plants in the United States, Asia and Europe growing by the day, "my guess is it will be higher than that," Chief Executive Officer Steve Tritch said in a short interview yesterday following a Downtown speech to The Economic Club of Pittsburgh.

Westinghouse has agreements to build two new plants in South Korea, four in China -- a final contract is expected to be signed later this month -- and has been selected to design 10 in the United States out of 21 planned from New York to Texas (those plants still have to win regulatory approvals). Mr. Tritch disclosed plans for another 12 U.S. plants that have not yet been announced, in Florida and other states, and stressed that Westinghouse expects to compete for many of those.

He also ticked off the list of countries planning large numbers of new plants that Westinghouse might be tapped to build. China, he said, now wants 40 new plants over the next 30 years; India wants 50 over the next 30 years; the United Kingdom wants 20 and South Africa wants 12.

Worldwide, Westinghouse expects to hire 850 people this fiscal year and 1,300 in 2008 after hiring 810 in 2006 and 596 in 2005. The rapid growth could create some near-term space issues in Monroeville; Mr. Tritch now expects to run out of room on the company's current two-building campus in the middle of 2008, six months earlier than originally thought.

Mr. Tritch's speech yesterday to The Economic Club was his first public appearance since Westinghouse announced in March that it would leave Monroeville for Cranberry. The company selected the local site after ruling out six other states.

But Mr. Tritch, a 36-year Westinghouse veteran, admitted that "early on, I would have told you eight months ago that we were moving out of Pennsylvania," which finished last out of the seven states in an initial cost-benefit analysis. "It wasn't even close," he said.

In the end, after the state created a way for Westinghouse to avoid paying taxes on its chosen site, the deal still was not the best financially, but it was "close enough to make it worth our while."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.)