Suburban office construction update!
This building is relatively small structure in Edgeworth at 3 above ground stories, $9 million cost and 40,000 sq ft corporate HQ for Esmark & its subsidiaries but it packs a BIG Pittsburgh success story. Continue reading below....
So I pass this building everyday on my way to work on the Ohio River Boulevard right across from the Sewickley Academy and before the Sewickley Bridge. It didn't look like much compared to most projects we are interested in but then I read a great story about the history of Esmark in the last 5 yrs. This guy is a business genius and very rich thanks to his dealings.
Seriously, if you've got time PLEASE read this article from a recent issue of Pittsburgh Quarterly about the rise and sell off and purchase again at a discount of Esmark:
http://www.pittsburghquarterly.com/i...-bouchard.html
Quote:
How entrepreneurial is Jim Bouchard? Consider this: When he sold Esmark, Inc., the publicly held steel company he ran, to Russia's OAO Severstal in 2008, the price was a whopping $775 million, a remarkable exit for a five-year-old company. But instead of cashing in his chips and retiring to the good life, Bouchard took the road less traveled. He began buying the company back.
Bit by bit, he reacquired a number of Esmark's former assets from Severstal. First was the name, which had considerable brand recognition in the steel sector. When he learned that Severstal had no plans for it, he scooped up the name barely two months after he sold it.
Then he cherry-picked some of the flat-rolled steel service centers that were part of the original package. Although Bouchard won't disclose the acquisition prices, he allows that he got the business units for less than 10 percent of what Severstal paid him.
It was a coup two times over, and the prodigal units became the foundation of the new Esmark, Inc. From nondescript offices in Sewickley, Esmark is now one of the region's most rapidly growing privately held companies. Through an expansion strategy based primarily on savvy acquisitions, Esmark now boasts 450 employees and more than $400 million in annual revenue....
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Progress as of a couple days ago. It is slated for occupancy in the next couple months.
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Speaking of infill and redevelopment of some of the struggling neighborhoods. Does anyone have any idea of what will become of Formosa Way in the Homewood neighborhood? I saw they finally tore down the row of abandoned rowhomes that has come to be known as the killing fields. What is considered to be Homewood's "main street?" Is it Hamilton Avenue? What I envision is pretty much levelling everything between Hamilton Ave and Kelly Street, and Homewood and Braddocc Avenues, and replacing it with a public square. Much of what is in that whole block is either condemned, torn down, or in very deplorable condition.
I had no idea how much development was going on in the hill district. That is very good news. Hopefully it can be a viable and safe neighborhood connecting downtown and Oakland before too long. It is amazing how much is going on in the city including some of the most bombed out areas like Homewood and Garfield. This is the real city renaissance we have been hoping for for decades including population growth!
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