Posted Jan 14, 2012, 5:40 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: The absolute western-most point of the Philadelphia urbanized area. :)
Posts: 1,721
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This from today's Post-Gazette website:
Quote:
Office park planned for site near Pittsburgh International Aiport
Saturday, January 14, 2012
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A 40-acre plot of land near Pittsburgh International Airport could be the site of the next big office park under a plan being advanced by two developers.
Columbus, Ohio-based Continental Real Estate Cos. is teaming with Chaska Property Advisors of Cranberry to erect five to eight office buildings adjacent to the Cherrington business park in Moon.
Allegheny County Airport Authority board members approved an agreement Friday with Continental and Chaska for the development of the land. The real estate is owned by the county and controlled by the authority.
The authority will lease the land to the joint venture for 18 cents to 40 cents a square foot.
Richard Donley, Chaska president, estimated the total cost of the development at $50 million or more.
The Continental-Chaska partnership hopes to break ground on the first building, which will be at least 50,000 square feet in size, in the second or third quarter of this year.
Under its agreement with the authority, the team has up to 12 months to start the first building. After that, it is required to develop another building every 18 months or risk having the development agreement terminated.
Mr. Donley said the Pittsburgh International Business Park, as the development is being called, will be similar to the Cranberry Business Park, where Chaska has developed six buildings on speculation since 2002.
All but 30,000 square feet of those buildings has been leased.
In the Pittsburgh International office park, all of the buildings will be high-end, class A office space, likely one to three stories and made of brick and glass with "very classy styling."
"Essentially it's a brick building with 12-foot by 6-foot windows, so there is a lot of natural light," Mr. Donley said.
Continental Building Systems, the construction arm of Continental Real Estate, erected the buildings in Cranberry and will replicate that role at Cherrington.
Nonetheless, Continental Real Estate will be the partner in the venture with Chaska. Continental is no stranger to Pittsburgh, counting among its developments the Waterfront in Homestead and the North Shore between Heinz Field and PNC Park.
Mr. Donley said the developers were attracted to the Moon site because of the proximity to the airport and hotels and other offices, easy access to highways and the growth in the corridor.
Like the six buildings in Cranberry, the first in the airport park will be built on speculation. Mr. Donley said he does not yet have a tenant for the first structure.
"Dick Donley has done spec pretty much his entire career, and he's not afraid of it," said Randy Forister, the airport authority's senior director of development.
Mr. Donley said most of the buildings will be in the 50,000-square-foot range. If they follow the pattern in Cranberry, about 80 percent to 85 percent of the space will be used for offices, with smaller percentages for research or storage.
"The product is extremely attractive for people with a predominant need for office space," he said.
He added that he did not think the timetable for full development was overly ambitious, with buildings to be started every 18 months. He noted that he developed 350,000 square feet in six or seven buildings in Cranberry in 10 years.
"So we think it can be done. That's what we're betting on," he said.
The Continental-Chaska joint venture marks the second attempt to develop the real estate near the airport. Several years ago, DiCicco Development proposed a mix of tech, flex, medical and professional office space on the same land, but the development never panned out.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
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The article mentioned one-to-three story buildings. IMO, that's more like it. Plus, it referenced that these buildings will have "stylish" architectural design. I'd like to see some renderings of what they want to build...
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