Rebecca Flora won’t say how many developers are ready to take a shot at redeveloping part of the former LTV Coke Works in Hazelwood.
But she insists that she is happy with the response she has received in a request for qualifications issued earlier this fall to develop part of the 178-acre riverfront tract now known as Hazelwood Green.
Ms. Flora, Hazelwood Green project director, said she is encouraged by what she called the mix of the global, national, regional and local developers with an interest in building out 27 acres in the project’s Mill District.
“I think the quality of the responses and the variety of developer types and locations, I just feel really good about what came in,” she said.
Ms. Flora wouldn’t name any of the developers that responded — or even how many did so by the Nov. 27 deadline — saying she wanted “to try to keep our discussions with the developers a little more confidential.”
But two that did respond were Walnut Capital, the developer behind the East End’s Bakery Square complex, home to Google’s Pittsburgh office, and The Davis Companies, the Boston-based firm behind the restoration of the historic Union Trust Building Downtown.
Representatives from both companies confirmed Wednesday that they had submitted proposals, though they declined to discuss any plans they had for the site.
The interest by The Davis Companies is not surprising. It had been in talks with the Regional Industrial Development Corp. earlier this year about a possible partnership involving the third phase of RIDC’s Mill 19 redevelopment.
City Councilman Corey O’Connor, who represents Hazelwood, said he had heard that a lot of local firms responded to the request for qualifications, though Ms. Flora didn’t provide a list to him.
“She was happy that they got a lot of proposals so I think we’ll just move forward from there,” he said.
Ms. Flora works for Almono LP, made up of the three foundations that own the site. They are The Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
The next steps, she said, will be to sort through the qualifications, arrange meetings with developers and create a short list of potential firms in February. She then plans to request formal proposals from the companies that make the short list.
Almono is looking for a developer to build out another 27 acres in the Mill District beyond the 12 acres owned by the RIDC.
One possibility still on the table is to start a building without a signed tenant — or on speculation, as it is known in the industry. Almono first raised that potential in the request for qualifications, and Ms. Flora said it is still being considered.
“We definitely kept that alive. We want to keep the momentum going,” she said.
Ms. Flora has said Almono is weighing doing a spec building in an effort to keep pace with the growing demand from startups and tech companies seeking to expand, as well as suburban companies looking to move into the city to attract or keep talent.
RIDC, meanwhile, is erecting as many as three buildings as part of its Mill 19 redevelopment.
The first building, at 94,000 square feet, will be home to Carnegie Mellon University’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute and the Manufacturing Futures Initiative. It is expected to be completed by the middle of the year.
RIDC also has started work on a 66,000-square-foot second building that will be occupied by autonomous vehicle startup Aptiv.
A third phase — up to 110,000 square feet — also is on the drawing board, although Don Smith, RIDC president, said, “We’re still looking at the feasibility” of that building.
Developers seeking to build at Hazelwood Green will be facing high sustainability standards. For office buildings, that could include the standard of LEED Gold, the second highest in the green building rating system.
Almono also is going for a LEED for Neighborhood Development Plan certification. Net zero energy is the goal for the site, which could produce much of its own electricity.
There are plans to capture and reuse rainwater and to limit parking.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: December 13, 2018, 12:30 p.m.
