The former Macy’s department store in the Waterfront shopping center in Homestead is being converted into Class A office space with the signing of two tenants who will occupy most of the two-story building.
Siemens Mobility Inc. and the Commonwealth Charter Academy have signed long-term lease agreements to occupy most of the former Macy’s store, according to Marty Sweeney, senior vice president of M&J Wilkow, the Waterfront’s managing partner.
Siemens will operate a 56,165-square-foot engineering and research and development hub for rail infrastructure on the second floor. Commonwealth Charter Academy, a K-12 cyber charter school, will lease 64,197 square feet of the building’s first floor.
Siemens said the company signed a 10-year lease for space in the former Macy’s building, which will be the company’s Pittsburgh headquarters for Siemens Mobility and house employees from its Linden Avenue Research and Development facility in East Pittsburgh and the engineering and research and development staff and executives from its Munhall facility on Waterfront Drive.
“As someone who calls Pittsburgh home, I am proud that Siemens Mobility is giving new life to a former retail space and playing a small role in the city’s revitalization,” John Paljug, Siemens Mobility, Mobility Management in North America CEO, said in a prepared statement.
The Pittsburgh operations of Siemens Mobility develops freight and passenger rail signaling and communications products. Siemens Mobility employs about 34,200 people worldwide.
The leases mean that 90% of the former department store will be occupied, with only 13,000 square feet remaining on the second floor.
The Waterfront, once home to the sprawling U.S. Steel’s Homestead Steel Works, which closed in 1987, has become a complex of specialty shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and hotels.
Macy’s operated at the site for more than a decade, closing in 2018 when the owners of the shopping complex bought the department store building to make way for "more relevant concepts" at the open-air shopping center.
Kris B. Mamula: kmamula@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699
Updated at 11:01 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2019
First Published: August 2, 2019, 1:28 p.m.
