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Main entrance facing the river. The building is designed with autonomous vehicle and robotics companies in mind — it will feature drive in/drive out capabilities directly into the 35,000 SF “green” courtyard, 20’ clear heights throughout and high end amenity spaces.
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Primed? Another big retailer may be eyeing the old Sears Outlet in Lawrenceville

Perkins Eastman

Primed? Another big retailer may be eyeing the old Sears Outlet in Lawrenceville

For decades, a 321,000-square-foot warehouse in Lawrenceville hosted one of the country’s leading retail behemoths in Sears, Roebuck & Co. Now another retail giant of a very different kind may be poised to carry on the tradition.

With business flourishing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, online retailer Amazon reportedly is considering taking as much as 130,000 square feet of space in the building, according to real estate sources.

Jeremy Kronman, the CBRE vice chairman who is leasing the space for San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital, which is redeveloping the property, declined to comment on the Amazon reports.

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But he stressed that interest in the warehouse, which is being converted into office and research and development space, has been strong in the early stages of pre-leasing.

This is the main entrance facing the river. The building is designed with autonomous vehicle and robotics companies in mind – it will feature drive in/drive out capabilities directly into the 35,000 SF “green” courtyard, 20’ clear heights throughout and high end amenity spaces.
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“We have multiple proposals out on the space,” he said.

Added Laura Dunn, Spear Street Capital senior vice president, “We have interest from multiple users right now but do not anticipate any signed leases prior to construction commencing.”

In a statement, Amazon spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said the company doesn’t comment on “rumors/speculation.”

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“Amazon is a dynamic business and we are constantly exploring new locations and weighing a variety of factors when deciding where to develop future sites to best serve customers, however, we have a policy of not commenting on rumors/speculation nor on our future roadmap, and are not yet commenting on any specific operations plans in [Pennsylvania].”

It is not known whether Amazon is considering the space as a distribution center or for some other purpose.

The Seattle e-commerce giant recently has been expanding its operations in the Pittsburgh region, which was one of the 20 finalists in the HQ2 sweepstakes two years ago as the company searched for a spot for a second headquarters.

The company announced last month that it was looking to hire 1,000 full-time workers at a new fulfillment center in Findlay and hundreds of full- and part-time workers at a new delivery station in Coraopolis.

In this Oct. 10, 2018, file photo, Amazon Prime boxes are loaded on a cart for delivery in New York.
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Amazon hopes to have the Findlay fulfillment center — which will be used to pick, pack and ship large items like bulk cleaning supplies, pet food, sports equipment, and electronics — open before this year’s holiday season.

The company currently operates a sortation facility in the city’s Fairywood section, where it employs more than 500 people, and a warehouse in Aleppo.

It also has a tech hub at SouthSide Works that involves work on the company’s popular Alexa voice technology, machine translation, and speech science.

A Lawrenceville location could give Amazon a foothold in the city’s East End as well as access to tech talent at the universities in nearby Oakland.

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to spur the online retailer’s growth in recent months, as more consumers turned to the internet to shop rather than venturing into stores.

Amazon announced earlier this month that the company would be hiring another 100,000 people, full-time and part-time, to help pack and ship orders because of the strong demand. Those additions are separate from holiday hirings.

The firm stated it needed those employees to stock 100 new warehouses, packaging sorting centers, and other facilities scheduled to open in September.

Spear Street Capital, meanwhile, is planning to convert the old Sears warehouse at 27 51st Street into about 260,000 square feet of office and high-bay research and development space, meaning Amazon could be taking up to half of the facility.

As part of the redevelopment, dubbed the Lattice, Spear Street is proposing a central courtyard, a new riverfront trail, and 520 surface parking spaces — an amenity it obtained in a variance granted by the city’s zoning board of adjustment.

Ms. Dunn said a demolition permit has been awarded for the start of work and she expects full construction to start in October. Rycon Construction is the general contractor.

Spear Street is starting the construction on speculation, meaning without a signed tenant. Mr. Kronman said he expects the developer to complete the project by late 2021.

For seven decades, the old building was a Sears warehouse and distribution center after its construction in 1949. For many years, it served as an outlet for the sale of scratched and dented appliances, making it a go-to place for bargain hunters.

In its early history, the site was the location for Carnegie Steel’s Lucy Furnace.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

First Published: September 23, 2020, 9:40 a.m.
Updated: September 23, 2020, 9:40 a.m.

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Main entrance facing the river. The building is designed with autonomous vehicle and robotics companies in mind — it will feature drive in/drive out capabilities directly into the 35,000 SF “green” courtyard, 20’ clear heights throughout and high end amenity spaces.  (Perkins Eastman)
The warehouse on 51st Street in Lawrenceville.  (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)
The warehouse on 51st Street in Lawrenceville.  (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)
Perkins Eastman
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