The former Nabisco plant in Larimer once served as a leader in baking technology. Now it’s fast becoming a home for a 21st century form of high tech — artificial intelligence.
That may not be a stretch after Walnut Capital recently signed leases with three companies involved in AI to take space at the old plant now known as Bakery Square.
The signings come after the Shadyside-based developer converted 20,000 square feet in Bakery Square Three into move-in ready space for AI firms and as it focuses on making Pittsburgh a leader in starting and growing AI-based firms.
Toward the latter end, Walnut Capital — together with tenants, neighboring tech companies, community members, and local institutions — has launched a working group dubbed “AI Avenue” to expand the city’s tech ecosystem.
"By being strategic and collaborating across all sectors, including community leaders, small business owners, and entrepreneurs, we have a unique opportunity to enhance high-growth sectors like AI and Life Sciences,” Walnut Capital President Todd Reidbord said.
Tenants that recently signed leases to move into Bakery Square include LoveLace AI headed by Andrew Moore, former dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s school of computer science, and Netail, a tech startup led by Andrew Ng, a noted computer scientist and tech entrepreneur who was recently appointed to Amazon’s board of directors.
The other is Pearl Street Technologies, whose software helps grid operators, utilities, project developers, and other stakeholders “to overcome the interconnection bottleneck,” according to its website.
Mr. Moore, former director of Google Cloud AI, found Bakery Square to be a good fit for the work of his company, which develops AI-based solutions to help keep people safe.
“As the world becomes increasingly unsafe, our goal is to responsibly use advanced computer science technology to better humanity. Bakery Square, supported by Walnut Capital's innovative approach to building and enhancing community connections, is the ideal place to cultivate our culture — defined by the ethos that AI innovations must be tested, measured and validated. This helps us attract talent that shares this vision,” he said in a statement.
All three of the firms will be taking space in Bakery Square Office Three. All 20,000 square feet of the converted office space has been leased. Walnut Capital is planning to add another 50,000 square feet to meet demand, it stated in announcing the signings.
It also has opened the “Experience Center and Portal,” a 10,000-square-foot event and meeting space designed to cultivate team building and collaboration.
Even before the latest signings, Bakery Square had a high-tech bent.
It is best known as the home to Google’s Pittsburgh headquarters. Other tenants include UPMC Enterprises, Philips, and Magarac Venture Partners, a top venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies in areas like robotics, AI, enterprise software, and heath tech. Magarac was a lead investor in Netail.
Among the UPMC Enterprises’ spinoffs located at Bakery Square is Realyze Intelligence, a clinical platform which uses AI to match cancer patients to clinical trials quickly.
One goal of the AI Avenue initiative is to use job growth in that sector to help benefit neighborhoods surrounding Bakery Square, such as Larimer and East Liberty.
Bakery Square sits on both sides of Penn Avenue, encompassing parts of Larimer and Shadyside. Walnut Capital also is proposing a 12-acre expansion to the west, one that would include the Village of Eastside shopping center. The expansion would feature as many as 800 apartments and office and retail.
The developer has received a $2 million Reconnecting Communities planning grant to help build a bridge to link the new portion of the development to Larimer and East Liberty.
It also has secured a $500,000 solar planning grant for the 100 for-sale homes that were to be built or rehabbed as part of a community benefits agreement between Walnut Capital and the Larimer and East Liberty neighborhoods.
The company intended to contribute $6 million to seed a $25 million fund that was to be used for the homes.
However, that plan is now in limbo after Mayor Ed Gainey pressed Walnut Capital to set aside 15% of the apartments to be built in the expansion as affordable.
As a result, Walnut Capital has stated that it will need the $6 million to help build the affordable apartments.
Donna Jackson, executive director of the Larimer Consensus Group, said there will be a meeting between the city, Walnut Capital, and neighborhood groups later this month to discuss the status of the housing.
“We need to sit at the same table having the same conversation and come to an agreement on how we can build and establish for-sale affordable housing for Larimer,” she said.
Larimer, she added, has already seen an increase in affordable apartments through the $30 million Choice Neighborhoods initiative. What it needs now is for-sale housing to bring more people into the community, she stressed.
“You have a lot of vacant and blighted land that can be developed” and turned into for-sale housing, she said.
As for Bakery Square, Ms. Jackson attended the first meeting of the AI Avenue working group and welcomed the initiative.
She hopes it will become a vehicle for raising awareness of AI in the community and a potential source of jobs for neighborhood youths.
“I think it’s interesting with the way technology is going now. It’s something that’s needed with [AI] being in the neighborhood,” she said of the working group.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com.
First Published: May 6, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: May 6, 2024, 7:25 p.m.
