Last month, the Planning Commission for the city of Pittsburgh approved a revised Preliminary Land Development Plan for Hazelwood Green, a 178-acre riverfront site—and the last big developable contiguous land mass in this metro—that was once where LTV Steel and Jones & Laughlin Steel milled steel and coke.
The site’s owners—a partnership of Heinz Endowments; and the Richard King Mellon, Benedum, and McCune Foundations, which acquired this property in 2002 for $10 million—on October 1 issued through its Almono LLC a Request For Qualifications (RFQ) to developers for the first 27-acre phase of Hazelwood Green. Developers have until November 19 to respond.
The larger redevelopment, which could take two decades to complete, envisions a world-class model for sustainable development, with a targeted total density of 8 million sf of mixed-use space for offices, R&D, light manufacturing, housing, retail, and 30 acres of public open spaces, all supported by a multimodal transportation system. Hazelwood Green's developers are targeting LEED for Neighborhood Development plan certification, Pittsburgh p4 Performance Measures, and the International Living Future Institute's Living Community Challenge.
The Remake Group, a sustainable development and design consultant, is the project’s manager.
The 27 acres covered in the RFQ would surround Mill 19, a 190,000-sf former steel mill that’s undergoing an $80 million repurposing and expansion to 264,000 sf. MSR Design is the design architect and Renaissance 3 Architects the associate architect on the Mill 19 reconstruction; Atelier Ten, Bala Consulting Engineers, and Lennon Smith Souleret Engineering the engineers; and Ten x Ten the landscape architect.
The Building Team peeled off the mill’s roof and will attach a canopy for a 2-MW solar array. Mill 19’s industrial skeleton is being retained around a new steel-and-glass building nestled within the old mill with three floors for office, research and light manufacturing.
The 90,000-sf Phase A of Mill 19's redevelopment is under construction, and its first tenants—Carnegie Mellon University's Manufacturing Futures Initiative and the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute—have agreed to lease 58,000 sf of that space. (Turner Construction is the GC on this building.)
The first new space is expected to be finished by next Spring. The 70,000-sf Phase B (whose GC is Jendoco Construction) should be completed by next Summer or early Fall 2019, says Tim White, senior vice president of development for Mill 19’s owner/developer, the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He also confirms that RIDC will take office space within Mill 19.
Hazelwood Green’s infrastructure includes the recently completed 1.5-mile, $27 million Signature Boulevard, whose financing was abetted by a $9.5 million loan from the Power of 32, a coalition of 32 counties in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland.
Future redevelopment plans for Hazelwood Green call for plaza that would be twice the size of Pittsburgh’s Downtown Market Square, and would include retail and, possibly, high-density housing.
Related Stories
| May 10, 2011
Solar installations on multifamily rooftops aid social change
The Los Angeles Business Council's study on the feasibility of installing solar panels on the city’s multifamily buildings shows there's tremendous rooftop capacity, and that a significant portion of that rooftop capacity comes from buildings in economically depressed neighborhoods. Solar installations could therefore be used to create jobs, lower utility costs, and improve conditions for residents in these neighborhood.
| May 3, 2011
More jurisdictions adopting International Green Construction Code
More jurisdictions are utilizing the new International Green Construction Code (IGCC) as a tool to address sustainable construction for new and existing buildings. Fort Collins, Colo., and Kayenta Township, Ariz., are the most recent in a series of local and state governments that have adopted the IGCC,
| May 3, 2011
What green building types are most likely to get noticed?
The general public isn’t terribly aware of green buildings in their area, according to a TD Bank survey of 1,510 consumers within major metro markets in its Maine to Florida footprint. The bank conducted the poll to better understand consumers’ knowledge of green or sustainable buildings. According to the poll, these green buildings are most likely to get noticed.
| May 3, 2011
Green building materials in U.S. to exceed $71 billion in 2015
Demand for green building materials is projected to expand 13.0% annually to $71.1 billion in 2015, slightly outpacing the growth of building construction expenditures over that period, according to a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm. While the rising use of green materials will support gains, the most important driver for demand will be the expected rebound in the construction market.
| Apr 26, 2011
Ed Mazria on how NYC can achieve carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030
The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects invited Mr. Mazria to present a keynote lecture to launch its 2030 training program. In advance of that lecture, Jacob Slevin, co-founder of DesignerPages.com and a contributor to The Huffington Post, interviewed Mazria about creating a sustainable vision for the future and how New York City's architects and designers can rise to the occasion.
| Apr 22, 2011
GSA testing 16 emerging sustainable technologies, practices
The GSA is testing and evaluating 16 emerging sustainable building technologies and practices in select federal facilities under its Green Proving Ground program. Testing will determine the most effective technologies that may then be replicated on a wider-scale basis throughout the GSA inventory with the goal of transforming markets for these technologies.
| Apr 19, 2011
Philadelphia opens massive, LEED-Silver recycling center
The 60,000-square-foot single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in Philadelphia will process around 20,000 tons of newspaper, cardboard, aluminum, glass, and plastic every month, and will simplify the collection of recyclable materials and increase recycling rates by 50%.
| Apr 19, 2011
AIA announces top 10 green Projects for 2011
The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment announced its Top 10 Green Projects for 2011. Among the winners: Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and the Vancouver Convention Centre West in Vancouver, British Columbia.
| Apr 19, 2011
BMW dealers driving up sustainable construction in NYC
BMW North America will invest $60 million in two green dealerships in Manhattan. The new stores, which are being designed to cut energy use by 25%, reflect the auto company’s effort to reposition itself as environmentally conscious.
