U.S. Steel, which has operated in Pittsburgh for more than 100 years, plans to stay at least 18 more.
The giant steelmaker—which sold its 64-story U.S. Steel Tower headquarters in April 2011 and a year later announced it would move out of that building—has inked a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey franchise to build a five-story, 268,000-sf office building on the old Civic Arena site downtown, which the Penguins own.
A subsidiary of the Penguins and the team’s developer, St. Louis-based Clayco, will jointly own the new building, for which construction is scheduled to begin next summer and be completed by October 2017, around the time that U.S. Steel’s five-year lease on 450,000 sf in the U.S. Steel Tower expires. The projected cost of the new building was not disclosed.
U.S. Steel plans to move 800 employees from that tower and offices at Penn Liberty Plaza into 250,000 sf of the new building, which it will lease for at least 18 years, with an option to extend its lease beyond that. The rest of the space will be used for retail stores. The 2.25-acre site will include a museum highlighting Pittsburgh’s and U.S. Steel’s role in the worldwide steel industry.
The company’s decision to remain in Pittsburgh put an end to more than two years of speculation about where it might be headed. Indiana and Illinois reportedly were wooing U.S. Steel to relocate. U.S. Steel had also looked at several other buildings in different areas in and around Pittsburgh.
Site plan for U.S. Steel's new HQ, which will be located across from the Consol Energy Center, home of the Penguins NHL hockey team.
Several local news reports stated that it was Penguins’ CEO David Morehouse who convinced U.S. Steel’s CEO Mario Longhi to keep the company in Pittsburgh. The two chief executives met during a September 2013 barbecue at the home of the Penguins’ legendary player and co-owner Mario Lemieux. At that meeting, Morehouse impressed on Longhi that U.S. Steel was the “foundation upon which this city was built.”
Indeed, Pittsburgh’s Mayor Bill Perduto was on record saying “I didn’t want to be the Pittsburgh mayor to lose U.S. Steel.” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald lobbied federal environmental, transportation, and trade officials on U.S. Steel’s behalf. And Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett last month announced nearly $31 million in state grants to rehab three U.S. Steel plants in the state.
By agreeing to move into new digs, U.S. Steel would be the first corporate anchor tenant for a 28-acre Uptown site next to Consol Energy Center, where $440 million in development is planned, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and other news reports. That development would include retail, housing, and office space, and would be partially funded by more than $30 million in state grants and local tax-increment incentives, which would direct some of the development’s revenue to job training and other programs.
U.S. Steel has agreed to take only half of its potential abatements, with the rest of the incentives going to fund other parts of the Hill District, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Related Stories
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.
| Oct 12, 2010
Full Steam Ahead for Sustainable Power Plant
An innovative restoration turns a historic but inoperable coal-burning steam plant into a modern, energy-efficient marvel at Duke University.
| Oct 12, 2010
From ‘Plain Box’ to Community Asset
The Mid-Ohio Foodbank helps provide 55,000 meals a day to the hungry. Who would guess that it was once a nondescript mattress factory?
| Oct 11, 2010
HGA wins 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota
HGA Architects and Engineers won a 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota for the Willow Lake Laboratory.
| Oct 11, 2010
MBMA Releases Fire Resistance Design Guide for metal building systems
The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) announces the release of the 2010 Fire Resistance Design Guide for Metal Building Systems. The guide provides building owners, architects, engineers, specifiers, fire marshals, building code officials, contractors, product vendors, builders and metal building manufacturers information on how to effectively meet fire resistance requirements of a project with metal building systems.
| Oct 11, 2010
Rhode Island is the first state to adopt IGCC
Rhode Island is the first state to adopt the International Green Construction Code (IGCC). The Rhode Island Green Buildings Act identifies the IGCC as an equivalent standard in compliance with requirements that all public agency major facility projects be designed and constructed as green buildings. The Rules and Regulations to implement the Act take effect in October 2010.
| Oct 8, 2010
Union Bank’S San Diego HQ awarded LEED Gold
Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building located at 530 B Street has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the Green Building Certification Institute under the standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Gold status was awarded to six buildings across the United States in the most recent certification and Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building is one of only two in California.
| Oct 6, 2010
Windows Keep Green Goals in View
The DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has almost 600 window openings, and yet it's targeting LEED Platinum, net-zero energy use, and 50% improvement over ASHRAE 90.1. How the window ‘problem’ is part of the solution.
| Oct 6, 2010
From grocery store to culinary school
A former West Philadelphia supermarket is moving up the food chain, transitioning from grocery store to the Center for Culinary Enterprise, a business culinary training school.
| Sep 30, 2010
Luxury hotels lead industry in green accommodations
Results from the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2010 Lodging Survey showed that luxury and upper-upscale hotels are most likely to feature green amenities and earn green certifications. Results were tallied from 8,800 respondents, for a very respectable 18% response rate. Questions focused on 14 green-related categories, including allergy-free rooms, water-saving programs, energy management systems, recycling programs, green certification, and green renovation.
