Download - RIDC 2013 Year in Review
REGIONAL INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
YEAR IN REVIEW 2013
RIDC made great progress on many of its goals in 2013, expanding the organization’s role as a key player in the region's economic progress.
RIDC continued to focus our efforts on projects that will enable high-quality job creation, increase the tax base, and contribute to the economic success of communities. Whether it's furthering the Almono development, modernizing our large network of real estate for companies, or collaborating with our regional partners on initiatives that impact the entire region, RIDC is working on projects of regional importance.
In this report, we tell the stories of just a few of the successful companies growing in RIDC's facilities. For the second year in a row, the companies in RIDC's facilities reported strong employment growth. Companies like Holtec, GMS, and Bulk Conveyor continue to expand in the Mon Valley. And
we continue to support new companies who are making their first large-scale expansion such as SDC Nutrition, Carnegie Robotics, and Aquion Energy.
RIDC made great progress on the redevelopment of the former LTV Steel site in Hazelwood, now known as Almono. Some of the accomplishments include: • Securing $80 million in tax-increment financing, the largest in the City of Pittsburgh's history • Achieving rezoning of the entire site through the City's "specially-planned" zoning process, which will
preserve the high-quality vision for development • Taking on a $8.5 million site grading project that will move over 800,000 cubic yards of fill and will
prepare the site to proceed with development RIDC made greater efforts in the past year to strengthen our relationships with our regional partners - both public and private. RIDC was integral in the establishment of the Site Development Fund, which is being managed by our partners at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and focused on sites of regional importance. RIDC partnered with Elmhurst Development in a joint-venture for a speculative building in RIDC Thorn Hill Industrial Park, creating a successful model of partnership for future development. RIDC organized collaboration efforts between RIDC and the County industrial and economic development corporations in order to advocate for the issues most affecting economic development in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
I’d like to thank our Board for their engaged support and our partners without whom we couldn’t succeed.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Donald F. Smith, Jr., PhDPresident
RIDC CORPORATE OFFICERSDonald F. Smith, Jr., PhD, PresidentRonald Coombs, Chief Financial OfficerWilliam Kirk, Jr., Vice President, Real Estate OperationsTimothy White, Vice President, DevelopmentColleen Poremski, Corporate Secretary2
BOARD OF DIRECTORSMark Aloe, Managing Member, Aloe Brothers LLC
Coleman J. Benedict, Executive Vice President, WCB Properties, Inc.
Charles T. Blocksidge, PhD, Retired-Executive Director, Local, County & State Government Relations &Special Projects, Community College of Allegheny County
Sara Davis Buss, Esquire, Campbell & Levine, LLC
Eric Cartwright, Vice President, UPMC Corporate Construction and Real Estate
G. Reynolds Clark, Vice Chancellor, Community Initiatives, Chief of Staff, University of Pittsburgh
The Honorable Rich Fitzgerald, County Chief Executive, County of Allegheny
Steven J. Guy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Development Company
Michael J. Hannon, Executive Vice President/Chief Credit Officer, PNC Bank
Scott D. Izzo, Director, Richard King Mellon Foundation
Dennis M. Joyce, Managing Director, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation
Mark Kamlet, PhD, Executive Vice President and Provost, Carnegie Mellon University
Mark Jay Kurtzrock, President and CEO, Metis Secure Solutions, LLC
Louis V. Oliva, CCIM, SIOR, Executive Managing Director, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
Robert B. Pease, National Development Corporation
J. William Richardson, Retired, Chief Financial Officer
Lourdes Sanchez Ridge, Esquire, Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP
The Honorable Rodney D. Ruddock, Chairman, Board of Commissioners, Indiana County
Audrey Russo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pittsburgh Technology Council
Lisa Schroeder, President and CEO, Riverlife
Darrell E. Smalley, Principal, State and Local Tax, Ernst & Young LLP
Donald F. Smith, Jr, PhD, President, RIDC
Samuel J. Stephenson, Partner, ParenteBeard, LLC
The Honorable Daniel J. Vogler, Chairman, Lawrence County Board of Commissioners
Dennis Yablonsky, Chief Executive Officer, Allegheny Conference on Community Development
G. Reynolds ClarkBoard Chair
LETTER FROM THE BOARD CHAIRThis is a critical time for our region. As Pittsburgh’s economy finally gains steam after years of depressed growth, there are still many projects important to advancing the region that cannot be funded solely by the private market. The region continues to need a strong RIDC – an organization that can take on large, challenging projects that advance the public interest. RIDC has over 50 years of technical expertise in real estate projects. By leveraging partnerships with other regional industrial and economic development organizations, universities, the foundation community, regional agencies and government officials, RIDC has been able to expand our reach. And as a nonprofit, RIDC reinvests any profits back into regional projects.
RIDC has had much success returning former industrial sites to economic prosperity through careful planning, focused investment, and attraction of new companies. Utilizing the successful multi-tenant approach taken to redevelop the former Westinghouse facility in East Pittsburgh and Turtle Creek which now houses over 35 companies and over 1,100 jobs, RIDC has focused much of our recent efforts on the redevelopments of the former Sony plant (now called RIDC Westmoreland) and the former LTV Coke Works (now known as Almono). While the plans for the two redevelopment projects reflect their different opportunities, the goals of increased jobs, taxes, and contributing to the prosperity of the local community are the same.
After taking on the project in 2012, RIDC Westmoreland is now well on its way to becoming another regional success story. This past year saw a continuation of successes at the facility, both in capital investments to maintain the building as well as continued build-out of new tenants Aquion Energy and Westmoreland County Community College and expansion of long-time tenant DNP. Almono also saw significant milestones this year, achieving a Specially Planned zoning district, gaining approval of the largest TIF in Pittsburgh’s history, and commencing the first large-scale construction project.
We continue to be optimistic about Pittsburgh’s future and are excited to play a role in some of the key projects that will contribute to the sustainability of the region’s prosperity for years to come.
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5,981 jobs
9 leases
121,885 SF
$15,994,612$10,063,988
jobs in tenant facilities
number of new or expansion leases
square feet of new and expansion leases
new financing secured in 2013
capital investment in 2013
square feet owned
122 companiescompanies in RIDC facilities
1,380 acres
50.6 acreage sold
in 2013
52 buildingsbuildings owned 3,483 acres
total acreage developed to date
2013 RIDC Annual Report
$4,817,958real estate taxes paid in 2013
7.5 million+
current acreage owned
2013
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948,562 SFsquare feet renewed
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2013 Impacts
THE RIDC MISSIONThe Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania (RIDC) is recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s largest and most successful private, not-for-profit economic development corporations. Established in 1955, the RIDC was formed to foster new employment opportunities and to diversify the regional economy of southwestern Pennsylvania.
The mission of the RIDC is to catalyze and support economic growth and high-quality job creation through real estate development and finance of projects that advance the public interest.
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2013 RIDC Annual Report
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RIDC Industrial Park O’Hara Township, PA
RIDC Park WestFindlay & North Fayette Townships, PA
RIDC Thorn Hill Industrial ParkCranberry & Marshall Townships, PA
RIDC Keystone CommonsEast Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek & North Versailles, PA
RIDC Industrial Center of McKeesportMcKeesport, PA
RIDC City Center of DuquesneDuquesne, PA
Pittsburgh Technology CenterPittsburgh, PA
Lawrenceville Technology CenterPittsburgh, PA
RIDC Neshannock Business ParkNeshannock Township, PA
Almono*Pittsburgh, PA
Innovation RidgeMarshall Township, PA
RIDC WestmorelandEast Huntington Township, PA
INDIVIDUAL PROPERTIES
Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC)Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA
Beaver Industrial ManorHopewell Township, PA
RIDC INDUSTRIAL & BUSINESS PARKS
*RIDC is the managing partner of the Almono partnership6
2013 Impacts
Leasing & Land Sales
Build to SuitRIDC utilizes a comprehensive approach to coordinate development projects from conceptual design through completion and occupancy. This year, RIDC projects were largely focused on two tenants’ expansions.
RIDC manages buildings or owns land in 11 RIDC parks with 3 additional freestanding building projects. RIDC owns and manages several multi-occupancy buildings in its portfolio, enabling flexibility and expansion for growing companies.
New Leases
Carnegie RoboticsLAWRENCEVILLE TECHNOLOGY CENTER30,000 sq ft - 15 years
SEKOBEAVER INDUSTRIAL MANOR15,075 sq ft - 5 years
Expansions
BCSI, LCCINDUSTRIAL CENTER OF MCKEESPORT187,214 (+27,699) sq ft - 5 years
DNP IMS AmericaRIDC WESTMORELAND161,000 (+26,000) sq ft - 10 years
BRUSH (formerly GMS)KEYSTONE COMMONS63,030 (+7,680) sq ft - 5 years
Renewals
StericycleINDUSTRIAL CENTER OF MCKEESPORT43,619 sq ft - 5 years
Family ServicesRIDC INDUSTRIAL PARK40,500 sq ft - 5 years
AngstromCITY CENTER OF DUQUESNE17,666 sq ft - 5 years
GPS RealtyNESHANNOCK BUSINESS PARK4.3 acres - $118,250
Duquesne LightINDUSTRIAL CENTER OF MCKEESPORT4.67 acres - $273,195
Cranberry Hill Partners(Pella Windows)RIDC THORN HILL6.82 acres - $830,225
ProMinent Fluid Controls, IncRIDC PARK WEST6.1 acres - $562,000
Robert & Rita RandallRIDC THORN HILL28.7 acres (9.8 usable acres) - $750,000
BCSI expansion: RIDC managed a $725,000 project for the company’s expansion in McKeesport that included expanding into the 1905 Building, addition and repairs to cranes, and building access improvements.
DNP IMS America: RIDC managed a $5.5 million project for the company’s expansion in Westmoreland. The project established the DNP’s new utility systems that will be decentralized from the facility’s Central Utilities Plant, expanded their space, and added new equipment.
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Financing Assistance
• Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. (RIDC Thorn Hill) applied for expansion of its Subzone within the FTZ #33 for additional sites throughout Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Westmoreland and Somerset Counties. The Subzone now encompasses 18 sites in five counties and 104 acres.
• TruFood Manufacturing (RIDC Industrial Park) received activation approval for their site.
• Leedsworld (Westmoreland Business Park and RIDC Westmoreland) requested and received approval to activate space at RIDC Westmoreland and move material between their two sites.
Financing Park Project AmountPennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) Loan
Free-Standing Project in Monroeville
Renovation of former car dealership into manufacturing facility for Maverick Dental Solutions
$994,612
Business In Our Sites (BOS) Loan Almono Site Preparation Work $7,000,000
Business in Our Sites (BOS) Loan RIDC Westmoreland Construction and Tenant Improvement projects
$8,000,000
Foreign-Trade Zone
RIDC can assist companies with available financing programs through local, state, and federal entities. RIDC has a long track-record of gaining public funding for projects that help our economy grow jobs. In 2013, RIDC continued to secure financing for projects that advance the public interest.
RIDC was granted the charter of administering the 33rd FTZ program in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1977 by the Foreign-Trade Zone Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Foreign-Trade Zone #33 was established to attract and promote international trade and commerce in western Pennsylvania. Activity in 2013 included the following:
2013 RIDC Annual Report
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2013 Impacts
Land & Park Development
Almono site development: 2013 was a year of major milestones for Almono site development progress. The year’s success included achieving new zoning approval, securing $80 million in tax-increment financing, and commencing a massive site grading project.
Innovation Ridge site development: Progress continues on this premier technology and office park with recreation trails, signage, and off-site transportation improvements. Executive townhomes are being constructed nearby with 2013 seeing the first sales.
Keystone Commons portal redesign: RIDC started design of Portal 7 work that will widen the entrance, improve stormwater infrastructure, run new utility access to facilities, and improve the flow of traffic at this busy industrial park.
Throughout its history, RIDC has developed thousands of acres of land for use by companies. Whether it is a greenfield development that needs roads, utilities, and stormwater retention, or a brownfield development that needs demolition, remediation, redevelopment, and improved infrastructure, RIDC has a wide range of experience in some of the most challenging regional development projects.
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DNP America’s facility is actually a long-time tenant in the Westmoreland complex, operating as Sony Chemicals since 1995 and
Seegrid started in 2003 as a spin-off of the Carnegie Mellon University robotics lab. They spent a few early years in RIDC’s Chocolate Factory in Lawrenceville then grew into a larger space at RIDC Park West.
The company manufactures vision-guided automated guided vehicles (AGVs) that navigate using a proprietary vision-based 3D mapping technology. Cameras capture images, the system creates a map from those images, and then uses that map to navigate the trained route. Seegrid’s technology captures hundreds of points and judges its location using a probability curve. This means facility surroundings can change, such as product changes and facility structure, and the AGVs will navigate without getting lost. Seegrid can install their vision-guided AGVs at a manufacturing or distribution facility in one day and offers companies a flexible and simple implementation process. Some of Seegrid’s
customers include Giant Eagle, Cabela’s, YUSA, and Daimler.
Seegrid has recently partnered with some of the top industrial truck OEMs to install Seegrid’s navigation automation technology in standard trucks - a line called Guided by
Seegrid®. They are working with Raymond (a Toyota subsidiary), Linde Material Handling (a KION subsidiary), and Yale Materials Handling (a subsidiary of NACCO). With these partnerships, they anticipate a huge increase in exposure of their vision-guided product.
Seegrid employs 75 people, the majority of whom are engineers or manufacturing and customer support technicians. Seegrid prides themselves on being a top employer, offering all employees a living wage, health care benefits, career planning, and catered lunch everyday!
2013 RIDC Annual Report
RIDC Park West
RIDC Westmoreland
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Company Profiles
then purchased by DNP IMS, another Japanese company, in 2008. DNP manufactures thermal transfer ribbons. For those not familiar with the product, it’s analogous to a printer cartridge that is used in typical office printers, however, thermal transfer printers are more efficient and more appropriate for printing things such as bar codes. DNP’s ribbons print on labels and other receiving materials for many different applications and environments, such as bags of chips, car parts, and healthcare supplies.
After evaluating multiple global locations for an additional production line, DNP decided
to expand its Westmoreland County facility in 2013, allowing the facility to double its production capacity and further supply their large market in the Americas. During the expansion, which was partially funded by a Pennsylvania Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program grant, DNP added an environmentally sustainable recovery process, added new process utility systems, and hired 20 new employees. The DNP Westmoreland facility operates 24/7 and has approximately 160 employees.
When Bill Caputo started Bulk Conveyor eight years ago, he wanted to locate the company near his home, so he leased space from RIDC in its McKeesport Industrial Park.
BCSI, Inc, which was acquired by ADA in 2012, manufactures dry-sorbent ejection - sometimes referred to as a dry scrubber - for coal-fired furnaces.
The product takes out byproducts like hydrochloric acid and sulfites that typical scrubbers don’t by using a powder that reacts with the polluting compounds and removes them. The process of dry-sorbent ejection is the cheapest and most efficient way to get rid of the harmful compounds.
New federal clean air regulations passed in 2013 require compliance by 2016, so BCSI has been trying to keep up with the demand and has a backlog of orders all the way up until the compliance date. Last year, they embarked on
an expansion and leased an additional building from RIDC to house their electrical shop. The BCSI operation is 95% self-sufficient - they do in-house engineering, electrical designing, manufacturing of control panels, welding of the containers, and product testing all at their McKeesport facility. They employ 110 people in positions such as welders, fitters, draftsmen, and laborers.
Industrial Center of McKeesport
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At 50 years old, RIDC Industrial is 100% developed
2013 RIDC Annual Report
The first RIDC Industrial Park, located in O’Hara township, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013. The RIDC Business Alliance held a celebration to recognize the success of the business park and its 130+ companies. The event also served as an unveiling for a new lighted directory sign.
The RIDC Industrial Park, which is 100% developed, is the home of over 5,000 jobs. RIDC now owns only 10 of the approximately 90 buildings in the park, with the others privately-owned.
ABARTA purchased the last developable parcel in the RIDC Industrial Park and constructed a state of the art 32,000 square-foot building on a hillside lot on Alpha Drive. The building plan, a collaboration between
ABARTA, Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, and Grand View Development, envisioned a building that turned toward the river and contained two structures that actually form an "A" when connected by the atrium.
ABARTA's 75 corporate employees were able to move into the new facility in June of 2013.
ABARTA is a diversified holding company with three main lines of business: ABARTA Oil & Gas, Coca Cola bottling, and Kahiki, a frozen food manufacturer in Columbus, Ohio. ABARTA, which is a family-owned company in its 3rd generation, started their Pittsburgh headquarters at 1000 Gamma in the RIDC park in 1979 with 5 employees. They have grown to over 900 in all their divisions.
ABARTA opened their new headquarters in 2013 on the last developable parcel in RIDC Industrial Park
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RIDC Property Updates
2013 Updates
RIDC sold land in 2013 in its suburban parks to make way for additional private investment. In Thorn Hill, Cranberry Hill Partners purchased land for the location of a manufacturing facility and showroom for Pella Windows and Doors. In Park West, ProMinent Fluid Controls, a park tenant for the past 20 years, purchased a contiguous parcel for an expansion facility.
Suburban Industrial ParksWhen the Regional Industrial Development Corporation was formed in the 1950s, the country was experiencing a light industrial boom, but because Pittsburgh’s heavy industries were using most of the flat, buildable land, the region was at an economic disadvantage. Pittsburgh’s anchor corporations realized Pittsburgh needed more pad-ready sites, so they contributed to seed-funding RIDC and to engineering deals with civic leaders for the first three industrial parks – RIDC Park in O’Hara Township, Thorn Hill Industrial Park, and RIDC Park West in the airport corridor.
As well as completing infrastructure development, RIDC catalyzed the parks by constructing some of the first buildings. As new highways opened up, the parks became extremely successful and are still some of the largest concentrations of employment in the region. Unlike many other business parks in the region which mainly offer Class A office space, RIDC’s focus is on accommodating light manufacturing, assembly, and R&D operations – businesses that advance the region’s export economy. The companies in these three parks make medical devices, automobile innovations, nutrition products, and several products in between.
QUICK FACTSRIDC Industrial Park RIDC Thorn Hill RIDC Park West
Location O’Hara TownshipMarshall & Cranberry Townships
Findlay & North Fayette Townships
Date Established 1963 1968 1976Size 700 acres 925 acres 340 acres
Estimated 2013 Impact
$7,502,690 in RE taxes
$6,734,630 in RE taxes
$7,599,415 in RE taxes
RIDC’s Current Portfolio:
Property 33 acres10 buildings269,183 sq ft
229 acres3 buildings
173,740 sq ft
124 acres4 buildings
174,394 sq ftCompanies in RIDC facilities
19 companies1,413 jobs
5 companies534 jobs
6 companies189 jobs
2013 Real Estate Taxes $405,100 $387,300 $500,000
SUPPORTING OUR JOB CREATORS
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The Monongahela Valley region, once the center of Pittsburgh’s steel industry, was especially devastated when the industry collapsed in the late 1970s and 80s. Left with large tracts of abandoned steel mills, the region realized it needed new tools and a new approach to return these properties to productive use.
RIDC worked with its state, county and local partners to design a state-wide Brownfields program that would make it easier to remediate and fund their redevelopment. Pennsylvania’s approach
to clean-up standards and financial incentives was and still is considered one of the nation’s leading brownfield revitalization efforts.
After the RIDC undertook selective demolition, environmental remediation efforts, and building rehabilitation, the Duquesne and McKeesport sites have been transformed into attractive business and manufacturing centers, home to over 1,100 jobs. The sites are important regional locations for companies looking for industrial space.
REVIVING THE STEEL VALLEY
2013 RIDC Annual Report
QUICK FACTSIndustrial Center of McKeesport
City Center of Duquesne
Location McKeesport Duquesne
Date Established 1989 1990Size 140 acres 156 acres
Estimated 2013 Impact
8 companies404 jobs
$469, 621 in RE taxes
16 companies717 jobs
$563,260 in RE taxesRIDC’s Current Portfolio:
Property 128 acres9 buildings
1,052,669 sq ft
109 acres8 buildings
239,378 sq ftCompanies in RIDC facilities
6 companies364 jobs
13 companies265 jobs
2013 Real Estate Taxes $403,220 $228,100
Redeveloped Brownfields
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2013 Updates
Duquesne Light purchased a parcel in McKeesport to construct a new electric utility service center. Site work started in the summer and was ready for building construction in 2014.
Bulk Conveyor Systems, Inc (BCSI), undertook a major expansion in 2013. RIDC managed the $725,000 expansion project, which included • Improvements to their Commons I facility• Expansion into the 27,699 sq ft Roll Shop facility• Installation of 5 new cranes and repairs to existing
crane bay rails
The project was partially supported by a Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant.
An employee at BCSI in McKeesport welds a pollution-control system container
RIDC Property Updates
American Textile’s facility in Duquesne
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As with many other Rust Belt cities, Pittsburgh had to endure watching as their once-booming factories become empty buildings creating holes in their communities. But over the past 30 years, Pittsburgh has been working hard to reinvent itself, with RIDC tackling some of the region’s most challenging projects. Large vacant facilities, which once housed companies that put Pittsburgh on the map, have been transformed into modern workplaces for the companies creating the jobs of tomorrow’s economy.
After over 100 years of operation, Westinghouse closed its East Pittsburgh plant in the late 1980s. The site had important historical importance, not only as a place of 20,000 jobs, but also as the location of the first radio broadcast. Without the Westinghouse operation, the community was faced with a vacant complex and the huge loss of employment. After RIDC purchased the site, it created a development plan with state, county, and local support that included a creative idea to redevelop the complex into a multi-tenant center – a plan that would provide the community with greater job stability.
Today the complex, now called RIDC Keystone Commons, is home to more than 30 companies and is considered one of the most successful redevelopment projects in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In 2010, RIDC was approached with a similar challenge and opportunity when the Sony Corporation decided to close its Westmoreland manufacturing facility, leaving 2.8 million square feet of vacant space. RIDC decided to incorporate the successful approach used at Keystone Commons to rehabilitate the facility, now called RIDC Westmoreland, into a multi-tenant manufacturing hub. The facility now has six tenants and continues to attract companies looking for large spaces.
2013 RIDC Annual Report
QUICK FACTSKeystone Commons RIDC Westmoreland
Location Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh & North
VersaillesNew Stanton
Date Established 1989 2011Size 110 acres 365 acres
Estimated 2013 Impact
1,119 jobs$1,396,717 in RE taxes
225 jobs$38,100 in RE taxes
RIDC’s Current Portfolio:
Property 110 acres9 buildings
2,224,452 sq ft
365acres1 buildings
2,800,000 sq ftCompanies in RIDC facilities
38 companies1,119 jobs
6 companies225 jobs
2013 Real Estate Taxes $1,396,717 $38,100
(property in KOZ program)
Multi-Tenant Facilities
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RIDC Property Updates
Westmoreland County Community College broke ground in July on its new $9.4 million Advanced Technology Center in RIDC Westmoreland. The facility will hold the college’s expanded workforce development program when the facility opens in the fall of 2014. The Center will occupy approximately 73,000 square feet of the building. The WCCC facility will add a great amenity to the current and future manufacturers who are co-located in the building, as well as those in nearby industrial parks.
2013 Updates
RIDC Westmoreland’s two largest tenants, Aquion Energy and DNP, continue to progress their operations. RIDC is managing Aquion’s 330,000 square foot build-out of their facility. The multi-million dollar project is expected to be completed so that Aquion can roll-out their first production line in 2014. RIDC also managed a portion of DNP’s expansion in the facility. DNP, which has been a tenant at the facility since 1995, added a new production line last year and decentralized their utility systems.
RIDC is undertaking a redesign of Portal 6 & 7 at the Keystone Commons complex. The design and engineering was completed in 2013, with construction set to occur in 2014.
REDEVELOPING FOR TOMORROW’S ECONOMYThe once-sprawling facility of the energy giant Westinghouse, Keystone Commons has been able to accommodate the growth of a new energy company. Holtec International, which makes products for spent nuclear fuel storage and transfer systems, has their manufacturing division in Keystone Commons. Now employing over 350 at the Pittsburgh location, the company continues to expand into new markets.
In the huge space left by Sony (and Chrysler and Volkwagen before them), the space now has the first of its new tenants, one of which is
Aquion Energy, an emerging Carnegie Mellon University spin-out. Aquion Energy is developing a sodium-ion aqueous electrolyte battery that will enhance the electrical grid by providing flexible, emissions-free capacity that optimizes existing generation assets and enables broad adoption of renewable energy technologies. Their business model anticipates as many as 350 workers by the end of 2015. The company maintains their R&D and corporate headquarters in the city of Pittsburgh, allowing their management and staff easy access to the new large-scale manufacturing operation.
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CREATING COMMUNITYThe collapse of Pittsburgh’s steel industry left the region with the liability of large abandoned brownfield sites on some of its most visible riverfront real estate. While these sites have assets that are attractive to new companies such as rail and barge infrastructure or central transportation access, many of these sites also sit near the center of their communities with the potential for recreation and increased quality of life. Whether preparing a steel site for a walkable residential community, creating one of the first downtown residences, facilitating the construction of miles of bike trails, or implementing the community vision for a multi-use site, RIDC has turned the region’s old sites into places communities are proud to reclaim.
After Edgewater Steel closed its facilities in 1997, RIDC took ownership of the site as part of a joint-partnership with a private investor with RIDC assuming full ownership in 2002. RIDC cleared and remediated the site in preparation for its development as a mixed-use community. With much of the land development completed, RIDC sold the property to be developed by KACIN, Inc. and EQA. The site has been a success, with new residents enjoying sustainable neighborhood living on the serene riverfront site.
The Almono Partnership with RIDC as the managing partner took control of a 178-acre former Jones & Laughlin Coke Works (then LTV Steel) in 2002. The partnership committed to preserve the Hazelwood site for a quality and sustainable mixed-use development. With a community-backed vision plan for light industrial, office, and residential space, RIDC has begun land development to prepare the site. The public infrastructure investment includes • 2 million square feet office and industrial
space + 1,200 residential units• 56 acres of rights-of-way that will also
include utility lines, bike lanes and stormwater management
• 26 acres of common open space & access to a mile-and-a-half of riverfront
• Off-site transportation improvements to address regional concerns.
2013 RIDC Annual Report
QUICK FACTSEdgewater at Oakmont ALMONO
Location Oakmont Hazelwood, City of Pittsburgh
Date Established 2002, 2009 2002, 2015
Property 34 acres 178 acres
Estimated Future Impact 240 residential units
4,000+ jobs$10 million annual
RE taxes1,300 residential units
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RIDC Property Updates
RIDC made great progress on the Almono site in 2013 as general partners of the development. Almono secured the largest Tax Increment Financing - $80 million - to fund the public infrastructure for the site. The site also achieved complete re-zoning as part of the Specially Planned zoning process.
RIDC managed a $500,000 selective site demolition project with support from a
Gaming and Economic Development Fund grant through the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County. The fall of 2013 also saw commencement of a $8.5 million massive site grading project, which is moving over 800,000 cubic yards of fill. The project is partially supported by a PennWorks grant and Business in our Sites loan, both through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Pre-site grading - 2012 Site progress - 2013
2013 Updates
The site of the former Edgewater Steel complex is now a riverfront community and is currently two-thirds developed(Photo courtesy of KACIN, Inc)
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CATALYZING UNIVERSITY SPIN-OUTS When considering the recovery of Pittsburgh’s economy over the last 30 years, the role of “Eds and Meds” is an often-cited contributor. Not only has Pittsburgh been successful in growing these industries, but also in creating new businesses that are inspired by research taking place at the universities or support the region’s medical institutions. RIDC has played a key role at helping these new businesses settle in Pittsburgh, rather than taking their budding businesses to typical tech-oriented locations in Silicon Valley and Boston.
RIDC has been involved in several university-related projects – working to create incubator space, constructing facilities for Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, and assisting companies to find space near the universities. RIDC assisted the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon in their construction of buildings at the Pittsburgh Technology Center. RIDC also built the University Technology Development Centers (UTDC), the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), and the Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC).
As Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) in Lawrenceville has become extremely successful, RIDC’s redevelopment projects have enabled companies who want to “spin-out” but remain close to their CMU ties to locate in a RIDC facility next door. Combined with NREC, RIDC’s Chocolate Factory (once the site of Geoffrey Boehm Chocolates but redeveloped into a high-tech office and R&D space) and RIDC’s Blue Building (the former Heppenstall Steel manufacturing building now the new home of Carnegie Robotics), the area in Lawrenceville has become a robotics cluster.
2013 RIDC Annual Report
The CIC building on the campus of Carnegie Mellon, is home to Apple, Disney, and Intel
2000 Technology Drive in the Pittsburgh Technology Center is a multi-tenant building home to tech-oriented companies and organizations20
RIDC Property Updates
QUICK FACTSPittsburgh Technology
CenterLawrenceville
Technology CenterCollaborative
Innovation Center (CIC)Location Oakland/Hazelwood,
City of PittsburghLawrenceville,
City of PittsburghOakland,
City of PittsburghDate Established 1991, 1997 1996, 2002 2005
RIDC’s Current Portfolio:
Property 3.5 acres2 buildings
241,640 sq ft
21 acres3 buildings
215,390 sq ft
1 building127,794 sq ft
Companies in RIDC facilities
9 companies764 jobs
5 companies110 jobs
6 companies457 jobs
2013 Real Estate Taxes $519,986 $67,141 $780,433
Robert Mehrabian, former Carnegie Mellon President, and Don Smith, RIDC President outside the CIC.
Carnegie Robotics signed with RIDC to lease the 30,000 square-foot former Heppenstall building in Lawrenceville. The company is a spin-out of CMU’s NREC facility. RIDC is managing a $2 million build-out of the space that will provide the company with manufacturing space as well as office mezzanine space. They plan to occupy the space in mid-2014.20
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• In Neshannock Business Park, RIDC sold a parcel to GPS Realty to build a 34,000 square-foott facility for a magnetics manufacturer.
• RIDC’s joint venture with Elmhurst to build a speculative building in RIDC Thorn Hill was successful and the building is nearly fully leased.
• RIDC worked with regional private and public partners to establish the Site Development Fund, a financing source that can assist sites most critical to our region’s economic success. RIDC is now working on other
regional financing initiatives, such as the Venture Capital Fund of Funds
• The region’s Industrial Development Corporations (and Economic Development Corporations) have been meeting regularly to discuss common issues and advocate for policies that will support companies growing in our region and will support the revitalization of some of our region’s most challenged sites.
2013 RIDC Annual Report
2013 Updates
The Commons at Thorn Hill is a joint venture of RIDC and Elmhurst Development. The first 48,000 sq ft flex building was opened in 2013 and the second is scheduled for completion at the end of 2014.
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SPURRING REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
RIDC Property Updates
As our name suggests, RIDC supports regional development in all of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s ten counties. In fact, RIDC recently added an 11th county to its charter – Somerset County.
RIDC recognizes that the Pittsburgh economy is truly regional as people commute from work to home between counties and businesses supply other businesses across the entire area. RIDC has had a role in several regional projects, adding flexible support to the counties’ individual industrial development corporations (IDC’s).
From developing land, constructing a catalytic first building, or taking ownership of a challenging project, RIDC has been making investments that contribute to the health of our regional economy.
RIDC was the land developer of the Neshannock Business Park in collaboration with our partners at the Lawrence County EDC. There are currently four privately-owned buildings, with another one in construction.
RIDC constructed the first building in the Beaver County CED’s Hopewell Industrial Park to spur private investment in the project.
RIDC is working with our regional partners to establish a new era in collaboration - one that focuses on shared interests, advocacy, and technical & financial assistance. There are new models for collaboration on development projects in the region - including our successful joint venture with Elmhurst development in Butler County and our partnership with Westmoreland County IDC in redevelopment of the former Sony site.
QUICK FACTSNeshannock Business
ParkBeaver Industrial Manor
(Hopewell Industrial Park) Innovation Ridge
Location Neshannock Township, Lawrence County
Hopewell Township,Beaver County
Marshall Township,Allegheny County
Date Established 1997 1986 2010Size 150 acres 100 acres 223 acres
RIDC’s Current Portfolio:Property 62 acres
0 buildings1 building
40,200 sq ft195 acres
0 buildingsCompanies in our facilities n/a 4 companies
79 jobs n/a
2013 Real Estate Taxes
-(Property is in a Keystone
Opportunity Zone)$58,234
$2,994(Property is part of
Clean & Green Program)
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210 Sixth Avenue • Suite 3620 • Pittsburgh, PA 15222www.ridc.org • 412.471-3939
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