Monthly Archives: January 2014
Colliers International | Pittsburgh Announces Elmhurst Group’s Breaking Ground on Schenley Place
Elmhurst Group broke ground December 6, 2013 on Schenley Place, a 105,000 square foot “Class A” office building with seven stories and three levels of underground parking. Schenley Place is located on Bayard Street and Ruskin Avenue in Oakland. Elmhurst Group signed a long-term land lease with First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh for this project, which is estimated to be completed by March of 2015.
The First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh in 2004 hired Paul Horan, Founding Principal, and Ralph Egerman, Principal, of Colliers International | Pittsburgh for assistance in increasing its cash flow and providing funds to improve the 100 year old church building.
Mr. Horan and Mr. Egerman suggested to the Board of Trustees that their parking lot had significant value as a development site, and they were retained exclusively by the Board to develop a Request For Proposal and conduct interviews with carefully chosen developers. The Board of Trustees selected the Elmhurst Group to be the developer for the project and a long term ground lease was executed to improve the Church’s finances.
“Paul and I feel very privileged to have had an opportunity to work with the Church and Elmhurst, on this exciting project. Colliers International | Pittsburgh is proud of our work on behalf of non-profits and our role in the growth of our city,” said Ralph Egerman, Principal at Colliers International | Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh possesses beauty, brains and a new economy
Sources: Pittsburgh Business Times, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Chicago Tribune travel writer Josh Noel described Pittsburgh as “one of our nation’s most underrated cities, with a beauty as breathtaking as it is obvious” in his January 4th article titled “New meets old in Pittsburgh.” While this is true to anyone who has seen the city skyline, Pittsburgh has much more to offer than just beauty.
With the steel-city persona and days of heavy industry over, the city experiences a “new Pittsburgh economy” more focused on growth rather than manufacturing. In 2012, the Pittsburgh metropolitan market recorded 2.91 knowledge jobs per manufacturing job, compared with a 2.38 ratio for the country overall. Perhaps this transition is due to the growth of area universities, including Carnegie Mellon University who is ranked 23rd in the U.S. News and World Report’s most recent ranking of national universities. In fact, Movoto deemed Pittsburgh “America’s Smartest City” in their 2013 ranking of the 100 most populous U.S. cities.
Between 2007 and 2012, the gross domestic product for the Pittsburgh area increased 4.6 percent, and in 2012, average employment was above 750,000. Not only are these individuals employed, they are happy in their workplace. In January 2013, the site Career Bliss ranked Pittsburgh in the top five cities with the happiest workers, based on more than 36,000 reviews.
colliersinternationalpittsburgh.com 