Oxford Development recently announced that it was going to move its office later this year to 25,000 square feet in the Riverfront West Building at 3 Crossings, almost coincidental to the news that Honeywell was taking 25,000 square feet of the former Bosch leasehold at 2555 Smallman Street. Today, Oxford made the first of what may be several big announcements on the second phase of 3 Crossings, confirming that Smith & Nephew was taking 45,000 square feet of the Stacks at 3 Crossings building. The $16.5 million Stacks core and shell is under construction by Rycon.
Oxford also released more information about the full next phase of 3 Crossings, which will be located along Smallman Street and AVRR, between 28th and 29th Street. A design/build team of Mascaro Construction and Indovina Associates will be delivering a $16 million multi-modal center with more than 600 parking spaces. Including the two-building Stacks project (which is a rebuilding of the Packaging Corporation of America’s former buildings), 3 Crossings Phase 2 will have six office buildings totaling 600,000 square feet. Rycon Construction will also be building the 178,000 square foot 2 Hopper Place office building, which is being designed by WTW Architects for construction later this year.
Steve Guy, Oxford’s CEO, said that the heightened demand from users had surprised them, even though Oxford expected the project to move quickly. Guy suggested that another two or three office buildings, plus the multi-modal center, could be under construction by early 2020.
3 Crossings was developed in anticipation of the growth of the AI/robotics/autonomous vehicle industries in Pittsburgh and the landing of Petuum, Argo AI and Bosch proved that concept correct. The Smith & Nephew lease shows that trend still has legs.
Oxford’s announcement came 24 hours after Carlow University and Elmhurst Group broke the news that they had come to an agreement on the development of a 225,000 square foot office building in Oakland on Fifth Avenue at Craft Place. Elmhurst’s Bill Hunt explained that the rapid expansion of technology and medical innovation in Oakland drove the decision to proceed with the building, which will be directly across Fifth Avenue from the 10-story Innovation Research Tower being developed by Walnut Capital.
In construction news, F. J. Busse was awarded the $3.5 million renovation of the 20th floor of the Federated Investors Tower. A. Martini & Co. has started work on the $12 million Buchanan Ingersoll TI at the Union Trust Building. Wildwood Country Club chose the team of R. A. Glancy and HHSDR Architects & Engineers to design/build its $4 million expansion/renovation. Franjo Construction broke ground on the $2.5 million new Jaguar dealership for A & L Motors in Monroeville. MBM Contracting started work on the $3 million-plus renovation of the Asbury Heights patient wing in Mt. Lebanon.