I'm big on #Pittsburgh and believe passionately that we have to think bigger. Downtown's crisis is an opportunity if positioned the right way.. it requires working together, speedily, but diligently, across the aisle and across sectors to compete for global investment. It requires public and civic sector leaders working with private developers to understand the realistic financial hurdles that stifle investment.
Office to residential conversions are complicated and pricey - and I've been honored to work with great people to figure out how to make the seemingly impossible, possible. For some buildings -- conversion is the best use case.
The historic Gulf Tower $200M mixed-used conversion project has been yellow lighted for months. Investors needed to show a return adequate to get it financed. But today, thanks to Governor Josh Shapiro, his team at DCED Sec. Rick Siger and Morgan Boyd, this project is GREEN LIGHTED.
Pittsburgh deserves nice things... soon we will have a boutique luxury hotel, Hotel Bardo, recognized by Condé Nast as a "top best hotel in the world". The conversion will be built by UNION LABOR - putting 287 laborers to work. #LeftLane development from NYC will be partnering with Rugby Realty to bring this building back to its glory. I believe this will be one of the nation's hallmark conversion projects.
And, 933 Penn Ave., another conversion project with Breanna Tyson & Brett Walsh of Hullett Properties and Rugby Realty is also GREEN LIGHTED thx to the state's commitment.
Conversions are one, extremely importance piece of the puzzle - the public-private partnerships to improve public spaces, safety and more is significant and should be celebrated. Jeremy Waldrup, Lauren Connelly, Stefani Pashman, Susheela Nemani-Stanger and so many others.. thx for your hard work!
Externals construction manger
8momega work, well done mast 16-17 looks awesome 👍