An autonomous vehicle start-up could be moving into the former LTV Coke Works site in Hazelwood, even as planners play with ideas like creating gondola lifts, water taxis, and maybe even light rail as a way to get people there.
Aptiv, a self-driving car start-up, is believed to be the major tech tenant signed by the Regional Industrial Development Corp. to occupy the second of three buildings being erected as part of the Mill 19 project at the 178-acre Hazelwood Green site.
The company currently is based in the RIDC industrial park in O’Hara. In 2015, the firm — then a division of Delphi — acquired Carnegie Mellon University spinoff Ottomatika, which created software and systems for autonomous vehicles.
In September 2017, Delphi announced it would hire 100 more high-tech workers to support its operations in Pittsburgh, nearly tripling its staff at the O’Hara office to at least 150 engineers and administrators. The company at the time told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette it expected to move to a larger complex, closer to the city, near the start of 2018.
Don Smith, RIDC president, declined to comment, as did the tech company.
“At this time, we cannot confirm any plans of relocating from our current facilities,” Aptiv stated in an email. “Of course, we’re always evaluating our options, and will be sure to let you know if anything changes.”
Without naming the company, Mr. Smith confirmed Thursday that RIDC had landed a major tech tenant to take all 70,000 square feet in the second building planned as part of its Mill 19 redevelopment.
Hazelwood Green is expected to become the flagship location for Aptiv, at least in Pittsburgh.
The move would make sense for the tech company. At Mill 19, it would be located next door to CMU’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute and the Manufacturing Futures Initiative.
CMU is leasing the first two floors of the three-story, 94,000-square-foot first building to be completed next spring.
Aptiv also would be joining Uber, another autonomous vehicle company, at the site. Uber currently operates a test track on the east end of Hazelwood Green with a lease that runs until 2021 and potential for renewals.
Catalyst Connection, a Pittsburgh nonprofit that helps smaller manufacturing companies, is taking another 8,000 square feet on the third floor of the first building, leaving 24,000 square feet still to be leased.
Landing a second big tenant, Mr. Smith said, shows that RIDC made the right decision in building at the site.
“The biggest thing is that it validates our move to bring Carnegie Mellon down here because Carnegie Mellon really is the perfect anchor tenant,” he said.
“For those of us who are old enough, Carnegie Mellon is like Sara Lee these days. Nobody doesn’t like CMU. And everybody wants to be close to the talent, to the technology.”
RIDC is also talking to a “bunch of other technology companies” about locating at the site. The second Mill 19 building is expected to be completed next summer, to be followed by construction of a third.
The plan is to invest up to $100 million in the 12.5-acre Mill 19 redevelopment. RIDC is leaving the old mill’s superstructure in place and erecting the three new buildings inside. The Mill 19 structure takes up about half of the acres RIDC has under its control.
News about Aptiv comes as Almono LP, made up of the three foundations that own the former coke works site, has issued a request for qualifications from firms with an interest in developing another 27 acres in the Mill District beyond the 12.5 RIDC is doing.
Rebecca Flora, Hazelwood Green project director, said the request, released last week, already is generating “diverse interest” from developers nationwide.
Almono also is considering the construction of a speculative office building in the Mill 19 District because of the high demand it is seeing from tech and suburban companies interested in moving into the city.
But all that demand potentially could create traffic headaches for an access-challenged site whose main point of entry is Second Avenue — a narrow thoroughfare that winds through Hazelwood and south Oakland into Downtown.
That’s where the gondolas, ferries and light rail connection potentially could come in.
They are among the long-range ideas being considered to improve access to the site.
“Pittsburgh, with our hills, I mean we had the inclines. There’s no reason why any of these options couldn’t be pursued,” Ms. Flora said.
Traffic engineers have been hired to help determine if any of the ideas are feasible.
An LRT extension from First Avenue potentially could serve the Pittsburgh Technology Center, SouthSide Works, and Hazelwood Green, Ms. Flora noted.
Before talking to the Port Authority about such a project, Ms. Flora first wants to complete a long-range transportation plan to determine if “there is any feasibility to it.”
Stakeholders like PennDOT, the city, and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission also would be involved.
The Port Authority “does not currently have any plans to extend our light rail system, but we’re always happy to discuss opportunities for future growth,” spokesman Adam Brandolph said.
Gondolas, which would operate similar to ski lifts, could link the site to Oakland, Hays, and even SouthSide Works — perhaps for tourists on weekends and commuters on weekdays.
“There are just so many possibilities. So what we’re trying to do is put those possibilities out there and then do some real transportation engineering around it to see, okay, are these just ideas or could they actually work,” Ms. Flora said.
Gondolas as transit may not be far fetched. They are being considered as a means to connect Georgetown to the Rosslyn Metro Station in Washington, D.C. They also are being explored as a way to connect Rensselaer and Albany over the Hudson River in New York
With Pittsburgh seeing more activity on its riverfronts, water taxis also may be a viable option.
Alternative transportation strategies are a key component of the Hazelwood Green strategy. There is a concerted effort to limit the amount of parking for sustainability reasons and to prevent half the site from being covered with asphalt.
Almono also is concentrating on connecting the roads through the site with the neighborhood. The main boulevard through Hazelwood Green, now known as Blair Street, eventually will connect with Blair Street in the neighborhood, for example.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. Courtney Linder: clinder@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1707. Twitter: @LinderPG.
Updated at 7 p.m. Oct. 4, 2018.
First Published: October 4, 2018, 3:58 p.m.
