Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Pennsylvania announced yesterday it is moving from the South Side to Lawrenceville next summer or fall.

The agency's property at 2600 E. Carson St. has been under a sales agreement to Burns & Scalo Real Estate Services since earlier this year. Recently, Goodwill found a good fit in a two-building property at 135 51st St. for its administrative offices, a large portion of its programming, work force development and production workshop.

"This is another important step in the journey we began two years ago when we determined that modernizing our current building would be much more expensive than moving to another location," said Michael J. Smith, president and CEO of Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania. "The Lawrenceville site is a good fit for us. It is easily accessible by public transit for our clients, and when renovated, it will accommodate all our current requirements and foreseen future needs."

Goodwill has a preliminary lease-to-own agreement with The Rubinoff Co., which built the building -- the Flex Warehouse -- for office, light manufacturing, warehouse and distribution use, said Rubinoff principal Craig Dunham. The tenants are a medical equipment distributor and a uniform sales company.

The building Goodwill will fully occupy was used by UPMC to distribute pharmaceuticals.

Both buildings are under one deed, and Goodwill will use a portion of the second. Its lease is for 15 years, with an option to buy.

David J. Tobiczyk, vice president of marketing and development for the regional Goodwill, said the Lawrenceville property is "more efficient space" at 100,000 square feet compared to the South Side property's 157,000. It is two huge floors instead of seven and is more accessible within, he said.

Burns & Scalo's purchase of the Goodwill building and several surrounding lots Goodwill owns will not include the store at 2700 E. Carson St., which will remain.

The closing with Burns & Scalo is scheduled for January.

Mr. Smith said Burns & Scalo would redevelop the property to be residential units.

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