Walkabout: Terminal Building has long life span and no end in sight
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The upper floors of the Terminal Building, as seen from Terminal Way looking south.
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What was once the largest warehouse between New York and Chicago, with the noise of cargo off-loading from barges and trains, the Terminal Building today quietly ticks along as one of the South Side's best-kept secrets -- except among the 80 businesses and nonprofits that fill it.
When you turn onto Terminal Way off East Carson Street, you see two large buildings on either side of the narrow road, each one four stories high. But it's really the same building. Terminal Way is an elevated road that cuts between the two sides on the Terminal Building's third-floor level.
I entered a lobby on the odd-numbered side and was on the third floor. If you get on the elevator and punch 1, the doors will open to yawning darkness.
The first two floors are bounded by South Third and South Fourth streets and McKean Street, with the outer part surrounded by loading docks and home to industrial tenants. By contrast, Terminal Way creates for its tenants a sort of courtyard, with well-lit, elevated sidewalks on each side.
In 2005, it was renamed the River Walk Corporate Centre.
Built in 1904-1907, it was the Pittsburgh Terminal Warehouse and Transfer Co. with a 30,000-square-foot refrigeration unit that had cork-lined floor, ceiling and walls. The whole building is "just shy of a million square feet," said Mark Bibro, executive director of the Birmingham Foundation, one of the owners and a former building manager.
Before the owners began making upgrades in 2002, he said, the building was "as beautiful, but the insides were still warehouse."
The company spent about $20 million on renovations since 2001, including exterior lighting and windows and electrical, heating and ventilation systems. Tenants are authorized to redo their spaces to suit their needs.
Rents are based on how much investment is needed to make the space suitable, between $8 and $16 per square foot.
The Green Building Alliance tripled its space when it moved in in 2008 from the CCI Center on South 14th Street.
First Published January 31, 2012 12:00 am
