US Steel Could Move Out of the US Steel Tower (Pittsburgh: rental, brokers)

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by Geeo

Well, Sears moved from the Sears Tower in Chicago to some suburban pasture called Hoffman Estates, Illiniois, and the Loop survived. JC Penney moved from Manhattan to Plano, Texas and the Big Apple is still there. I think downtown Pittsburgh will survive, too.

Chicago and New York can take the hits better than Pittsburgh.

[PreservationPioneer]

This is awful.

[BrianTH]

Every major CBD experiences churn as some businesses leave and others arrive or expand.

[greg42]

I don't really find it to be awful yet. If it was US Steel moving to Indiana or something (the biggest plant is in Indiana I think) that would be different. They don't appear to be looking to leave the area. I don't have this sort of within the city vs suburbs hangup that some have, and neither do they. This sort of move would not dissociate US Steel and Pittsburgh one bit. It would, however, create a significant Class A office space vacancy, so don't look for too much new building of Class A office if it happens.

Bonus: maybe people will soon be correct when they call it the "UPMC Building".

[BrianTH]

450K sqft is a good chunk of space, but we're also talking 5 years from now--the way things have been going, it may not be that hard to absorb.

[pman]

I think it's going to be hard for pittsburgh's cbd (aka downtown) to grow substantially. it's already has the fifth highest job density in the country (which is why another poster remarked that it had more of a "downtown culture" than cleveland) and only 3 cities have set themselves apart. NY..............San Francisco...Boston. Places like atlanta don't have a lot of job density in their cbd. that said, there are a lot of questions surrounding us steel. is it shrinking? will it even be an independent company in 5 years? I think if you want to draw philly comparisons, pnc is the pittsburgh comcast, not us steel...which might be more like GSK, which decided to stay in the city of Philadelphia, albeit in a more suburban like setting (navy yard) in a MUCH reduced footprint due to layoffs. of course, it would be better for downtown if they stayed, or even opted for the strip or north shore. probably better for the company as well.

[BrianTH]

Offhand I don't know what US Steel still does in their HQ, so I don't know if they really need to be Downtown still. Back in the day, big companies like that did so much in-house in terms of professional services and such that it might make economic sense to have their HQ in a large CBD. Now, though, they often contract out most of that work, so it can make more sense to have their HQ out in the sticks where rents are cheaper. But there are also issues of executive culture, marketing, and so on--all of which I have no particular insight into when it comes to this company.

[pman]

perhaps they have a cultural problem upper mgmt thinks can.be solved by a campus setting. its amazing how susceptible these people are to ideas like that. is there really a significant cost advantage that would affect the bottom line? doubtful. where does the ceo live?

[youngabe]

I talked to a friend of mine, who will remain anonymous, but she had a bit more insight because of her current job. She basically said that as it stands now, they're very much leaning toward a campus setting and the land in Findlay Township is attractive for that. This is basically one of those things that this is the first way of announcing it as a "possibility" only for it to definitely come true. Think about it...if their lease expires in 2017, they will need to get moving on a new facility quicker than you may think. They'll need to secure the land for one, and if they're building a massive campus from the ground up, that will take time. I predict that we'll see more solidarity in an announcement not too far off.

With that being said, rumor has it that UPMC has already taken additional floors in the building from a law firm that wanted those floors! I also recall hearing that once they reach their predicted potential in the building, UPMC could have a 1 million square foot space. If that is indeed true, USS leaving the tower won't even be noticed and could already be more of a done deal than we realize...since UPMC is basically taking over the world, why not start by taking over an iconic tower in Downtown!

My post could all be smoke and mirrors, but we shall see. I don't want to see USS leave Downtown, but I don't think it would really be noticeable considering that Downtown is basically bursting at the seams, occupancy wise.

[pman]

perhaps the ura should be trying to find land in the city (not downtown) with which to entice them instead of playing around with saks.