The 'burg has been jumping lately. (Pittsburgh, Lebanon: sales, school district, moving)

[gg]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Including many very large corporations, again calling into serious doubt your suggestion this is about size rather than type.

Any well-run company, regardless of size, will pay a premium to locate operations Downtown if, but only if, they get a compensating benefit from doing so. Some operations of some companies will get such a benefit, and others will not, and that explains what can be observed in the location decisions of companies of all sizes.

Sure Brain, whatever you say.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

It's pretty simple where companies are willing to set up shop. If it's a retail business they want to have access to as many people as possible. If it's an office environment that can be setup anywhere they want to setup in a place that's as cheap as possible. Not much more.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

It's pretty simple where companies are willing to set up shop. If it's a retail business they want to have access to as many people as possible. If it's an office environment that can be setup anywhere they want to setup in a place that's as cheap as possible. Not much more.

Yeah, there are sure tons of industrial parks that have piles of office space for those companies that don't want to pay city prices. Bottom lines are important to all companies last I checked.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

If it's an office environment that can be setup anywhere they want to setup in a place that's as cheap as possible.

Again, the best office location very much depends on the kind of business, because some get a benefit from--and indeed need to get a benefit from--locating in CBDs. Others benefit from being near hospitals or universities, and so forth.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by jay5835

I ate there today, and asked why they weren't open over the weekend. The waitress told me they wanted to be open, but didn't have some official sticker they need, and without which they'd be fined.

That's interesting. I did notice that it said hours 11-6:30, M-F and "for now" was written right on the sign.

I wasn't going to eat there today, but when I went over to Market Square I wandered up to that corner and there was no line because it was late. Oh well.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

It's pretty simple where companies are willing to set up shop. If it's a retail business they want to have access to as many people as possible. If it's an office environment that can be setup anywhere they want to setup in a place that's as cheap as possible. Not much more.

[Copanut]

Never wanted this to be a burbs vs the city type thing, only to say how much the city has been alive the last couple weeks. We'll never have a nightlife like Chicago or NY, especially during the week, but the weekends lately have been great.

As to those that dislike the suburbs, especially Cranberry, they must be doing something right, it's one of the fastest growing communities in the state.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Cranberry, they must be doing something right, it's one of the fastest growing communities in the state.

They just do that because of costs. Wish Pittsburgh would take some lessons.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Not many medium and small companies headquartered downtown. Just have a look at all the RIDC Parks and South Point and more that are around that are headquarters. Just the way it is Brian and many of these companies have been around a very long time, so they must have been pretty smart. Bottom line is, there isn't much in the way of advantages being downtown unless you are the likes of UPMC or PNC. Those are NO small to medium sized. Starting a company downtown would be tough. No thanks.

I've been working for local tech startups for the last 13 years and they've all been located within the city limits. The reason for that is obvious, that's where it's easiest for all of the employees to get to. If you put your company in Cranberry, then you can only attract employees who live in the north hills, no one else will want to trek up there. If my company, which is on the northside, would move to Cranberry, it would lose 1/2 its very hard to replace employees. Did you happen to notice where Google moved last year? Did they move to the 'burbs? No, they moved to East Liberty because a huge amount of the high-tech community lives in the east end near the universities.

[SteelCityRising]

I concur wholeheartedly with GeneW's post. Living in the East End what would truly incentivize me to commute out to the western 'burbs like Robinson Township or Moon Township? How many people will want to commute from Mt. Lebanon to Cranberry Twp.? How many people will want to commute from Kennedy Twp. to Monroeville? At least locating in the city expands your possibilities to draw from the greatest talent pool possible.

As for me I'll continue to sell fruit and live below the poverty line as I pass up opportunity after opportunity in the suburbs to avoid miserable commutes.