Almono Mill Building Redevelopment Gets the Green Light

By Adriana Pop

Pittsburgh—The Pittsburgh Planning Commission has approved the redevelopment proposal of the remaining steel mill building at the 178-acre Almono site in Hazelwood.

An aerial view of the 178-acre Almono site in Hazelwood.

The Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania is planning to repurpose 65,000 square feet into flex space, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported.

The new structure, known as Mill 19, aims to attract tech and robotics firms. The project has an estimated cost of $20 million and represents the initial phase of a larger, three-phase redevelopment plan that totals 180,000 square feet.

RIDC plans to maintain the building’s original mill structure while adding contemporary features. Construction is expected to begin next spring. Tim White, a senior vice president for RIDC, told the newspaper that the company is moving forward with the project on a speculative basis, but expects to have lease commitments and full financing in place before the start of construction.

Almono is a mixed-use innovation district planned for the former LTV Steel site along the Monongahela River. The name Almono comes from the three Pittsburgh rivers—the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio.

The site has undergone the rezoning process and has been approved for $80 million in tax-increment financing, the largest in the city of Pittsburgh’s history. A massive site grading process was completed in 2014, and construction on infrastructure began in the fall of 2015. RIDC is managing the development efforts but hopes to attract private developers and individual companies to the site.

Earlier in the summer, RIDC broke ground on another innovative spec project in metro Pittsburgh. The Tech Forge is a 64,000-square-foot high-tech industrial building that could put Lawrenceville, Pa., on the map as a leading robotics hub.

Image courtesy of RIDC