Hazelwood Green Mega-Project Taking Shape in Pittsburgh

"The latest plan for the former LTV coke works in Hazelwood envisions a more robust urban design, mixed uses ranging from office to residential, a concerted effort to connect the 178-acre site to the neighborhood, and cutting-edge sustainability standards," reports Mark Belko.

Property owners Almono LP—a partnership of Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation—are moving forward with their plan to redevelop Hazelwood Green, a 178-acre tract of riverfront in the city of Pittsburgh.

"Under the latest proposal, the overall site would be divided into three districts — River with 22.8 acres at the western edge closest to Downtown, Mill with 44.3 acres in the middle of the site; and Flats with 31.1 acres at the east end," according to Belko. "In all, the target goal for the development is 4.3 million square of office, light industrial, and related types of development and 3.8 million square feet of residential."

The Regional Industrial Development Corporation is already under construction on the nearby Mill 19 building, which will eventually house Carnegie Mellon University’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute and Manufacturing Futures Initiative. According to a separate article by Belko, Almono is already looking for interest from developers to redevelop 32 acres in the middle of the Hazelwood Green tract, in the Mill District section of the project.

For the larger political and societal context for this massive development, Jake Leffew has also contributed feature-length, interactive coverage of the changes in Hazelwood. "On Hazelwood Green, the foundations expect to host a mixed-income residential neighborhood with light manufacturing and tech-centric jobs, as well as jogging trails and other amenities. In the community, they are attempting an ambitious experiment in urban renewal that seeks to defy the tragic narratives left by many of Pittsburgh’s revitalization efforts over the past 70 years: to revive the neighborhood without displacing long-term, low-income renters," writes Leffew, to summarize the potential impact of the redevelopment project.