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Area makes progress in preparing sites
Even so, the Pittsburgh area has attributes that are changing the attitudes of some corporations, according to a panel of six national site selection experts whose job it is to find sites for clients planning to relocate or expand.
"Five years ago, when I was last here, you had few if any shovel-ready sites for new (developments), but today the region has 2,000 acres -- over half a dozen sites -- that meet that criteria," said Robert Ady of Ady International Co., Chicago, one of the panel members.
"And to keep young people in the community you must provide them with housing Downtown, something that wasn't too available five years ago but is being built now," he said.
Growth has lagged here in recent years, but it is starting to improve. Average job levels increased in Western Pennsylvania in 2005 for the first time in four years. The seven-county region averaged 1.14 million jobs in 2005, up slightly from 2004, according to state figures released in April.
Ady said the "hidden gem" of Pittsburgh is the amount of research and development activity that is under way here with at least 100 projects that involve everything from food to health care. "That R&D activity should attract more firms to the region," he said.
"I am already astonished at the improvements I've seen thus far," Ady said.
One of the region's attractions is its cutting-edge involvement in the green-environment trend, said Mark Sweeney of McCallum Sweeney Consulting, Greenville, S.C. The David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown, is the nation's largest environmentally friendly building, for example.
"Pittsburgh is well-positioned as more corporations tend to go green, wanting buildings that are environmentally safe for their employees to work in," he said.
Jim Bruce of Business Facility Planning Consultants, Norcross, Ga., said the Pittsburgh region had many challenges, but has responded better than other communities with similar problems.
Cities that Pittsburgh is competing with for new companies are Rochester and Syracuse in New York, Baltimore, Norfolk (Va.), and even Philadelphia, said Ron Ruberg of Location Advisory Services Inc., West Long Branch, N.J.. Sweeney added Charleston, W.Va., and several Ohio cities for warehouse/distribution facilities.
The site selectors were in town yesterday for a tour sponsored by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and spoke at an event held by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties' Pittsburgh Chapter at the Imperial Business Park, North Fayette.
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