Developer Plans To Make Allegheny Center Mall New Tech Hub
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Allegheny Center Mall initially opened in the 1960s as a destination point -- shopping, restaurants, a place to spend the afternoons.
But recently the mall has looked vacant.
However, an out of town developer has new ideas for the building. A crowded press conference today applauded as developer Jeremy Leventhal of Faros Properties unveiled his vision for the future, Nova Place a campus style building to house a technology hub.
"Between Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, UPMC and Duquesne, this city had some of the top talent in the country, that's why we started investing here, originally," said Leventhal.
The idea is to take what was a mall and turn it into a 1.2 million square foot combination of office space, shared workspace and add in a conference center, fitness center a possibly restaurants and retail space.
Mayor Bill Peduto shared his excitement about the project.
"It's a whole new vision for this area," he said. "This is three times the size of Bakery Square. This area is bigger than the 28 acres around the arena site."
Anchor tenants already in the building are planning to stay - or expand, like PNC and Bank of America, with a focus on technology moving forward.
Innovation Works has signed on as a new tenant already. The new Nova Place will have a walkway through the middle of the building, opening up the area, changing the feel from mall to campus and there will be bike access too - connecting the North Side to downtown.
Mayor Peduto says it's the first time this area will be connected to downtown since the 1960s.
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