Crews Break Ground On Site Of Future Philips Office Building In Bakery Square

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The next phase of Bakery Square is about to get underway.

A 200,000-square-foot office building will be constructed across the street from the old Nabisco facility. When it's done, it will be home to the sleep and respiratory care group of Philips Corporation.

"We are only halfway done. We have a lot more to do. We're so excited that Philips is coming. It's going to be another transformational addition to our economy in the city of Pittsburgh. It will be great jobs, great people here, help our schools, help everything," Walnut Capital President Todd Reidbord said.

"By moving here to Bakery Square, clearly one of the premier parts of Pittsburgh, we hope it will capitalize on the the energy and growth in this area and continue the great work that we've done for patients all over the world," John Frank, business group leader at Philips Corporation, said.

While Google and other tech partners are just across Penn Avenue, it's another partnership in the region that's making Bakery Square attractive to companies like Philips.

"We've created sort of this hub of activity. It's not just Google. It's UPMC Enterprises is here. We have Carnegie Mellon here. We have the University of Pittsburgh. I think them being able to collaborate with each other is fantastic," Reidbord said.

Philips is known for electronics, but has also made big in-roads in healthcare. It plans to bring more than 1,200 employees to Bakery Square.

"This business in the Pittsburgh area helps people with sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, and there are hundreds of millions of patients around the world that we help on a nightly basis get a better night's sleep, along with chronic respiratory patients," Frank said.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday, and it won't be long until the big excavators move in so they can start working in earnest. They hope to have everything ready for Philips to move in by 2020.