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500 New Jobs Expected At The Waterfront With Macy's Being Re-Purposed For Office Space

HOMESTEAD (KDKA) -- The Waterfront is getting some new tenants.

The old Macy's building in the center of the complex across from Barnes & Noble is being rehabbed.

"We bought the Macy's building a year ago from Macy's," Marty Sweeney, senior vice president of M&J Wilkow in Chicago told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Friday via FaceTime. "We knew that they were closing stores nationwide. We approached them, and we wanted to get ahead of that and be the owner of that project before they closed."

M&J Wilkow is the Waterfront's managing partner.

"Over the last nine months, we've been working turning it into an office building, bringing a different vitality to the Waterfront," he said.

Sweeney says the main occupants will be the Commonwealth Charter Academy, one of the state's largest public cyber schools, and Siemens Mobility, a leader in transportation solutions.

The new office building will add 500 new jobs to the Waterfront.

On the first floor, Commonwealth Charter Academy will house its administrative offices and production labs.

On the second floor, Siemens Mobility will have an engineering and research development hub for rail infrastructure.

Since M&J Wilkow took over the Waterfront in 2012, it has tried to upgrade and diversify the occupants at the site.

Turning Macy's into an office building is just the latest.

"For us at the Waterfront, not only does it revitalize an obsolete department store building, but it brings to all of our stores, all of our restaurants and retailers, 500 well-paid people every single day, Monday through Friday," said Sweeney.

Although 90 percent leased, there are still 13,000 square feet available.

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