2 min read November 2022 —In an interview with Invest:, Donald Smith, president of the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC), talked about the regional focus of RIDC and its focus on autonomous vehicles and robotics. “I believe, and no one has been able to disprove me, that we have more autonomous vehicle tenants in our portfolio than any landlord in the world. Uber, Argo and Aurora all started in our space, or are in our space now,” he said.
What would you highlight as major milestones for the RIDC over the last year?
It has been a busy year for us. The pandemic had an impact on the economy but despite that, we have done very well. That is reflective of both the investment climate in Pittsburgh and on our focus on leveraging the universities, hospitals and autonomous/robotic companies. I believe, and no one has been able to disprove me, that we have more autonomous vehicle tenants in our portfolio than any landlord in the world. Uber, Argo and Aurora all started in our space, or are in our space now. There are others in the supply chain that are tenants. As that technology emerges, it is good for our development activities.
We have really focused on the regional part of the Regional Industrial Development Corporation. We are doing a lot near the universities and we just built our third building in Hazelwood Green. We are also focusing on more industrial opportunities in places like Westmoreland and Armstrong counties as well as Mercer, Butler and Lawrence counties. That can take the form of distribution or manufacturing activities, especially in advanced manufacturing. We have a safety/test track facility called PennStart, where we will build an on-road and off-road test track for autonomous vehicles, in partnership with PennDOT and the PA Turnpike commission. That is a $20-plus million project. And in the most exciting news, we have the biggest pipeline of projects we have ever had.
What partnerships are important to your business right now?
We just partnered with the city of Pittsburgh and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to redevelop the Ferrywood site. This was a public housing site that was taken down 10-15 years ago. Four or five developers have taken a run at redeveloping it, unsuccessfully, but we are working in partnership with the URA on that site. The first building is fully leased and will start construction shortly and we have a prospect for the second building. We have also taken over the development of the Carrie Furnace site in partnership with Allegheny County. We have two buildings in design now. One of the two is a soundstage for movie and TV production. Pittsburgh is an active site for shoots but we don’t have a purpose-built soundstage.
What specific regions around Pittsburgh are you focusing on?
A big chunk of our projects are in Lawrenceville. Twenty or 30 years ago, this was a challenged neighborhood. There was a lot of vacancy and crime, and rents and property values were low. Carnegie Mellon put in their National Robotics Engineering Center and we developed the Chocolate Factory adjacent to that. Many robotics companies have spun out of these buildings, which has brought profound growth and positive change to Lawrenceville. We also established the first purpose built robotics/tech flex commercial building in Pittsburgh called Tech Forge where Caterpillar’s autonomous division, Locomation and Evoqua are located.
We also have an existing test track for Argo AI at our Westmoreland site, where they have a 50-acre test facility, as well as engineering space. Westmoreland County is on the rise because they have a terrific team and focused approach. They have successfully built a very good network of their own industrial parks. We are looking at a connected corridor project between West Hazelwood and Westmoreland.
What is the future of manufacturing?
For the United States in general, but especially for our region, we need to strengthen our manufacturing. These jobs are high-multiplier, supply-chain rich and family-sustaining. The service sector is great but it derives from other industries. The traded sectors are where we need to focus our economic development attention. We build a lot of manufacturing and engineering-type buildings that target these higher-wage industries and jobs. It is hard to get the attention of public leaders on small deals sometimes, but that ignores that Google started here with three people and has become a huge driver. Facebook started with a tiny presence here and has expanded rapidly and Apple continues to grow from its initial office into a major regional employer. We need to get these high-leverage, technology-intensive companies into the region to support growth.
There are many opportunities in manufacturing. In particular, robotics and automated technologies are important. Some people think these are job replacement technologies but I know they are job creation technologies. There are some new national and international studies that show that when manufacturers invest in automation they create more jobs, not fewer. People are starting to understand that. We need to implement these technologies to make American workers more competitive and to keep those jobs here. I am optimistic about the ability of these fields to create jobs if people can stop thinking about them as job-destroying. If the steel factories used this tech, they would still be here. We need to be focused on the future and not just on the old ways of doing things.
What is your outlook for Pittsburgh in the next few years?
Our base is really strong and we have great opportunities and companies here. I am very bullish on the RIDC’s prospects for the next few years. We are going to deliver somewhere between a half million and a million square feet of new product and we are excited about those projects. We have good tenants lined up, so we are well-positioned to have a strong couple of years.
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