History: From an industrial past to advanced manufacturing future
Mill 19 is a 265,000 square-foot complex on the 178-acre Hazelwood Green site, once owned by J&L Steel Hazelwood Works and LTV Steel. The building was left to rust when the steel industry collapsed, but its bones – an underlying steel superstructure – remain strong. With revival and reuse plans well underway, Mill 19 is being transformed into an engine of revitalization for the entire community.
In 2020, we completed the 2nd building at Mill 19, a new 70,000 square foot workspace that houses Motional, an autonomous vehicle R&D company. The three-story building includes offices, ground floor garages and workshop spaces. Mill 19’s first building houses Carnegie Mellow University’s ARM and MFI, Catalyst Connection and YKK AP Technologies Lab (NA) Inc. In late 2021, we began construction of our third and final building under the existing steel structure, a 100,000 sf tech/flex speculative building capable of handling various types of tenants. The first floor has an increased ceiling height compared to the other buildings to accommodate large vehicles and the upper floor iscapable of housing lab, office or other workspaces. Construction was completed in 2022.
Sustainability
In contrast to the pollution produced by the original facility, as was once typical of the steel industry, Mill 19 has been designed to be eco-friendly, environmentally sustainable and LEED v4 Gold certified. A high-performance envelope provides maximum thermal efficiency and up to 96% daylight autonomy. Two-thirds of the complex’s total electricity usage is offset by energy generated on site and storm water is conveyed through a rainwater garden to centrally located infiltration basins. Captured rooftop rainwater is reused in the cooling tower and for flushing in the restrooms.
Looking Towards the Future
The entire 178-acre Hazelwood Green property adjacent to Mill 19 – separately owned by Almono LP, a collaboration of three major Pittsburgh foundations – benefitted early on from RIDC’s management of multi-million-dollar site grading, environmental remediation and road access projects. Today, RIDC’s Mill 19 is creating a center of gravity for the entire site and, indeed, for the entire community, as investors and other businesses, spurred by recent news of new construction and exciting new tenants, are showing increased interest in surrounding property. There is already emerging a new energy and vitality that we haven’t seen in this area for many years.
“Hazelwood Green is a living laboratory for the new economy, bridging the gap between research and practice in today’s fast-changing, technology-driven marketplace,” said Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University.
With robotics and advanced manufacturing rapidly becoming economic pillars of the region, RIDC’s connectivity to so many of these companies and organizations has been crucially important. Those relationships have enabled us to develop a vision for the future for many of our sites, making them productive again, getting them back on the tax rolls and producing thousands of new jobs.
