Cozza investor group Blue Sky Acquisition closes on Newbury Market buy in South Fayette

A new investor group has bought the first phase of the remaining 32 acres still to be developed at Newbury Market, the long-delayed retail component of a larger master plan which a collection of banks working as Thistle Financial Group LLC took ownership of through a foreclosure process in 2020.

Blue Sky Acquisition LLC announced it has closed on buying the first 12 acres in a two-phase deal with a closing on the remaining 20 acres still to come.



Blue Sky is an investor group lead by local developer Craig Cozza that also includes local lawyer Jon Altman and Tony Rossi, a senior vice president in the Pittsburgh office of CBRE specializing in finance. The investor group also features a late addition in Al Lardo, whose family-owned development company is perhaps best known for its ongoing Rockwell Park redevelopment that sprawls over the city's North Point Breeze neighborhood along Penn Avenue...Read More

Aldi store to anchor new Imperial Crossing development in North Fayette

Aldi isn't done expanding in the Pittsburgh area, where it already has established more than 40 of its limited-assortment grocery stores.

The grocery chain is establishing a new store near the junction of Routes 22 and 30 at a ground-up retail project called Imperial Crossings in North Fayette.



It's a new project by an affiliate of Horizon Properties called Dry Run Development LLC scheduled to begin seeking approvals from the North Fayette Planning Commission in a meeting scheduled for April 8, according to agenda materials. A site plan for the development details a discount grocery store of a little more than 20,600 square feet and a separate building proposed to include a 2,500-square-foot coffee shop and adjoining retail building. Agenda materials indicate the project needs a conditional use approval in a designated mixed-use zoning district...Read More

Massive plan calls for hotel attached to David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh

For more than 20 years, development of a headquarters hotel attached to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center has eluded local political leaders and tourism officials. But just when there appeared to be virtually no momentum for such a project, a new plan has arrived at their doorsteps.

Loews Hotels & Company is pitching the idea of building a hotel featuring at least 500 rooms on the Downtown side of the convention center, according to sources.



The project, estimated at more than $400 million, would utilize two parking lots at Penn Avenue and 10th Street that have long been reserved for such a development...Read More

Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership outlines strategies for improving the Golden Triangle

As it grapples with high office vacancies and lingering concerns about safety, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is doubling down on efforts aimed at “reinventing” the Golden Triangle.

In its 2023 annual report released Wednesday, the PDP said its goals this year include advocating for and supporting strategies to encourage the reuse of failing office buildings and empty storefronts, while offering loans and grants and a new rent rebate program to attract new retailers.



Partnership officials urged those in attendance during the PDP”s annual meeting at the Union Trust Building to be “catalysts for change” in helping to reinvent the city’s core...Read More

Pittsburgh surge: Home prices here are rising faster than anywhere else in the country

Pittsburgh’s home prices are rising like the Duquesne Incline.

According to the latest Redfin report, the Steel City is ranked No. 1 in their list of top 10 metros in the U.S. with the fastest-growing sales price.

The price of houses in the Pittsburgh metro area shot up 22% in February 2024 compared to February 2023, according to the Redfin report, which shows prices in this region surged at a pace that left other U.S. metro areas in the dust..Read More