New Development in Findlay/Moon Twp.

May 31, 2013

by Atlantic Territorries

A parcel of land near the Pittsburgh International Airport is now going to be named Findlay Crossing. This development will be across from the Park ‘N Fly near the Dick’s Headquarters. This area is set to be for businesses in the area and maybe a retail parking venture. The property is being developed with three local investors. You can find out more by checking out bizjournals.

A local partnership is buying a 30-acre parcel of land near the Pittsburgh International Airport on which it plans to develop a 335,000-square-foot office park called Findlay Crossing.

CDR Development LLC reached an agreement of sale a few weeks ago to buy the lot on Flaugherty Run and Clinton Roads near the Dick’s Sporting Goods corporate campus from Atlanta-based Park ‘N Fly, an operator of airport parking lots, according to Ron Sofranko, a partner in the firm.

CDR is named from the first initials of the company’s three partners: Charlie Brown, an airport area parking entrepreneur; David Dietrich, a principal of an at-home senior health care services firm; and Sofranko, a restaurateur and consultant who also has developed real estate.

“I think the timing is perfect,” Sofranko said of his partnership’s plans for the site. “We’re excited. It’s a great piece of property.”

Joe Crisafulli, senior director of business development for Park ‘N Fly, said his company hasn’t operated a parking lot on its Findlay property in more than five years and the company has opted to focus on its core markets.

“I don’t know any reason why it won’t close,” he said of the sale.

So far, CDR is working on two potential plans for the site.

The first would be to develop about 20 acres into a 335,000-square-foot office campus, with Brown using the remaining 10 acres for a parking operation, Sofranko said. Alternatively, the parking lot could be scrapped for more office space if demand calls for it, Sofranko noted.

Sofranko expects the plan by Brown to use a portion of the property for a parking venture will help finance the project but emphasized there isn’t an expectation to build a 200,000-square-foot office building on a speculative basis.

It’s a location that is not only close to the airport and the headquarters for Dick’s Sporting Goods but also a 10-minute drive from the cracker plant proposed by Royal Dutch Shell in nearby Beaver County, added Sofranko.

He expects the sale to close in the next 90 days after a due diligence period and put the value of the land at about $200,000 per acre.

Sofranko said CDR is working to hire a commercial real estate firm to represent Findlay Crossing. An architect has yet to be chosen to design the development. CDR is working with Hampton Engineering.

The announcement of Findlay Crossing marks another major development project in a Parkway West office submarket that has seen a dramatic turnaround from facing double-digit vacancies two years ago to one where it’s challenging to find larger blocks of space.

Dan Adamski, a managing director in the Pittsburgh office of Jones Lang LaSalle, said he is working with several office clients seeking more than 50,000 square feet of space who are finding limited options.

“Right now, the Parkway West has gotten incredibly tight for large blocks of space,” he said. “So the timing is excellent.”

Kim Ford, managing principal for Cresa Pittsburgh, which specializes in tenant representation, sees the Parkway West office market as a selection of offices that are either new or old with little available in the middle in a time when she’s seeing more and more clients sensitive to rising rents in the region.

Rates at Findlay Crossing will be key, she said.

“I think it will depend on what the rental rates are,” For said. “If they can keep the rental rates in the low $20s (per square foot), I think they’ll be successful.”