First Bakery Square 2.0 building almost full; Shadyside site ready to expand

With its first office building essentially full, developer Walnut Capital hopes to start construction of a second one at Bakery Square 2.0 in the booming Penn Avenue corridor in the East End later this year.

Todd Reidbord, Walnut Capital president, said today the firm is ready to start construction of the second six-story, 213,000-square-foot building in Shadyside as soon as it secures a significant commitment from a tenant. He doesnt think hell have to wait long for that.

We expect something to happen this year. The time is right. Pittsburghs hot, he said.

Mr. Reidbord made his comments after Walnut Capitals formal announcement that software company Autodesk will relocate from its offices in OHara and take about 15,000 square feet in the first building once it is completed in spring 2016. The new space will house up to 65 employees.

The move will put Autodesk closer to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, which will enable us to more closely collaborate on research and technology development with both universities, and make it easier for their students to do internships with the Autodesk Pittsburgh team, said Noah Cole, Autodesk spokesman.

With the move, the space in the first 215,000-square-foot, Gold LEED-certified building at Bakery Square 2.0 will be all but filled, Mr. Reidbord said. Google is the main tenant.

He added that officials at Pitt and CMU have been telling him that there appears to be great interest from tech-based companies in relocating to or adding offices in Pittsburgh. Given that, the goal is to start construction of a second building this year, he said.

Now that the first building is nearly full, we think well have more activity for a second building, Mr. Reidbord said.

Bakery Square, the redevelopment of the former Nabisco bakery in Larimer, already is full, with Google, UPMCs Technology Development Center, and CMUs Software Engineering Institute among the tenants. It is located across the street from Bakery Square 2.0.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com.

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First Bakery Square 2.0 building almost full; Shadyside site ready to expand