AdVenture Development adds office space to McCandless Crossing plans

From the Pittsburgh Business Times

North Carolina-based real estate developer AdVenture

Development LLC is expanding the scope of its mixed-used

development project in McCandless Township to include an

office component.

North Side-based NAI Pittsburgh Commercial

launched the marketing effort this week to lease a five-

story, 60,000-square-foot office building at the project, the

first of what is expected to be three office buildings at the

mixed-use development.

McCandless Crossing is proposed as a one million-plus square foot development anchored by a

Lowe’s Home Improvement store, to be located along a stretch of McKnight Road on the

northern edge of McCandless Township. McCandless Crossing is also expected to include a

grocery-anchored town center, a movie theater, hotels and town houses.

Paul Horan, a principal at NAI Pittsburgh who is marketing the new office project, expects the

office space will appeal to medical office users given McCandless Crossing’s proximity to the

UPMC Passavant Hospital.

Announcing Premier Mixed Use Development

NAI Pittsburgh Commercial is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the exclusive leasing of the office space component of McCandless Crossing, a + 130 acre mixed use development in McCandless Township in the North Hills of Pittsburgh.

Anchored by a Lowe’s Home Improvement Store, McCandless Crossing is a 1,000,000 + SF project consisting of a Towne Center component and a master planned area including retail, office, hotels, entertainment and residential. It is in close proximity to Pittsburgh’s premier suburban hospital, UPMC Passavant.

The goal of the developer, AdVenture Development, LLC, is to create a project that complements the existing base of properties and knits them together in a cohesive plan that will further energize the North Hills.

The initial phase of the office component will be a five story 60,000 SF Class “A” office building. Two additional similar sized properties will be developed as dictated by the demand for premier office/medical office space conveniently located at the intersection of Duncan Avenue and McKnight Road.

For more information on this project, please contact Paul Horan, Principal at NAI Pittsburgh Commercial at (412) 321-4200 ext. 205 or phoran@naipittsburgh.com

Imminent Deadlines for PA Real Estate Assessment Appeals (Courtesy of Pepper Hamilton LLP)

PA Appeal Deadlines - 2010 Tax Year

Absent any county-wide reassessment or county-wide ratio change, the annual deadlines for assessment appeals in Pennsylvania are as follows:

August 1, 2009: Berks, Bucks, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Lancaster, Lehigh, York

August 31, 2009: Butler, Luzerne, Wyoming

September 1, 2009: Adams, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford (see below) Blair (see below)
Bradford, Cambria. Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton,
Columbia, Crawford, Cumberland, Elk, Fayette (see below), Forest,
Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata,
Lackawanna, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin,
Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry,
Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga,
Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland

October 1, 2009: Philadelphia County

March 31, 2010: Allegheny County

Read more

Dusty Elias Kirk and Sharon F. DiPaolo are partners in the firm's Real Estate Practice Group . If you have any questions concerning real estate or real estate tax assessment appeals, please contact Dusty Elias Kirk at kirkd@pepperlaw.com; 412.454.5039 or Sharon F. DiPaolo at dipaolos@pepperlaw.com ; 412.454.5005.

Economic Update: New Issue of Linneman Letter Available for Download

We are pleased to share with you this special edition of The Linneman Letter.

In this issue, Dr. Peter Linneman, NAI Global’s Chief Economist and Principal at Linneman Associates, provides his insight into the current economy, inflation pressures, when the recovery will take hold, and uses a comparison of today’s global recession to past downturns to forecast the coming months.

You can download a complimentary copy here. And for an in-depth review of the current state of the economy presented by Dr. Linneman, download the second quarter Global Economic Outlook web conference OnDemand.

NAI Pittsburgh Commercial is a Pittsburgh proud locally owned and operated company. To see some of the investment and development opportunities available in the Pittsburgh region CLICK HERE

Pittsburgh's commercial market leads nation in real estate for business purposes

By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Pittsburgh's commercial real estate market has maintained its No. 1 position in the nation, according to Moody's Investors Service.

The New York-based ratings company's second-quarter Red-Yellow-Green report issued Tuesday ranked the seven-county region as the top market overall among 60 metropolitan areas nationwide.

Although Oklahoma City was listed as No. 1 in the first quarter 2009 report, Moody's adjusted its method of ranking, which eliminated Oklahoma City and moved Pittsburgh back into the No. 1 spot for that period.Pittsburgh also was rated No. 1 at year-end 2008.

Moody's rated Pittsburgh in three of seven real estate categories the company uses to compare markets. Cities must be rated in three or more categories to get a final ranking. Pittsburgh was judged on multi-family housing, Downtown office vacancies, and full and limited service hotels' occupancy rates. It was not included in retail, industrial or suburban office ratings.

The No. 1 ranking continues the long climb back for the local market, which Moody's ranked among the 10 "most troubled" throughout most of 2005.

Moody's ranking adds to a list of accolades for the region's real estate market.

Kiplinger.com named Pittsburgh one of its six Safe Havens in Real Estate, notingPittsburgh's investment real estate has steadily increased in value with properties in the Downtown, Oakland and Centre/Baum corridor attracting investors willing to pay top dollar for prime real estate.

Moody's uses performances in the seven categories of real estate to arrive at a composite score ranging from 0 to 100.

The name of the report comes from how it describes a market's performance in traffic-light colors, with scores of 0-33 identified as red, 34-66 as yellow, and 67-100 as green.

Moody's evaluation gives the Pittsburgh area a composite score of 52 in the yellow category. The lower score is because of the nation's deflated economy, Moody said.

NAI Pittsburgh Commercial is a Pittsburgh proud locally owned and operated company. To see some of the investment and development opportunities available in the Pittsburgh region CLICK HERE

Economic Outlook: Commercial Real Estate Loans..

Commercial Real Estate Loans Weighing Heavily on Bank Earning Statements

Today's (July 20th) issue of the Wall Street Journal featured an article in the Money & Investing section about the suffering commercial real estate financing industry and its impact on the banking crisis.

As many people are aware, banks have been failing in large numbers over the last 18 months due to short-sighted lending policies and, in some instances, mismanagement and fiduciary scams at senior levels. Now commercial real estate, often a solid monetary investment, is coming under fire as properties and property portfolios are being devalued by increasing vacancies, falling rents and changes in how companies are pursuing their commercial space strategies.

As earnings season heats up in the last couple of weeks of July, investors are closely watching the financial statements from banks and lending institutions to see how they are writing off the commercial loan losses, and for insight into the financial institutions' plans for addressing these earnings issues in the coming months. (You can read Lingling Wei's story here.)

With the commercial real estate market valued at approximately $6.7 trillion USD, is the industry too big to fail? And how will the stock market react to these losses, or perception that losses are coming? The coming quarter should prove most interesting to watch.

Global Economic Outlook - June 2009 now available OnDemand

Is this the “worst ever” yet? Have we hit bottom?

NAI Global’s Chief Economist Dr. Peter Linneman tells us it is “time to rebuild the confidence” in the U.S. economy. We are nearing a bottom, but it will be a while before recovery takes hold. He provides insight into how the economy is improving, which sectors will improve first and the telltale signs recovery is under way. Listen to the June 2009 Global Economic Outlook web conference OnDemand.

Agency Expertise: 80,000SF New Construction

Full service commercial brokerage firm, NAI Pittsburgh Commercial (www.naipittsburgh.com/412.321.4200), has been selected by Kossman Development Company (www.kossman.com/412.921.6100) as the Exclusive Leasing Agent for the new Valley Commerce Center strategically located on Rt. 50 parallel to Interstate 79 in Bridgeville. The first of the two (2) planned single story Class “A” flex buildings is under construction with the earth work slated for completion by the end of June 2009. The foundation and shell will begin immediately with the exterior and base building scheduled for completion by 3^rd Quarter 2009. John Bilyak of NAI Pittsburgh stated, “We are extremely excited about marketing new flex product in the southern I-79 submarket. This project offers amenities, class “A” building specs, and parking that make it unique to a region in need of quality building product.”

The versatility offered by the 44,244 square foot Building One will be conducive to those tenants with office, flex, lab and clean value added manufacturing applications.

John C. Bilyak, Director of Industrial Brokerage and Patrick J. Sentner, SIOR, Principal of NAI Pittsburgh Commercial, are leading the leasing efforts on behalf of Kossman Development Company.