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Sam Spatter 412-320-7843Business WriterPittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Sam Spatter
Published: Saturday, March 29, 2014 9:00 p.m.
• Jason Lardo of Integrity Construction has acquired avacant lot and adjoining building in the 5800 block of BaumBoulevard in East Liberty but has not announced his plansfor the properties. The purchase through Baum Grove LPinvolved the building owned by Family Resources at 5874Baum, which was purchased for $1.5 million, and the adjoining lot at 5848 Baum, owned by CrossgatesRealty Inc., which was purchased for $800,000. According to Skip Schwab, manager of ELD Real EstateLLC, part of East Liberty Development Inc., the initial plans are to clean up the site and the exterior of thebuilding, which will be used temporarily for offices. No long-term plans were announced, he said. Lardo lastyear opened the 15-apartment Bovie House at 5730 Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside.
Real estate notes: Buyer of East Liberty blockweighs long-term plans
From the Pittsburgh Business Times:http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/blog/the-next-move/2014/03/east-libertys-next-property-to-watch.html
Mar 25, 2014, 4:30pm EDT
East Liberty's next property to watch forredevelopment
Tim SchooleyReporter- Pittsburgh Business TimesEmail | Twitter | Google+ | Facebook
Jason Lardo leads a tour of his new property, a work in process for which he’s striving to find abalance between short-term prospects and long-term potential.
“It’s very tricky,” he said, showing off the collection of rooms, a gymnasium and a rooftop deckand play yard in a property a short walk from the East Liberty Whole Foods. “Obviously, this isnot the highest and best use for the property.”
The property is the former Family Resources Inc. building, a long structure facing years deferredmaintenance on Baum Boulevard that includes 53,000 square feet of space on three levelsthat sits on a lot of three-fourths of an acre of land.
A few weeks ago, an investment group in which Lardo is the managing partner called BaumGrove LP bought the building from Family Resources Inc. for $1.5 million after it was originallylisted for $2.25 million. At the same time, Lardo's group bought the neighboring open plot fromCrossgates Inc., which at one time planned to build a new condo project on the site.
Now, Lardo, who also is a principal of Monroeville-based Integrity Construction Co., is makingbasic improvements to the Family Resources building with the expectation of leasing it forthe near future to help defray basic ownership expenses. He’s already had talks with the BeautyShoppe tech incubator on nearby Penn Avenue about taking space in the building and isreaching out to others as he seeks to keep the building busy as a hub for office users, artistsand various community activities.
At the same time, he’s been working with architect David Roth and his Downtown Design Co. ona future design to redevelop the property.
Lardo comes to the property with the cost advantages of performing his own constructionthrough Integrity, a company that specializes in building with insulated concrete forms, an
energy-efficient construction technique. He estimated that he can cut between 10 percent and20 percent out of the development costs for such a project by building it with his own company.
“A lot of developers can’t do the developments that we can do,” he said.
With his most recent project the almost fully leased Bovie House apartments on EllsworthAvenue, Lardo told me it’s too early to offer specifics of what he would like to develop on theproperty. But he sees strong prospects for it as a retail location as well as for residential on asite he expects he could build as high as six stories in what easily could be a multi-million-dollardevelopment project. Office space could also be a possibility, he said.
“We’re in no hurry. We’re sitting back and watching things evolve," Lardo said.
That’s in an East Liberty in which the pace of revitalization continues to quicken. The EastLiberty Transit Center is well under construction, along with two hotels in what is now a busyretail trade area with Target, Home Depot and Trader Joe’s. Not far from Lando'sproperty, the 127-unit Walnut on Highland apartment building redevelopment is more than 95percent leased.
It was just such market activity that helped to motivate Family Resources to sell and relocate tothe Uptown area, where it could establish operations with more parking, said Pete Licastro,president of Point Bridge Realty Advisors, who represented the nonprofit in the sale.
“East Liberty obviously has been very hot with everything that continues to happen over there,”said Licastro. “For my client, the availability of client parking was a very significantconsideration. We couldn’t find a property that provided the kind of space that they needed.”
The transaction puts one of the last unspoken-for properties of any size in the core of EastLiberty in the hands of a motivated developer.
Nate Cunningham, of East Liberty Development Inc., is eager to see Lardo pursue new plans forthe property.
“I think that it is great that he stepped out, bought the building, and is looking to position it asa higher density redevelopment opportunity,” said Cunningham, who grew up with Lardo inMonroeville. “Lots of people like to draw, not everyone wants to put down hard money againstthose sorts of opportunities.”
It’s a property to watch as Lardo continues to evaluate its potential, describing the strength ofthe location as basic fact.
“This is the core,” he said.
Tim Schooley covers retail, real estate, construction, hospitality, arts andentertainment, and government. Contact him at [email protected] or 412-208-3826.
