Just days after Bridgeway Capital announced it had received a $1 million state grant to finish the custom build-out of space in the 150,000-square-foot former Westinghouse facility it owns in Homewood, it has announced a major new tenant—the University of Pittsburgh.
Bridgeway CEO Mark Peterson made the announcement during an open house at the 7800 Susquehanna St. building, which allowed other Bridgeway clients and contractors to see the building and meet Community Empowerment Association CEO Rashad Byrdsong, whose Ma’at Construction firm did all the interior work on the finished space.
“Homewood is a community in need of capital and it’s been isolated from the capital markets for too long,” he said.
“That’s why we have made $2 million in loans and provided $10 million in financing here. So we are especially pleased to have just signed a lease with the University of Pittsburgh, which will be bringing its longstanding program to train machine operators here to Homewood and to the first floor. You’ll be hearing more about that in the next few weeks.”
Peterson said, Pitt will be taking half of the first floor for its operation, about 15,000 square feet, into which Bridgeway will put another $2.5 million to get it ready. It will also be refitting the entire fifth floor which remains vacant, and will seek out tenants for that space in June when the work is finished.
Byrdsong thanked Peterson for the opportunity to meet Bridgeway clients from other parts of the region and city, and for Bridgeway’s investment in Homewood and for hiring his firm.
“This investment is not just about brick and mortar this is about human spiritual development,” said Byrdsong.
“These black hands did the build-out here. We brought in multiple subcontractors and multiple residents from the community—and we’ve show we can compete on the broader market. This shows what you can do with your own hands in your community— one block at a time, one neighborhood at a time, and one family at a time.”
In addition to Homewood, Bridgeway is investing in minority neighborhoods across the city, including the Hill District, Larimer and the Hilltop communities. Between Pittsburgh and its offices in Erie and Uniontown, Bridgeway invested more than $18 million across the state last year.
“These are deals banks can’t do, partly because of regulations and partly because of expense—we work with our borrowers a lot to enhance their business skills,” said Peterson.
“This is our social mission. We want a western Pa. that thrives for for everyone and. our investors believe in that. If we put capital in, it will attract more capital, more projects will get done, more will be jobs created and more small businesses will be healthy.”
(J.L. Martello contributed to this story.)
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