Plans for a South Side complex designed to be a launching point for Asian companies seeking business opportunities in the United States are on hold, according to the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority.
Surety Pittsburgh, a group planning the $60 million One International Center on a 3.4-acre site near the Hot Metal Bridge, apparently has not yet been able to secure enough sales commitments to complete the purchase of the URA-owned property, said Don Kortlandt, the authority's general counsel.
So the authority decided to seek other developers for the site in case the group is not able to proceed.
"We continue to be open to the prospect of the development proceeding, but we are going to send out requests for proposals to see if there are alternate proposals that can proceed in a shorter time frame," Kortlandt said.
The group's exclusive right to develop the property expired, he said.
"But we remain hopeful that their efforts will be a success."
"The project certainly is not dead, and we hope we can continue to work with the URA and are optimistic we will be able to," said Peter Fuscaldo, attorney for Surety Pittsburgh. "Any major project like this requires a lot of things to happen."
Craig Kirsch, executive director of Surety Pittsburgh, referred inquiries to Fuscaldo.
One International Center would offer 209 condominium units that companies from countries such as China, Korea and Taiwan could use as U.S. sales or marketing offices.
Plans call for a nine-story building with two oval-shaped wings at Hot Metal and Sidney streets. The building will have more than 300,000 square feet of space and parking nearby for 268 vehicles.
Downtown-based architects Pfaffmann & Associates and Urban Design International of Hong Kong designed the project, which also would include 45,000 square feet of first-floor stores and restaurants catering to companies that locate there.
In December, the URA approved the sale of the property to Surety Pittsburgh, a unit of Surety Holding Development Co. of Freehold, N.J., for $500,000 per acre, or a total of just under $1.7 million. But the sale was not completed.
Kortlandt said he sent a letter earlier this week to Fuscaldo informing him of the authority's plans to seek alternative developers.
