URA-RIDC joint venture sells off half-completed Fairywood site to developer

PITTSBURGH — A joint venture between the city’s redevelopment authority and the region’s major industrial redevelopment institution have achieved a successful cash out of a challenging site in the city’s West End.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania jointly announced they closed on selling a 25-acre site on the city’s western edge in the neighborhood of Fairywood, a property the URA bought from the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh 15 years ago as a storm-damaged former public housing project with the goal of redeveloping it for industrial use.

After opting to first partner with RIDC in 2021, the joint venture completed a 150,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility leased to Ferguson Enterprises two years ago. With a companion 9.3-acre site prepared for new development, the joint venture sold the property to suburban Chicago-based Becknell Industrial, specializing in a portfolio of industrial property totaling more than 40 million square feet.