PITTSBURGH-Walnut Capital Partners has broken ground for Bakery Square, a $113-million mixed-use development at the site of the former Nabisco baking plant at the intersection of 10th Avenue and East Liberty Boulevard in the East Liberty neighborhood. Limited demolition has been completed at the site, but most of the existing buildings will remain and be redeveloped and converted, according to Anthony Dolan, a partner and principal of the locally based development company.

The plan calls for 216,000 sf of office space and 173,000 sf of retail, a parking garage for approximately 900 vehicles and a 110-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott Hotel. Bakery Square is being constructed to LEED green building standards.

Dolan tells GlobeSt.com the retail component includes a 41,000-sf fitness center. He declines to disclose the names of office and retail tenants that have committed to the complex, but says preleasing is underway and the tenants will be identified "toward the last quarter of 2008. A grand opening of the entire complex is scheduled for summer 2009," he says, adding, "some office space will open in fourth quarter of 2008."

National Biscuit Co. built the Nabisco Bakery in 1918 and closed it in 1998. At that time, Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania acquired the property and leased it to another baking company, which was acquired by a firm that went bankrupt in 2004, closing the plant for good. According to public records, Walnut acquired the property from RIDC this summer for $5.4 million.

The Pittsburgh City Council has approved $10 million in tax increment financing for the project. The TIF will be used to pay property taxes and fund infrastructure improvements on the property.

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