UP to Equitable Resources Inc.’s commitment to be the first tenant in a $200 million complex to be built between Heinz Field and PNC Park. The company will anchor a $30 million office building near the Allegheny River.
UP to a revised plan for a new hotel near the expanded David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
DOWN to reports transportation companies and other businesses that rely on Pittsburgh International Airport-related travel are in a slump.
UP to Tollgrade Communications Inc.’s CEO Chris Allison, who took a pay reduction last year, earning $74,000 less than he was entitled to and taking no bonus. The cut comes after Allison took a reduction of $63,000 in 2001 after a decline in Tollgrade’s earnings and two rounds of layoffs.
UP to U.S. Steel’s purchase of Serbian steel producer Sartid and its designs on Polish steelmaker Polskie Huty Stali.
DOWN to layoffs at Westinghouse Electric Co., including 67 at its Nuclear Automation and Nuclear Fuels units locally.
UP to a recall of workers by Sony Technology Center-Pittsburgh. Soft sales during the holiday shopping season and fat inventories prompted layoffs in January, but by last month, all but 100 of the 1,000 furloughed were back to work, with the rest expected to return within a month or so.
UP to the new members of the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse. IBM, Accipiter Systems Inc., Aeptec Microsystems, Novocell Semiconductor and Vesper Networks Inc. bring the nonprofit’s membership to 27.
DOWN to a glut of commercial office space in the region. The market is soft everywhere, according to Grubb & Ellis Co., which tracks the market for office space, but particularly sluggish in the Downtown business district. The good news: Del Monte Foods Corp.’s prowl for 200,000 square feet of space in the central business district.
UP to US Airways’ emergency from bankruptcy, but job losses, flight cancellations and reduced revenues to Pittsburgh International Airport could continue to dole out pain to the regional economy.
DOWN to Highmark Inc.’s decision to chop its Community Blue Health Plan. The plan’s 216,000 members may find themselves and their employers shouldering hefty increases in medical coverage.
DOWN to the closure of Schreiber Foods Inc.’s private label cheese plant in Robinson Township, affecting 65 workers.
