Interview by Jonathan Kersting
Is downtown Pittsburgh shrinking… or quietly reinventing itself?
On this episode of TechVibe, we dig into the real story behind Pittsburgh real estate with three people who have a front-row seat to every shift, signal, and surprise: Ed Lawrence, Bryan McCann, and Pat Sentner of Colliers.
This isn’t a flyover of vacancy stats. It’s a boots-on-the-ground conversation about where Pittsburgh is headed, what’s actually working, and why the city’s real estate story is far more optimistic and nuanced than the headlines suggest.
Three great reasons to listen:
The definition of “downtown” is changing.
From the Strip District to the North Shore and beyond, you’ll learn how Pittsburgh’s central business district is expanding, evolving, and becoming more vibrant, walkable, and competitive.
Class A vs. everything else—what really matters now.
The Colliers team breaks down why some office buildings are thriving, others are struggling, and what amenities, design, and flexibility mean for attracting talent in a post-pandemic world.
What’s next for investors, tenants, and the city itself.
Hear smart insights on residential growth, spec office space, permitting challenges, affordability, and why Pittsburgh is quietly positioning itself as a high-value, high-potential market.
Whether you’re a business leader, developer, investor, or just someone who cares about Pittsburgh’s future, this episode delivers clarity, context, and a healthy dose of optimism about where the city is going next.
Transcript:
colliers
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[00:00:00] So happy to have you guys hanging out with me here in the Huntington Bank Studios. We're hanging out of course with Brian McCann, PAt Sentner and the one and only Ed Lawrence here, the Huntington Bank Studios.
We, I love having this conversation. It's like our yearly conversation where we look at what's happening. Within the real estate here in Pittsburgh and then abroad as well too. And I think this is a great way for us to kind of gauge just what's happening in the economy in general. I mean, there's so many indicators as to what's happening within real estate that really show us what the heck's going on.
So guys, thanks for being here today. Oh, thank you for the opportunity. Yeah, it's always fun to hang out and I get to learn so much. I'm surprised you. Back after last time. Well, no, I, I did get the security deposit back on the studio, so fine. Good to know. There's nothing to worry about. Yeah. It's very, very, very good stuff.
So, I mean, let's just jump into this. What's going, I mean, first off, it's like we're, we're beginning a new year, 2026, which a great time for us to do this. Could we just start off with a general, like what is going on right now that's really big when it comes to what's happening, say in downtown with commercial?
And then we'll talk a little bit about some of the [00:01:00] retail and residential type stuff. So. I could say future view. Yeah. Timing could not be more perfect because for about the past year, year and a half, I've been trying to discuss how the definition of the central business district for office space in Pittsburgh is changing.
Yeah, exactly. What are the boundaries of this thing? Exactly. So we always used to say it was the Golden Triangle Grant Street, down to the point, and then you would stop right at the T truss that. Crosses over into the strip district that trestles no longer the divider, right? Well, it, it is not. And you know, and our new mayor wants to make sure that it's not either, which is great.
But the interesting thing is, last week one of our biggest landlords, Aaron Salberg did an article with the Pittsburgh Business Times where he talked about this exact same thing that interesting a number of us have been. Beating our heads against the wall for so long. You know, we're sitting over here in the Huntington Banking studios at Nova Place.
Nova Place up until a few years ago, was not considered a central business district or even a city. It was more of a fringe [00:02:00] type location. A place you were, you had to go to. I don't have any tenant that is not at least asking, Hey, were you able to check to see is there space over at Nova Place?
Interesting. These same groups are saying, alright, what do we have on the North Shore? Okay, what do you have done in the strip district? And then they'll say, Hey, we're not ignoring the central business district. We'll still consider it, but we also want to consider North Side Strip District, some even into Lawrenceville, occasionally Oakland.
But now, and I'm kind of excited with WS Properties taking over Station Square. I think they're gonna add a vibrancy, which is then going to bring that area back into the mix as well. I hope so, because I feel like. Station Square was built on cursed ground. Sorry, maybe 200 years ago. Something terrible happened there and it was, nothing works there ever.
So you have hope for that. I have a lot of hope. So I was lucky enough to go up to Boston and actually see some of WSS developments in Boston, and anyone who's got a chance to go up there and see what they've done the mix of the [00:03:00] retail, the residential, and, and the office. They're topnotch, so, we, I think it'll be exciting.
That's amazing to bring them into the city. I think they'll hopefully breathe the new life into that area, which is, I mean, when you talk about a place, what other cities have. That type of retail. Right. On the waterfront. Exactly. Boston, which is what they're familiar with. But you gotta think, that's great to know.
You should be able to bring some life into that. That's exciting. Bring some energy. I mean, yeah. And Brian, the Glasshouse has done well, it's performed from a multi-family standpoint. Hasn't the occupancy level always been high? Yeah, glass Glasshouse has actually been one of the preeminent multi-families for, for a long time.
You know, right across the Smithfield Bridge. Obviously we're sitting here too. At the time where, you know, new administration's getting ready to come into Pittsburgh, right. And anyone who heard Corey O'Connor on the campaign trail always talked about Smithfield Wood Street being some of those art, you know, bringing that from over from the south side where state, where Glasshouse is and bringing that kind of vibrancy all the way into downtown Pittsburgh.
So I think as we look farther [00:04:00] right, that's downtown adjacent today, but we can see it as part of downtown and we're blessed in this city because all of this is walkable. Exactly right. Yeah. You can live in downtown and you can walk to all these locations, which is something I'm sure we'll talk about is do we see a little bit of a shift here where.
The residents want to be closer to the downtown. 'cause now I can walk not only to the South Shore, I can also walk to the North Shore and being close to all the amenities. Yeah. It just sounds very exciting when you bring this point up that the boundaries are changing. And that makes me glad because I feel like it needs to encompass all these new developments that have happened that's really defining Pittsburgh is being this up and coming vibrant city and everything.
So that, that has me very excited that I just love knowing that yeah, it's not just. The golden triangle stuff. No. And you know, people say, oh, well downtown is so unsafe, we're talking one or two streets. You know? So it's kind of tough to say, okay, well who wants to be on Smithfield Street? Not to pick on a particular area.
Right. But there are, but it's tough. Exactly. But then you come over here and as we were talking. You know, before we came in here, the parking garage is as filled here [00:05:00] at Nova Place as at any point in time I've ever seen. It's back. Yeah, it's back, which is fantastic, but it also reinforces this is where people wanna be.
Exactly right. Very cool. Well, let's jump into more of the classic downtown. Area and what's kind of going on there? I think there's so much, I mean, so much has changed, obviously post COVID as to who's actually going back to the office and I feel like people are going back to offices, which thank goodness.
I remember people saying, no one's ever coming back. It's eh, I don't know about that. So what, what is, what is the current state of what's actually happening in. Dare I say downtown proper. I mean, honestly, the Class A properties are doing quite well. Good. So the buildings that have the amenities, okay.
The buildings that have landlords that are able to provide tenant allowances to customize the space, because yes, people are starting to come back into the office on a more regular basis, but they're not looking forward to coming into space that was built out in 1995, 2005, or even two. 15. That could be cool.
Again though, man, you know, they retro stuff, the kids like that. Some retro stuff. But you know [00:06:00] when you walk into what was probably Mike Brady's office in the early seventies, that's not a good sign to try to bring people into town. So those buildings are hurting and. I don't know the answer on those.
Yeah, I really don't. I don't mean to, I want, I don't wanna sugarcoat it any way point. No, we don't want that. I wanted, we wanna know what's going on. I mean, that's what it's about. But there are, and I don't want to sit here and just start naming off, but there's at least five to 10 buildings where people will ask me, well, what do you think The answer is there, and I honestly don't know.
To the point where, you know, I've legitimately said there's one or two of them that should be scraped. And I know that s religious, you know, especially from someone that's in real estate, but I start thinking about, you know, if we ended up having more parks, if we had more so when you, a soccer field or a basketball court to supplement the Yeah.
Park. Yeah. So when you say scraped, you mean bring that building down and build something new there or have something out. Just reuse that space in a different way that addresses the current needs. Yeah, I'm all about that. Yeah. Some of these buildings, it. Would be, we know construction costs are [00:07:00] high right now, so to go into a building completely renovated, you're gonna be spending more on the renovations of the interior than the entire asset is worth.
So it just doesn't make sense. Makes sense. Right. So there's a little bit, I mean, things are always gonna come and go and be born and die and we're seeing a cycle now where there's some spaces that just didn't keep up with the times. Correct. And so, yeah. And so how do we reinvent downtown to make it.
An awesome place to live, which means me, makes me think of the residential side that's going down in downtown right now. I mean, every year it seems like there's a few more people that are making that their home. Right. And when you think about it, we were talking about employers wanting to bring back employees into the office.
Yes. How do you do that? You have quality product. Where you office, you have something. In many cases, that's a new development. That's Class A it. Like Patrick said, it's filled with amenities. And in Brian's world, there's work, live, play opportunities with having class A apartment buildings [00:08:00] available, especially for perhaps some of those younger folks that want to live in a vibrant part of Pittsburgh and be able to walk to work.
So all of those things that are things that could uplift downtown Pittsburgh. And I know, Brian, you're, you're tuned into the tuned in is the wrong way to put it, but you're, your part of your clientele is focused on potential renovations downtown and conversions to multifamily. Yeah. I think we, we've gotta be careful with it, right?
I mean, it's not everybody wants to hold it up as the panaceas. This is how we solve. There's a reality to this. There has to be a reality. Yeah, it seems great, but there's an actual making it happen and what that means and having enough people to actually go there. Well, let's, let's start with.
Logistics first. Sure. We talked about population, right? Logistics. To Pat's point, it's really hard to renovate some buildings and renovating certain buildings. On a certain floor plate, sometimes it's almost impossible exactly where the major mechanicals are laid out. Right? How do you have light if it's a residential unit, right?
I mean, a big, you know, square is not necessarily the best when you have a, you know, a hollow core. So [00:09:00] you have those issues that come. Some good news though. We're at about 6,900 residents downtown, so that's, and why is that important? We talk about this a lot. A lot of our retailers track how many residents in a certain geographical radius, especially in the downtown market, a walkable geographical rate.
Okay? Right. 7,070 508,000 tends to be the magic number. Oh. For some reason. Oh, so there is a, there is a tipping point for the retailer to be like, this is worth our time. Correct. I mean, I give kudos a lot to target. Oh my goodness. Who took a, took a chance on downtown Pittsburgh before we hit those numbers.
That that blows my mind actually. It's yep. God bless 'em. Yeah. And one of the best performing stores. So when they took the chance and they're being rewarded for it, we hope that more retailers are gonna take that chance, which is then kind of starts that snowball, right? You have more residents. You have more retailers, you have more people wanting being close to the retailers.
Yeah. It starts that snowball baller and then also go back, think about New York City, you know, back in the eighties when, when it was a little bit [00:10:00] rougher than it is today. One of the things there is when you grow population and there's activity and after hours activity, it feels safer. When you have more people, you minimize everything else.
You just have that safer feeling. So I think there, there's a. There's a nice snowball that's starting and we hope that that continues and kind of moves down the hill in that way. I love it. It sounds like I said, it's so complex and it's, it's I don't know, I just get excited to see all these different angles coming together.
It's encouraging. Yeah. And I know it's been talked about ad nauseum, but the NFL draft as, oh my goodness, has expedited some of those improvements to downtown Yeah. That we've been looking for. Including Market Square and the arts landing, great arts landing's gonna be huge. How awesome is that? Yeah. That, to have that come here, to actually make that happen on a faster time scale is fantastic.
'cause when it's gone, that stuff is still there and we can use that to, to build from as far as that is. And I might not know where they are, but one thing that I do believe that is missing in downtown Pittsburgh are. Lower [00:11:00] cost restaurants for lunch. I can tell you thank you. I see more people eating in the office than at any point in my 30 years of working in downtown Pittsburgh.
I know when I was younger, you know, we had the Zorbas and all these other places where you could get a good meal. Sammy's at a relatively speaking decent price. Can't do that now. I know. And that's the tough part. Probably one. The best salad I've ever eaten in my life is over at the speckled egg, but I'm not going to have a $22 salad, you know, every day a week.
Exactly. I wish I could. That'd be wonderful. But it's a fantastic point. You bring that up. How you gotta start really as people are back in, like you want them out. Shopping and doing things, but they don't all have millions of dollars to have lunch every day. Correct. So, which is why the night life, it sounds like the restaurants are doing quite well at dinner times.
Right. But in lunch a lot of them are closed. Well, that's the other problem is that sometimes if you do need to go someplace for lunch, it's, it's hard to find that place that will actually be open. That's at a certain level that you want. So it was a shame 'cause I mean, I think [00:12:00] you talk, we took look at pre COVID.
Right. And I think there was definitely an energy building in the city. A lot of live music. You know, you think about some of the places you could go on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, have somebody playing guitar, something going on, which had a, like an energy. COVID obviously set that back a little bit.
We saw a lot of closures, a lot of things happened, but now I think we're back on the upswing. So now it's let's accelerate that. Let's get that back in to your point, lunchtime and then after hours. You know, for the longest time our city was built on that it closed down at five 30 at night, right?
There was nothing Residential. Being a 24 hour downtown city is, is great. What other city in the world though, can you be at and walk to? Three major sports teams in 15 minutes if you're from downtown, some of the best, you know, arts and cultural area, all walkable from our downtown, all one space.
Yeah. So we have a unique, we have some really cool, even with our geographical challenges, which we could talk about. Yeah. With our rivers and our hills, which makes our city great. We have a downtown that makes a lot of things, very, very, I think a lot of that kind of forced that all into these, into these [00:13:00] areas.
What I also find interesting downtown is looking at what Lake Point Park is doing and getting students downtown and what that does for making it safer, making it more vibrant, and creating more opportunities. So there's a really cool mix happening inside Pittsburgh. And you mentioned there's not many other markets like us out there that it's hard to compare us.
Then to, to what else is going on and what, what is the best comparison you think we could have market wise? You know, and it's interesting, we, we, we talk about our peer cities, but we all in certain aspects where we benchmark ourselves against peer cities, and I think it's your other Midwest cities, because we tend to have more in common with our Midwest cities than we do our east coast cities.
So for example. Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati Indianapolis. Those tend to be really makes sense. Kansas City, even in some ways too tend to be like a lot of markets that we'll look at and kind of like compare and contrast on things to and I think those are kind of our closest benchmarks, our closest peer cities that, that we look at today.
Yeah, we talked about some really interesting trends so far that I think are just very encouraging for Pittsburgh. [00:14:00] I still hear all this talk with all this positive talk that I'm hearing about it. I still hear. And I think it's very uninformed. Talk about what our vacancy rates really are on things.
And, and before we hit record on this, we were talking about how it's almost impossible to get parking downtown most days during business hours. So we're trying to figure out no, there's a lot, so much activity going on downtown, but what are the true rates? What, what really is open? What's not, you know, what, what is not open?
You know, downtown, I mean, realistically. You have very few Class C buildings that are doing new leases. They may be retaining Okay. Some of their tenants Sure. Who just don't wanna leave 'cause they've been there forever. And then you get to some of the Class B buildings that they can put together, you know, an economically attractive proposal.
But the key is you better have, you know. Employees more my age than younger because you're gonna be going into dated office space, [00:15:00] which is absolutely fine. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not gonna be really, you know, making the Gen Zs and young millennials, it's excited to come to work every day.
This is what I wanna drive through traffic to come down to. Exactly. So you then you look at the class a's, and when you really factor in, you know. Other than one or two buildings that, you know, we've all talked about at nauseum that are gonna be vacant within the next two years. The other class A buildings are all doing extremely well.
I like hearing that. That's cool. And it is a scenario where, you know, we represent office tenants and candidly it's a little frustrating when I'm starting to look at some of the rental prices associated with it, but it really does come down to supply and demand. If you're looking at the whole office market.
A, B, and C rates should be $15 a square foot, but when you take out C, you take out three quarters of B and then you only have a, yeah. It's oh, they are in the thirties now. [00:16:00] Interesting, dear Lord. How did that happen? Yeah. And so that's the part that, and it's tough to explain that to tenants who have been in the same building, let's say for 10 or 15 years and get some surprises.
Yes. And it's trust me, we're gonna get you the best, you know, overall package we possibly can. But you have to understand if you're fine not getting any tenant improvement dollars. Yeah, we have some really good options out there for you. But if you wanna have the space customized, it's gonna be a little, it's gonna be a li Okay.
I, I haven't been in the industry as long as Patrick about 20 years or so for me, but I think it's the widest spread between A and B. Okay. I mean, in some, so there's a big jump over $10 per square foot. Wow. Which speaks to what Patrick is saying as far as the demand, where there is some conjecture and actually, you know, macro and potentially micro in Pittsburgh.
That class A space that I mean it, unless there's more development that takes place between now and then. Within the next five years, the demand is going to continue. [00:17:00] Where this class A space is gonna be fairly scarce on the office side, so, right. Yeah. And we'll just drive up those rates that much more we've been warned.
Yeah, we have been warned. That's why I love having these conversations 'cause hell of two cities. Yeah, no, it really, it really is that that, that to me is like amazing. I'm just curious switching gears a little bit as we go through, 'cause there's so many different little things to talk about, is the idea of, of, I guess, spec.
Office space at this point. Right. So what, what's the status of that? What are we looking at when it comes to, well, it comes into play in a couple different ways. We just work with a client that is going into one of these new class A buildings. Yeah. But there's gonna be a lot of construction and the timeframe is gonna be long.
And Brian, I'll let you dovetail on this 'cause I know you've lived through this, but the permitting process in the city of Pittsburgh has been, how long does it take, let's say, challenging. You're such a nice individual there, Patrick. So we are very optimistic that the new administration's gonna be changing that.
But in the meantime. We have clients who are signing leases, working [00:18:00] with their architects to design the space, getting ready to start construction, but they can't get the permitting. Oh boy. So that leads them. We're hiring people. We need to, you know, have space for that. So where do we go? And we literally just did a lease last week in space that was fully specked out, brand new workstations, new lights, HVAC, the whole works.
Our tenant was able to move in in less than three weeks. Are you serious? Yes. And but okay. It, because the space was ready to go. So that's a perfect spec space. I was gonna say little larger than what most groups did, but I'll give, you know, that's a real estate guys's dream right there. Yes. Three weeks.
That's fantastic. And it's which doesn't happen? You're like, exactly. And so, some of the landlords have been very successful with, let's say three to 10,000 square foot spec spaces. They go so much quicker. Okay. Because a tenant can walk in and oh, wow. This is brand new, new ready to go.
I don't have to worry about office space. I don't have to worry about furniture. And it's, it's the furniture companies are working with landlords, the you know, it folks [00:19:00] are working with Yeah. Everyone's, everyone's kind. They come, come together to make these spaces. Yes. So I, I'm curious, I know we had talked about before, I think in our previous discussion, that there was a trend of people maintaining their office space, but maybe as new, taking less space because the idea that people won't be there all the time.
Is that something that's come up now are people, it, it's not as. Small as we were expecting. Okay. Yeah, because you start realizing, hey, if we're having our employees come in in three days a week, and unless you're staggering everybody, which candidly defeats the whole purpose. Purpose, right. 'cause if people are coming in, it's for everybody to interact.
Exactly. So if Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is between 90 and a hundred percent occupied you need all space. You better have the space that you need for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. That makes total sense. Yeah. And, and you mentioned spec space. I think it's a really interesting point and, and. Pat, I think you hit the nail on the head.
So one of the things we could talk about is we talk about new build right now, right? So if you're gonna do new construction, we are actually at one of the most. Volatile times, and I'll quantify that. Volatile when it comes to interest rates, [00:20:00] volatile when it comes to construction costs. The cost, yeah. The materials like services good.
And having enough labor as well too. Correct. Right. Yeah. So that is it. It, it's almost like you can get whiplash by tracking it. Sometimes it's really good, sometimes it's really bad. So what happens then when you look, when you're a developer and you're sitting here is, you know you're gonna get these crazy swings.
So anything that is protracting the timeline introduces more risk. Right, because you don't know where that's going to go. You're gonna get those swings. So I think it's imperative that we get our permitting process down, because if we don't, we introduce more risk. And one of the things we talked about, all the positive things Pittsburgh has going for it, which it does.
One of the challenges that we're gonna face, and we talked about it. We're at an age where information is available, which means that you can go from market to market. So now we're not just competing against ourselves, we are competing against businesses, developers looking at Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland [00:21:00] makes sense.
So they're gonna look at all that and if they have a better permitting process that has less risk. They're gonna start spending more dollars there. We need to make sure they're attractive and they're staying here so that we don't run out of good development that's moving things forward in the city.
Very cool. Brian, have we lost anything? I, I don't know. It's a, that's a good, that's a good question. I don't, I don't know. I know developers, I mean, anecdotal, we talk to the developers all the time and. You know, I, I, I tell this story, there's a really good developer and they were in a different market and you know, they, they went through the zoning and they needed a variance as all, pretty much everything needs a variance today, right?
You almost cannot ever build something exactly as right. And, you know, they went and they did their presentation. And in the southern city it was fairly seamless. They had one meeting, they said, Hey, are you gonna make it look nice? You're gonna make it look nice. Exactly. Alright, let's, let's move this forward.
This is good. Where a lot of times here, that process takes. You know, by the time you go through different groups that Yeah. All need to have their voices heard. I'm, I'm not, not, you know, diminishing that, of course, but every time you do that and you introduce the [00:22:00] delay. I think people are just saying, yeah, we're not doing another development here.
Yeah. So it's hard to say we lost something Pat. It's just the ones that just say we did that when we're done. Right. They may not wanna go through that again. Yeah, exactly. Continue to invest in the region because of how, how stick be. Correct. And, and I will give, I wanna give, you know, we've, we've had a lot of these conversations re recently and I know that there's a lot of conversations being happening in the background.
I think the new administration's starting to reach out to, to some of these groups and say. You know why? What are other cities doing right that we can improve upon? I'm glad to hear so I give them a lot of kudos for looking. That's fantastic for looking at what our peer cities are doing and seeing how we can be better.
It's just amazing how something. Can just be really just held back because of bureaucracy. Right. And the idea that you can just cut through that. It's come on, let's make this a good place to do business. Maintain your standards, but don't slow it down unnecessarily. That's a correct way to describe this.
You know? And it's such a material thing that can be, he can affect change. The new mayor elect can affect change Right outta the gate. Exactly. And get a lot of people on his side and his administration side. So from our [00:23:00] conversation today, I'm feeling really hopeful for what's going on here in Pittsburgh.
I think we definitely have a unique. Footprint that we're building on here. And we have a, the, the, the hope of a new administration that can help us build more and be more flexible, make us more competitive. The idea we're getting more people downtown. So I think there's a lot of good things going on as we wrap this up.
What would be some key advice you'd give to anyone out there that, that's looking to find new space in the coming year? What should they be thinking about? What can they you know, be, be ready to do? I think the most important thing is to determine. What are not only your short-term goals, but your long-term goals as well. Because if you think you're gonna, let's say double or triple in size in the next two or three years, might not be a bad idea to take advantage of some of the lower rates that Eddie was talking about in some of these Class B buildings until you really know what you. Getting ready to do and sign that shorter term lease.
But if you say, man, we are getting close to where I know our goals are and we want to create a [00:24:00] home for the next 10 years or so, then at that point in time really look at each of the Class A buildings, not just in the center. There's some very good buildings there, as we mentioned. Yes, we've got some good classic side come across the North Shore, go over CWS properties, go down to the strip district, go to Lawrenceville, and then really feel what location, what building can you see your company growing in long term?
Good stuff because you have those opportunities. Very cool. Just to piggyback on that. Sure. I think the, the clients that we work with that are forward thinking and strategic, they're C-level folks. They realize that where they office and their corporate real estate can help to recruit and retain talent, it goes into that mix.
So more and more that's the most important strategy initiative for any group out there looking at 2026 and beyond, how do we attract the talent and how do we retain them? And real estate definitely plays into that mix [00:25:00] more and more so. And, and Brian, as far as the investment community. I was just gonna say that what you got, Brad, don't sleep on, don't sleep on Pittsburgh.
I'm talking about from business owners. I think we do a lot of we'll go out and we'll do a lot of outreach and we will a lot of times pitch to groups in Chicago and New York. We call it Why Pittsburgh? Why should, why should you bring your investment dollars here or bring your business here? Right.
And when we're done with the presentation, everybody kind of looks and it's like, why isn't everybody moving to Pittsburgh? Right. I mean, you look at it. I mean, I think we'd like to know that too. Yeah. I mean, but you look at it this, this year, I mean, we have the, the top university for artificial intelligence and robotics in the world.
Right. I mean a hundred percent. We, we've had it for a long time, but now people care about, now people know Exactly and they care. I think we have four data centers that are being proposed over a hundred million dollars. Exactly. Right. Yep. It, it, it's just, it's starting to come up, but a, this message sometimes doesn't get out of our own bubble.
And I, part of it is our ethos, right? We're, we're a gritty, hardworking town. We put our nose down and we do work and we don't necessarily go out and, you know, pound our chest and celebrate our successes. I think we need to do that a little bit more. And all the [00:26:00] groups that are out there, and I know you know Pittsburgh, you know, focused podcast and I hope other people hear it.
It's come to this city and see the great things you can set up. Business here, relatively we're one of the most affordable, just got named one of the most affordable places in the nation to live. ULI. You know, said, Hey, top growth market, I would love to see that data. 'cause it's really? But it is.
I mean you compared, have you tried buying a house here lately? Have you gone out to eat? Okay, $250,000. Me, median house price. That's still cheaper than most places that you can go to. That's amazing. Yeah. That's why it's it just shows you how, how expensive, like everything has become course what I now think is dreadfully expensive.
It's like actually pretty cheap. I'm so, I guess I'm glad I'm in Pittsburgh and every time we finish that why Pittsburgh presentation, they're like, why isn't everybody investing in Pittsburgh? I'm like. Great question. Get your dollars here now before everybody else does because it's gonna go, it's gonna get better.
And just to kind of bring this somewhat full circle, I mean we've, we have a perfect front row seat for that with the draft coming up, you know, in a few months to let people see what amazing spaces we have here. 'cause they'll be in the heart of it all. So [00:27:00] hopefully get some attention to some folks that are, I mean, when they think 600,000 people are stopping out, I'm like.
Oh my God. Okay, let's, let's, let's have a good time. So what an awesome recap here and looking forward all at the same time. Like I said, I'm feeling really hopeful and I love being able to have you guys hang out with me here at the Huntington Bank Studios to have these discussions. 'cause this is where the, the, where the rubber meets the road man for looking at what's coming up.
So you guys, well thanks for the opportunity. Any truly appreciate it. You guys do. Yeah, the tech council does Audrey and her team for the tech community and beyond. I mean, thank you. I know your membership continues to grow. We do. Which again, is, is I think, a reflection. It shows what, it shows what's going on, no doubt.
And I said, you guys are welcome back anytime. As long as I get the security deposit back. We will be doing this sometime. We can work. Great stuff, guys. I really appreciate your time and your insight and expertise. If you want more content like this, just keep on following us here at the Tech Council.
TechVibe Radio. It's been Jonathan Kersting.