Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, local U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and others celebrated the formal launch of a new Space and Defense Innovation District that's been established in a portion of the city's North Side.
Officials announced details about the new district, which came with an expansion from Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration of the nearby Greater Oakland Keystone Innovation Zone designation, during a panel discussion as part of the Keystone Space Collaborative's (KSC) second annual Space Conference on Thursday, an event held in the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel at Station Square.
Astrobotic Technology Inc. CEO John Thornton, Carnegie Science Center Director Jason Brown and Mirasol Capital CEO Steve Winn joined Gainey and Lee on the panel as part of an hour-long discussion about the potential and impact that such a district will have on the city and its people.
Anchored by Astrobotic, the KSC and the U.S. Air Force's AFWERX Hub in Pittsburgh, the space- and defense-themed industry cluster will look to serve as a catalyst for companies and organizations that are pursuing opportunities beyond the limits of Earth's surface.
"I think this is a great opportunity for so many reasons," Gainey said to a crowd of about 300 people in attendance. "This is fantastic with regards to really being on a new frontier of a new industry that's going to be a $1 trillion [industry by 2040], that's going to be throughout the tri-state region built right here on the North Side. I just think that's phenomenal."
Since it encompasses portions of land around the 65th Infantry Division Memorial Highway between the neighborhoods of Chateau, Manchester and the North Shore, the Space and Defense Innovation District will also look to serve as a physical connector for these respective neighborhoods that have been divided for decades by the 30-foot wall of concrete and roadway between them. In the months and years to come, private and public partnerships will look to convert many of the area's surface parking lots into a vibrant community of affordable housing developments, office space, entertainment venues and other community amenities.
In an interview with Pittsburgh Inno, Gainey said a lot of the work ahead will require providing additional insights to those who own these surface lots to encourage them to see the benefits of repurposing them for the needs of the Space and Defense Innovation District.
"I think No. 1 is just getting people to understand exactly what's going on; this is a lot, I mean, you're talking about space, it's not like people are going to catch on every single day," Gainey said. "Knowledge breaks down silos and you've heard us talk about the silos, the segregation and everything else that we have had. This repurposes people. This allows people to know exactly what's going on."
Justine Kasznica, board chair of the KSC, said she's already had positive talks with some of the people who own these lots and how they have reportedly expressed an openness to seeing these surfaces repurposed. Other lots in the district are under the ownership of the Carnegie Science Center, which has committed to seeing some of them repurposed, or the city's Sports & Exhibition Authority, which Kasznica said could be influenced by political allies like Gainey or others.
"But for [these other] property owners that we will be approaching at some time, a lot of them are kind of die-hard North Side fans in addition to seeing [these lots] as easy revenue from Steelers' games," Kasznica said. "We've started the conversations with some of them just to test out the waters and are actually finding that a lot of folks see the broader opportunity as exciting for that region because it'll completely redesign and change that space. No one wants to stare at empty parking lots. And I think that's shared by the landowners who actually live there."
For Lee, who serves on the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the pitch serves as a compliment to many of the city's other tech strengths that have emerged over the years.
"To think that we won't just be Duolingo and Google — which are cool; robotics at [Carnegie Mellon University] — which is incredible; but now space," Lee said during the panel. "That we will be from the inception of the city, from steel to now to the new frontier of the moon and beyond, that Pittsburgh will lead the way here is exciting."
Astrobotic will help kickstart a lot of this change initially. The company, which is looking to send its Peregrine Lunar Lander to the surface of the moon sometime this summer, recently acquired a 50,000-square-foot warehouse on Reedsdale Street. The building is on the other side of the highway that divides it from Astrobotic's headquarters in Manchester and Thornton said the onus now falls on Astrobotic to try and better link the neighborhoods.
"We need to make sure there's a thriving place for it, for our employees, for the people who come to visit [Acrisure Stadium], to the people who currently live in Manchester," Thornton said. "We want to make sure that that's a win for everybody. And that's why we're talking about this today. That's why we're announcing a visioning process today. We want to invite people to the table to bring us together, to use the opportunity of flying and landing on the moon, literally leading our nation back to the moon, as an opportunity to spark a new innovation district here in Pittsburgh's North Side."
