North Side's Nova Place To Be Center Of Innovation
PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh's North Side is getting a high-tech makeover. When a developer recently purchased what was Allegheny Center, he vowed to revitalize the property. Now, three more partners are joining in to work on a new project.
The Buhl Foundation, Urban Innovation21 and Comcast are all teaming up to reinvent the area.
Enter Nova Place.
It's a mixed-use, urban redevelopment project. The focus? High-tech innovations that will change the way we work, play and live.
"Three things we do very well. We innovate. We make things. And we form partnerships and we work together. This embodies [Nova Place]," says Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
And Nova Place isn't just for technologically inclined individuals.
"It's inclusive of folks that aren't just directly working or running companies in the tech or the innovation sector," says Bill Generett, the President and CEO of Urban Innovation21.
"It's creating an environment that is saying to the community, you are a part of this success story," says Diana Bucco, the President of the Buhl Foundation. "We want you to benefit from it, and we want you to take advantage of these resources and take them back to your communities."
Inside the Nova Place campus are nine innovation pods where small companies and individuals can meet. There is also free access to high-speed internet. It's at least five times faster than most people have at home. Wi-Fi will also be available both inside and outside.
"It has made it an open campus," says Lisa Birmingham of Comcast. "We have certain solutions of campuses – college campuses across the country. But in terms of opening it up to the community as well as tenants and residents of Nova Place, it is certainly a first for our Comcast region."
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