Peoples Natural Gas increasing space, expanding North Shore presence
Peoples Natural Gas is leaving one building and adding space in another as part of an expanded footprint on the North Shore.
The utility has reached a deal to move into more space in the former Del Monte building at 375 North Shore Drive, where it will occupy 135,000 square feet over four floors.
Peoples currently rents one floor in the building. It also occupies two floors in the former Equitable Resources Building at 225 North Shore Drive near PNC Park. It will be vacating that space for its new arrangement.
Barry Kukovich, a Peoples spokesman, tied the move to the company’s growth and a decision to consolidate some of its field office space. About 500 employees will work in the building. He said there was no additional space available in the Equitable building.
The utility now has 1,100 employees overall, compared to 500 six years ago. The number of customers has grown from 340,000 to 700,000 over the same period, in part through an acquisition.
“We’ve grown so much that we really want to take advantage of the building over there,” he said.
Peoples will be subleasing space that had been used by Big Heart Pet Brands, whose name is still on the building. The J.M. Smucker Co. acquired the pet food business last year and moved the North Shore operation to its headquarters in Ohio.
Paul Horan, a Colliers International founding principal who represented Smuckers in subleasing the space, declined comment.
Some Peoples employees already have settled into their new digs. The entire move should be completed by mid September.
Peoples intends to sublease the floors it is leaving in the former Equitable building, whose remaining tenants include StarKist and P.J. Dick.
The sublease that the utility is taking has another four years to run. The company is talking to the building owner, New York-based KKR & Co. LP, about extending it eight more, Mr. Kukovich said.
Peoples decided to stay on the North Shore rather than look elsewhere because it’s a good location with easy access to the interstates, Mr. Kukovich said. The T rail extension between Downtown and the North Shore also is convenient, he added.