Mayor Peduto: Facebook symbolizes Pittsburgh's changing economy
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on Thursday described Facebook’s new facility in the Strip District as a symbol of the city’s changing economy.
Peduto said high-tech companies along with the city’s educational and medical institutions have replaced the former industrial base that drove Pittsburgh markets for more than a century.
High-tech companies like Facebook are now generating hundreds of jobs across the city, he said.
“We’re seeing all this investment coming into Pittsburgh from all parts of the world, and we’re seeing all of this talent attracted to Pittsburgh because of a quality of life that we can offer, an affordability that is second to none and talent,” the mayor said. “It’s not simply about creating jobs. It’s about creating a future that is based on the 21st century. A city that got knocked down so hard; a city that was built on steel, on coal, on resources, you come back and rise as a city of innovation.”
Facebook promises to be on the cutting edge of innovation with its Facebook Reality Labs Pittsburgh.
Company officials Thursday provided tours of its new facility in the District 15 Building at 15th and Smallman streets in the Strip District. The four-story building developed by Bridgeville-based RDC Design + Build and partner Orangestar Properties of Youngstown was completed last year.
Facebook, which is leasing the building, is developing virtual reality avatars that it hopes will one day permit people located in separate parts of the world to communicate virtually as if they are sitting together in the same room.
The District 15 building can accommodate up to 250 Facebook employees. The company currently employs more than 100 people at its three Pittsburgh facilities. Yaser Sheikh, the director of research, said Facebook will expand as the VR research progresses.
“In addition to the square footage and office space for our team members, we have a lot of advanced facilities for our research systems, for our workshops, for our assembly spaces,” said Chuck Hoover, general manager of Facebook Reality Labs Pittsburgh. “It’s really going to allow us to continue to expand our commitment in Pittsburgh, to speed up our research and continue to grow our mission here.”
Hoover said Facebook also intends to be a “good neighbor.”
He announced that Facebook plans to donate $20,000 to the Sarah Heinz House in the North Side, which offers more than 100 afterschool and summer programs for children. The money will go toward the facility’s educational programming.
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