U-Haul Purchase by Pitt Campus to Address Student Storage Needs
PITTSBURGH (April 27, 2016) — U-Haul recently acquired the iconic Iron City Storage building at 3700 Bigelow Blvd. and is refurbishing the facility to better meet the moving and storage demands of Pittsburgh college students.
U-Haul Moving & Storage of Iron City offers 744 storage units; 292 feature climate-control. The facility is within two miles of the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Carlow University. Duquesne University is just four miles away.
“There are a lot of students in the area, so we are excited to serve the flow of young people moving in and out of temporary housing or back home from the universities,” U-Haul Company of Pittsburgh president Bob Bourgeois said. “I’m proud to see U-Haul expanding the market in Pittsburgh.”
Residents of Pittsburgh aren’t surprised to see a U-Haul presence at the 1.38-acre site. Iron City Storage supplemented its primary business as a U-Haul neighborhood dealer for 11 years prior to U-Haul acquiring the property last September.
“I’ve worked here for over 12 years,” general manager Kevin Smith explained. “Bob was my area field manager when Iron City Storage first joined the dealership network. Since the owners lived in New Jersey, I pretty much ran the business. No one knows more about this building.”
The 71,208-square-foot building is more than a century old and has been home to a handful of businesses including Goodyear® Tire, Geyer Printing and, most recently, Iron City Storage. U-Haul has made the facility a one-stop shop for storage units, truck and trailer rentals, towing equipment, boxes and more.
“We are a huge landmark at the end of the Bloomfield Bridge,” Smith said. “More than 35,000 cars pass us every day, so we have a great opportunity for exposure here. People didn’t know what or who we were before. But with U-Haul taking the reins and giving this place direction, we’ll be a real part of this community.”
Once the cleanup and renovations are completed, there will be no question what the four-story building is. This will become a full-service U-Haul store, renovated inside and out.
The acquisition of the Pittsburgh facility was driven by U-Haul Company’s Corporate Sustainability initiatives: U-Haul® supports infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint. Our adaptive reuse of existing buildings reduces the amount of energy and resources required for new-construction materials and helps cities reduce their unwanted inventory of unused buildings.
Contact U-Haul Moving & Storage of Iron City at (412) 687-4256 or stop by to visit Smith and his team. Hours of operation are from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Reserve equipment at uhaul.com or contact Reservations at 1-800-GO-UHAUL.
To learn more about U-Haul in the news and in your community, visit myuhaulstory.com.
About U-Haul
Contact:
Andrea Batchelor
Jeff Lockridge
E-mail: publicrelations@uhaul.com
Phone: 602-263-6981
Website: uhaul.com