All in the family
Piatt sons follow entrepreneurial footsteps of father
Lucas Piatt acquired more than DNA from his fabled father. Much more, including an unquenchable entrepreneurial spirit, business acumen, and the ability to succeed – all enveloped within an easygoing manner.
Jack Piatt, his dad, was a visionary, a Washington County icon who late in the 20th century was instrumental in transforming a heavily wooded expanse in Cecil Township into the massive, mixed-use development known as Southpointe.
Before that, he had started a modest machine shop, Millcraft Investments, in 1957 and transformed it into a diverse company that developed ties to numerous industries. Millcraft continued to expand, and in 2005 converted the Lazarus department store building in downtown Pittsburgh into Piatt Place, featuring condominiums, offices and boutiques.
The family name and tradition continue to gain prominence. That son also has risen.
Lucas Piatt, 48, is president and chief operating officer of an enterprise now known as Piatt Companies, a real estate developer and management firm based on Forbes Avenue in the erstwhile Steel City. It also has offices in Southpointe, Cecil Township.
He manages the firm’s corporate division and his brother, Marcus, its hospitality division – Piatt Hotel Group, a hotel and restaurant development and management company.
Another of Jack’s sons, Rodney, is furthering the family legacy as president of Horizon Hospitality LLC in Southpointe.
Lucas Piatt met recently with a reporter from the Observer-Reporter at the opulent headquarters along Forbes into which the company moved several months ago.
Piatt also is CEO of Piatt Sotheby’s International Realty in Sewickley, where he and wife Renee reside with their two children. The family relocated from Washington County about a decade ago.
Jack Boyd Piatt Sr. died in September 2020 at age 92, but his voice continues to resonate in Lucas’ ears.
“I miss him every day,” the son said. “I’d call him at the end of every night to talk about what was happening. He was not afraid to take risks and always followed through with what he wanted to do. And they were not just projects, but critical projects. I have big shoes to fill.”
Big is the operative word related to one of the company’s projects. Humongous, actually, is more appropriate.
The Esplanade project on Pittsburgh’s North Shore is a Piatt brainchild, one that was announced nearly a decade ago, but was delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak and lofty interest rates. Ground was finally broken in December.
This is an ambitious undertaking that will cost an estimated $740 million. Plans call for Esplanade to be constructed on a 15-acre tract along the Ohio River near Rivers Casino and the West End Bridge.
It is a redeveloped brownfield that Piatt said “was not heavily polluted. Our riverfront communities should not be industrial. So let’s make it different.”
Entertainment and riverside recreation are expected to abound. Plans call for a mixed-use development featuring a 200-foot-high Ferris wheel, a marina, 160 square feet of retail/dining, winter skating, 750-plus rental units and a 13-story hotel.
“We hope to go vertical in 12 months,” Piatt said.
Planners are touting potential economic benefits that Esplanade, in the city’s Chateau neighborhood, could provide via jobs and visitor appearances.
Phase I is targeted to be completed in 2027 or 2028.
There has been opposition to the project from Chateau residents. The community group Manchester Neighbors has expressed concerns that development of Esplanade could result in increased housing costs for longtime residents.
“Objections are to be expected,” Lucas said. He added that he is aware of community concerns and stressed that Piatt Companies “is working with the neighborhood. We will do everything to help keep the neighborhood intact.”
Numerous Piatt projects have been completed in Pittsburgh. Headquarters is in Piatt Place, which is a mixed-use condominium complex with business offices, high-end condos and private balconies.
Lucas Piatt is bullish on Pittsburgh. “The city is now a center for AI, finance and other things,” he said. “It’s pretty cool here.”
So was his father, a Washington native who had a quick smile, a sharp wit and an impeccable work ethic. His lifelong philosophy was to “live, work and play.”
The late Mike Swisher, principal of Southpointe-based Horizon Properties at the time, told the O-R in 2018 that the first time he met Jack he realized “he was a remarkable person. He definitely stood out in a room. Jack was tireless and a grand thinker with great ideas. You’d say you’re going to build a house, he’d say ‘Let’s build a city.’
“It takes great people to come up with ideas, but greater people who make them reality.”
Take Southpointe. Jack told this newspaper in 2018 he was cruising down Interstate 79 with Delvin Miller, the horse racing legend, when Miller said, “We should build a golf course here.” There was nothing there other than Western Center, a state residential facility for people with intellectual disabilities, woods and wild animals.
Piatt advocated to build a large park that could provide an economic lift a decade after much of Washington County’s industrial base declined, but would have multiple uses.
“We had a vision, which included a lot of green, and adopted the philosophy of ‘work, live and play,'” Jack said.
He worked with county officials and after the park plan was approved, he hired Swisher to craft the master plan for Southpointe. The private-public enterprise progressed and opened for business March 13, 1993. Southpointe now spans 806 acres and provided that boost.
The Piatt legacy continues, and Jeff Kotula is quite familiar with it. The president of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Promotion Agency said in a statement Tuesday:
“I have had the good fortune to call Lucas a friend for more than 25 years. Throughout that time, Lucas has ambitiously built on the foundation that his father, Jack Piatt, created in Washington County and across Western Pennsylvania.
“He has also developed into a visionary in his own right, as the Esplanade project in Pittsburgh clearly demonstrates. I would also add that, in addition to his excellent business resume, Lucas has always been active in making our communities better through his own personal philanthropic work as well as the charitable efforts of the Piatt Family Foundation.
“I have no doubt he will continue to be a major driver in our region’s success for many years to come.”