Jeff Young, Principal & Executive Director, Perkins Eastman

Jeff Young, principal and executive director at Perkins Eastman, spoke with Invest: about maintaining a wide range of different projects to keep up with Pittsburgh’s growth. “We have a robust and sustainable diversity of project types and practice areas. This allows us to move across the bumps in the road economically and within the financial markets.”

What changes over the past year have most impacted Perkins Eastman, and in what ways?

A year prior to the presidential election there was a healthy amount of unevenness in the economy, which drove more stopping and starting of projects. Maintaining momentum with construction and design projects. was harder to maintain, and this is all relative to companies moving with more purpose and a level of detail that ensures correct results. The motivations have changed. Prior to COVID, we couldn’t move fast enough. Post-COVID, that calculus has flipped to moving more methodically and with less urgency. Uncertainty in the economy has had a huge effect. 

What new types of projects have entered your portfolio recently, and are there any standout adaptive reuse efforts in Pittsburgh that you’re particularly proud of?

Perkins Eastman’s portfolio is purposefully composed of a robust and sustainable diversity of project types and practice areas. This allows us to move across the bumps in the road economically and within the financial markets. Over the last three years, we’ve greatly benefited from that approach in Pittsburgh with projects in multifamily, workplace projects, senior living, and college and universities. The work in colleges and universities has evolved to be less about academic spaces and more about student support spaces, and specialty spaces such as galleries and conference centers. Our most notable project currently is the Robotics Innovation Center (RIC) at Carnegie Mellon University, with construction completing this summer. The RIC is part of a development called Hazelwood Green, which was the site of the historic J&L steel mill along the Monongahela River. The building will provide CMU a tremendous amount of space for their robotics program, which is the largest in the world, and will, include a 1.5-acre “running room” for robots, a drone cage, and a three-story, flexible high bay to provide the space to test robots in a number of settings. The building is the first new building for the Hazelwood Green development, which is being strategically planned to catalyze continued growth in the adjacent neighborhood and city. 

What trends do you consider most influential in your current work?

The cost of construction, relative to the rental rates, has become a major challenge in this market. It’s expensive to build here and our clients are having difficulty running their pro forma around their operations. Our goal is always to deliver quality, timeless architecture that will make a positive and lasting impact on people and the city, but this can sometimes cost more money and take a little more time. This puts additional pressure on the development community, who want the same thing, but operate within a very tight margin. We are also aware of this uncertainty in our work with colleges and universities. We have a project that was ready to start construction but has now been postponed because the school is moving into a wait-and-see mode. Institutions are affected by uncertainty in policy from the federal level, which is impacting funding, and therefore, their bottom line.

How does the Pittsburgh office contribute to the firm’s national and global portfolio, and what distinguishes the design approach or client relationships in this region?

We value what it means to be operating in a market like Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has a rich history of making and manufacturing for the United States and across the world and that maker culture is still going strong. We lean into the narrative of our history and use it as our design inspiration. Incorporating the city’s rich history into our design narrative gives it an authenticity that helps distinguish our work from that of our peers in other regions. All of our projects—in Pittsburgh and throughout the enterprise—are principal-led. For myself this means I’m an active participant with my team, leading by example to achieve the outcomes our clients expect. I act as an advocate for the client and continually challenge my team to execute. 

What are the top goals and priorities for Perkins Eastman as you look to the future?

We will continue to lean into our diversity of practice and projects. It’s crucial to listen and to not bring preconceived ideas to a project. We approach each project from a brand-new perspective. We believe the best outcomes come from collaboration with our clients. We use our depth of experience to ask pointed and informed questions and tease out what’s important to the client, project, and site.