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Phone: 412-281-8731
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Tenant Service Number: 412-281-2189
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The Elmhurst Group
One Bigelow Square, Suite 630
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

A Brief History of Elmhurst
The Elmhurst Group of Companies was formed in 1974 in Pittsburgh as an investment vehicle for the Hunt family. The Hunts are longstanding members of the Pittsburgh business community. Captain Alfred E. Hunt co-founded the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) in Pittsburgh in the late 19th century.

Elmhurst's initial investments were primarily in real estate and spread throughout the United States. In 1978, it acquired The Bigelow Apartments. This became the Company's largest individual asset and required day-to-day management. Once the management team was in place, the Company assembled a portfolio of other Western Pennsylvania properties. The acquisitions were diverse: apartment buildings, both large and small, industrial park properties, retail centers and an investment in the supermarket business.

The Company's main focus during this time was the conversion of The Bigelow Apartments into a full-service hotel. This process took years - and a significant investment - to come to fruition.

In 1988, the Company entered into a franchise agreement with Ramada that finally gave change to the property's identity. Since the original franchise was acquired, many more improvements have been made to the property, including the addition of a 15,000 square foot conference center, the renovation for the Downtown Athletic Club, the modernization of the building elevators and many system improvements to better serve the guests of the hotel. In the spring of 2005, the hotel underwent a $12 million renovation to a Doubletree Hotel with totally renovated guestrooms, a new lobby and entrance, new restaurant and enhanced meeting and banquet space.

As the 1980s came to an end, the Company decided to eliminate its apartment properties and their management from its holdings. Its acquisition strategy would include retail, warehouse/ distribution, office properties and the acquisition and subdivision of land for seven single-family home developments.

Since the late 1980s, Elmhurst has diversified its portfolio by investing in operating companies such as a retail grocery business, a health maintenance organization, oil and gas investments, and electronic security. The current investment is the Nashville, Tennesee-based ADS Security, which has grown to be the 21st largest security company in the county. ADS has "rolled up" over 16 regional alarm companies throughout Tennesee, Alabama and Georgia.

In the last decade, Elmhurst has continued to acquire new properties, including the 132,000 square foot Contraves Building on Epsilon Drive in the O'Hara Township RIDC and the 130,000 square foot ADVO Building located in RIDC Park West. Elmhurst's latest acquisition is One North Shore Center, a five-story 97,000 square foot riverfront office building overlooking the Allegheny River and downtown Pittsburgh.

The development of the Airside Business Park on the site of the former Pittsburgh Airport's parking lots in Moon Township is near completion. The Park, which includes an attractive courtyard, clock tower and fountain, consists of five buildings, three state-of-the-art office and two flex-use buildings.

The RAND Corporation at Fifth Avenue and Craig Street in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh was completed in January 2006.  The six-story 107,000 square foot office building is a glass and concrete structure with three floors of underground parking and contains high-speed elevators and fiber optics.  RAND Corporation occupies 60,000 square feet on the top three floors.  Other tenants include Mellon Bank, Citizens Bank and Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute.

In September 2007, a 129,000 SF office building at 135 Jamison Lane in Monroeville was fully restored and renovated as the headquarters for Bechtel Corporation. The second phase of this project is construction of an additional 50,000 SF and site development, is underway.

Another continuing project is the development of McClaren Woods Business Park in Findlay Township. This Park will consist of five buildings utilizing office, flex, manufacturing and warehouse space. Two buildings are completed and occupied and a third is under construction.

The Elmhurst Group has plans to develop its second new first-class office building in Oakland. Elmhurst negotiated with the First Baptist Church of Pittsburg for the development rights for the site at Bigelow Boulevard and Bayard Street in Oakland. Elmhurst's proposed building will contain approximately 100,000 rentable square feet of Class A space on six floors and will contain three levels of parking.

As it currently sits, The Elmhurst Group has 30 buildings on 18 sites, totaling more than 2 million square feet of office, warehouse and retail space, along with investments in several operating businesses including the 19th largest security firm in the United States.