United States Steel Corporation’s real estate division has acquired a former steel mill site in Pittsburg, California, for $275 million. The purchase was made by U.S. Steel Property Holdings and reported by the Mercury News.
The plant, which operated as a steel mill for several decades before closing two years ago, was previously co-owned by U.S. Steel Corporation and South Korea-based Posco. In 2020, U.S. Steel acquired Posco’s half of the venture, consolidating full ownership under its own name. The latest transaction is an internal transfer from U.S. Steel Corporation to its property holdings arm via a quitclaim deed, meaning the property was transferred without warranties or guarantees.
The site consists of 11 parcels located on Loveridge Road, East Third Street, Columbia Street, and Antioch-Pittsburg Highway in Pittsburg.
Production at the plant was indefinitely halted in December 2023, with all manufacturing of cold-rolled sheets, galvanized sheets, tinplate and tin-free steel coming to a stop. This shutdown occurred around the time that Japan-based Nippon Steel announced it would acquire U.S. Steel; 474 workers lost their jobs due to the closure. At that point, the factory was the only producer of tin plates for canning on the West Coast as well as other products. Nippon Steel completed its acquisition last June.
Following Nippon Steel’s takeover, U.S. Steel has announced upgrades at facilities in Alabama and Illinois and renovations at an Indiana plant.
The company has not disclosed future plans for the Pittsburg facility.
Industrial activity in the East Bay region continues to draw investor interest. In July, BKM Capital Partners and Kayne Anderson Real Estate bought a portfolio of industrial buildings in Concord and Hayward from a Blackstone affiliate for over $120 million. Later in November, they purchased another industrial campus in Pleasant Hill for $25 million. Companies such as Zoox are also expanding manufacturing operations within cities like Hayward.
“U.S. Steel’s plans for the Pittsburg, California, plant are not immediately clear.”
