Source:  Q1 2012 Pittsburgh Office Market Report Highlights; CoStar

The demand for office space in Pittsburgh has strengthened due to a number of factors positively impacting the overall health of the market. In the Central Business District the “Med’s” (UPMC and Highmark) continue to expand by leasing additional Class A office space, while the “Ed’s” (Point Park University and various Charter Schools) are leasing and improving many former Class B and C properties.

At the same time, energy companies moving into the region to facilitate the Marcellus & Utica Shale natural gas activity continue to lease suburban office space while purchasing or leasing a great deal of industrial product. Since November 2011, Shell Oil has moved into 76,760 SF of now office space, Range Resources has relocated to a new 180,000 SF office building and Talisman has expanded their area presence to 73,000 SF. At the same time XTO and Chevron are counting for large blocks of Class A office space. Even with natural gas prices nearly 50% off of the recent 30 month high, more and more businesses from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana continue to search the Pittsburgh area for real estate options.

Read the complete Colliers International | Pittsburgh Q1 2012 Pittsburgh Office Market Report.

“The Pittsburgh region continues to thrive because of our now famous stability in the financial, healthcare and educational sectors along with the maturation of the technology industry,” said Patrick Sentner SIOR, Founding Principal at Colliers International | Pittsburgh. “Opportunities in commercial real estate will continue to prosper as these business sectors, including those attracted by the development of energy resources, gain momentum.”

A growing and diversified knowledge base has reinvented the Steel City, boosting its economic portfolio and making its mark on the global economy. Once abandoned steel mills now house innovative robotics companies, and the manufacturing base has been replaced with Web 2.0, hospitality, healthcare, banking, advanced manufacturing, and higher education professional service sectors.

In April 2012, an On Numbers analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data placed Pittsburgh in select company, as the number three U.S. city for private job growth over the prior four year period topped only by Houston and Austin.  Pittsburgh Today, a research affiliate of the University of Pittsburgh, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reported over the twelve months ending in January 2012, the Pittsburgh region gained nearly 18,000 nonfarm jobs, making it the second-best January on record for Western Pennsylvania, crediting employers in education, health and financial services, natural resources, mining and construction.

“The transformation of our region from the once Industrial giant to the now diverse growing economy is becoming a model for other cities around the world,” said Paul Horan, Founding Principal at Colliers International | Pittsburgh. “Pittsburgh should be proud.”