Colliers International is proud to announce its partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh to offer downtown property
Colliers International’s investment team of Gregg Broujos and Michelle Domeisen CCIM will be presenting Trinity House, a 4-story, 20,000 +/- square foot property located at 325 Oliver Avenue either for lease or for redevelopment.
“Trinity House is one of the only architecturally unique opportunities in the Central Business District that offers countless possibilities to many business types,” said Domeisen. “We look forward to our partnership with Trinity Cathedral and the diocese in exploring every avenue to find the right occupant, or project for the building.”
In exploring the possibilities, the Colliers investment team will be conducting a Request For Proposal process in the coming weeks to seek a developer or end user who is looking for a unique niche project in the Central Business District of Downtown Pittsburgh.
For additional information, please contact Gregg Broujos at 412 515 8527 or Michelle Domeisen at 412 515 8544.
Strip District Developer Sets Sights on Iconic Downtown Building
Renovations are underway at 601 Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh. Updates to the 17-story office tower include construction of a tenant lounge, shared conference facility, fitness center and yoga studio. The main lobby of the building is also being completely remodeled, including installation of an enhanced security system.
Bridgeville-based RDC Design + Build in addition to Grandview Developers purchased the former Federal Home Loan Bank building in 2018, making it their first acquisition in Downtown Pittsburgh. Fresh off completing a 105,000 SF transaction at its newly constructed District 15 in the Strip District, RDC has now set its sights on revamping 601 Grant Street, which has since been rebranded as Tower 601.
RDC’s team including John Deklewa, Shawn Fox, in conjunction with co-owners Ed Dunlap, Beau Beemsterboer and Jeffrey Hallas (have committed to enhancing the existing facets of Tower 601, while adding exciting new amenities for its existing and prospective tenants.
(Tower 601 Lobby Renovation Renderings)
“Tower 601’s renovation and re-branding is a major part of the overall rejuvenation of the Grant Street corridor,” Beemsterboer states.
The leasing team of Paul Horan and Ed Lawrence from Colliers International | Pittsburgh believe that these updates will resonate well with tenants and brokers in the market and enhance their leasing efforts at the 163,616 square foot building, directly across from the U.S. Steel Tower.
“Our firm is excited to bring this newly transformed product to a strong Pittsburgh office market,” said Lawrence, “It provides a solid option to companies who are looking for a work environment to recruit and retain top talent in the region.”
For more information on leasing opportunities at Tower 601, please contact Paul Horan at 412-515-8525 or Ed Lawrence at 412-515-8526.
Colliers International to Sell Centre City Tower in Pittsburgh’s Central Business District
The Colliers International | Pittsburgh investment team of Gregg Broujos and Michelle Keane Domeisen are representing King Penguin Opportunity Fund in the sale of Centre City Tower, a 26-story, 339,701 square foot office building in Pittsburgh’s Central Business District.
Centre City Tower is the largest of three office buildings owned by King Penguin in the city. The other two buildings (The Pittsburgher and The Allegheny Building) will remain with King Penguin as they continue to look for more opportunities to expand their portfolio within the Pittsburgh market. Jennifer Faines, a spokeswoman for King Penguin, confirmed that the company is looking to “reposition” its portfolio and restructure some of their assets.
This sale will come at a great time for the Downtown office market, as office building sales have been relatively dormant over the past year. The biggest sale in 2018 came when the City of Pittsburgh purchased the 155,000 square foot former Art Institute building for $27 million.
Centre City Tower will be hitting the market without a list price, which is part of the sales strategy, said Regional Principal, Broujos. “We’re going to see how high the interest level is before (establishing a call-for-offers date).”
Broujos also believes the size of the building will attract interest from buyers worldwide. With floorplates of more than 12,000 square feet and ongoing building updates, “we continue to see interest from outside the market for buildings of this size.”
The building has seen several recent commitments for long-term leases, leaving it around 72 percent occupied. A new café, “The Grind” will feature outdoor seating and is set to open in the near future on the first floor of Centre City Tower.
Pittsburgh Earns Highest Investment Score Since 2007
Every year, the Allegheny Conference and Pittsburgh Regional Alliance release a Business Investment Scorecard for the Pittsburgh region. The scorecard serves as a data snapshot of Pittsburgh’s economic development progress while highlighting specific changes in the region’s investment landscape. The scores are created by taking into account regional investment deals, capital expenditures and new and retained jobs across the 10-county region. A total of 340 deals were tracked in 2018; which beats the previous record of 308 deals back in 2007.
The scorecard paints a promising picture for the Pittsburgh region. The amount of jobs in our region increased for the 4th straight year. 2018 saw 7,660 new jobs added to the market, a 15% rise from 2017. 2,886 of those jobs fell in the Information Technology and robotics category.
For the second year in a row, Pittsburgh’s IT sector was the most active for investment deals, with a 51% increase in activity from the previous scorecard. IT employees in the Pittsburgh region can expect to see wages 94.5% higher than the average job wage in the region.
The second most active sector for deals across Southwestern PA was manufacturing. Jobs in this industry raised 62% from 2017, for a total of 4,000 new jobs. American Textile Company, Ellwood Quality Steel (EQS) and Bergad, Inc. all expanded within the market, thus bringing almost 150 new jobs to Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh’s number one contributor to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were deals in finance and business services. These industries were also the regions largest employer with over 230,000 total personnel. Bombardier Transportation, Bechtel Plant Machinery and Roadrunner Recycling all expanded within the region in 2018.
This scorecard gives investors a glimpse into the future and confidently demonstrates how Pittsburgh continues to thrive in different sectors.
To see the full scorecard, click here.
