With the commercial office vacancy rate Downtown hovering around 20 percent, it's clear there aren't enough companies deciding to move into what many think of as Pittsburgh's top office location.
Even so, there are Downtown leasing success stories, says Brad Totten, a real estate broker with Grubb & Ellis Co.
Among them is the PPG Place complex, according to Totten, who handles leasing there with fellow Grubb & Ellis broker George H. Kingsley III.
"There has been a lot of gloom and doom about how bad the market is, but we have been able to find our share and actually add to it," Totten said.
Thanks to a group of leasing deals signed over the last year or so, including agreements with several firms completely new to the Pittsburgh area, the six-building complex is about 87 percent full, Totten said. That percentage could move up to nearly 89 percent by year end if several prospective tenants decide to move in.
The mock-gothic glass complex, owned by the Hillman Co. and designed by the late Philip C. Johnson, known as the dean of U.S. architecture, offers a total of 1.5 million square feet of office and retail space.
About 400,000 square feet of that space is occupied by the complex's namesake, PPG Industries Inc., whose lease runs until 2011.
Ryan & Co., a tax consulting firm, is among the companies from outside the region to locate at the complex. It leased 5,600 square feet for its Pittsburgh office on the 28th floor of One PPG Place, the 40-story, 900,000-square-foot building that is the complex's main tower.
Ryan, which currently is in temporary space at the six-story Four PPG Place building, probably will move into its permanent offices by Nov. 1, Totten said.
Also new to the region is an office of News American Marketing, which now occupies a 5,800-square-foot location on One PPG Place's 31st floor.
News America Marketing, a New York-based subsidiary of Australian media giant News Corp., provides marketing services primarily through newspaper inserts and in-store coupon displays.
Also on the 31st floor is ATC Distribution, or Axiom Automotive Technology, which is leasing 11,000 square feet. That company is from Louisville, Ky.
New to PPG Place, although certainly not to the region, is Kennametal Inc., a major industrial toolmaker based in Unity, Westmoreland County. As previously reported, Kennametal recently leased about 12,000 square feet for a satellite office on the 16th floor of One PPG Place that will be used by Chairman Markos I. Tambakeras and other officials for meetings and other business in Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile, Oakland-based Carnegie Mellon University houses its Alumni Development and Capital Fund-Raising Department in 32,000 square feet on the 11th and 14th floors of Six PPG, Totten said.
Relocations from within the Downtown area and existing tenant lease renewals also have benefitted the complex.
For example, LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., which operates Lawyers Title and Commonweath Title units in this area, consolidated office staff previously located in One Oxford Center, the Koppers Building and 300 Bilmar Drive in Robinson to about 15,000 square feet on the 12th floor of One PPG Place.
"I wanted our people together on one floor, and we wanted a prestigious building," said Ron Owen, senior vice president and regional manager of LandAmerica. Owen said the company moved 40 employees to PPG Place.
A recent lease renewal saw employees of Mercer Human Resource Consulting relocate from the 27th floor of One PPG to about 22,000 square feet at 14-story Six PPG place, where a related company, Marsh USA, already occupies about 65,000 square feet.
"That's a nice-sized transaction that helps the ownership keep almost 90,000 square feet for 10 years," Totten said.
Real estate notes:
With more than $140 million in renovation and new construction projects, P.J. Dick Inc.'s K-12 Construction Management Services Group is working on school projects throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. Among them are consultant work for Oxford Development Co. for construction of a 77,000-square-foot middle school in Bentleyville for the Bentworth School District; an addition and renovation at Montour High School in Robinson Township; a $10.5 million, 55,000-square-foot field house adjacent to Hempfield High School, Hempfield Township; a $52 million renovation and 335,000-square-foot addition at Baldwin High School, Baldwin Township; and a $6 million renovation of the 73,000-square-foot Acmetonia Elementary School for the Allegheny Valley School District.
Daniel P. Puntil and Jeffrey W. Keating of Laureate Capital's Pittsburgh office recently arranged a $2.25 million financing for Kappa Manor in O'Hara and $5.9 million for Sierra North Plaza in Altoona.
The grand opening of Park Lane in Greensburg near Seton Hill University, a development by Marino Brothers Construction, will be held Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22 and 23, from noon to 5 p.m. Already built are 25 townhomes and 14 patio homes, while nine of 11 lots for single-family homes have houses under construction. Two lots are still for sale, said Tom King, manager of the Howard Hanna New Homes East Office. Susan Sharp is site coordinator. Townhome packages begin at $189,900, and patio homes at $239,900.
A panel discussion on "Greening of Facilities Management" will be presented from 8 to 9:15 a.m. Wednesday by the International Facility Management Association and the Green Building Alliance at the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania, 337 Fourth Ave., Downtown Pittsburgh. Cost is $30 for members, $35 non-members.
Pitt Ohio Express, Lawrenceville, is building a new terminal in Trenton, N.J. The 64-door facility with a fueling area, located on 17 acres, will include a two-bay mechanics garage and 5,500 square feet of office space.
A $1 million loan, through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, will enable Vortex Recycling to build a 27,000-square-foot structure in the Riverview Industrial Park in New Castle, Lawrence County. The funds will enable the firm, which recycles used oil filters, to retain 18 jobs and create 13 more.
Five Filer Brothers, a manufacturer in Grove City, Mercer County, plans to add about 10,000 square feet to its facility and purchase new equipment. The company employs 24 and expects to add eight more workers in three years. It recently closed on a Small Business First loan of $200,000 through the Northwest Pennsylvania Region Planning and Development Commission, and a $150,000 loan from the Mercer County Industrial Growth Fund. The firm manufactures canvas and related sewn products and wooden tool chests.
The first structure to be renovated by Hopeful Housing Corp. in the East Wheeling community of Wheeling, W.Va., is an historic Victorian duplex built in the 1880s. The house will be sold to low- and moderate-income families, with proceeds from the sale used to acquire and renovate other existing properties.
Cabela's Inc., a hunting, fishing and outdoor gear company which has a 175,000-square-foot retail store near Wheeling, W.Va., plans to develop a 579,000-square-foot distribution center adjacent to the store. The estimated $18 million center, at Fort Henry Business Centre in Ohio County, when completed will, along with the retail store, employ about 1,200.
In support of Pennsylvania's "Growing Greener" initiative, a 134-page publication, "Better Models for Development in Pennsylvania," offers dozens of ideas and examples of ways to balance conservation and economic development. The publication was developed by the Conservation Fund in cooperation with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of Community and Economic Development. It has been distributed to government planners, public officials, developers and interested citizens. Contributor: Sam Spatter
