A New Skyscraper for Pittsburgh: Wait a Minute, this Sounds Familiar...

During Pittsburgh's initial Renaissance, planners assured everyone that new skyscrapers and other wildly expensive projects were going to revitalize the city. When that didn't work after five decades of spending, the planners promised that retail would do the trick. When that didn't work, the plan shifted to residential. Then back to retail. Now, it seems, the answer is--a skyscraper. A skyscraper built to a very large extent on the taxpayers' dime, and designed to serve a very large and well-connected corporation.

Any reason to think a skyscraper won't work? Well, a Lexis-Nexis search quickly yields an Associated Press story from January 5, 2005:

Sheriff's sales are listed by the dozens in daily newspapers, but when a 32-story office tower touted not so long ago as the cornerstone of a city's revitalization effort goes on the block, it can make people take note.

That's what happened this week when Dominion Tower, opened only 17 years ago, was sold for $45 million.

"It's definitely not normal," said Jeffrey Ackerman, executive vice percent of CB Richard Ellis, which sold the building for $82 million in 2000. "It has been a soft office market around the entire country for some time."

Not to worry, though. The story quotes a few analysts predicting an upswing in the market. Unfortunately, as the Post-Gazette reported on November 16, 2005, that very building seems to be missing out on the exuberance:

Dominion Resources Inc., namesake of the 32-story Dominion Tower on Liberty Avenue in the bustling Cultural District, is not expected to renew its lease for most or all of its eight floors when it expires in 2007, the building's leasing agent said.

That would add about 180,000 square feet of vacant space to the 615,000-square-foot building, which is already struggling with 200,000 square feet of empty space, potentially pushing the vacancy rate above 60 percent.

So the last skyscraper built downtown--complete with the promise of revitalization, of course--recently sold at a fire sale for about half what it brought just five years ago. And it's vacancy rate might soon top 60 percent.

Now were supposed to believe that another skyscraper is going to do the trick. And chip in for its construction.

Oy.

Maybe my math is way, way off, but the story in the Post-Gazette indicates that the new PNC building will feature 360,000 feet of office space. And it appears that the Dominion Tower will soon have 380,000 square feet available. Instead of building a new tower, WHY DOESN'T PNC MOVE INTO THE DOMINION BUILDING? And take the law firm with them. The building is only 17 years old.

And the taxpayers can keep their millions.

I'm guessing my suggestion won't fly. Can anyone explain why?

Comments

[PGHPA611]

Dominion Tower's high occupancy rate is a disturbing fact if looked at ony at face value. What is the bright side to the high occupancy rate in this relatively new , well located office building? The upside is the potential to attract a new corporate citizen to Pittsburgh. Location, location, location is still the key factor. What is missing is an aggressive effort to sell this city and its attributes to the nation. Dominion Tower recently being sold for only 45 million allows the new owner to offer attactive rates to corporations in search of office space. Let me ask this... What prevents Pittsburgh from growing ? Our ability to sell this region on a national level, despite this fact Westinghouse, American Eagle and Dicks Sporting Goods has chosen this city to call home recently. My advice is to change the mindset of the region. Pittsburgh is changing and our time is soon to arrive. Affordable cost of living, situated in the most populous area between New York and Chicago with a high quality of life, not too bad for a ctiy trying to grow. Ten years from now Pitsburgh will return to its grandeur and beyond.