Burns & Scalo finalizes $19M deal to buy GlaxoSmithKline headquarters
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
After toying with the idea of buying the former GlaxoSmithKline regional headquarters in Moon for nearly a year, Burns & Scalo Real Estate Services finally has sealed the deal.
Burns & Scalo closed on its acquisition of the 200,000-squarefoot building Friday, paying $19 million for the real estate that overlooks the Parkway West near the Mall at Robinson.
The acquisition officially closes the door on GlaxoSmithKline’s presence in Pittsburgh, one that spanned nearly four decades before ending last year when the company closed its consumer health care operations, which had been housed in the Moon building.
Burns & Scalo initially had the property under agreement last January for $24 million but backed out before the closing. It became involved again when another prospective buyer also got cold feet.
Jim Scalo, Burns & Scalo president and CEO, said Monday his firm decided to pursue the real estate again after seeing improvement in the leasing and capital markets, making the acquisition more palatable.
Payroll processor ADP currently leases 60,000 square feet in the three-story building. Burns & Scalo also is talking to two other prospective tenants, each seeking to rent 150,000 square feet. Mr. Scalo declined to name them.
“We feel very favorable about [the property]. It’s a very wellmaintained corporate building but it has big floor plates and a
great location, something that’s not very common in the market,” he said.
The building has been so well maintained that Mr. Scalo does not see the need for any improvements. GlaxoSmithKline had been using the building since 2002 before closing the consumer health care operations there after consolidating operations in New Jersey, eliminating 274 jobs in the Pittsburgh market.
Gregg Broujos, managing director and founding principal at Colliers International, said the property is well suited for Burns & Scalo.
“I think they’re going to be fine there. It’s a really solid building and I’m sure they’re getting it for the right price,” he said.
As an added benefit, the Parkway West market is showing new signs of life after softening because of the downturn in Marcellus Shale drilling, Mr. Broujos said. “We definitely think it’s going to come back,” he said.
The acquisition is Burns & Scalo’s latest foray into the corridor.
It is planning to erect two new buildings, each 106,000 square feet in size, in the RIDC Park West industrial park. It has finished another building at 400 Industry Drive near Pittsburgh International Airport that is fully leased and it is nearing completion of another office building, the Bentley, in Green Tree that can be seen from the parkway.
Burns & Scalo also is planning two new buildings at the Abele Business Park in Bridgeville.
Mr. Scalo said he sees great potential in the Parkway West market with the planned construction of the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County and the Southpointe office park filling up. He believes there will be demand for newer office space between those two points.
“A lot of the buildings are old and tired. The newer buildings win; the older buildings lose,” he said.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.