Dollar Bank to move Downtown HQ
Dollar Bank is changing quarters.
The bank confirmed Tuesday that it will be moving its Pittsburgh headquarters from its longtime Downtown home in Three Gateway Center to 20 Stanwix, a 20- story office building at Stanwix Street and Fort Pitt Boulevard overlooking the Monongahela River.
In addition, Dollar announced plans to update and expand its operations center at 2700 Liberty Commons in the Strip District — all with an eye toward safeguarding employees during the COVID- 19 pandemic.
The Pittsburgh Post- Gazette reported in July that Dollar was considering a move from Three Gateway to 20 Stanwix, where it will lease the top four floors and a ground floor reception suite off the lobby. In all, the bank will occupy 76,000 square feet at its new headquarters. That’s down from the 108,000 square feet — spread over seven floors — that the bank occupied at Gateway Center, where it has spent 33 years.
In the Strip District, Dollar will expand its footprint at 2700 Liberty Commons by 35,000 square feet, allowing it to move more employees there from Gateway Center.
With the changes, 230 employees will move to the 20 Stanwix headquarters and 470 to Liberty Commons. There are currently 300 at Gateway Center and 400 at Liberty Commons.
“Relocating our corporate office and renovating our operations center gives us the ability to create an environment that maximizes organizational efficiency, optimizes resources and promotes a strengthened internal community. We are reinventing our workplace in today’s environment,” Dollar Bank CEO and president Jim McQuade said in a statement.
The bank will configure both of its spaces with COVID- 19 in mind. They will be optimized for physical distancing and include increased hand sanitizing stations, touchless mechanics and other accommodations designed to prevent the spread of the virus, said public affairs vice president Frank Buonomo.
Plus, the bank will set up meeting rooms, lounge areas, and private huddle spaces so that employees “can safely connect, collaborate, recharge and refuel,” according to the announcement.
At 20 Stanwix, workers will also have access to private indoor and outdoor rooftop areas, a fitness center and a conference center. The bank will get signage at the entrance way to the building and on the building itself.
“We can build from scratch at 20 Stanwix,” Mr. Buonomo said. “We are able to build out that space the way we want it.”
At 2700 Liberty Commons, workers will have access to hot breakfast and lunch options, a grab- and- go bistro and reception and private rooftop areas. Renovations have already started at that location and are scheduled to wrap up in mid- 2021.
Dollar plans to move into 20 Stanwix early next year. It has signed a 16- year lease, but no other details were available. Jason Stewart, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle, led the building’s leasing efforts.
Enticing the bank to move its headquarters to 20 Stanwix is a coup for the building owner, Chicago based M&JW ilk ow, which has struggled to fill the space after PNC moved out several years ago. That departure left about 100,000 square feet empty, and the building’s vacancy rate was more than 30% earlier this year before the pandemic hit. Wilkow owns the real estate with DRA Advisors of New York City.
Dollar isn’t the only local bank that has committed to making a move. First National Bank, currently based on the North Shore, has reached a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins to anchor a 26- story office tower to be built at the former Civic Arena site in the lower Hill District.