Want a piece of Downtown?
Three-building portfolio up for sale for $13.5M
At a time when another wave of apartment construction is sweeping through Downtown, three buildings with residential elements are up for grabs.
The Conestoga Building at 7 Wood St., the Pioneer Building at 111 Wood, and the Fidelity Building at 341 Fourth Ave. are being marketed for sale by the Hanna Langholz Wilson Ellis real estate firm.
It is seeking $13.5 million for the three-building portfolio totaling 108,000 square feet plus a 5,000square-foot surface parking lot.
All three of the buildings are owned by McHolme Construction, a company that was active in the first residential boom that hit the Golden Triangle in the early part of the century.
According to the Hanna Langholz offering brochure, the Conestoga Building at 7 Wood has a master lease with Point Park University that was signed last year and runs until Aug. 31, 2026. It generates $657,652 a year in revenue.
There are two five-year renewal options that could extend the lease to June 20, 2036, and pay out as much as $786,751 a year near its end.
Lou Corsaro, Point Park spokesman, said the seven-story Conestoga Building houses a welcome center and student media, including The Globe newspaper and the WPPJ radio station, and dormitories on floors 2-7.
Based on the offering brochure, there are 24 units in all — 18 four-bedrooms and six two-bedrooms, all furnished.
About a block away, the sevenstory Pioneer Building at 111 Wood also was used by Point Park in the past. However, Mr. Corsaro said its lease ended last August.
The building, according to Hanna Langholz, is vacant. It houses 18 twobedroom units, all furnished.
On Fourth Avenue, the sevenstory Fidelity Building features 24 units, including 12 four-bedrooms and 11 two-bedrooms.
McHolme initially converted that
building to apartment suites in 2005. An affiliate of McHolme also was responsible for converting the Conestoga and Pioneer buildings on Wood into suite-style apartments as part of a deal with Point Park around the same time period. The university’s main campus is at the corner of Wood and Boulevard of the Allies.
The properties are being put for sale at a time when Downtown is experiencing another round of residential growth as building owners look for options as the office market continues to struggle because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, the owner of the four-building Gateway Center campus confirmed that it is considering a plan to convert the 25- story Three Gateway Center into apartments, with more than 300 units eyed.
On Fort Duquesne Boulevard, an old PPG warehouse is being transformed into 142 apartments, while the former GNC headquarters on Wood is being rehabbed into 254 apartments.
And on Wood near Point Park, the YWCA is being turned into a 300-unit apartment complex, one that includes a 20-story addition to be built on top of the existing structure.
In all, about 822 residential units are in the pipeline in the Golden Triangle, according to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
Such conversions have even caught the attention of Mayor Ed Gainey, who said at the PDP’s annual meeting earlier this year that he has been working with state and local partners to convert historic Downtown buildings into housing opportunities.
The three- building Hanna Langholz offering could further test the market for residential Downtown. Jay Phoebe, the Hanna Langholz broker handling the sales, could not be reached for comment.
Bryan McCann, senior director at the Cushman & Wakefield real estate firm, said Downtown is still “under housed” and predicted that more conversions could be on the horizon.
“I think it’s a positive,” he said.