PITTSBURGH—The Delaware-based
Buccini Pollin Group (BPG) has opened the $300 million
FNB Financial Center building in Pittsburgh close to five years after the project started, marking the first high-rise built in the Steel City in 40 years.
The 26-story building is anchored by First National Bank which will take up at least half of the office space in 12 floors. As of last week, the high-rise is close to 75% occupied between First National Bank and other tenants including accounting firm BDO USA, the Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman law firm and GH Advertising.
Inside, the FNB Financial Center building includes a state-of-the-art fitness center, as well as a full-service cafe and a coffee bar on the ground floor. Office tenants can enjoy the terrace retreat and the dining area along with a massive media wall on the first floor that was inspired by the 27-million-pixel LED video wall in the lobby of the Comcast Center.
“It’s like the best of both worlds, because it’s a corporate building where the majority tenant [First National Bank] really requires first class amenities, but the other tenants can gain the benefits of that,” said Chris Buccini, the BPG co-president and lead of its commercial real estate management arm.
The 400-foot FNB Financial Center was built in partnership with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and equity for the project was provided by Clay Cove Capital, one of the largest minority-owned real estate investment firms in the country. As a major boost, the project also received more than $7 million of monetized tax abatement benefits to the community-directed Greater Hill District Reinvestment Fund to help invest in community needs.
For Buccini, the project also represents a big bet paying off as the Wilmington developer had opted to move ahead with the project in the summer of 2020, well before the headwinds of supply chain issues and skyrocketing inflation.
“When you think back on where we were, it was a really bold move because if you were to build it today, it’d probably be $40 to $50 million more,” he said. “The price escalation was massive, and it’s really a credit to the FNB CEO Vincent Delie to go ahead. He knew it was the right thing to do.”
Buccini also credited the foresight of BPGS, its construction affiliate, and local builder PJ Dick, on staying ahead of the curve on materials to ensure that the project avoided the 20% cost escalation it might have seen in today’s market while ensuring an equitable building environment as more than 30% of the project was built by Black-owned businesses and women-owned firms.
While BPG first built its name in Wilmington with its massive efforts to transform the central business district, it has also been expanding its reach beyond the First State and into markets like Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville and New Orleans.
But Pittsburg has taken the center stage for the firm over the years as it worked to develop the People’s Center along the Allegheny River in 2017. BPG also did the pre-development for a $70 million music venue for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Live Nation.
“Pittsburgh is a very dynamic market, as there’s a huge technology community there because it’s one of the epicenters of artificial intelligence in the world because of Carnegie Mellon University and Pitt,” Buccini said. “We’ve proven ourselves in Delaware which makes it a bit easier to get things done because of the reputation. But when we started in Pittsburgh you had to earn people’s trust. I think we’re getting there.”
BPG does have a small office in the city— and the firm has aspirations to keep building in the Lower Hill.
“It’s a nice satellite market for us, because it has the infrastructure and the relationships there,” Buccini said. “It’s a very different city than Philadelphia, but I’m starting to feel at home there because there’s a lot of pride. Never count Pittsburg out. They really reinvented themselves after the steel boom, and they’re about to see more downtown residential, just like we’ve seen in the last ten years.”