HFF Secures Financing for Pittsburgh Office Campus

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Nick Matt, HFF

Approximately $54.7 million in financing has been put in place for the Allegheny Center Office Complex, a 1.2 million-square-foot campus in Pittsburgh, courtesy of a transaction orchestrated by HFF. The commercial real estate and capital markets services provider secured the loan through Wells Fargo on behalf of the property owner, Faros Properties L.L.C..

HFF found more than a few financing options for its client. “Pittsburgh has received significant positive press given our recent economic strength–eds, meds, banking, high tech and energy–so lenders are eager to ‘invest’ in a stable market,” Nick Matt, senior managing directors with HFF, told Commercial Property Executive. It was Wells Fargo that ultimately provided a three-year floating-rate loan, the proceeds of which Faros directed toward the acquisition of the property and an extensive capital improvement program that is presently in the works.

Allegheny Center has a certain prominence in Pittsburgh. Sited along the city’s North Shore, the complex consists of three buildings, the star of which is The Concourse, a nearly 805,000-square-foot, two-story structure that had been a shopping mall prior to its office conversion in the early 1990s. Completing the campus are the eight-story One Allegheny Square, which offers 157,000 square feet, and the 13-story, 266,000-square-foot Two Allegheny Square. The tenant roster includes the likes of PNC and Bank of America, as well as a host of data center companies that, together, make Allegheny Center one of the largest data hubs in Western Pennsylvania. There’s a great deal for a lender to love.

“The financing opportunity garnered significant interest from the lending community given the deal’s attributes–existing income in place, well regarded sponsorship, planned CapEx improvements and the location adjacent to the Pittsburgh CBD,” Matt added. “The borrower chose Wells Fargo because Wells Fargo had previously executed on the sponsor’s acquisition of the adjacent 800-unit apartment complex.”

With ownership of both the Allegheny Center Office Complex and the Allegheny Center Apartments, Faros has its own mixed-use enclave of sorts.