Pittsburgh's newest skyscraper opens for business
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The trading floor inside the new FNB skyscraper. Photo: Courtesy of FNB Corporation
FNB Financial Center is the city's newest mixed-use skyscraper and the first completed project of a massive new development.
Why it matters: The 26-story tower in the Lower Hill District, just outside of Downtown, is the first skyscraper built in Pittsburgh in nearly a decade. The neighborhood was demolished decades ago thanks to so-called "urban renewal" policies and it has essentially been vacant ever since.
- It's another feather in Pittsburgh's cap ahead of it hosting the NFL draft next year.
Driving the news: The Pittsburgh-based FNB Corporation held a grand opening Tuesday for the tower with over 400,000 square feet of office space.
- Though the glimmering glass structure, which cost $300 million, officially opened Tuesday, office workers started to move in last November as part of a soft launch.
- Over 1,000 FNB employees currently work across 12 floors of the tower.
- The tower is 70% leased. Other tenants are GH Advertising, BDO accounting firm and Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC law firm.
What they're saying: "Growing up on the North Side, I watched the skyline," FNB CEO Vincent Delie Jr. said. "To have an impact on the skyline is incredible."
What's inside: 20,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor houses a First National Bank branch and a cafe, with more retail to come.
- The office also includes a fitness center with showers and lockers, a conference center and a private terrace with dining to lure people back into the office.
State of play: The tower is just one piece of the 28-acre development plans in the Lower Hill District. Additional proposals for housing, retail, entertainment venues and office space await.
- Downtown, located just blocks away, is set for $600 million in investment to help convert empty, older offices to residential units and spruce up the neighborhood.
Context: The Lower Hill District was a vibrant, majority-Black neighborhood before it was controversially demolished in the 1950s to make way for the Civic Arena. The area has remained surface parking lots since 2012, following the demolition of the Civic Arena.
- FNB said the first phase of the development will generate over $50 million in economic benefits for the Hill District by subsidizing other neighborhood development, contributing to the city's affordable housing fund, and funding minority- and women-owned construction firms.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins — longtime tenants at the Civic Arena — have the development rights for that section of the Lower Hill. The team's current home, PPG Paints Arena, sits adjacent to the site.
Friction point: Some community members in the Hill District have voiced opposition to pieces of the development plan, complaining that developers didn't include them enough in their planning process.
What's next: A 4,500-seat entertainment venue in the Lower Hill is set to be completed by this fall.