Renovations have begun at One Oliver Plaza to prepare 14 floors at the Downtown skyscraper for K&L Gates LLP to move there in early 2010, the law firm said Friday.
K&L Gates, one of the city's two largest law firms with about 650 employees, including 235 lawyers, will be moving to the 39-story building from its offices in the Henry W. Oliver Building on Smithfield Street.
Overall, it has 1,700 lawyers and 3,800 employees worldwide, with 28 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.
"We are proud to renew our commitment to the City of Pittsburgh," said Peter J. Kalis, chairman and global managing partner. In February, the firm signed a lease for about 251,000 square feet at the 637,000-square-foot structure on Sixth Avenue.
The building will be renamed K&L Gates Center, and the firm's name will be placed on the top of the tower, which is owned by One Oliver Associates LP, an affiliate of Kojaian Cos., of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Its name will replace that of Ariba Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based software company that remains a major tenant, but downsized its space there from 10 floors to five in a new long-term lease signed in 2007.
The law firm's new space includes four of the five floors vacated by Ariba, said Jason Stewart of the Grubb & Ellis Co. commercial real estate firm. Stewart handles leasing for the building.
One Oliver Plaza is about 92 percent occupied, Stewart said.
Ariba signs are expected to be taken down in the coming weeks in preparation for the installation of the new K&L Gates signs next year.
Cost of the renovation was not disclosed.
Work planned includes the addition of a state-of-the-art conference facility, renovation of the building lobby, the exterior facade of the first two floors and the plazas surrounding the building.
Reed Smith, the other of the city's two largest law firms, also is planning a move -- to 183,690 square feet on seven floors of the $179 million Three PNC Plaza under construction at Fifth Avenue and Market Street.
The firm, which has about 650 city-based employees, including 229 lawyers, will relocate its Pittsburgh hub from the James H. Reed Building at 435 Sixth Ave. in June 2009.
Mika Realty Group of Los Angeles has a tentative agreement to buy Reed building, owned by Reed Smith LLP and 435 Sixth Avenue Associates, entities composed of current and former Reed Smith law partners.
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