First Commonwealth Bank has become the first new retail tenant to take a spot at the landmark Union Trust Building since California-based Mika Realty purchased the building 11 months ago.
The Indiana, Pa.-based bank will relocate its Downtown branch on Smithfield Street to expanded space at the corner of Grant and Oliver streets, said Eric Renner, executive vice president, consumer services.
A date hasn't yet been set, but the move could take place this spring, said bank spokesman Rich Stimel. First Commonwealth has 114 branches in 15 counties.
"This will be a larger branch in a marquis location. It's exciting for us to be on Grant Street, and we believe this will help us grow our Downtown business," Renner said.
CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, a Downtown-based commercial real estate firm, hopes to attract as many as 12 new retailers to the 11-story Grant Street building, which was left largely vacant after Mellon Bank Corp. (now Bank of New York Mellon Corp.) moved its personnel to other locations several years ago.
The Mika-led group purchased the Union Trust Building for $24.1 million in February. In October, the group landed its first major office space deal in Siemens Power Generation Inc., which recently completed moving 500 employees into 185,000 square feet on four floors, said Jeremy Kronman of CB Richard Ellis, who is heading the office leasing effort.
"We are very pleased that First Commonwealth Bank has chosen to relocate their downtown branch to the Union Trust Building," said Hugh "Herky" Pollock, retail broker with CB Richard Ellis. "In most markets and in this economy, banks are consolidating; this is both a validation of the strength of our location and the vitality of our local economy."
First Commonwealth will join Larrimor's, the upscale clothing retailer located on the corner at Grant Street and Fifth Avenue. An office of Manpower Inc., an existing first-floor tenant, plans to open a newly designed office and move to another space within the complex, Pollock said.
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