An old Downtown furniture store dating back to the late 1800s is up for sale three years after a Miami investment firm paid nearly $7.7 million to add it to its portfolio.
The CBRE real estate firm is marketing the Pickering Building at 960 Penn Ave., across from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, for Market Street Real Estate Partners.
Market Street is listing the property — actually two separate structures — without an asking price. It made a splash in July 2019 when it purchased the real estate for $7.67 million.
Kyle Prawdzik, a CBRE first vice president who is marketing the property, said Market Street simply decided that it was time to sell the real estate, adding it’s not unusual for an investor to do so after several years of ownership.
In the three years the firm has owned the complex, it has “put substantial dollars into the space,” Mr. Prawdzik said, although he would not give a specific number.
Improvements included adding a seventh floor tenant lounge with custom artwork by artist Burton Morris; renovating the lobby, hallways and restrooms; and updating the facade.
Market Street also has stripped away layers of carpet to uncover and restore original hardwood floors and removed ceilings to reveal exposed brick and timber.
The complex, at the corner of Penn and 10th Street, consists of two buildings — one six stories and the other 12. The smaller building dates back to the 1880s, when it was home to Pickering’s, a furniture and carpet store that closed in 1931.
To celebrate its grand opening, Pickering’s held a pie-eating contest that brought thousands of spectators to Penn Avenue, according to Market Street.
As the store grew, Pickering’s in 1912 erected a nine-story building next door, one that was expanded by three stories two years later.
When Market Street took over the complex in 2019, it was 60% occupied. It has improved that slightly to 63.6% while contending with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a devastating impact on the office market in Pittsburgh and elsewhere.
Nonetheless, Mr. Prawdzik expects the real estate to attract interest from local and national investors. As the region emerges from the worst of COVID-19, leasing activity has been increasing, he said.
“There’s been a significant uptick in tours,” he said.
Gregg Broujos, former regional principal of the Colliers International real estate firm who now is senior vice president of leasing and brokerage for the Buncher Company, said a sale right now could be tough given rising interest rates and possibility of more increases in the future.
But he noted that Market Street had done a good job improving the property.
“That is a gorgeous building, and the renovations they did were very well received. If any building in the [Central Business District] gets interest, it will be that one because of the location in the Cultural District and the improvements the owner made,” he said.
According to CBRE, the weighted average rent in the building is $19.91 a square foot. But more recent leases have been for $26.50 a square foot with 2.5% annual increases, it stated.
Besides its office tenants, the 87,217-square-foot complex houses the Scarpino restaurant at street level.
One of the principals at Market Street is Robert Oppenheim, a Pittsburgh native who grew up in Squirrel Hill and lived in Shadyside.
According to its website, Market Street also owns property in the Parkway Center office complex and at Southpointe.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com
First Published: September 29, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: September 29, 2022, 10:05 a.m.
