Downtown's Union Trust Building on Grant Street is under agreement for sale.
The block-long building -- historic, but nearly empty since it was vacated by Mellon Financial Corp. last year -- soon could be sold to a New York-based investment group that includes Houlihan-Parnes/iCap Realty Advisors, of White Plains, and J.J. Operating Corp., of New York City, owner of the Warner Centre complex, Downtown.
Jeffrey Ackerman, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh commercial real estate firm, confirmed Friday that he is trying to finalize a tentative deal to sell the 11-story building at 501 Grant St.
Ackerman has been marketing the 595,000-square-foot building since December on behalf of its owner, an affiliate of health-insurance provider Cigna Corp. The market value of the building is $30.75 million, including land, county records show.
Ackerman declined comment on a published report that identified the Houlihan-Parnes/J.J. Operating group as the potential buyer.
Union Trust likely would continue as an office building, with retail space on the ground level, he said.
Officials of Houlihan-Parnes could not be reached for comment.
According to its Internet site, the 116-year-old firm has investments that include ownership stakes in at least 30 office and apartment buildings in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
J.J. Operating is a family-owned firm that has owned and managed retail and office properties in New York, Long Island, Westchester in New York and in New Jersey.
"We do not comment on deals until they close," said Samuel Jemal, president of J.J. Operating, in a statement issued through a spokesman. He declined to elaborate.
J.J. Operating unsuccessfully tried in 2004 to acquire the closed Lazarus-Macy's department store building in Downtown. The next year, it paid about $2.7 million at a sheriff's sale to purchase the Warner Centre, a six-story, office-retail complex with entrances on Fifth and Forbes avenues.
Warner Centre, the former Warner Theater, since has attracted several mostly smaller office and retail tenants. The mezzanine-level food court, however, is closed; several retail spaces remain vacant; and a directory indicates only a few office tenants.
"They have kept it in good condition, and I think the building may come back," Ronald Ragghianti, a hair stylist at Exclusive Hair Salon in the center, said yesterday. "I've heard a computer store soon will be moving in."
Nonetheless, Ragghianti said, he will leave the building in August to set up his own shop in the South Hills. The owner of the salon intends to move it to the Grant Building, Downtown, he said.
Real estate experts say filling the Union Trust Building will present challenges for a new owner -- particularly with the Downtown office-vacancy rate still near 20 percent.
"It's probably best suited for a large, single user, but it's not the type of building where you can just take anybody off the street and say: 'Here's your space,' " said Aaron Stauber, president of Rugby Realty Co.
Stauber said the task is not impossible, however. He noted that New Rochelle, N.Y.-based Rugby has succeeded in drawing tenants to the historic Frick Building, just across Fifth Avenue from the Union Trust Building.
"You have to know how to deal with those kinds of properties," Stauber said. "You have to have a lot of patience and persistence -- and deep pockets."
Paolo Costa, of Paola Costa Custom Design Tailor, is one of the few remaining tenants in the Union Trust Building.
"I hope this will be good news," he said yesterday, adding that he has heard a New York buyer was interested in the building.
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