The Gulf Tower’s stepped pyramid crown, modelled on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, has been a Pittsburgh landmark since 1932. The 44-story building went up for the Gulf Oil Corporation. It is now the test case for whether the Golden Triangle’s office stock can be converted at scale.
Project Scope
Owner Rugby Realty, with partner Left Lane Development, is converting the tower into a $230 million mixed residential and hotel building. Plans put 226 residential units, 27 of them affordable, on floors 11 through 38, above a 126-room luxury hotel on the lower floors. Rugby started by building out model units on the fourth floor while remaining office tenants were relocated, with full construction beginning at the end of June on a roughly 24-month schedule. The developer is receiving $10 million over two years in Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grants. Rugby and Left Lane project about $37 million in local tax revenue over ten years and more than 450 jobs.
Why It Matters
Pittsburgh is running the same play New York and Chicago are running, with a smaller balance sheet and a state grant program doing the work that tax credits do elsewhere. The Gulf Tower is the cornerstone of a nearly $600 million state package aimed at downtown office vacancy, which makes it the one everyone will point at in three years, in whichever direction it goes. Splitting the stack between a hotel below and apartments above is the hedge: two different demand curves in one building, sharing one set of risers.
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Project Team & Details
| Developer | Rugby Realty
Left Lane Development |
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| Owner / Client | Rugby Realty |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Funding Source | Mixed |
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