Rugby Realty Co. has sold the Manor Building, attracting a new-to-the-market buyer for the downtown office property.
County real estate records indicate that an affiliate of Crescent Investment Group, an Atlanta-based investment firm, bought the property, paying $6.2 million for it in a deal that closed recently.
Secaucus, NJ.-based Rugby originally bought it for $3.5 million 12 years ago, adding it to a local portfolio that includes downtown buildings such as the Frick Building and Gulf Tower, among others.
Calls to Crescent were not immediately returned. Aaron Stauber, president of Rugby Realty, declined comment.
The investment sales team in the Pittsburgh office of CBRE began marketing the 13-story office building late last spring, circulating the 107,000-square-foot office building without a list price.
Located just off Grant Street behind the City-County Building and the neighboring Allegheny County Courthouse, the Manor Building experienced a significant vacancy last year when the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office opted to moved out in December for a new address at One Waterfront Place in the Strip District.
The move left a 35,000-square-foot vacancy in the building.
Pete Licastro, president of Point Bridge Realty Advisors LLC, expects the Manor Building to be a tenant draw based on its location and parking availability.
"At the rental rate and the price per square foot, I think the building is positioned well," he said. "Not every tenant is in the market to pay $32 a square foot for Class A space. I think the Manor Building fills a need and a segment of the market."
Rugby, more often a firm that buys and holds than seeks to sell, has since greatly expanded its Pittsburgh-area portfolio of properties by buying major portions of two office parks on the Parkway West in late December.
The company’s buy of most of Foster Plaza and Cherrington Corporate Center brought 15 buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet under Rugby’s ownership.