JLL Capital Markets finances Pittsburgh CBD office tower

PITTSBURGH, PA — JLL Capital Markets announced that it has arranged a note-on-note financing for One Oxford Centre, a trophy class A office tower totaling 1.03 million s/f in the heart of Pittsburgh’s central business district.

Working on behalf of the borrower, led by Aaron Stauber, president of Rugby Realty, and a group of local investors, JLL placed the three-year acquisition loan with Dollar Bank.

One Oxford Centre is located at 301 Grant St. and occupies two city blocks between Grant and Smithfield Streets. The 45-story office tower is currently 65% leased to a mix of office and ground-floor retail tenants, including PWC, Clark Hill and Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti law firms. Amenities at the tower include The Rivers Club, a full-service health/business club and a multi-level, 850 space parking garage.

The JLL Capital Markets Debt Advisory team representing the borrower was led by executive managing director John Pelusi, senior managing director Claudia Steeb, senior managing director Nick Unkovic and Zach Barone.

“Our team has been involved with One Oxford Centre since 1982, having arranged the debt and equity financing for its construction, refinancing it several times over the years, and then selling it to Shorenstein in 2016 and arranging the financing on their behalf,” said Pelusi.

“We were pleased to secure this transaction on behalf of a buyer team that truly has a demonstrated commitment to the City of Pittsburgh. The Rugby team has an impressive portfolio of local CBD office properties along Grant Street and its suburban office properties, including Foster Plaza and Cherrington, along the Parkway West Corridor,” added Pelusi. “One Oxford Centre is an iconic class A, trophy asset. Since the pandemic, the building has been challenged in terms of occupancy levels. This new team’s commitment and financial wherewithal to the asset will undoubtedly drive One Oxford Centre’s occupancy levels back to the 90% range. In fact, once it became public that Aaron Stauber was leading the team that was acquiring the asset, several existing tenants have already exercised lease renewals.”

In addition, JLL Capital Markets has arranged construction financing for Liberty Storage Center, a 103,530 s/f, to-be-built self-storage facility in Jersey City, New Jersey.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, Tulfra Realty Company, to secure the construction loan with Fulton Bank, NA. The property will be leased and managed by Public Storage.

Liberty Storage Center is located at 300 McGovern Dr. in the southern portion of Jersey City, the second most populous city in New Jersey.

Upon completion, Liberty Storage Center will be a six-story building with 795 climate-controlled units averaging 77.3 s/f each. The ground floor of the building will feature 30 covered parking spaces.

JLL’s Capital Markets Debt Advisory team representing the borrower was led by senior managing directors Jon Mikula and Michael Klein and VP Ryan Carroll.

“Self-storage continues to be one of the most resilient asset classes and has seen a surge in demand over the last few years,” said Mikula. “As a result, lender interest was strong, particularly given Liberty Storage Center will benefit from the undersupply of self-storage in the growing Jersey City market and the strong demographics surrounding the property.”