Interest in condos at new PNC high-rise strong despite economy
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 01:00PMPittsburgh Post-Gazette - April 10, 2009
By Mark Belko
It might be the ultimate nose bleed seat, and an expensive one at that. But it's also one gorgeous view.
From a condo on the 22nd floor of Three PNC Plaza, it will be possible, with the help of a pair of binoculars, to watch a Pirates game from the comfort of your living room, except perhaps for balls hit into the right field corner.
But a bird's-eye view of PNC Park isn't the only visual treat awaiting buyers willing to plunk down more than half a million dollars in the midst of a recession to purchase one of 28 condos for sale at The Residences.
It's a vantage point rarely found Downtown, except maybe for hot air balloon riders. Market Square, so familiar on the ground, becomes a tapestry of cobblestone and brick. Intricately carved lions' heads peer from the top of the Diamond Building at Fifth and Liberty avenues.
"When you live down there nobody even knows there are lions' heads or architecture there. When you live up here, you look at that stuff and say, 'Wow, that's really cool,'" said Rob Cicco, development manager for Oxford Development.
Howard Hanna, which is marketing the units for PNC Financial Services Group, hopes the views, along with top-of-the-line amenities, will sell people on the condos, which start at $514,500 and can reach $2.5 million to $3 million for an entire floor.
Standard features include hardwood floors, wool carpeting, granite counter tops, Toto plumbing fixtures, a wine refrigerator and floor to ceiling windows to soak in the views. Like the rest of the $200 million building, the units will have a green and sustainable design.
The one- to three-bedroom condos are being built on the west side of the new Fifth Avenue office tower and will run from the 14th to 23rd floors. The top floor will feature a penthouse that will span the west side of the building.
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