One Oxford Centre

One Oxford Centre is one of the major distinctive and recognizable features of Downtown Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, United States. The complex is named for Oxford Development, the developer and previous owner.

One Oxford Centre
One Oxford Centre in Pittsburgh
General information
TypeOffice
Coordinates40°26′17″N 79°59′56″W
Construction startedMay 31, 1980
CompletedApril 1983
Cost$140 million [1]
Height
Roof615 ft (187 m)
Technical details
Floor count45
Floor area932,219 sq ft (86,606.0 m2)[2]
Lifts/elevators21
Design and construction
DeveloperOxford Development Company
Main contractorDeBartolo Company
Other information
Parking800 [1]

Among the commercial tenants of One Oxford Centre are Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, HFF Inc., the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Pittsburgh Branch, and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

History

The proposed tower was announced and submitted for county approval in October 1978 as the "Grant Land project".[3][4] In April 1983, DeBartolo Company, which constructed the tower, announced plans for "Two Oxford Centre" to the immediate northeast of the main tower and across the street from Pittsburgh City Hall and the Frick Building. Two Oxford Centre was to be noticeably taller than One Oxford, however the plans and development were dependent on securing a majority tenant which never materialized.[5]

Design

Completed in 1983, One Oxford Centre has 46 floors in its main tower and rises 615 feet (187 m) above Downtown Pittsburgh. Although its address is simply One Oxford Centre, the building is located on the 300 block of Grant Street. The tower has nearly 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m2) of office and high-end retail space. Since the tower's opening, it has been home to a full-service health/business club, The Rivers Club. The complex also contains a multi-level parking garage and some street-level retail and office space one block west of Grant Street.

At night, forty-three 1,500-watt spotlights illuminate the Centre with a total of 54,500 watts that create a glowing effect that is said to be greater than any other highrise in the United States. One Oxford Centre was developed by Oxford Development Company and designed by architecture firm Hellmuth, Obata, & Kassabaum.

The most significant external change to One Oxford Centre since its construction was the addition of the PricewaterhouseCoopers logo on all sides of the building in April 2023. One PPG Place now remains the tallest skyscraper in the city to lack branding on its façade. [6]

A composite image of the main tower of PPG Place and Oxford Centre is used as the Fiddler's Green luxury high-rise in the movie Land of the Dead. Another interesting fact is that a street (Cherry Way) passes through the tower on its lower levels.

The building is featured in Episode 1656 of the television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on "Up and Down." Mr. Rogers and the "Speed Delivery"-man Mr. McFeely ride the building's escalators and elevators up and down.[7]

The tower is used for exterior shots of the Newman tower on the CBS daytime soap opera, The Young and the Restless.

Building Ownership

Since developing the Property in 1983, Oxford Development had been the sole owner and operator. In January 2016 San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties acquired One Oxford Centre under its Shorenstein Realty Investors Eleven LP, a $1.2 billion fund. CBRE Group was appointed as the leasing agent to fill up the remaining vacant space in the building. Shorenstein implemented an intensive capital improvement program that included repairing deferred maintenance throughout the property as well as aesthetic upgrades to the lobby and common areas.

See also

References
  1. "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  2. "One Oxford Centre". Skyscraper Center. CTBUH. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
  3. Snyder, Thomas P. (November 27, 1978), "Grant Land Complex Gets Support", Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA
  4. Snyder, Thomas P. (November 27, 1978), "Grant Land Plan Gets More Support", Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA
  5. "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  6. https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2022/05/12/pwc-wants-name-on-oxford.html
  7. "- YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  • Toker, Franklin (2007). Buildings of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh: Chicago: Society of Architectural Historians; Santa Fe: Center for American Places ; Charlottesville: In association with the University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-2650-6.

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