Pitt closes deal for University Club
Saturday, May 07, 2005

By Elwin Green, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The University Club sold its building to the University of Pittsburgh for $3.1 million yesterday, completing a key step in disbanding the organization.

The sale price was below the $3.69 million value assigned to the building by Allegheny County for tax purposes, and nearly half the $6 million offered last fall by commercial real estate firm Trammell Crow Co. in a tentative deal that collapsed.

"We had a false start or two with early buyer interest, but it didn't work out," said James R. Geiger, vice president of real estate brokerage Grant Street Associates, which handled the transaction.

Once the club and the university agreed in February on the sale of the 81-year-old building, located along University Place across the street from Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, the process went smoothly, he said. "We had a good cooperative seller and buyer coming down the stretch."

The club's 300-volume library is being moved to the nearby Pittsburgh Athletic Association, along Fifth Avenue on the other side of Soldiers & Sailors. The PAA is offering discounted memberships to University Club members.

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(Elwin Green can be reached at egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.)