Station Square Getting New Ownership; Makeover Still On The Way?

PITTSBURGH, PA - After recently unveiling plans for a $30 million makeover of Station Square, the owner of the South Side retail, dining and entertainment complex has been acquired by a global asset management firm.

Forest City Realty Trust has been sold to Brookfield Asset Management Inc. for $11.4 billion, the two companies jointly announced. Forest City’s board of directors already have approved the move and the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Brian Kingston, Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Property Group, said, “Forest City has created a high-quality portfolio of operating and development assets over its 100-year history,” Brian Kingston, CEO of Brookfield Property Group, said in a statement. “We look forward to creating further value in these great assets on behalf of our limited partners.”

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has approximately $285 billion in assets under management. Brookfield has more than a 115-year history of owning and operating assets with a focus on real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and private equity.

Forest City’s portfolio includes 6.3 million square feet of high-quality office space, 2.3 million square feet of premier life science assets, primarily in Cambridge, MA, 2.2 million square feet of retail space and 18,500 multifamily units, as well as five large-scale development projects in the New York Metro area, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Forest City operates several iconic American properties, including the New York Times Building in New York City, the Yards in Washington, D.C., University Park at M.I.T. in Massachusetts and Station Square, which it purchase from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation in 1994.

It is unclear what impact, if any, Forest City’s acquisition will have on the proposed makeover of Station Square’s Freight House Shops, which is expected to include:

• The December closure of the Bradford School, a primary tenant in the Freight House Shops for years, will close in December.

• UPMC taking over about a third of the Freight House Shops space next year on the Smithfield Street Bridge side of the building.

• The elimination of the Freight House Shops' mezzanine level and food court.

• The Melting Pot restaurant moving to the former comedy club space in Bessemer Court.
• The addition of five to seven new restaurants.

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