One major Downtown office building has been sold, and a second has been placed up for sale, as real estate in the Golden Triangle continues to change hands at a quickening pace.

The Grant Building, a Downtown landmark since its completion in 1930, is being sold to McKnight Development, an Oakland-based firm whose portfolio also includes the Heinz 57 Center and the Brooks Brothers Building. The company is expected to close next month on its purchase of the 37-story tower at 310 Grant St.

		Online Graphic Grant Building Dtails and Location

Meanwhile, on the other side of Downtown, the Duquesne Light building -- long known as the Chamber of Commerce building -- is being marketed by Grubb & Ellis Real Estate Services.

No price was disclosed on the sale of the Grant Building, but according to county records, the Grant Street Realty Corp. bought the building in 1997 for $34.8 million.

It is now assessed at $25.4 million. In 2004, the region's office space sold for an average $71 per square foot. At that price, McKnight would pay $33 million for the property.

But commercial real estate prices are driven by occupancy, and the building is only 75 percent occupied, so Mc- Knight may have acquired it at a discount.

Peter Sukernek, vice president and general manager of Howard Hanna Commercial Real Estate Services, thinks that McKnight will be able to raise that occupancy level.

"They're good owners," Mr. Sukernek said. "They've done a nice job with everything they've acquired."

McKnight principal Bill Rudolph said the company plans to make a "significant investment" to upgrade the building, but declined to give specifics.

The 465,000-square-foot building was designed by Henry Hornbostel, the Brooklyn-born architect who also designed the City-County Building, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and the original Carnegie Mellon University campus. Its largest tenant is the Hillman Company, billionaire industrialist Henry Hillman's private investment firm. It is also home to the Chicago Title Company and offices of the state Superior Court.

The Grant Building sold in a matter of weeks. Gerry McLaughlin, vice president of Grubb & Ellis, voiced confidence that the Duquesne Light building also would sell quickly.

"We expect to have a fair number of folks interested," he said.

The 322,210-square-foot building is more than 90 percent occupied, with Duquesne Light as its major tenant. No price has been set. Mr. McLaughlin said it will be marketed through a closed bid process.

At the 2004 average of $71 per square foot, the Duquesne Light building would sell for $22.9 million. But the building has sold for wildly fluctuating prices as it changed hands multiple times over the past 20 years. In the mid-1980s, New Yorker Richard Penzer bought it for $8 million, renovated it and sold it for $22 million a year later. The building was sold in 1993 for $6.5 million, and in 2001 its current owners, 411 Seventh Avenue Associates, paid $17.1 million. Its current assessment is $19 million.

The Grant Building is the third major Downtown office building to be sold in recent weeks. On Feb. 1, the Verizon building at 201 Stanwix St. was sold to California-based Hertz Investment Group for approximately $6 million. A week later, the National City Center, a 22-story tower at Stanwix and First streets, was sold to National City Center Limited Partnership, a New York-based private investment group, for $23 million.