Commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle adding 115 jobs to make Pittsburgh 'hub'

Commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle plans to add 115 jobs in Pittsburgh and to make its planned downtown location a national operations hub for the Chicago-based firm.

JLL plans to increase its local workforce by 23 percent over the next three years. Dan Adamski, JLL's managing director in Pittsburgh, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/1H3DY4a ) that western Pennsylvania is becoming more attractive for businesses to relocate.

"It's a very cost-effective city, from a real estate perspective," he said.

The official announcement came at a Thursday "topping off" ceremony, where the highest steel beam at the firm's new office complex was installed.

By expanding operations in Pittsburgh, the firm can help companies relocate while also showing off the city from its new offices in the $104 million, 18-floor Tower Two-Sixty building on Forbes Avenue. The building is still under construction.

"We're going to be able to take (clients) to our site and not only show them our workforce, but let them see how vibrant downtown Pittsburgh is," Adamski said.

The move to three floors in the Tower Two-Sixty gives JLL more efficient space to expand, Adamski said, and also boosts the firm's visibility. JLL currently has 58,000 employees in 230 corporate offices worldwide.

JLL's Pittsburgh offices are among its largest in the United States.

Adamski said the firm's expansion will include many financing and accounting positions, and its national operations center will oversee the management of facilities and leases for large corporate clients from coast to coast.

The building is slated for completion by the end of the year with JLL moving in May 2016.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com