It lies between Commonwealth Place and Stanwix Street at the western edge of the central business district, immediately to the east of Point State Park.

Construction of the Gateway Center was one of the earliest urban renewal projects in the United States and part of Pittsburgh's Renaissance I programs which reshaped large sections of the city.

[2] Plans were developed during World War II to redevelop the dense and "blighted" forks of the Ohio River into both Point State Park and a "Gateway" of offices.

It was announced as fully financed on September 21, 1949, when the Equitable Life Assurance Society agreed to underwrite the project after securing lease agreements from Westinghouse, Mellon Financial and other major corporations.

Most of the existing streets and buildings were wiped away, giving the developers a clean slate to re-imagine the area as a "towers in a park" concept based on the urban planning ideas of Le Corbusier.