The tower's "topping off" ceremony was held Tuesday, June 24, 2014, with William Demchak, PNC chairman, president and CEO, and Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate hosting it on site.

[9] In 2009, PNC approached Gensler with an idea for its new headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA.[10] Gensler project team members toured several buildings for energy efficient and sustainable design inspiration such as Manitoba Hydro's headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Bullitt Center in Seattle, WA, KfW Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Department of Public Works in San Francisco, CA.

[10] The Tower was designed with three core pillars reflecting company values in mind: Community Builder, Workplace Innovator, and Energy Responder.

[11] PNC emphasized providing support for Pittsburgh's existing infrastructure, promoting downtown business growth, and augmenting the skyline.

[16] The double-skin façade reduces heating and cooling as well as humidifying and de-humidifying energy loads with great reductions in the spring and fall months when the building achieves close to net-zero performance.

[17] The Tower features several different collaborative environments such as neighborhoods, "living rooms," outdoor terraces, observation decks, a cafeteria with seating for 250+ employees, and an indoor park on the 28th floor of the building.

[16] A dual-wheel energy recovery system provides humidification or dehumidification and heating or cooling for air before it enters the building,[11] it works in tandem with the double-skin façade.

[13] The building tower is shifted from the podium and the street grid for maximum solar exposure this orientation allows for natural light to reach more than 90% of work areas.

[18] The building will reclaim and treat stormwater in addition to gray and black-water for irrigation, toilet flushing, and cooling tower use producing an estimated 77% reduction in potable water use.

[16][13][10] Black-water sewage treatment and a building-wide recycling program reduce the consumption burden effluent loads on the municipal water systems.

The Beacon visualizes the building's performance using real-time data[11] such as energy use, water consumption,[10] recycling, composting, natural ventilation, and daylighting.