AC Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown

AC Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown was the first AC Hotel by Marriott in Pittsburgh. Concord Hospitality, the Raleigh company that developed it and manages it, announced the project on 21 November 2016 as AC Hotel by Marriott Smallman and said construction had begun the week before. The hotel opened in 2018. Its rooftop restaurant Level 7 was reported open at the end of July of that year, and booking sites give 2018 as the opening year; no exact opening day appears in the sources found. It was Concord's 19th hotel in the Pittsburgh market, financed by S&T Bank. The plan called for 133 rooms, current listings give 134.

The place

1126 Smallman Street, on the line between the Strip District and Downtown, in a new building across the street from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The 2016 announcement placed it next door to the restaurant Eleven, and a food-press report places it next to the Senator John Heinz History Center. A booking-site listing puts the convention center four minutes away on foot.

There is no parking in the building. A 2025 review says guests are directed to a surface lot across the street, whose price varies: usually cheaper than valet at nearby hotels, dearer than the city garage at the Grant Street Transportation Center, two blocks away.

The concept

AC Hotels is Marriott's European-inspired brand. When Concord Hospitality announced the project in 2016, it described modern guest rooms and public spaces with a timeless European feel and a neutral palette. The designer is not named in any source found.

The tourism board lists 134 rooms with city and river views, against the 133 of the original plan. A 2025 review calls the rooms modest and somewhat small, with a seating area and couch, a firm bed, a desk and blackout curtains that work. About half the rooms look toward the convention center; the reviewers think the even-numbered ones are likelier to have a decent view, while odd-numbered rooms face a service alley.

The lobby is on the seventh floor, next to the rooftop restaurant. The hotel has a 24-hour fitness center, a business center, free Wi-Fi, mobile check-in and check-out, and more than 2,000 square feet of meeting space. It is smoke-free. The AC Lounge was announced as a co-working space by day and a social room at night.

Dining & wellness

Level 7 is the hotel's restaurant and bar, on the seventh floor, with indoor seating and an outdoor patio facing the convention center and the Downtown skyline. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covered its opening in July 2018, under a headline poking fun at the name. The tourism board now describes handcrafted cocktails and local favorites.

At its 2018 opening, Good Food Pittsburgh reported tapas-style plates (olives, crispy potatoes, meat and cheese boards, meatballs), larger plates such as flat iron steak, pesto rigatoni and grilled salmon, a gin and tonic made with Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic, and a European-style breakfast at $16 per person. Menu and prices have probably changed since.