Rebuilding downtown
There’s been a lot of focus on downtown Pittsburgh lately, most of it negative. A parking tax increase and the looming departure of several large retailers has caused a lot of worry, and for good reason.
This past Sunday’s issue of the Post-Gazette had a great piece about the city’s problems, and possible solutions. Several involved community figures (none of which were associated with the city government, notably) were asked for their opinions on what they felt it would take to revive downtown.
There were quite a few ideas I was in agreement with. One thing that made particular sense to me was to reduce the emphasis on landing behemoth retail stores, such as the now-departing Lazarus-Macy’s and the troubled Lord and Taylor:
Downtown should capitalize on what it does best: entertainment and commerce. Forget about subsidized big-box retail Downtown!
It’s true. I think it’s very hard to attract people downtown anymore just on the merits of several big retail stores. As this city’s population becomes more and more suburban, the shopping experiencence is becoming one of malls, shopping centers, big-box retail, and acres and acres of free parking. Downtown just can’t afford the space required for those type of enterprises, nor should it try to. It’s sterile, boring, and depressing.
Minneapolis built an entertainment center, dubbed Block E along these premises, and although I haven’t been following the news about it that much, I don’t think it’s significantly impacted how people view downtown. I don’t think your typical suburbanite cares about going downtown to eat at an Applebee’s when there are about a hundred similar chain restaurants in the sprawl that surrounds them. And don’t even get me started about the Hard Rock Café. I hear there’s one opening up in Fargo pretty soon.
What will bring a downtown area back is a focus on the unique and a focus on a larger permanent population. In Pittsburgh (and in many major downtowns), the downtown area has become exclusively dedicated to business. After 5 o'clock, on most days, it’s a dead place. Restaurants close early, bars are lightly populated, and sidewalks are empty.
Jane Jacobs, in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, constantly talks about the need to keep the street life active at all hours of the day. This was years ago. Not much has changed. It’s still necessary. A healthy base of residents downtown will ensure human activity long after the last office has closed up shop for the night.
But this isn’t going to happen with the current development plan. Far too many buildings lie vacant and what does get developed is financially out-of-reach for many young adults, which should be the target audience for this kind of venture. I know that if wifey and I could afford it, we’d be down there.
Pat Clark, a founding member of the Ground Zero Action Network said it best:
Stop focusing on building $500,000 luxury condos Downtown. The best target market to repopulate Downtown quickly is young people, homesteaders who aren’t bothered by vacant night-time streets but would actually be attracted to a bohemian-style district – if only there were affordable housing in the upper floors of Downtown properties!
Clark also brings up a great point about the type of shops that used to be found downtown versus what is there now:
Five years ago, a big part of the reason that we had a lively retail environment Downtown was that its stores served two important customer bases: Downtown workers as well as the working- and middle-class shoppers who relied on public transit. The Nordstrom/Lord & Taylor retail mirage aimed to upscale the district, shooting for attracting the affluent shopper at the direct expense of the more value-minded traditional shopper. Now the empty storefronts serve neither…
After arriving in Pittsburgh in September and exploring the downtown area, I was particularly struck by the number of storefronts that seemed like they used to cater to those solidly in the middle-to-lower classes. And this seemed like such a great thing.
Downtown was, at one time, a vibrant and varying place that was a destination for everyone and for different reasons. Minneapolis does not have a downtown like that. I’d be willing to bet not many cities do. And Pittsburgh’s is going to be completely gone very soon if things don’t change.
