Eve Picker: 'As with every vacancy, this is a chance to make a positive change'

Sunday, August 10, 2003

So Lord & Taylor is leaving. Big deal. Boring clothes, boring business, just like Anytown USA.

	Which way up for Downtown? The announced departure of Lord & Taylor rattled the retail outlook for the Golden Triangle. We asked four observers to assess the impact and look forward. (V.W.H. Campbell, Jr. Post-Gazette) Related articles Jake Haulk: Let the market decide Rob Pfaffmann: Think big by thinking small Eve Picker: Shoot for the stars Barry Hannegan: Not-so grand illusion

We can do better than that . . . and we will.

Why is it we think we have a problem? Can't we see the beauty of our city, its assets, its possibilities? We sell ourselves short. A store closing in another city is an everyday occurrence. In Pittsburgh, it's the end of the world. "No one will ever come back again. Downtown is going to implode and disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again."

Will it?

Let's see. Consider Downtown: There are rivers, amazing skyline, two stadiums, all within walking distance. More? There's a brand new, nationally recognized convention center. There are bridges with enough steel to build 100 tankers, bolts big enough to make your mouth gape. Breathtaking views in every direction. River trails to connect it all, from Washington's Landing through Downtown and back up to the East End. You can take in a little sun in Market Square, eat a little pasta there, drink a coffee, watch the people go by. Go to the Original Fish Market in the Westin for sushi, the best you'll ever have. Dine at the elegant Palomino's, with its outdoor terrace, or La Strada, Southwest Bistro or the diner with Cuban food, Kenny B's. Catch a show or a play, hear the symphony, go to a rock show (inside or out), see a foreign film at the Harris. Get a little off-center with "Full Frontal Fridays" or a late evening Attack Theatre performance. There are health clubs, parks, swimming pools, plenty of parking, 250,000 people working and living here, and alas . . . soon only three department stores.

Can we cope? I think so.

I took a walk around the Lord & Taylor block one day last week. Across the road sits Saks Fifth Avenue. On the other side, Kaufmann's. To the north is a public parking garage with a park on top, and to the east a hotel, office tower and a Starbucks. Now, I'm not in retail, but it's hard to imagine a better location. Parking, green space, tourists, lots of office workers, high-end clothing and good coffee. Seems like a hot spot to me.

Yes, the city made an investment. It seems to me it made a great one. The building is still gorgeous. It's in move-in condition in one of the most solid blocks Downtown. It's the kind of real estate anyone would like to own. And the city has a say in what happens to it.

So let's shoot for the stars. Let's put something there worth coming for, where paying $3 for parking is no longer something to gripe about. Something so different and so much better than a department store, or a mall, that you'll just have to be seen there.

Let's find the very best use that we'd like to have and then let's make it clear that we know we have prime real estate, an asset, a place that they really want to be. Let's sit at the table like real moguls and not let on that we're nervous, that we may feel we have something to lose. Because, you know, we don't.

There are endless possibilities for this building. As with every vacancy, this is an opportunity to make a positive and dramatic change. Shift the perception, get a little funkier, get a little more youthful, agree to something a little different . . . and then don't point fingers when the risks we take don't always work out. That's part of the game and we need to learn to play it.

Eve Picker (eve@nowall.com) is president of no wall productions, which develops loft apartments Downtown.

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