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Nightclubs: the creeping organism Strip District real estate family unafraid of the dark! Friday, March 03, 2000 By John Hayes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
With his Banana Joe's concept near completion and other plans fallen through, Dave Kravitz did a small job redesigning the checkout area of a local macaroni shop and stumbled upon the "conspiracy" behind Area 51.
The "mystery" controlling much of the real estate in the increasingly valuable Strip District began 98 years ago at a grocery owned by Augustino, Michael and Salvatore Sunseri.
Today the Sunseri family's quiet empire includes the very visible landmark Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, but their real power lies in extensive real estate holdings throughout the Strip. When the bustling importing and wholesaling district gained a third shift with the 1990s nightlife explosion, the Sunseris subtly manipulated some of their real estate possessions to gain a slice of the entertainment pie.
David Sunseri of Pennsylvania Macaroni declined to comment on the details or scope of the family's financial interests, but concedes that "a trust controlled by the Sunseris" maintains the building where the Strip Brewery closed and where Area 51 is opening. Area 51 partners Dave Kravitz and Jason Perla, he says, have "a long-term lease."
"We have real estate and we lease it to people," he says, "but we're not in [the nightclub] business. But we condone [the growth of] restaurant and dining facilities ... because it will bring people into the Strip. There will be more people who will come who will learn about it."
Despite Strip Brewery's closure, Sunseri says he's confident in the future of his new tenants. The success of Area 51, he admits, would strengthen the family's position in a rapidly growing district where real estate rates skyrocket, particularly at the addresses of winners.
The surest way to invest in the future is to make it happen, and Sunseri radiates optimism when he talks about the neighborhood's prospects.
"We look at the Strip as the closest thing to a 24-hour business community that Pittsburgh has to offer," he says. "Our food service division is now open [nonstop] for shipping and receiving, and of course you have the produce terminals, daytime shopping in retail and wholesale, and in the evening you have dining and entertainment. We believe the Strip District has a viable dining and entertainment engine that will keep business going into the night."
The unplanned, awkwardly regulated growth of the Strip initially caused tempers to flare between old-school importers who ruled the region for 100 years and the new-growth entrepreneurs who turned vacant warehouses into a new industry. Parking is still a headache, but sensible business people from both fields have learned to compromise and capitalize on the overlapping customer bases.
"What we're trying to do is protect and promote the Strip as we know it," says Joseph Lagana of Neighbors in the Strip, a union of 300 merchants and property owners between 11th and 33rd streets. The top dog at the Allegheny Intermediary Unit until his retirement last year, Lagana now volunteers with the Neighbors group and is a special projects adviser for the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center.
Is Area 51 what the Strip District needs? Another nightclub?
"I think there's a limit to what the market will bear," he says. "I think we've seen some of the clubs come and go. I think they're trendy. People who frequent them are fickle. Names change; themes change. What we're looking at is a trend that will probably continue. ... There's no way we could develop a policy to stop the development of private land."
Lagana calls it "wildfire," a largely unchecked explosion of commerce that's spreading down Penn Avenue and Smallman Street with no signs of abating. The city didn't plan it and existing infrastructure, particularly parking facilities, can't accommodate it. But Lagana gives it a tactful spin.
"I think we have to be very creative in how we develop our great city," he says. "Entertainment is a part of [the Strip's] growth. It's evolving as an organism. It's growing and expanding and changing and it will be shaped by the forces around it."
With a $12,000 nest egg from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority, Neighbors in the Strip is planning to come up with a plan. To begin the process, Lagana says they've hired Karen Brean, an urban planner who in recent years orchestrated the first overhaul of the Pittsburgh zoning code since 1959. Brean will conduct a poll of the region's businesses and real estate owners, he says, "and take a look at the priorities needed for improvement. Parking is one, marketing -- where do we put up signs? -- and the safety environment."
The independent study, scheduled to start in August, will parallel a Strip District study initiated by Mayor Murphy conducted by the Pittsburgh Parking Authority.
As the latest addition to the Strip's growing club culture, creepy Area 51 may be signaling a warning to the untouched nether regions of the Strip: Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
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