Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Cheng-Hsia Lee of East Liberty reaches for a roll while at work at the Penn Main District Cafe in Lawrenceville's Penn Main District. Click photo for larger image. The Penn Main District A map of Lawrenceville's Penn Main District

This summer's fierce public battle over the price and fate of the new state-of-the-art Children's Hospital may have been merely interesting to most people. But it was riveting for the businesses and landlords along the tiny sliver of Penn Avenue that runs by the site.

Many have relied in one way or another on activity generated by the location, which before it became a big hole and construction site was home to St. Francis Medical Center and thousands of employees. So when the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Children's last month reached detente and agreed to go forward with the $473 million project, establishments in the Penn Main District were relieved -- and worried that the opening date would be delayed more than a year to 2008.

The delay is "both a blessing and a curse," said Pam Devereux, business development manager for the nonprofit community development group Lawrenceville Corp. On the one hand, it will further stretch out the period between Children's arrival and the late 2002 closing of the neighborhood's longtime anchor St. Francis, whose exodus already has been followed by 10 medical offices, three food and drink establishments, a convenience store, a professional services office and a bank.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Funding from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority bought 14 street banners identifying the Penn Main District. Click photo for larger image.

Yet the extra time also means more opportunity to convince cash-pinched landlords that it is worth holding out for tenants who create a warm, lively place to get a cup of coffee, stop at a bank or go out for dinner, she said. It also means more chance to work on job-training projects, identifying housing for hospital employees and even develop programs to connect local suppliers with hospital purchasing agents.

Though there's little money available from the financially strapped city to help out, community organizers say they have no choice but to seize on this once-in-a-lifetime moment. "We're not sitting back and saying there's no money," said Devereux.

Nonprofits and community groups tend to be well-versed in scrounging up low-cost help. Already, a public art program sponsored by the Sprout Fund, another nonprofit seeking to attract and keep more young people to the region, paid for a colorful mural painted this summer on a building facing the hospital.

Funding from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority also bought 14 street banners identifying the Penn Main District -- not a well-known, well-defined area -- and uniform leasing signs that are being displayed in windows of available properties.

And students from Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Economic Development and H. John Heinz School of Public Policy and Management conducted a survey for Lawrenceville Corp. that found employees at Children's existing facility in Oakland spend $1.85 million annually in that neighborhood.

That would represent a nice lift for the Penn Main District, but there are limits. The survey said 95 percent of respondents spend less than $10 a day on meals during their work day, and 71 percent take 45 minutes or less for lunch. A majority said they would patronize a community coffee shop, but the prime area for any shopping or dining seemed to be within just two blocks of the hospital.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette A new mural, "Fabric of the Community", by Jackie Kresak, helps spruce up Penn Avenue. Click photo for larger image.

A number of employees said they would like something along the lines of soup-and-sandwich purveyor Panera Bread, said Bob Gradeck, policy analyst at the Center for Economic Development. But while a Panera-style eatery might have a place, community groups hope to discourage a rush of projects such as fast-food chains and street-level medical office development. The first would not create the cozy, urban feel they want; the second tends to create closed-off places that turn off the lights at 5 p.m.

Architectural firm Brenenborg Brown Group, which has been at 4018 Penn Ave. for more than two decades, is finishing the last of six facade studies designed to help building owners see their structures in new ways. The studies, paid for through a URA program, offer design ideas and even general construction projections.

Dave Brenenborg said one rendering showed what could be done if three small buildings owned by different people were linked, making room for, say, a bank while retaining the historic style of the structures. "Sometimes people look at these grungy old buildings and think that's all it can be," he said.

New arrivals to the district since the hospital closing include a gas station and the Penn Main Cafe, at 4360 Penn Ave., which began selling coffee, small gift items and even some antique furniture in early July.

While Jennifer and Keith Vollberg like the 1,200 square-foot site, they admit they probably wouldn't have opened the coffee shop this year if they'd known Children's opening would be delayed. It means just that much more time the two entrepreneurs have to stretch their resources. They're not making a profit yet, though they hadn't expected to be, either. "We wanted to get in now while real estate wasn't crazily expensive," said Jennifer Vollberg.

Real estate prices do seem to heading up a bit, said Sandy DeTemple, an agent with Prudential Preferred Realty in Squirrel Hill. DeTemple said Lawrenceville residential properties have been selling pretty steadily but the real pop has been in commercial sites, both the Penn Main area and along the longer Butler Street commercial area.

DeTemple now has just one commercial property listing and the names of several potential buyers interested seeing what comes on the market. "I don't have enough commercial properties for sale. I wish I had more."

Phil Spano, head of the district's business association and owner of several properties in the area, said he's been contacted by a number of people -- experienced entrepreneurs and novices -- that are weighing whether to lease space.

Not far from the new Penn Main Cafe, the longtime bar-cafe Nooners closed not long ago and the building was sold. The new owner wants to open a place that would serve breakfast, lunch and then stay open into the evening, said Vollberg.

Having family-friendly places that are open 24 hours, seven days a week would be a good fit for Children's Hospital. The 24/7 atmosphere should minimize opportunities for graffiti artists and make parents feel safe, said Devereux.

Community groups would like a dry cleaner, a bakery, maybe an ice cream shop. There's no push to recruit a hotel because the hospital is expected to make it easy for parents to stay in their children's rooms and there's no real room for a grocery such as the one nearby in Bloomfield.

The CMU study suggested food establishments could serve the hospital by borrowing an idea in use in the East End, where one delivery service will collect food from a number of businesses.

In fact, borrowing ideas or even linking with existing programs could be a low-cost way to look at a number of issues, said CMU's Gradeck. Allegheny General Hospital has a community liaison that promotes using suppliers and employees from the neighborhood, and both AGH and the Oakland hospitals are involved in job training programs.

Though the real development crunch may not start until 2006 or so, the community hopes to see progress earlier. A floral shop, for example, could service a number of communities from that location while claiming its spot for the Children's opening.

"I think we all know there's going to be a gold rush when Children's construction is visible," said Devereux. "I don't think we can wait that long."