In his first venture as a developer, Mike Clements isn't exactly playing it safe.

Treading into waters that have swamped so many others, Mr. Clements is intent on doing his part to move the downtrodden Fifth and Forbes corridor Downtown from "blight to bright."

He has spent $258,296 to purchase a vacant three-story building at 308 Forbes Ave. in the heart of the corridor with hopes of converting it into retail and residential space.

After several failed attempts by the city to use big name developers to transform the corridor, Mr. Clements sees the building-by-building approach -- "grass-roots investment," as he calls it -- as the key to energizing Fifth and Forbes avenues and supplementing bigger projects like Three PNC Plaza, Piatt Place, and the G.C. Murphy redevelopment.

"Here's a corridor, one of the most important corridors in the city, and it's now probably one of the most neglected. That's unfortunate. I wanted to make a small contribution to change that," he said.

Mr. Clements, a 35-year-old vice president of client accounts for North Shore technology firm Confluence, is trying to raise about $200,000 to renovate the Forbes Avenue property, a cream-colored structure with chipping paint.

He would like to use the basement and the first floor as retail space. The second and third floors each would house one apartment, most likely a one-bedroom renting for $1,000 to $1,500 a month. He has plans for French balconies, French doors, and large windows overlooking Forbes.

Mr. Clements wants to find retailers that can add "some energy and vibrancy" to the corridor, perhaps a clothing boutique, trendy coffee or tea house, or maybe even an ice cream shop.

He has hired Fourth River Development LLC to help with the search. Before settling on the firm, he said one of the things that he found surprising was a "fair amount of negativity" about Downtown among local brokers.

"That's particularly strong in the broker community, which is shocking and somewhat appalling," he said. "These are the folks who are going out to talk to national retailers, franchises, to entice to the city. The fact they're not enthusiastic about it is unfortunate."

Mr. Clements has been working with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh to help secure funding for the renovations.

He hopes to get started with construction by mid-October and have the building available for rent, at least on the residential side, by the end of the year.

After spending all but two years of his entire life in Pittsburgh, Mr. Clements said he is staggered by the state of disrepair in parts of Fifth and Forbes avenues, given that the corridor for so many years was the hub of the region's retail.

"Seeing it as a shadow of itself bothers me," he said. "We're very proud people. We love our sports. It's shocking to me that there isn't more urgency to get that turned around."

Mr. Clements said he hopes his project will inspire others to invest in buildings Downtown. He also urged existing building owners in the corridor to take advantage of grant and loan programs offered by the Downtown Partnership and the URA "to essentially redd-up their properties."

While some might view his investment as foolhardy, Mr. Clements believes better days are ahead for the Fifth and Forbes corridor given the new developments like the Three PNC office and residential complex; Murphy's conversion into shops, fitness space and apartments; and the condos, restaurants and offices at Piatt Place.

Point Park University also wants to create an academic village Downtown and move the Pittsburgh Playhouse from Oakland to Forbes Avenue, just a few storefronts from Mr. Clements' building.

Mr. Clements said the key to success is getting people to live Downtown, creating an audience for the retail and the restaurants. If that happens, "there's no reason this can't work," he said.