Post-Gazette: Market analysis could guide plan for Downtown retail

For years, politicians and others have dreamed about landing big name retailers like Nordstrom, Tiffany & Co. and Neiman Marcus to help revitalize the Downtown retail corridor.

Now the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership plans to take a step back and ask some basic questions: Just what types of stores will the market support? Who shops Downtown? Where do they shop?

Through a $50,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments, the partnership plans to do a market analysis of the Downtown retail scene to answer those questions and others.

The goal is to use the information to develop a strategy to tailor the retail Downtown to the demands of the market and to make the kinds of improvements that will enhance the ability of merchants to flourish.

"We want to understand what''s going on from a retail perspective," said Mike Edwards, the partnership''s president and chief executive officer.

As part of the study, MJB Consulting of New York City will develop a list of retailers the Pittsburgh market may be able to support Downtown.

The partnership intends to share the study''s findings with local real estate brokers to help them attract retailers to the city core.

"We recognize that Downtown is a tougher sell, so we want to arm them with as much information as possible so that Downtown can have a level playing field [with the suburbs]," Mr. Edwards said.

One of the questions the consultant will study is whether clustering the stores Downtown will help to create the kind of destination retail so many people seem to covet.

Mr. Edwards said there already is good retail in the Golden Triangle with stores like Macy''s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Chick, Ann Taylor and Brooks Brothers. The problem is that many of the stores are spread "all over the place," with some located inside office buildings where they are not easy to locate.

"If we created a retail district, something like Michigan Avenue in Chicago, [the idea is] that we might have a better chance to make destination retail a reality Downtown," he said.

Mr. Edwards said that does not necessarily mean redeveloping the entire Fifth and Forbes retail corridor, a goal that has eluded three mayors so far, or ambitious endeavors like former Mayor Tom Murphy''s $522 million plan to transform the corridor into a retail and entertainment destination.

Instead, it could mean focusing on the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Smithfield Street or a couple of blocks of Smithfield Street or the Forbes Avenue and Market Square area.

The partnership also wants to look at ways to help retail flourish. That could involve street improvements or help like the partnership''s new Paris to Pittsburgh program, which provides matching grants to store owners to enhance facades and sidewalks.

MJB, a national retail consultant, is expected to begin its work soon. The partnership hopes to have the study done by May so the results can be used to help craft a retail strategy for Downtown.

Herb Burger, who headed the task force that lured Washington County developer Millcraft Industries to Pittsburgh to redevelop the former Lazarus-Macy''s department store and the old G.C. Murphy''s store into shops, housing and other uses, had mixed feelings about the study.

"Studies are good, but the critical need is for somebody to go out and sell something," he said. "I''m not sure that a study would have indicated that Piatt Place [the Lazarus building] should have a Capital Grille and McCormick & Schmick''s, but Jack Piatt went out and sold the concept in spite of the fact that there were other upper tier restaurants in town."