F E A T U R E
“I think Target moving in gave people a sense of comfort that even in uncertain times, one of America’s favorite retailers was willing to commit to downtown Pittsburgh,” says Cannon. Downtown has changed more in the past two years than in two decades. As a 24/7 neighborhood, the changes have been incremental, almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye, except between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. But those changes have been dramatic. Office buildings are mostly empty most days of the week. Fewer restaurants are open at lunch. You can get a parking place any time of the day. Rush hour is not that rushed. It is possible, maybe likely, that Downtown Pittsburgh in 2030 will look like 2019 looked during the workday. It seems foolish to predict when or how people will return to working in the office again. Until the new normal of office occupancy emerges, landlords and office tenants will be challenged to match space and needs. That will be true anywhere. If, in Pittsburgh, another dozen or so office buildings get a new life as an apartment or condominium, the commercial real estate market will benefit. It is worth remembering that Downtown Pittsburgh is home to 20 million square feet of office space. There is room for changes to occur. Jerry McLaughlin believes that the basic value of the office – to offer a place where workers can collaborate to solve customer’s problems to a profitable end – is unchanged. He reminds us that the Downtown Pittsburgh office market has seen troubled days before. “Pittsburgh is very adaptable. We went from 1980 having all the Fortune 500 companies to very few by 1995,” he says. “We’ll adapt to whatever the future brings.” “We will get back to where the economy was pre-pandemic. Will offices look the same? Probably not. Once we all got a taste of working from home that became a game changer. Landlords will figure it out as well,” agrees Goetz. “How much residential can we have in the CBD? It would be great to increase that core of residents. It is a cycle, but we are resilient in Pittsburgh.” DP
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