SPLASH OF ART AT MACY’S
After criticism, Macy’s developer tries to dress up former store’s windows
Pablo Picasso once said that art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. A Philadelphia developer is hoping it just will sweep away some of the grime outside the former Macy’s/Kaufmann’s department store Downtown.
After being criticized for the decrepit state of the Smithfield Street landmark’s exterior, Core Realty has teamed with the Pittsburgh Downtown Community Development Corp. and Three Rivers Modeling Group to add a splash of art to the building’s once-famous display windows.
Dubbing the effort the “Galleries at Kaufmann’s Grand,” Core is working with both groups to fill the windows with photographs, prints, fashions, and ceramics or sculpture by local artists.
Core involved the groups after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last month reported on the decrepit conditions outside the building.
Many of the windows were filled with leftover Christmas displays. Parts of others were covered with weathered plywood. Exposed wires or lights dangled from some. Many were covered with dirt.
“To be quite honest with you, we felt — and I think Core did, too — that it was an eyesore and we wanted to try to convert an eyesore into something that is pleasing,” said John Valentine, the Pittsburgh Downtown Community
Development Corp.’s executive director.
Michael Samschick, Core’s CEO, said the initiative will be a good way to showcase the work of local photographers, artists and fashion designers while the firm works to fill the space with retail.
The developer decided to take the steps because of the “outpouring of concern in reference to the condition of the building. We felt the right thing to do is to bring back the windows,” he said.
In explaining why the exterior had fallen into such disrepair, Mr. Samschick said in an interview last month that Core typically works from the inside out in doing reconstruction. He vowed to change that “because we love Pittsburgh and want to do the right thing.”
Michael Anthony, Three Rivers Modeling president, said he reached out to Core after reading about the sorry state of the building. He is now in charge of cleaning up the windows and finding the local talent to showcase in them.
He called the windows “an important part of Pittsburgh.” He noted generations have been enthralled by the holiday displays in the windows. More than a few of the region’s residents have met under the iconic clock at Fifth and Smithfield.
“Thousands of people walk past the windows each day. It’s a shame to have them boarded up or blacked out when you can pull back the plastic and have artwork,” he said. “It’s a winwin for everyone.”
Mr. Anthony already has cleaned and filled most of the windows on the Fifth Avenue side of the building with photos.
At Fifth and Smithfield, just under the clock, one side is filled with prints while the other looks almost like one of the old store windows, with mannequins dressed in women’s fashions. The prints and clothing were created by local artist and designer James Houk.
Along the rest of facade facing Smithfield Street, Mr. Anthony intends to replace the Christmas-themed Teenie Harris photos with the work of fashion designers participating in the Settlement Engine Fashion Week Downtown hosted by the community development corporation from Aug. 18-22.
He also plans to reach out to the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild to showcase the ceramics work of students in the Forbes Avenue windows. He is looking into the possibility of bringing back some of the old store’s holiday window displays.
“I think these windows have a lot of potential,” Mr. Anthony said. “It’s a work in progress.”
Several artists have been hired to paint brightly colored murals over the plywood covering broken windows.
The Macy’s/Kaufmann’s store, which opened in 1877, was one of the city’s top shopping destinations for more than a century before closing for good in 2015.
Core purchased the 13story building for $15 million the same year with plans to convert it into apartments, a hotel, and two levels of retail as part of a development called Kaufmann’s Grand on Fifth Avenue.
Mr. Samschick said work has started on the 160-room Even Hotel to occupy floors 5-6. Core has plans for 312 luxury apartments on the upper floors. As part of that work, it is restoring all of the building’s original windows. It also is finalizing “multiple deals” for retail, Mr. Samschick said.
“We’re full gear in that building,” he said.