Saks site could be tuned to music
Developer: Grocery is another option
Developers are thinking about trading tony for honky tonk at the former Saks Fifth Avenue department store site Downtown.
Millcraft Investments and McKnight Realty Partners are considering a live music or entertainment venue for a 13,000square-foot retail spot in a redevelopment that is to include a 582space parking garage and 87 condominiums.
The other option being explored is a grocery, although music seems to have the edge at this point. Lucas Piatt, Millcraft president, said he was “pretty close” with one group on a music venue. He declined to name the prospective tenant.
“Our goal is always to do things that are unique. To pair great live music with great food in a great environment that’s energetic, that gets us on the way to an 18hour city. That’s what we need. We need nightlife,” Mr. Piatt said.
He compared the venue under consideration to “something like
you’d see in Austin, Texas, or Nashville,” perhaps featuring blues or rock music.
“I think a music venue in Downtown would be really cool,”he said. “We’re trying to make Pittsburgh a music city again.We want cool venues.”
Theproposed space would have an entrance on Fifth Avenue.
Herky Pollock, the CBRE executive vice president marketing the space, said the concept being considered would “lead with entertainment and perhaps follow with food.”
“Given the size and the type of space, it lends itself perfectly to an entertainment venue and we are exploring a variety of options to that end,” he said. “Ideally, it would be more entertainment-centric, as we deem there is a void in the marketplace.”
With the new hotels, apartments and restaurants that have popped up around the former Saks site on Smithfield Street, an entertainment venue would be the “ideal complement,” Mr. Pollock said.
He declined to be more specific about the type of concept under consideration or whether it would be on par with venues like the House of Blues or Hard Rock Cafe.
There is a Hard Rock Cafe at Station Square. The Steelers at one time considered a House of Blues for the North Shore, but that didn’t pan out.
Gregg Broujos, managing director and founding principal of the Colliers International real estate firm, said a music or entertainment venue “seems to be a very viable concept” for the Saks space, particularly with the changingretail environment.
“I think it would be a tremendous draw and keep people Downtown,” he said.
He said millennials tend to value experiences over stores, noting that retail appears to be headed in that direction.
The developers also have explored the idea of a grocery at the site and have talked to Trader Joe’s and others, Mr. Piatt said. While there have been “some nibbles here and there,” that hasn’t produced any takers so far.
Mr. Broujos said there still may not be enough residents Downtown to justify a full-fledged grocery. There is a small market in Market Square.
“Right now [music/entertainment] seems to be the trend, although someone has to be the first to take a chance on a grocery store. Maybe that gamble would pay off in the long run,” he said.
The partnership already has signed Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse, to occupy an 11,000-square-foot street-level space as part of the Saks development. The restaurant is expected to open in February.
The seven-story parking garage is scheduled to open by the end of October.
Once it is finished, Millcraft and McKnight will start work on the second phase of the development — 87 condominiums spread over nine floors. At least 15 percent of the condos will be classified as “workforce units” with prices below the mid-$200,000 range. The average price overall will be in the $440,000 to $450,000 range.
Mayor Bill Peduto demanded that residential units be built above the parking in exchange for a $7 million loan needed to finance the garage and the infrastructure to support what would be built above it.