Another closure in Strip heightens concerns
When a McDonald’s restaurant recently closed in the Strip District, it seemed to be more of curios than anything else. But another closing in the storied Penn Avenue corridor is raising broader concerns about the impact of development in the neighborhood.
PachaMama Divine Connection at 1812 Penn Ave. shut its doors Jan. 11, only months after co-owner Fatima Lisa Pass-Arenas fretted that rising rents could force her out of business.
Ms. Pass-Arenas said she decided to close the clothing and accessories store after her landlord indicated the rent might increase by as much as $1,000 a month. Rather than pay more, she opted to call it quits.
“I don’t want to live my life feeding my landlord,” she said.
A “For Rent” sign is now posted on the window. A woman who answered the phone number listed on the sign said that Ms. Pass-Arenas’ “business couldn’t afford the rent anymore,” but indicated that the rate had not increased.
PachaMama’s decision to close came after a tough year for the clothing boutique.
Last summer, Ms. PassArenas stated business was off by 40%, in part because of a parking crunch exacerbated by a $23 million Smallman Street reconstruction and the redevelopment of the iconic produce terminal there. Combined, the two projects had eliminated more than 100 parking spaces, according to the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
Retail in the Strip, Ms. Pass-Arenas maintained, has become “extremely volatile” given issues like parking, rents and leases. Some landlords, she said, won’t commit to long-term leases.
City Councilwoman Deb Gross, who represents the Strip, said she was not surprised by the latest closing.
Last year, she had warned of the potential for “commercial gentrification” in the Strip and other Pittsburgh neighborhoods experiencing rapid development.
While such development can have a very positive impact, there also can be negative consequences, she said.
“We can’t take these things for granted,” she stressed last week. “[Small businesses] don’t have a magic pixie dust to help them keep going. We need to make sure we get them the help they need or the Strip could change dramatically and we could lose the thing we love.”
The Jones Lang LaSalle real estate firm has estimated that current rents in the Strip range from $35 to $40 per square foot. That’s far higher than the $20 to $30 per square foot some Penn Avenue retailers have been paying.
Ms. Gross noted that a $1 million business loan fund is available through the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority for local or regional businesses seeking to open in the produce terminal or in the surrounding commercial corridor.
Jim Coen, the Yinzers owner who has formed a business association to protect Penn Avenue merchants in the Strip, said rising rents are inevitable.
“I think with the evolution of the Strip, it’s not going to get cheaper,” he said.
The bigger concern right now, Mr. Coen said, is parking — or the lack of it. He has bemoaned the parking losses caused by the Smallman Street and produce terminal projects. The Strip, he said, could lose another 150 to 200 spaces when Rugby Realty and Al. Neyer start work on a seven-story office and retail development at 21st Street and Smallman next to the produce terminal.
Last month, a city-contracted consultant recommended a series of changes designed to free up more parking or improve transportation in the Strip.
One proposal called for adjusting the price of parking along Penn Avenue to coax drivers to head for garages that might be a 10minute walk away.
Another recommendation was to change the city’s 37.5% commercial parking tax rate to unlock more private parking for public use.
An inventory taken last summer found 10,300 parking spaces in the Strip. Of those, 7,000 were not available for daily public use.
As parking becomes a bigger issue, David Sunseri, president of Pennsylvania Macaroni Co., has said he is willing to work with the city to build a parking garage on a site he owns on 21st Street.
Chicago developer McCaffery Interests also is erecting a 229-space garage and underground parking as part of its 1600 Smallman office and retail development. It also is planning another 266 surface spaces behind its produce terminal redevelopment.
Even with the consultant’s recommendations, the city, Mr. Coen complained, hasn’t been much help in providing answers.
“We haven’t gotten any answers on parking, period. There’s no alternative. [The city states] ‘it is just what it is and you have to get through it. When it’s done, you guys will be happy.’ If we’re not here, we’re not going to be happy,” he said.
While PachaMama will continue to offer an online product, a blog and tours of Peru, closing the store hurt, Ms. Pass-Arenas said.
“It makes me sad,” she said. “It’s not about money. The sadness is about the relationships, the bonds, everything we created to make people who walk through that door feel special.”