Tag Archives: Lazarus

Downtown Pittsburgh, September 24, 2010. The department store Saks Fifth Avenue has intimated that it needs help for renovation of its store, preferably from its landlord, but it would not turn down assistance from the City or its agencies, either.

"If it is important to the community for us to remain a viable retail presence in Downtown, it is necessary that the city and/or the landlord provide Saks an economic incentive for us to continue to operate" said the store’s spokesperson.

She also noted that "we are not looking to expand, but to comprehensively remodel both the interior and exterior of the store to meet the standards of both our customers and our design partners". The chain does not want to invest much in the building "because it’s unlikely there would be a reasonable return on investment because of reduced sales".

Downtown Pittsburgh, October 12, 1995. In a proposal outlining projects that would comprise the Center Triangle Tax Increment Financing District in Downtown, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) noted that "the retention of a major department store in the downtown is considered to be very important" and a tax increment finance arrangement was critical to make the project viable. The development costs of that store totaled $78 million. Five years later the URA’s chairman noted that "…this store will become one of the most popular places to shop in a revitalized Downtown". Four years later it was gone.

It probably won’t come as much of a surprise that the store was Lazarus and is now a condominium project, which itself has received a fair share of public subsidy to help with its conversion. Is history repeating in Downtown?