In Brief:
- Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced a $62 million investment in revitalizing downtown Pittsburgh.
- Other cities, like Atlanta and Denver, are planning public improvements in their downtown areas.
- City leaders say downtowns need to be more diverse in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like other city centers, downtown Pittsburgh has been decimated by the changes to work habits brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditionally an office-centric neighborhood, the area only has about 70 percent of the daily workers it had before the pandemic, and fewer on Mondays and Fridays, says Jeremy Waldrup, president of the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership.
Millions of square feet of office space “could probably be better utilized with another use,” Waldrup says. Housing is an obvious need, but downtown lacks some basic public amenities, like playgrounds, which sometimes prevents it from feeling like a real neighborhood.
A group of political, civic and business leaders are now joining forces to revitalize downtown Pittsburgh and alter the trajectory of the area, drawing in a series of public and private investments in economic development and public space. It’s one among several major cities using a variety of tools to invest in changes to their downtown. As commercial real estate has tanked in value and foot traffic has slowed, many city leaders are pushing to make their downtowns look and feel safer, and to diversify the mix of properties there.
“We need to create neighborhoods and related amenities,” says Stefani Pashman, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. “Our downtown has no dog park, no playground, no basketball court. Why would a family want to live there?”
Last month, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the state would be putting $62.6 million into revitalizing downtown Pittsburgh. The state will help subsidize five mixed-use housing projects, with 135 out of about 800 units set aside for reduced rents. The state will also make improvements to Point State Park, at the confluence of the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, and it will help improve Market Square, an underused public space surrounded by restaurants and shops. The city of Pittsburgh is also putting more than $22 million into the plan, and local foundations have committed at least $40 million.
“In order for our Commonwealth to thrive, we need to ensure Downtown Pittsburgh is a hub of innovation, opportunity, and culture,” Shapiro said in a press release.
Other cities are also betting that improving public spaces will catalyze redevelopment downtown.
This week, voters in a small part of Denver will have a chance to vote on a ballot measure that would allow the downtown development authority to take on $847 million in debt obligations to make improvements to downtown Denver. The authority was created in 2008 to make improvements to Union Station and the surrounding area. It uses tax increment financing (TIF) to pay for those improvements, redirecting the growth in property taxes back to specific projects. Growth has been so great that the authority has been able to pay off the debt already, with another 15 years to go on the TIF. The proposal would allow it to make improvements in a much wider area without raising taxes.
“There’s a need to create something that has life,” says Britt Diehl, communications director at the Downtown Denver Partnership. “We know that people want to live downtown, and we know that in order for people to live downtown we need basic things, like a dry cleaner and child care. There’s a lot of opportunities for parks and public spaces.”
Some cities are using impending big events as an excuse to make public improvements. Pittsburgh leaders say they’re hoping to have some major park spaces opened by the time the NFL draft is held in the city in 2026. The Atlanta City Council recently approved $120 million in bonds to pay for downtown street repaving and sidewalk improvements before it plays host to some World Cup matches in 2026. The high-profile event creates “a motivation to do things right,” says Atlanta City Council member Amir Farokhi. But the area has longer-term needs that the city shouldn’t neglect, he says.
“Our downtown isn’t as bad off as other American downtowns, but it’s also not thriving,” Farokhi says. “When we look to the future, there’s a huge opportunity to add residential space through conversions or new builds. If that’s going to be successful, we have to invest more in public spaces like sidewalks and street infrastructure to make downtown a more pleasant place to be if you’re on foot.”
