Scratching
a Niche
BY
MIKE MAY
New
York has its Garment District. Pittsburgh has its Design Zone.
If you
haven't heard of the latter, you probably will soon. Dennis Troy
-- the newly appointed executive director of the Lawrenceville
Corp., prime mover of this newly minted Zone -- hopes to make
sure of that, talking of its potential as "a destination."
Find
a niche and they will come. Actually, the niche was already here:
a pre-existing cluster of antiques shops and art galleries, furniture
showrooms, as well as products and services and people who create,
build, furnish and renovate homes and offices.
It was
"discovered" and its potential for economic development
realized by members of the Lawrenceville Corp. (a 1999 merger
of the Lawrenceville Development Corp. and the Lawrenceville Business
Association) in an area now officially marketed as 16:62 Design
Zone.
It's
wedged between two landmark bridges -- the 16th Street and 62nd
Street -- and straddles two neighborhoods -- Strip District and
Lawrenceville -- in the vicinity of Smallman and Butler streets,
Liberty and Penn avenues. (To be precise: The Zone actually extends
toward downtown as far as 11th Street.)
Armed
with an identity, the idea now is to promote the area, stressing
cooperation rather than competition, and working toward common
goals, like attracting more of what's already there.
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The
62nd Street Bridge,
one of the borders of "the Zone."
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What's
already there are 85 design-related businesses and services, says
Rebecca White, Lawrenceville Corp. business-district manager,
with two more on the way. The Ice House Artists Studio, featuring
32 workspaces and studios for artists, arts-related businesses
and organizations, will open in March.
"We
have a lot of interest from businesses who want to relocate or buy
space," White says, offering an example of how efficiently
Zone businesses can interact. "You see a chair in an antiques
store but that upholstery has to go. You can get it reupholstered
down the street, or an artisan in wood can make a matching piece."
Among
those affirming the Zone's potential is the Pittsburgh Partnership
for Neighborhood Development, a supporting organization of the Pittsburgh
Foundation that makes investments in City neighborhoods, and awarded
a grant to the Lawrenceville Corp.
"They
brought this idea to us," says executive director David Black.
"We recognized a very smart idea that was really showing a
community participating to really make this idea happen."
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That has
helped fund one of the most visible results of Lawrenceville Corp.
efforts: a marketing brochure, with an initial run of 20,000. It's
a coat-pocket-sized booklet with pages of maps plotted with business
locations and brief descriptions. It also groups the sites by categories
-- 11 in all, including "Accessories and Furniture for Home
and Office," to "Architectural and Interior Design Services"
to "Window Treatments, Fabrics, Upholstery and Furniture Refinishing."
According
to White, more than 200 phone calls expressing interest in the Zone
have been received since the booklet's premiere in November. Find
the booklet at participating businesses, local hotels, architectural
and interior-design firms and other locations.
For
information or to receive a booklet, call 412/681-6200; a website
will be under construction this year.
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