Downtown metamorphosis

"There used to be fruit stands and meat markets and all kinds of shops," O'Brien, 79, said Tuesday inside Candy-Rama on Fifth Avenue. "On Saturdays, you could not walk down Fifth Avenue, it was so jammed."

Times have changed.

After 60 years, Candy-Rama will close for good today as the Urban Redevelopment Authority transforms its building into condos. Other small businesses Downtown fear they are next.

"There's nothing here now," said O'Brien, an employee at the candy store for 25 of the 55 years she has worked Downtown. "It makes me sad."

Business owners and city officials agree that Downtown is changing. Older buildings are being renovated, businesses are coming and going. Roadways are blocked by construction.

The changes signify progress, said Kyra Straussman, director of real estate for the URA. Though initially painful, she said, they will one day attract permanent residents and thriving businesses.

"The objective is to get more people Downtown," Straussman said. "More people equals more shoppers."

But some business owners see the changes as a death knell. They say increasing rent, a lack of cheap parking for customers and a diminishing customer base Downtown are driving them out of business.

"It's tough to stay," said Scott Zerbe, owner of Alvin's Jewelry on Forbes Avenue, which has been in business since 1932. "I have to pay $1,300 for 600 square feet, (and) they charge you just to put a sign up in front of your building. It's ridiculous."

Zerbe and others accuse the URA of forcing small business out in favor of high-scale condominiums and fancy restaurants.

Straussman dismissed the idea, noting the URA has invested $2.2 million in small and mid-sized businesses Downtown in the past five years. The agency's objective is "to support all business, big and small," she said.

"Compared to other cities of similar size, we've had a pretty repressed market for a long time, so people have gotten used to the fact that they've had the same rent for a decade," she said. "What's finally happened is that our rent in Downtown Pittsburgh is going up to what it actually costs to run and operate a building."

The changes might prove too costly for some businesses.

Howard Kernats, owner of Hair Fashions by Howard on Stanwix Street, said his business has dropped by 40 to 60 percent since June when crews hired by the Port Authority of Allegheny County closed the street in front of his salon for construction of the North Shore Connector.

"I've been in the business since 1970, here since '83, and I've never experienced a slowdown like this," he said. "This construction has really put a knife in my back."

Charles Lee, owner of The Headgear hat shop on Fifth Avenue, said he is being forced to move to make way for the condominiums being built in Candy-Rama's building.

"It seems they don't care about Pittsburgh tradition," Lee said, noting that some of the hats he sells were made 100 years ago. "You don't see any traditional businesses here anymore."

Lee must leave the shop by Jan. 6. He does not yet know where he will reopen the store.

Zerbe will try to stay. But he does not know how long he can hold out.

"At one point we had six employees. Now we're down to two, and it's not enough work for two," he said. "What am I going to do? Where am I going to go? I have no idea."

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