Catholic Charities to open Compassion Corner facility downtown

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, a local nonprofit that works with the Catholic church, is preparing to add to a new resource for the social services demands that continue to be needed downtown.

After the nonprofit bought what was the pastoral center from the Diocese of Pittsburgh last year, Catholic Charities is slated to reopen the 44,000-square-foot building at 111 Boulevard of the Allies as what it's now calling Compassion Corner.



Along with serving as the nonprofit's new headquarters, Compassion Corner is slated to offer a variety of health and human services for vulnerable people in the community, which have continued to be concentrated in the central business district in the aftermath of the pandemic...Read More

Why 84 Lumber moved western regional HQ to Dallas' Design District from Phoenix

A local major building materials supplier has opened an office in Dallas, Texas' Design District to oversee dozens of stores and manufacturing facilities in western states.

84 Lumber, based near Pittsburgh, this month moved its western headquarters to Dallas from Phoenix to better serve the 40 locations on the western side of the country, Pittsburgh Business Times' sister publication, the Dallas Business Journal, reported.

The company last year leased 5,000 square feet in the Manufacturing District at 2119 Irving Blvd., a row of warehouse buildings in the Design District that local firm Quadrant Investment Properties turned into retail and creative office space. Marketing agency Moroch Partners took just over 23,000 square feet in the Manufacturing District in September...Read More

Amazing Books & Records to leave downtown to establish new store on Walnut Street in Shadyside

Amazing Books & Records, which specializes in used books, has ended an 11-year run operating downtown and is moving into the former Athleta store on Walnut Street in Shadyside.



The independent store announced the move as in the works on its Facebook account as well as on its own website.

"We've loved being in downtown since April 2013, but circumstance has nudged/guided us to swiftly move to Walnut Street in Shadyside," reads the announcement...Read More

Pittsburgh's downtown ranks among tops in country for returning visitors

Whatever the state of its recovery otherwise, downtown Pittsburgh achieved a higher percentage of returning visitors last year than nearly every other city in the country expect for three, according to new research reported in Axios.

According to the report based on data by the University of Toronto, downtown Pittsburgh generated a 30.5% increase in returning visitors from March 2023 to February 2024.



Only Minneapolis, at 45.3%, Chicago (35.5%) and Louisville (32.5%) generated a stronger percentage increase in visitors returning to their downtowns, with Cincinnati ranking fifth, at 28.3%...Read More

City Council passes amendment to require extra approval for land bank taxing agreement

City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to require an additional round of approval for a key land bank agreement that would forge alliances between the blight-fighting agency and the region’s three taxing authorities.

The agreement — first passed three weeks ago — strikes a three-way partnership between Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Public Schools and the city, which would allow the land bank to toss out back taxes on dilapidated properties and return the parcels to productive use.

Despite passing the bill unanimously, some council members expressed concern that they would not have proper oversight of the contract’s terms. The agreement has yet to be negotiated in full, and Councilwoman Theresa Kail Smith introduced an amendment to the bill two weeks ago that would allow council to vote on the final contract...Read More