Down but — mostly — not out, Market Square restaurants eager for construction to end

By: Jeanette Reft, For Point Park News Service

Restaurant owners and businesspeople in Market Square are keeping a positive outlook despite the constant sounds of drilling and hammering due to construction. Although people are excited to see the end result, there is a price to pay for owners of smaller restaurants in Market Square.

The site of the construction in Market Square on Friday, Jan. 22nd, 2010. Rather than implementing construction in Market Square quadrant by quadrant, the plan was revised and the whole area was closed in hopes that the entire Square will be finished by summer. By Leigh Ann Letta, Point Park News Service.

Sergio Muto was 22 years old when he became the owner of La Gondola Pizzeria, located at 4 Market Square. Thirty-one years later, he is reporting a 35 percent loss in profits from this year to the previous year and says the construction is a contributing factor.

“It’s hurting us bad. Some people come in and complain that they have to use a different route walking around outside to get in here,” Muto said.

Muto said he is not completely discouraged by the recent loss of business. In fact, he is looking forward to seeing Market Square once construction is finished.

“The construction workers are doing a good job. I see them out there in rain and snow; I actually think that they’re ahead of schedule. I think it’s (Market Square is) gonna look real nice,” Muto said.

He is just as pleased with the progress of the construction as other local restaurant owners and managers who haven’t suffered such profit losses.

Rick Faust, manager of the Original Oyster House, said that the construction going on in Market Square has definitely impeded foot traffic, but so far it has been a fairly even trade-off.

Faust said that the construction workers have been cooperating with the Oyster House as a business. The only difficulty that Faust has come across was when cement trucks were out on the sidewalk in front of one of the Oyster House entrances for one week.

Although he said that it was hard to determine an exact measure of how business has been affected, Faust cited a recent upswing due to tenants moving in to the Market Square Place Apartments.

“One tenant came in and said he’ll be here every day because he doesn’t cook,” Faust said.

Faust added that the construction overall is a good thing, since there are now more people living Downtown.

“We try to keep a positive spin on things because we know that it’s for a better cause in the end. The Square will be nice when it’s done,” Faust said.

Michael Mitcham, General Manager of Primanti Brothers in Market Square, said, “We were expecting a pit from construction but it hasn’t affected us like we thought.”

The only problem Mitcham has encountered so far because of construction was when the gas was shut off for 15 minutes one morning in Primanti’s. He said that it did not cause any major problems.

Tina Bialek of Banksville and Ron Keenan of Highland Park stand in front of the construction site in Market Square on Friday, Jan. 22nd, 2010. “We love the city and we love the construction,” said Keenan, who is very enthusiastic about the changes going on in downtown Pittsburgh. Both individuals said that the construction and rebuilding of downtown Pittsburgh will have a positive impact and bring more people to the downtown area. By Leigh Ann Letta, Point Park News Service.

Mitcham said that he has noticed the enthusiasm of customers regarding construction.

“People watch the progress while they’re eating, they seem excited to see the progress,” he said.

Ron Keenan, 63, of Highland Park, works at PNC Bank in the Business / Client Services Department and said he is very excited to see changes finally happening in downtown Pittsburgh.

He remembers a deserted downtown area, but has always preferred the city to the suburbs because “there’s a whole different mindset”.

“I think it’s the greatest thing in the world,” he said about the construction. “It’s bringing a whole new energy to the city.”

Keenan said that he prefers the city to the suburbs because there is “a whole different mindset, and people keep to themselves more.”

Tina Bialek, of Banksville, agrees with Keenan about the positive energy that is coming to Pittsburgh as a result of the renovations.

Bialek, who works in Marketing at Matthews International, said that she thinks all the recent changes are bringing singles downtown.

Bialek and Keenan summed up their thoughts in one sentence: “We love the city, and we love the construction!”