Macy’s Sells Downtown Pittsburgh Store to Philadelphia Developer
CINCINNATI– Macy’s Inc. today announced it has sold its landmark downtown Pittsburgh building at 400 Fifth Ave. to Philadelphia-based Core Realty, which is planning a major mixed-use redevelopment for the historic building.
A final clearance sale will begin July 20, and is expected to run until early September.
“For the past four years, Macy’s has been investigating the best possible use for this property, especially given the large amount of unproductive and unused space on the upper floors. We have talked with a wide variety of partners in pursuit of a plan that would create the most value for our company and the community,” said Jeff Kantor, Macy’s chief stores officer, in a prepared statement.
“In late 2014, we began working with Core Realty, which had an exciting vision for residential, hotel and parking on the upper floors and annex building. More recently, we decided to make the entire building available to Core so it could evolve its plans into a more holistic project. We believe this will be an outstanding addition to the downtown Pittsburgh community in an important location in the heart of the city.”
The Macy’s building and annex includes about 1.2 million square feet of space on 13 floors, partial street-level and arcade floors, a basement and sub-basement. Currently about 475,000 square feet is Macy’s selling space.
The original Kaufmann’s store was opened in 1887 and was expanded several times until 1913, and then again in the 1950s. Kaufmann’s was acquired by The May Department Stores Co. in 1946 which, in turn, was acquired by the predecessor of Macy’s Inc. in 2005. The Kaufmann’s nameplate was changed to Macy’s in September 2006.
“Our decision to close downtown is not a reflection of the store’s management and staff, who have done a great job at serving the downtown customer,” Kantor said.
The downtown store workforce includes 170 employees. Associates displaced by the closing may be offered positions in nearby stores where possible, the company said. Eligible full-time and part-time associates who are laid off due to the store closing will be offered severance benefits.
In addition, about 30 Macy’s associates who work in various district offices on the 11th floor of the downtown Pittsburgh building will be relocated to space in another Macy’s store in the Pittsburgh area.
Going forward, Macy’s workforce in the Greater Pittsburgh area will include about 2,450 associates, the company said.
Macy’s Inc., with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, reported fiscal 2014 sales of $28.105 billion.
The company operates about 885 stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bloomingdale’s Outlet and Bluemercury, as well as the Macys.com, Bloomingdales.com and BlueMercury.com websites.
Pictured: The Macy’s store in downtown Pittsburgh and its iconic clock.
SOURCE: Macy’s Inc.
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