Macy’s reduces Pittsburgh presence
Cincinnati – Macy’s is reducing its presence in Pittsburgh. The retailer has sold its downtown Pittsburgh building at 400 Fifth Avenue to Philadelphia-based Core Realty and will close its store in that location.
The Macy’s building and annex includes about 1.2 million-sq.-ft. of space on 13 floors, partial street-level and arcade floors, a basement and sub-basement. Currently, about 475,000-sq.-ft. is Macy’s selling space. The site has served as retail space since a Kaufmann’s store was opened there in 1887. A predecessor company to Macy’s bought Kaufmann’s in 2005 and changed the banner to Macy’s in 2006.
About 170 employees will have their jobs terminated, and may be offered positions in nearby stores where possible. 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.
“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,” said Jeff Kantor, Macy’s chief stores officer. “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.”
Macy’s will not operate a downtown store going forward, but will continue to operate 13 other local stores in southwestern Pennsylvania. A final clearance sale in the downtown Pittsburgh store will begin on Monday, July 20, and is expected to run until early September. Despite this closure, Macy’s is still pursuing an aggressive new store strategy with 32 new stores planned to open by 2018.
Core Realty is planning a mixed-use redevelopment for the building.