Dormont Residents Offer Suggestions For Businesses They'd Like to See

A hardware store, a sit-down restaurant, a fish market, a wine bar, a toy store. A grocery—perhaps with upscale offerings.

Those were some of the ideas Dormont residents and business owners said they’d like to see as the borough begins to reshape its downtown for the future during the final Allegheny Together workshop on Wednesday night.

The exercise, in which each of the 30 or so people in attendance got to name a business they’d like to see, wasn’t meant to be definitive, but to get a sense of what the borough might consider targeting.

Already, Dormont has a good mix of offerings—including banks, bakeries, coffee shops, municipal services and hairdressers—that are considered part of vibrant downtowns, according to Elaine Savoldi, a commercial real estate specialist with Town Center Associates.

Town Center Associates, along with Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation will serve as primary consultants to the borough as part of the county’s Allegheny Together program. Dormont was accepted into the program earlier this year.

The five-year program will provide the borough with architects, real estate experts, community planners, community development specialists and project managers.

The program provides matching grants and low-cost financing for improvement projects such as façade enhancements, streetscaping, business signage, awnings, and architectural lighting.

“We want to make sure that people want to go to your downtown,” Savoldi said.

To help guide the borough, Town Center Associates will do a demographic analysis of the borough's strengths, weakness, opportunities threats, or SWOT.

It will also look at retail opportunities and what residents shop for inside and outside Dormont.

That can help the borough market itself as it recruits businesses, said Mark Peluso, executive director of Town Center Associates.

The consultants have been putting together a database of businesess and vacancies to aid in marketing.

Peluso said the borough needs a serious and sustainable downtown program, effective commnication with business district and a strong relationship between businesses and residents to be successful.

“We’re committed to this, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is committed to this and, certainly, Allegheny County is committed to this,” he said.

“You have a lot of things going for you that clearly put you ahead of a lot of the communities in this program,” he said.

Council will be identifying a mix of people to serve on a committee to help guide planning.

Borough Manager Gino Rizza said he's working on a grant application for a signage program.

Councilman Drew Lehman said he thinks Dormont needs just a few unique businesses to really become an attraction.

“I think this is really going to be a good thing,” he said of the program.

Mary Pitcher, who owns the Antique Exchange, said some business owners weren't aware of the program or didn't seem interested.

“How do you get he businesses more enthusiastic?" she asked.

Peluso said the program is broader than just businesses, but that the best thing businesses can do is to continue to be good merchants.

Lehman and council President Kim Lusardi said the program will really begin to take off once the first grant is awarded.

"It will start snowballing," Lusardi said.