On a wall in the food court at Downtown's Warner Centre, the cheese fries are still going for $2.75 and three large chicken tenders for $3.99.

But don't bother placing an order.

The signs hark back to better days for the one-time opera house and movie theater turned enclosed mall that has seen its share of hard luck over the years.

The food court, once a staple for lunchtime crowds, has been closed for some time. The faint outlines of Warner Cafe and Grand Taco, two of the former restaurants, bear witness to its past.

Chairs and boxes are strewn about the second floor space, and an old organ sits in one corner. Paintings and portraits of famous movie characters and stars grace one wall.

On the first floor, part of Warner Centre's retail space, at least three tenants have moved out in the past year, including CTS International Inc., a travel agency; John Hughes & Associates, an optometrist; and Southern Royalty, a clothing store that occupied a large storefront facing Fifth Avenue.

Another tenant, Beard Miller Co. LLP, an accounting and consulting firm, has moved out of its fifth floor space, leaving yet another vacancy.

The woes are a stark reminder that for all of the new development taking place Downtown, from the construction of the Three PNC Plaza office building to the conversion of the G.C. Murphy store into apartments, shops and fitness space, there is still much work to do.

It's apparent at Warner Centre, along stretches of Wood Street and Fifth and Forbes avenues, and at the former Lord & Taylor building on Smithfield Street, which still sits empty more than four years after being purchased by the J.J. Gumberg Co.

At one time Warner Centre boasted a 98 percent occupancy rate. Tenants included Hit or Miss, Waldenbooks, Fur Galleria and Sam Goody, a music and video store. The food court was full.

Later came Parker Button, which moved to the South Side in 2004; John Hughes & Associates; and CTS, which left last December after 12 years in Warner Centre.

"People keep leaving this building," one employee in Warner Centre said recently. "It's such a pretty building, too."

Irene Strintzis, one of the principals in CTS, said the closing of the food court about two and half years ago was a blow the travel agency could not overcome.

"The food court upstairs closed so we had absolutely no walk-in traffic. Zero. None," she said. "It was just not a viable location anymore."

The CTS space still is empty, as is the optometrist office across the hall. All that remains in the lobby area is a preschool and nursery. A newer addition is PA WorkWear, which provides donated clothing to people looking for jobs, including those on public assistance or returning to the work force after serving time in jail or halfway houses. It took the space occupied by a hair salon.

NEED, a college access program, occupies another 3,000 square feet of space that once housed Parker Button, which left in 2004. By that time, only about 250 people a day were eating in the food court, down from 2,500 a day when the store opened in the 1980s, said Penny Smith, a Parker Button partner.

"It used to be so crowded," she said.

Joe Jemal, a partner in Warner Centre Realty and vice president of J.J. Operating Corp., which bought the six-story structure in 2005, is promising better days ahead for a building that already has had more comebacks than movie boxer Rocky.

It has survived a sheriff sale, a redevelopment strategy that would have leveled it, a protracted legal dispute among investors, and the collapse of the commercial real estate market in the late 1980s.

Mr. Jemal attributed the current woes to "a slow economy." He said he sees signs things are turning around, including an increase in the number of inquiries involving the building.

"I think it's going to turn around soon, in the next six months or a year," he said. "We're gung ho about Pittsburgh. We like the town. There are a lot of opportunities out there."

Tim Goetz, a principal in Grant Street Associates, which is leasing the building's office space, said the firm has a "verbal commitment" from a company that wants to lease the second and third floors. If the deal is finalized, the food court area would be gone for good and would be converted into office space.

Mr. Goetz would not identify the company interested in the space, describing it only as a "general office user" and a "relocation within Downtown Pittsburgh."

In all, about 27,000 square feet of Warner Centre's 121,000 square feet of office space is available for lease. Mr. Goetz hopes to have much of that rented fairly soon.

"We're marketing it and we have prospects for it and it's just a matter of time. I feel pretty optimistic that the project's moving in the right direction," he said.

Mr. Jemal said he is fairly comfortable with his first floor tenants. Besides those in the Warner Centre lobby, a Foot Locker, a Kids Foot Locker and a convenience store occupy street level space on Fifth Avenue. He is looking for another discount clothing store to replace Southern Royalty.

"We feel there is a good mix. They bring a lot of people to the building," he said.

At the same time, Mr. Jemal said his company would love to upgrade the retail mix if possible. He noted the block of Fifth Avenue between Wood and Smithfield streets is "very busy."

"We feel that section can only get stronger and stronger with all the development going around it," he said.

J.J. Operating purchased the building for $2.7 million in 2005, four months after it was auctioned off at an Allegheny County sheriff sale for the same price.

The New York-based developer made a play for the building after it lost out on a chance to buy the former Lazarus-Macy's store less than a block away. That deal fell through in part because then Mayor Tom Murphy wanted J.J. Operating to sign a pledge that it would not bring slots gambling into the building. At the time, the state license for a Pittsburgh casino was up for grabs.

J.J. Operating and the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority, which had a large stake in the Lazarus-Macy's building, also squabbled over the type of retail each wanted for the property, which later was sold to Washington County developer Millcraft Industries.

David Glickman, vice president of the retail group for Grubb & Ellis, a local real estate firm, said Warner Centre has been a victim of "tough economic conditions." But he said it also has been hampered by the lack of strong development around it.

"Directly adjacent to Warner Centre you have buildings, storefronts, sidewalks, streetscapes that need to be improved, that are ripe for development," he said.

Still, he said the building is well located in the middle of Downtown where there's a lot of foot traffic. He believes Warner Centre will come back big, as more people move Downtown and some of the larger redevelopment projects are completed.

"It's inevitable," he said. "It's just a matter of time. I see all of Downtown being revitalized."

First Published: June 14, 2009, 8:00 a.m.